Gang,
Picking up a "throttle jock" who has made a "premature departure" from his screaming starchwing was a real pleasure. When I flew around him while he guided his parachute into the trees, he said that we were comforting. Then when I hovered above him and guided him to a dike in a nearby rice patty, while the crew protected him with their m-60's, he was breathlessly grateful. When he made a leap into the helicopter and almost slid out the other side, I could see that he was scared. When we lifted out of the rice patty he saw a farmer with a rifle (aiming at us) while the crew quickly dispatched the farmer with their M-60's. The starchwinger was petrified with fear. When we landed at Dak Pek the starchwinger was so scared that he could hardly stand, much less walk.

Some of his comments were, "I could see those little bastards when you were coming out of the rice patty" "Is this place secure?" (DAK PEK) "Why are we shutting down here?" "I have to get back to Thailand, how do I get there from here?", "When are we going to leave here to get to a secure area". Poor fella was white as a sheet the whole time from pickup to drop-off at Dak To. He felt a little better at Dak To and started to regain some color.

I did have some fun with him flying from Dak Pek to Dak To, I showed him how to fly looking up at the bottom of the leaves on the trees. I think that he was glad to get back to safety, he didn't like the real war!

Dave