Air Mobility
at Its Best
Gene Fox
I came to Vietnam with the Advance Party and my group flew up to An Khe from Nha Trang by helicopter early one morning. We spent a long hot day scouting out the area and were going to return late in the afternoon.
We got in the helicopter, the pilot pulled pitch and the chopper rose about 10 feet and fell back to the ground. Second try, same thing. While I was busy praying, the pilot backed into the corner to give it another try.
This time I could see a construction crane in the center of the camp. The pilot cut right and nosed down a bit to pick up speed. Now we headed straight down the main drag of the camp with dust, trash, chickens flying all over the place and Montagnard troops cheering. This was their first demonstration of Air Cavalry mobility.
Just when I thought we were going to make it, I saw the front gate, which was a little taller than we were high. A quick "whoa boy" and we slipped over the top and headed down Highway 19 with a lot of born again Christians.
After 37 years I still remember the sign on the gate: Lực Lượng Đặc Biệt, which was Vietnamese for Special Forces.