It's Good to Have Friends in the Right Places
There were seven Warrant Officers that lived in hooch number five. Five of us were pretty new in the military but the other two were former Navy SeaBees. Navy SeaBees are the construction battalions in the Navy. They build bridges, buildings, airfields and many other things. There were SeaBees in Vietnam who were building things around South Vietnam. The two former SeaBees in hooch number five, Chuck and John, had friends among the SeaBees in Saigon which proved to be a great benefit to us.
In Vietnam many of the Army bases provided only basic accommodations and many soldiers started out to improve their conditions. We needed material to build things with and they just weren't coming through Army channels so our former SeaBees took matters into their own hands. While visiting with the SeaBees in Saigon they learned that they were building several bridges in areas away from Saigon. To inspect progress at these sites the SeaBee officers and senior enlisted men must travel the roads of South Vietnam in a jeep. There are times that single vehicles traveling the roads of South Vietnam disappear and are never heard of again. They could sure use a helicopter ride but they didn't have any and didn't have enough priority to get one through channels. But now they have friends that have helicopters!! Chuck and John flew Cobra helicopters and couldn't help them but I flew scouts and they could be used to carry passengers. They needed helicopter rides and we needed supplies. Working together only makes sense!! This could benefit everyone!
We couldn't officially do these flights for the Navy SeaBees but we found ways to do what needed to be done. The SeaBees would contact us and let us know where they needed to go and when. When we were sent out as “Pink Teams” (which included one scout helicopter and one Cobra helicopter) we would go do our scouting assignment for about an hour and then the scout helicopter would climb to altitude and race to Saigon, drop off the crew chief and observer and pick up the SeaBees. Then the scout pilot would race to where the SeaBees wanted to go and drop them off. Typically they would want to stay at a sight for two to three hours. The scout pilot would then race back to Saigon and pick up his crew and go back to work. Then when needed the scout would shuttle the SeaBees to their next site. And at the end of the day he would return them to Saigon. They could do in one day what had been taking them three or fours days to do without helicopters. This worked very well.
The SeaBees really appreciated having friends with helicopters and they showed it to us in many nice ways. They gave us generators, building materials, air conditioners and just about anything else we needed. With the materials we were given we were able to build walls, put in electricity, have air conditioners and live pretty well. There were times that they even gave us food. Sometimes we were given steaks and on one occasion we were given a case of lobster. To this day I believe it to be the best lobster I have ever eaten. That night we sat in our break area with our electric frying pans dipping lobster in melted butter and feasting. Having friends in the right places had been a good thing for both groups.
Having friends in good times and bad times is an important and wonderful thing. When we share the good times with friends they become even sweeter. Sharing with friends in bad times helps us bear the burdens that come upon us in life because the burden can be carried by many. We should make friends every where we go and be a friend every where we go! Sometimes we even travel back down a road that we traveled before and it is good to find friends along that road.
In Vietnam many of the Army bases provided only basic accommodations and many soldiers started out to improve their conditions. We needed material to build things with and they just weren't coming through Army channels so our former SeaBees took matters into their own hands. While visiting with the SeaBees in Saigon they learned that they were building several bridges in areas away from Saigon. To inspect progress at these sites the SeaBee officers and senior enlisted men must travel the roads of South Vietnam in a jeep. There are times that single vehicles traveling the roads of South Vietnam disappear and are never heard of again. They could sure use a helicopter ride but they didn't have any and didn't have enough priority to get one through channels. But now they have friends that have helicopters!! Chuck and John flew Cobra helicopters and couldn't help them but I flew scouts and they could be used to carry passengers. They needed helicopter rides and we needed supplies. Working together only makes sense!! This could benefit everyone!
We couldn't officially do these flights for the Navy SeaBees but we found ways to do what needed to be done. The SeaBees would contact us and let us know where they needed to go and when. When we were sent out as “Pink Teams” (which included one scout helicopter and one Cobra helicopter) we would go do our scouting assignment for about an hour and then the scout helicopter would climb to altitude and race to Saigon, drop off the crew chief and observer and pick up the SeaBees. Then the scout pilot would race to where the SeaBees wanted to go and drop them off. Typically they would want to stay at a sight for two to three hours. The scout pilot would then race back to Saigon and pick up his crew and go back to work. Then when needed the scout would shuttle the SeaBees to their next site. And at the end of the day he would return them to Saigon. They could do in one day what had been taking them three or fours days to do without helicopters. This worked very well.
The SeaBees really appreciated having friends with helicopters and they showed it to us in many nice ways. They gave us generators, building materials, air conditioners and just about anything else we needed. With the materials we were given we were able to build walls, put in electricity, have air conditioners and live pretty well. There were times that they even gave us food. Sometimes we were given steaks and on one occasion we were given a case of lobster. To this day I believe it to be the best lobster I have ever eaten. That night we sat in our break area with our electric frying pans dipping lobster in melted butter and feasting. Having friends in the right places had been a good thing for both groups.
Having friends in good times and bad times is an important and wonderful thing. When we share the good times with friends they become even sweeter. Sharing with friends in bad times helps us bear the burdens that come upon us in life because the burden can be carried by many. We should make friends every where we go and be a friend every where we go! Sometimes we even travel back down a road that we traveled before and it is good to find friends along that road.
posted by Bruce | 2:12 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home