: were you a crew
: member or did you sit in to get flight time
: when you could?

I was just using myself as a convenient example of what was happening, Don. I was CE of Gator 834 (66-16834) for Mike Bonthuis in First Flight from about Christmas 68 until another crew rolled my ship in an LZ in May 69, when I was on R&R.

: the Sgt I replaced was
: shipped out a week or so early because there
: was a grenade found under his pillow, I’m
: not sure how true that was but it got my
: attention I can assure you.

I don't know, Don. If any Croc platoon Sgt I ever knew found a frag under his pillow, he'd have found out who put it there and either fed it to him or inserted it somewhere else.

: drugs in unlocked lockers (no one locked
: their lockers) and the individual saying
: “that’s not mine anyone could have put it
: there”. I also recall checking the guards at
: night on the perimeter and finding a 5 lb
: bag of pot between an individual’s feet and
: him looking down and saying “I just sat
: down, that’s not mine”. We also had someone
: so high on drugs that he passed out while he
: was trying to frag the NCOs Quarters. I
: guess all units had some of these same
: things to deal with.

I wasn't one of them, Don, and there were a few "heads" in the company who had to fly with one another because some of us avoided flying with them. We knew who was getting high on the way to the flight line in the morning.

Closest thing to a fragging I ever heard of was a 52d Bn Maintenance Officer who several times ordered dangerously deficient ships out of maintenance. Someone wired a yellow smoke to the clutch pedal of his jeep, and he got the message.

: In closing I want to say that this was a small
: few of the young troops, most were real fine
: young men doing the job they were assigned
: to do, and I truly believe I served with
: some of the finest Troops, NCOs and Officers
: in the 119th and I’m proud to call them
: fellow soldiers. I also believe that the NCO
: Corp is the backbone of the Army

I agree with you, Don. The backbone of an Army that was self-destructing, on its way into the crapper, in the early 1970s and was saved and rebuilt by that very NCO Corps over the next 20 years.

Bob K--