89 How was unit morale? (United States Air Force Gunships in the Vietnam)
Description
This article is from the Vietnam FAQ, by Brian Ross, John R. Tegtmeier, Edwin E. Moise, Frank Vaughan, John Tegtmeier with numerous contributions by others.
89 How was unit morale? (United States Air Force Gunships in the Vietnam)
We had a great unit orientation! Whenever we had a new crewmember, and
fired the 105, we went to a restaurant as a crew (about 14 of us)
before the next mission, and when there, each crewmember ordered two
drinks. We then pulled out a piece of 105MM brass from the mission
(didn't clean it or anything). We then passed the brass around the
table, and each crewmember poured one of their two drinks into the
brass. When it reached the newbie, that person had to drink the
contents (or a good portion thereof!) Imagine, beer, wine, assorted
mixed drinks, burnt powder, bag remnants, etc. We usually carried the
newbie out.
We also had a little routine that might amuse you.
Every once in a while, due to particularly violent (for a C-130)
maneuvers to avoid AAA, we'd lose the IO. He'd lose his grip and get
tossed out the back, being dragged behind on a thin steel cable that
was hooked to an inertial reel mounted on one of the support frames
overhead. The other end was hooked to his parachute harness.
The resulting intercom conversation went something like this:
Pilot, IO!
Ahhh, go ahead IO.
Request permission to come aboard sir!
Flight Engineer, Pilot.
Go ahead Pilot.
Better have the gunners drag in the IO, if I lose any more
they'll start coming out of my pay.
Affirmative, Pilot, besides, I kind of like this one.
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