Flight,

The following is a copy of what has been submitted to the Special Opperations Association for inclusion in their book. I have been in contact with Gary Rogers (Croc CE) 66-67 and have his permission to post it. He has also asked that we contact him for inclusion to a list of 119th people. his email is:

Gary R Rodgers
E-mail Address(es):
globcapgr@juno.com

This is well written and gives a fair account of the 119th's contribution to SOG.

The 119th Assault Helicopter Company
Home Base – Pleiku, Vietnam
Gunship Platoon - Crocodiles - UH-1C's
Slick Platoons - Alligators - UH-1D's and UH-IH's
Supporting Special Operations - OMEGA and MACV-SOG
Time Period - late 1966, 1967 and 1968
The 119th Assault Helicopter Company (AHC) was a unit of the 52nd Combat Aviation Battalion,
17th Corps Support Group, 1st Aviation Brigade, and thus, was involved with air support missions
for respective ground units operating in the Central Highlands, II Corps and even I Corps of Vietnam
during 1966, 1967 and 1968. The 119th AHC flew air support missions for the 25th ID, 4th ID, 3rd
Marine Div., 1st CAV, Republic of Korea Tiger Div, 173rd ABde, SF A-Teams, OMEGA and SOG.
When a new group of helicopter pilots arrived in Pleiku in November of 1966 they arrived a few
days after the unit had suffered significant losses of aircrews along the border west of Pleiku. The
Crocodile gunship platoon was very short of pilots and some of these newly arriving pilots went
straight into gunships. Under normal circumstances a new pilot would spend time some time in
slicks before he went into guns. From the surviving experienced gunship pilots the new gunship
crews were trained. One member of this group of experienced pilots was previously in Special
Forces and another had prior Army experience before he went into flight school. These and other
experienced pilots gave the new crews their in-country orientation that no doubt saved their lives.
Most of the tactics of aviation units were learned the hard way. Flight school in no way prepared you
for a SOG mission. Up to 1967 the 119th had supported SOG in a limited way. In mid-1967, the
119th started sending crews to Kontum on a regular basis in support of FOB 2. There were no orders
or documentation; everything was basically word of mouth and you were told to fly to Kontum and
report in to whoever meets you when you land. The 119th command in Pleiku had little
understanding of what we were doing and when we returned to home base in Pleiku there was never
a debriefing about the missions. Today the Army has only limited information on SOG aircrew
tactics or how these aircrews actually performed their missions.
When OMEGA missions began, the 119th provided 4 - 6 Alligator slicks and 2 Crocodile gunships
during the 1966 and 1967 operational period until OMEGA became a part of SOG. The 119th
OMEGA missions were for and with the American and Australian Special Forces teams. One
Crocodile gunship was lost during OMEGA in which 2 pilots and the door gunner were killed.
With respect to MACV-SOG operations, the 119th was one of the first U. S. aviation units attached
to SOG. When flying support for SOG, the 119th was attached to FOB 2, or CCC, with missions
flown from Kham Duc, Dak To and with a few missions from Ban Me Thuot. In 1966 and 1967 the
119th gunship " Crocodiles " took on the code name of "Tigers " until late in 1967 and into 1968.
Most of the 1967 missions flown involved troop transport by H-34’s (King Bee) piloted by
Vietnamese pilots with UH-1C, 119th gunship support. The King Bee pilots were exceptional in their
aviator skills and fearless in the face of heavy ground fire. The gunships covered the King Bee’s on
insert or extraction and provided the SF teams close air support with minigun, door guns and rockets.
When the 119th "Alligator" slicks became the "Yellow " flight for the Laos missions or the "Blue "
flights for Cambodia. The slicks performed the usual "insertion" and "extraction" missions for the
RT's and for occasional Hatchet Forced teams. Also, there were the pinnacle landings when
supporting the SF teams on Leg Horn (“heavydrop”).
Some Crocs/Tigers crews performed extended mission assignments by providing close gunship air
support for insertions and extractions and/or when the SF teams were in trouble and in need of
gunship fire support, which happened on most RT missions. When attached to SOG, the gunships
were always on standby, positioned at Dak To airfield or Kham Duc during the day to assist all RT
teams in the field, which could be several in the Trail AO at one time. It should be stated that the
Crocs/Tigers have no recollections of any "cold" extractions during the entire operational period
flown on SOG. When on SOG, the 119th crews had the pleasure of being constant RON guests at
Kontum and Kham Duc (we would typically spend the night at the SF base). The SOG SF people
were gracious hosts, superb cooks and outstanding bartenders; however, sharing the "motel " with
the big rats in Kham Duc was not that great!! Since we lived with the SF team members we got to
know them very well and through our discussions we gained a much better understanding of the
conditions on the ground.
The Crocs /Tigers on SOG, worked closely with USAF Covey FACs, who were the coveted forward
air control air asset directors-coordinators. As we recall, the Covey's and Covey riders, were a
critical factor for the SF teams when in need of Army gunships and Air Force F-model Hueys,
USAF A-1's and the "fast movers" support. For sure, all on SOG heralded A-1’s and A-1E’s Spads
or Hobos, for their exceptional close air support work. It should be stated, that it was our pleasure
flying close formation with them back "across the fence", following mission successes; however, the
"victory rolls" they performed were not replicated by any Crocs/Tigers!!
When providing "gun" support from 1966-1968, the Crocs/Tigers flew first UH-1B models with (4)
M-60’s mounted on pylons that were replaced by UH-1C’s in early 1967, which carried 6,000
rounds of 7.62 mm. for the miniguns, with each door gunner having 2-3,000 rounds of 7.62's for
their free-swinging (via bungee cords vs. fixed mounts) M-60s. Thus, each UH-IC carried a total of
10-12,000 rounds on each aircraft plus 14 rockets. There were two gunships per light team and three
in each heavy team. Each "mini-gun" Huey carried 14 of the 2.75-inch rockets (14.0 lb high
explosive – quick fuse) with the Huey "Hog" carrying 48 rockets, but only 4,000-6,000 rounds of
7.62's, belonging to the crew chiefs and gunners. It was thought that the gunship team leaders and
the RT’s preferred the mini-gun aircraft over the HOG's, as the miniguns were more effective with
fire support for the SF teams. The Tiger pilots estimate that there were over 10 million rounds of
7.62 fired and up to 200,000-250,000 of the 2.75-inch rockets during each year on SOG. This
number is our best estimate. At that time the Army sent ammo and rockets by the truckload and we
didn’t report what we expended or where we shot it. In the period October 1967-1968, the Crocodile
platoon crewed one "Hog", six mini-gun ships, and one "Frog," outfitted with a nose-mounted 40mm
grenade launcher, two pods of rockets containing a total of 38, and the crew chief's and door
gunner's 2 - 3,000 rounds of 7.62mm each.
Each ship was assigned a crew of four - two pilots, commissioned and / or warrant officers (one
aircraft commander and pilot) and two enlisted men (crew chief and door gunner), normally in pay
grades E-2 through E-6 (either sergeant or specialist). Though the normal tour of duty was twelve
months, many of these enlisted men extended time after time, some serving up to three consecutive
years in combat! Talk about courage and skill, theses young men "wrote the book".
There is no question that every pilot will testify that he is alive today because of the valor and
effectiveness of these talented enlisted crew members. The door gunners were deadly accurate and
knew when and where to shoot. When crews returned from the daily missions, it was the crew chief
pulling maintenance at night on his aircraft and the gunner cleaning the guns while the pilots were
sitting around having a drink. The equipment was always ready to go in the morning due to their
hard work and dedication. These crew chiefs and gunners received much less credit than they
deserved.
During 1967, there were added missions, which were indeed "special" for the gunship Tiger /
Crocodile crews. Some of the following are a sampling of missions not known by many SF teams
on SOG:
1. To provide diversionary tactics for the RT's and/ or to just harass the NVA, the guns would
take boxes of hand grenades, which were dropped by both aircraft when flying a weave
pattern at tree top level directly over various segments of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Sometimes
we also dropped time delayed artillery simulators with different time delays to cause the
NVA to think we were in the area when in fact we were back at Dak To. On one occasion a
pair of guns were asked by Covey FAC to go down and investigate a suspected supply area at
a road intersection. Croc-lead along with his wing were the only gunships in the area. We
made one pass through the area and things just didn’t look right so Croc-lead told his
wingman that he was going to drop a grenade to just “rattle their cage”. When the grenade
went off all hell broke loose. The NVA reacted by shooting every typed weapon they had in
their arsenal at the 2 gunships. There were hundreds of AK’s and they had positioned
12.7mm and 37mm anti-air at each end of the valley so we were trapped from escape down
either end of the valley. If we tried to climb up the side of the mountains it would put us in
the “dead man zone”. So we road around the valley over the trail just shooting at everything
that moved or shot at us. Within a few minuets we were out of minigun and one aircraft was
completely out of rockets. We were running out of ammo, ideas and they were firing the antiaircraft
guns in a fan straight up at each end of the valley. We stayed low and fast to avoid
getting hit and then headed straight for the anti-air positions. At the last second as we headed
into the fan of fire and the last of the rockets were expended to take out the anti-air guns. The
rockets exploded so close in front of us that as we over flew the gun positions we passed
through the smoke and dirt that was thrown into the air. While all of this was going on
Covey called to inform the gunship team that it looked like Christmas lights down there in all
the trees. What is amazing about flying low and fast is that with thousands of rounds shot at
these gunships that day not one hit the aircraft. There are the 10 tactical rules of the gunship
pilot that if followed significantly increase your odds of survival. During our little adventure
we hit numerous NVA, equipment, supplies, and anti-aircraft guns. This was followed by
Covey directing A-1’s and F-4’s into the area to produce several secondary explosions.
2. During another incident, it was determined that Soviet made helicopters were flying into the
“Trail” area from certain bases in Laos. The Tigers were to told to recon specific launch sites
deep into Laos to the NW of Kham Duc seeking enemy helicopter. The Tigers had been told
that if a Soviet helicopter was seen in the air, then engage and do a shoot down or destroy if
on the ground. To our knowledge no such helicopters were ever seen on the ground in 1966-
1967; however nighttime and dusk / dawn sightings of Soviet choppers in the air by
personnel atop Leghorn's peak and steep cliffs were reported by SF personnel 1967-1968.
The few times they were believed sitting on the ground or airborne in SOG's area of
operations did not result in gunships overtaking the escaping aircraft. Interception of radio
traffic from Soviet helicopters and enemy ground forces was fairly common in 1967-1968.
Green Beret linguists and communications experts confirmed such interceptions on numerous
occasions, along with sightings of aircraft with rotating beacons at night along or near the Ho
Chi Minh Trail, particularly in the vicinity of "The Bra," a brassier like set of bends in the
river west of Leghorn, which was the site for several major battles over the period of 1966-
1968.
3. On two occasions, non-SOG SF teams of three men were inserted deep into Laos to the
northeast of Attopeu, Laos. The three-man teams consisted of one American, who said they
were "contract workers" for the U.S. Embassy, along with two native Laotians. The first
team was apparently lost within minutes following insertion, as all radio contact was lost
almost immediately even though we were to track their movement for 15 minutes after the
insertion. The second team was inserted about two weeks later, and did sign-off from our
radio contact 15 minutes following insertion, so we presumed they at least started the mission
successfully. We didn’t know any specifics of the classified mission’s purpose. 119th slicks
from Dak To with gunship support inserted them. These were not the usual SF SOG people
involved in these missions to our knowledge.
4. The insertion and extraction of a “Hatchet Force” was always a high adrenalin mission. In
many cases it was a hot insertion where the slicks took fire and the gunships provided close
supporting fire around the landing zone. The battle would rage all day. We would re-arm/refuel
and return to station to provide cover fire until we were out. This would be repeated
again and again until invariably the “Hatchet Force” (about 40 men) ended up in a bomb
creator surrounded and we were lucky to get 3 or 4 out alive. There is no way to describe the
courage it must take for a SF team to engage thousands of NVA with only 40 men and this
would all take place deep in their territory. In most of these “Hatchet Force” missions the
combined effect of the men on the ground and air assets would kill hundreds of NVA and
destroy tons of enemy supplies and equipment. It was truly unbelievable that we were able to
get anyone out alive on these missions since they were out numbered 100s to one. Some of
the H-34 returned with over 60 bullet holes in them and a UH-1C returned with sections of
the rotor blade blown out.
5. In early 1967, the USAF Hornets became valued air assets of SOG. The Hornet’s UH-1F
model was more powerful than the UH-1H and this F model had a door minigun mount that
provided this slick with tremendous firepower. Just prior to the first Hornet mission from
Dak To, there were several discussions between Croc/Tiger and Hornet pilots regarding
flight tactics on SOG and the usage of Hornet armament systems, which were different than
that seen on Army gunships. On the first Hornet mission flown from Dak To, 119th gunships
were present and also flying gun cover on the mission in which the Hornet’s Major Baldwin
was killed in late March of 1967. This particular mission became a TAC-E call as it began in
the middle of the night and lasted for several hours during the daylight hours. This mission is
well remembered by all involved.
6. On a normal mission when the gunships left Dak To heading west to the Ho Chi Minh Trail
area, we often climbed to altitude trying to keep up with the H-34’s. This was usually a
difficult task since every time we took off; our aircraft were loaded to about 500 lbs. over its
maximum gross weight. It was truly difficult to get these birds off the ground. In straight and
level flight we might reach 120 knots if we were lucky. Once we approached into the target
area, the transition from high altitude to tree top level exposed our aircraft to enemy ground
fire. The UH-1C has a VNE (velocity not exceeded) of about 155 knots. Our descent through
the dead mans zone was a maneuver where you would stand the aircraft on its nose, bottom
the collective and dive in an erratic spiral with the aircraft on the edge of retreating blade
stall. The NVA knew our expected airspeed and I am sure they would adjust their aiming
point by leading on our aircraft accordingly. We were flying at speeds that were theoretically
impossible; many of us believe that for this reason they were shooting behind us.
All of 119th men alive today hold the greatest respect and regards for the SOG SF people for their
unbelievable courage and daring to jump out a helicopter into the middle of the Ho Chi Minh Trail
with NVA units covering the area. The aircrews were only exposed for a few seconds, where the
SOG SF Teams may be left on the ground in enemy territory for days. To be sure, the list of SF men
on SOG, who we vividly recall, are many with the names and missions still fixed in our minds. The
list of men and missions are too many to state, but even today, we of the 119th have vivid and fond
memories of the fearless SF men of SOG.
Additionally, the 119th's crews salute with great respect and admiration, the Vietnamese Air Forces's
(VNAF) King Bees, which were a central factor in the success of many SOG missions. While the
King Bee crews' tactics, flying technique and maneuvers were often thought to be unorthodox, their
courage under fire was never doubted. They were often heard over the radio in the thick of the fight
to transmit, "I go down now," usually meaning to squeeze their chopper into the hottest and tightest
of places to extract friendly forces pinned down by withering enemy fire.
Today, it is the definitive opinion of the119th Assault Helicopter Company's gunship and slick
pilots, that SOG defined our lives, regardless of the respective career paths taken by each of us since
those days. Today, the men who were Army career officers and those who entered civilian sectors in
varied industries, all agree that the SOG time marked the highlight of our lives to date. It must be
also stated, that we Crocodiles hold the highest regard, admiration and respect for the Special Forces
men, who walked the hills and mountains of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos on SOG missions. Most
assuredly, the year of SOG remain fixed in the minds of the 1967-1968 Crocodiles / Tigers. We
believe that all the SF, 119th crews, King Bees, Hobos or Spads, and everyone serving on these
missions, have earned their rightful places in the Special Operations Association and in the history of
the United States Armed Forces at War in the 20th Century.
We are proud to have served and been a part of OMEGA and MACV-SOG, and are honored to be
members of the Special Operations family.
By:
Gary Rodgers, George Garrett, Gordon Denniston, Don Martin, and Don Gaude
119th AHC SOA members March 30, 2004

Tom Gator 851.