Blood at Fire Support Base Mace
Many times in the Army we had what we called “sister units”. Sister units are units that are very similar to the one you are in and have about the same mission. My second tour in Vietnam we had a sister unit that we often alternated with on missions. As far as I know both units were equal in performance of missions and what we were expected to do.
Our sister unit had long had a reputation of being pretty wild and crazy. As I recall, during a period of time when we had four or five pilots killed they had about fifteen killed. Everything they did they approached with an attitude of they were proud of their reputation of doing dangerous things.
One day when I was going into Fire Support Base Mace for fuel and ammunition I was told to land away from the refueling and rearming point and wait. There had been an accident in rearming and until it was cleared up I would have to wait. As I shot my approach by the rearming area I saw a cobra helicopter from our sister unit was shut down in rearm. Near the shutdown Cobra was a tarp on the ground covering something and there was blood running out from underneath the tarp.
After the accident was cleared up and the other cobra moved I went in to refuel and rearm. While there I learned what had happened. One of the cobras from the sister unit was rearming and for some reason a rocket went off while being loaded. It had gone through the person loading it and through a second person. Both had been killed!
We loaded helicopters with fuel and ammunition while they were running. Some people liked it and some people were quite afraid of doing it. It was standard policy. There were quite a number of safeguards that were to be followed. Like everything else there are some people that follow the rules because they know they are there for their protection and there are others that think the rules hinder them.
Had the rules been followed by the crew of that other cobra there would not have been any dead there. I do not know why the rocket went off and it may never be known why it did. There are a number of switches and grounding cables that should have prevented the rocket from being fired. Each and every rocket should be touched against the rocket pod to discharge any static electricity before removing the grounding wire. And then when loading the rocket the person loading never stands in front of it. He stands to the side and if the rocket does go off he might lose a hand and be burned but he would be alive. And no one ever walks in front of an aircraft being loaded!! I don’t what caused the rocket to go off, but had just the last two rules been followed no one would have been killed!
There are things in life that absolutely do not discriminate. Bullets, ammunition, explosives and the laws of nature do not discriminate. If we violate rules or laws they will hurt us. Safety lies in understanding rules or laws and following them. They protect and they save lives.
Our sister unit had long had a reputation of being pretty wild and crazy. As I recall, during a period of time when we had four or five pilots killed they had about fifteen killed. Everything they did they approached with an attitude of they were proud of their reputation of doing dangerous things.
One day when I was going into Fire Support Base Mace for fuel and ammunition I was told to land away from the refueling and rearming point and wait. There had been an accident in rearming and until it was cleared up I would have to wait. As I shot my approach by the rearming area I saw a cobra helicopter from our sister unit was shut down in rearm. Near the shutdown Cobra was a tarp on the ground covering something and there was blood running out from underneath the tarp.
After the accident was cleared up and the other cobra moved I went in to refuel and rearm. While there I learned what had happened. One of the cobras from the sister unit was rearming and for some reason a rocket went off while being loaded. It had gone through the person loading it and through a second person. Both had been killed!
We loaded helicopters with fuel and ammunition while they were running. Some people liked it and some people were quite afraid of doing it. It was standard policy. There were quite a number of safeguards that were to be followed. Like everything else there are some people that follow the rules because they know they are there for their protection and there are others that think the rules hinder them.
Had the rules been followed by the crew of that other cobra there would not have been any dead there. I do not know why the rocket went off and it may never be known why it did. There are a number of switches and grounding cables that should have prevented the rocket from being fired. Each and every rocket should be touched against the rocket pod to discharge any static electricity before removing the grounding wire. And then when loading the rocket the person loading never stands in front of it. He stands to the side and if the rocket does go off he might lose a hand and be burned but he would be alive. And no one ever walks in front of an aircraft being loaded!! I don’t what caused the rocket to go off, but had just the last two rules been followed no one would have been killed!
There are things in life that absolutely do not discriminate. Bullets, ammunition, explosives and the laws of nature do not discriminate. If we violate rules or laws they will hurt us. Safety lies in understanding rules or laws and following them. They protect and they save lives.
posted by Bruce | 2:35 PM
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