Low Level Hell
Page 36
I made three more passes. Again, we exchanged rounds with the little fighter. He hit us with a couple of shots and we missed him completely.
In desperation, I keyed Parker again. “Goddamnit, give me a gas grenade. We'll gas his ass out of there!”
Parker pulled the pin on a CS grenade and let it fly, right into the center of the crater.
I backed off long enough for the crater to fill with fumes, then eased the Loach in for what I thought would be my last pass. As I gently nosed over the lip, I was once again greeted by a sustained burst of AK fire. The guy now had me frustrated beyond belief.
The next time I came around on the crater, the enemy soldier was out of his hole. He obviously had a snoot full of CS and was having trouble breathing. But that didn't deter him. As I passed by, he raised his weapon and got off two rounds at me.
Then, nothing. He had either run out of ammo or had a jam. Now I had him. The source of my frustrating little hide-and-seek game … I finally had him cold! He was standing in the base of the crater, and I had no reason in the world not to take him out.
With a little bit of left and aft cyclic, I stopped my right-hand slide and came to a hover. I was fifteen feet over him, and we were looking at each other face-to-face. I dropped my nose a fraction. My finger tightened on the minigun trigger. But I didn't fire.
In the back of my mind was a clear picture of an enemy soldier in a trench, with his weapon aimed squarely at my head as I hovered over Bob Harris's ARPs in a similar crater. That guy didn't shoot… and he had me cold.
I snapped back to reality and looked at the enemy soldier in this crater. Still holding his weapon, he was looking at me with a question in his eyes—why don't you shoot?
This soldier had endured all that we could throw at him, and he had survived and persevered. His determination and stamina, and that of his countrymen, had sustained him so long, against so many adversaries. To kill this man would have meant nothing, and to kill an unarmed man would have been unforgivable. I said to myself, Let it go, let it go. This bastard deserves to walk out of here.
I hovered in again and looked him in the face. There was no expression. We were eyeball to eyeball for one last moment. Then I nodded my head at him in a salute of respect, dumped the nose, and pulled away.
We would both go home that day. It was my last mission of my first tour in Vietnam.
POSTSCRIPT
Vietnam in 1969 was a place where America's young people went because their country asked them to. While there, they did their jobs the best way they knew how, then looked forward to going home to their friends, families, schools, jobs. Hopefully, also, to the welcome and general approval of the American public.
As a new helicopter pilot, I felt fortunate to be assigned to D Troop (Air), 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry, and the 1st Division's crack hunter-killer teams. I was proud to be a member of that unit then, and the years since have only deepened that feeling of regard.
In writing Low Level Hell, I have been fortunate to locate and talk to a number of the other young men who were in the troop with me in 1969. They were most supportive. First, for urging me to accomplish this task. But, more importantly, for their gentle prods to tell it the way it really happened, and to avoid making a “war” story out of it. I have done my best to do that.
It was my intent from the start to use real people, real names. To also—as nearly as I could—recount real situations happening under the circumstances and conditions that existed at the time. To do anything less seemed unfair to those I served with in the troop.
My sincere thanks go to all my comrades for reaching back in their memories, to help sharpen my recalling and recounting the events of 1969. Thanks, especially, to former Four Six, Bob Harris. He took the time, and the special effort, to give me his vivid reflections of that horrendous 28 July day that found him in a bomb crater, and me hovering over it with a box of medical supplies.
My appreciation, also, to Marianne Thornton of Morrison, Colorado. The hours she so willingly spent transcribing many of my audiotapes contributed greatly to keeping the creative process on track. Sandra Irelan and Jan Allgire spent a great deal of their own time typing and retyping drafts of the manuscript. Their gentle prodding kept me on course for nearly five years.
When basing a writing on fact, one obviously tries very hard to be as accurate as possible in all things. If inaccuracies have worked their way into this narrative, be sure that they are not there as the result of any intent on my part to misrepresent the facts. Of course, memory and records do not document the precise words spoken in casual conversations, radio transmissions, and other verbal exchanges. Much of the dialogue that I have written in this story, therefore, has been extrapolated from what the actual words spoken may have been. The reason, while always trying to keep the words in character with the person speaking them, was simply to make the dialogue more understandable and meaningful to the reader.
To further refresh my memory, and to maintain as high a degree of accuracy as possible, I have referred to numerous printed works, primarily operational and casualty reports of the units concerned.
In September 1971, I would return to Vietnam as a Cobra pilot for C Troop, 3d Squadron, 5th Cavalry working from Quang Tri airfield in I Corps, ranging from the A Shau Valley to the string of fire bases along the DMZ. When the unit deployed to the United States in February 1972, I elected to remain in-country and look for another cav troop. I was a single captain and intended to make the service my career. I was ultimately assigned to C Troop, 16th Cavalry operating out of Can Tho in the IV Corps tactical area. To my surprise this was again Darkhorse. The troop had remained in country in 1971 when the Big Red One went home to Fort Riley, Kansas, and had been redesignated as an independent troop of the 164th Combat Aviation Group.
My new position was aeroscout platoon leader—Darkhorse One Six—and asleep on my new bunk on the day I arrived was my new wingman, Captain Rod Willis.
Hugh L. Mills, Jr.
LTC, Aviation, U.S. Army
***
Shortly after his first tour in Vietnam, Hugh Mills jotted down the following thought: “Many volumes have been and will be written on the Vietnam conflict, for Vietnam was the environment in which doctrine for the employment of the helicopter in airmobile and air cavalry operations was written. This doctrine was written not by the major commanders in the Pentagon, but by the young officers and enlisted men in their daily struggle to complete the mission of combat.”
As one of the army helicopter scout pilots who helped significantly in the writing of that doctrine, Hugh Mills flew over 2,000 combat hours in Vietnam, most of them logged in his near idolized OH-6A Loaches. He believed that going to Vietnam was just another chapter in his army career. But while he was there, he was going to carry the point of the bayonet to the enemy's throat every way he could, every time he could. Not for the glory, but in the honest hope that U.S. servicemen and women could soon go home victorious, and that the people of Vietnam could, after being ravaged by war for so long, reclaim their country and live in peace.
Though it is not in Hugh Mills's disposition to speak of the honors that came to him flying scouts in Vietnam, one simply can't overlook the fact that Lieutenant Colonel Mills completed his service in Southeast Asia by being awarded: three Silver Stars, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Bronze Stars for Service, one Bronze Star for Valor, three Purple Hearts, seventy-two Air Medals (six with V for valor), three Army Commendation Medals (all with V device), one Vietnam Service Medal, one Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal (six battle stars). And from the Republic of Vietnam government: Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry (with Silver Star and Palm), Republic of Vietnam Technical Service Honor Medal First Class, and Republic of Vietnam Civic Action Medal First Class.
There's another thing about Hugh Mills that can't be overlooked, and that's the pride he takes in his own work, and in all those who worked with him in Vietnam. The men of D Troop (Air), and especially the aeroscouts of the Big Red One's Outcasts
platoon, hold to this day a very special place in Hugh Mills's heart. In Vietnam, the life of a Loach crewman was only as good as the other guy in the ship. They depended upon each other to stay alive—there was probably no closer military comradery than that between the aeroscout crew chief and his pilot.
Mills, in my observation, has never lost the spirit of that comradery even though his tours in Vietnam ended some 22 years ago. He still tracks those who survived and made it back home, and takes pride in knowing the whereabouts of his fellow Darkhorsemen:
Tom Chambers A corporate pilot now living in Texas.
Bob Davis Retired from the army as a CW-4, now a corporate pilot living in Ohio.
Al Farrar Now lives and teaches school in his home state of Rhode Island.
Jon Gregory Retired from the army, currently a civilian airplane pilot for the U.S. Army.
Stu Harrell Now lives in Arizona and works as an investment planner.
Bob Harris Went to flight school after his Vietnam tours, became a pilot, and now serves in the army in Texas as a lieutenant colonel.
Bill Hayes Now works as a police officer in Washington, D.C.
John Herchert Lives and works as a sales representative in Missouri.
Bob Holmes Retired from the army, now an airline pilot.
Larry Kauffman Lives in Texas and is a regional sales manager.
Chuck Koranda Currently serving as a CW-4 in the Wisconsin Army National Guard.
Tim McDivitt Now lives in Florida where he is in business.
Major Charles Moore Lives in Tennessee where he is a county executive.
Jim Parker Lives in Georgia where he is a factory supervisor.
Dean Sinor Lives in Kentucky where he is a corporate helicopter pilot.
Ken Stormer Currently living in Texas where he is a rancher.
Doug Veitch Retired from the army, now an investment planner in Colorado.
Rod Willis Retired from the army as a lieutenant colonel, now a consultant for army programs in Kansas.
Mike Woods Retired from the army, now a plant manager in California.
My association with Hugh Mills began in August 1986, when Low Level Hell went from an abstract idea to a tangible effort. My work with him over these past five years has been a rich, fulfilling, and thoroughly enjoyable experience. I marvel at his vivid recall of those Vietnam days, at his sly sense of humor, at his heartfelt anguish in recounting the loss or injury of one of his fellow Outcasts.
My days of military service are long since behind me, and I still look forward to the day when sound political judgments can eliminate wars. But until then, I can only hope that our country continues to generate and be blessed with people like Hugh Mills, a man with whom I heartily agree when he appraises Vietnam's controversial aftermath by urging, “Blame the war, not the warrior!”
Robert A. Anderson
GLOSSARY
ACAV—armored cavalry assault vehicle
AK-47—Russian 7.62-caliber assault rifle
APC—armored personnel carrier M113
Arc Light—B-52 bomb strike
ARP—aerorifle platoon
ARVN—Army of the Republic of Vietnam
BDA—bomb damage assessment
C and C—command and control
CAR-15-—carbine version of M-16 automatic rifle
Charlie Echo—crew chief
chicken plate—ballistic armor chest plate worn by aerial crew members
CH1COM—Chinese Communist
Claymore—antipersonnel mine, directional in nature
Cobra (snake)—Bell AH-IG helicopter gunship with two crew members
CS grenade—riot control agent similar to tear gas
DEROS—date estimated to return from overseas
didi—Vietnamese slang for get out of here
Dustoff—callsign of medical evacuation helicopters
FAC—forward air controller, prop aircraft for tac air direction
fast mover—jet fighter or bomber
Firefly—UH-IH mounted with spotlights, night observation devices, miniguns, and a .50-caliber machine gun
fox mike—FM radio frequency
frag order—fragmentary order (change in mission)
FSB—fire support base, home to ground and artillery units
Guard—emergency frequency, 243.0 UHF and 121.5 VHF
gun—Cobra or snake AH-IG gunship
hootch—Vietnamese dwelling or American tropical hut
Huey—Bell UH-IH troop carrier with two pilots and two door gunners
hunter-killer team—one AH-IG and one OH-6A
ICU—intensive care unit
KBA—killed by air
KIA—killed in action
Kit Carson scout—former VC or NVA who has defected to the ARVN and scouted for U.S. troops
klick—military slang for kilometer
Loach—Hughes OH-6A light observation helicopter (LOH) with one pilot and one or two gunner-observers LZ—landing zone
M16—Colt 5.56-caliber rifle, standard U.S. government issue M48—M-48A3 main battle tank with 90mm main gun
M113—U.S. armored personnel carrier, basis for ACAV
M551—Sheridan armored airborne reconnaissance vehicle with 152mm main gun
minigun—General Electric 7.62-caliber electric Gatling gun, 2,000 to 4,000 rounds per minute
NDP—night defensive position for armored, mechanized units
Old Man—military slang for commander
OV-10—North American Bronco FAC aircraft with one or two crew members
PBR—patrol boat, riverine with two .50-caliber guns, one .30-caliber machine gun, and one 40mm grenade launcher
Pipe Smoke—UH-ls and CM-47s that recover downed aircraft
PSP—perforated steel plank construction material
push—frequency R
and R—rest and recuperation
red team—two AH-1G Cobra gunships
RESCAP—rescue combat air patrol
rocks—rockets
Rome plow—heavy bulldozer for clearing jungle
RPD—Chinese copy of Russian PK crew-served 8mm machine gun
RPG—rocket-propelled grenade
RTO—radio telephone operator
satchel charge—explosives charge
SGM—Russian .30-caliber crew-served medium machine gun
sitrep—situation report
slick—UH-1H, same as Huey
snake and nape—retarded speed bombs and napalm
Spooky/Spectre/Shadow—USAF fixed-wing gunships—AC-47, AC-130, and AC-119
squadron—unit containing four troops
tac air—tactical air, same as fast movers
TAOR—tactical area of operational responsibility
TOT—turbine outlet temperature
troop—armor or aviation unit, two hundred men, forty vehicles
Uniform—UHF radio frequency
USARV—U.S. Army Republic of Vietnam
VC—Viet Cong
Victor—VHF radio
VNAF—Vietnamese Air Force
VR—visual reconnaissance
white team—two OH-6A scouts
Willie Pete—white phosphorous
Zippo—flamethrower mounted on M-113 vehicle
Copyright © 1992 by Hugh L. Mills, Jr.
Published by Presidio Press
505 B San Marin Drive, Suite 160
Novato, CA 94945-1340
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. Inquiries should be addressed to Presidio Press, 505 B San Marin Drive, Suite 160, Novato, CA 94945-1340.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mills, Hugh. L. 1948–
Low level hell : a scout pilot in the Big Red One / Hugh L. Mills, Jr.
with Robert A. Anderson.
p. c
m.
eISBN: 978-0-307-53792-8
Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975—Aerial operations, American.
Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975—Personal narratives, American.
Mills Hugh, L. 1948- I. Anderson, Robert A., 1944- II. Title. DS558.8M55 1992
959.704′348—dc20
91-46983
CIP
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