Flashbacks – the Good Kind

The assignment from the Progress-Times sounded fun.  I was asked to shoot to the story of a local high school’s program that prepares students for becoming Emergency Medical Technicians.

(As always, be sure to click on each photo to see a larger version.)

The class this day would entail learning how to load a medical evacuation helicopter.

And the helicopter would land on the school’s lawn.

I heard it before I saw it, but I soon saw the bird circling the area, the pilot looking for hazards – phone lines, piles of loose debris, and such.  I already knew the direction he would land as I had checked the wind.  Sure enough, after circling, the bird began its descent.  As anticipated, he flared at just about the place I thought he would.  I admit I thought about popping smoke.  Way back in the ancient wars fought in Việt Nam, we grunts would throw out a smoke grenade as our helicopters approached.  Not only did it allow the pilots to identify us on the ground as friendlies, but told the wind direction as well.

Once the bird settled on the ground, I took a pix of the pilot.  I saw the white beard, looked at the face and thought “This old coot is as old as I am.  I wonder if he flew Hueys in Vietnam.”  Sure enough, Vic had flown two tours – and the second was with the 1st Cavalry Division – the same outfit I was with.  It was fun thinking about the possibility that he may have flown in support of Charlie Company or that we may have talked over the radio a long time ago.  I found him to be very knowledgeable about the war – and he even expressed an interest in seeing the country once again.

But, of course, the assignment was to shoot a class – and a very different class too.  Besides the pilot, there were two other crew members on board – both medical professionals.  Working with their teachers and the crew, the students discussed the safety aspects of landing a  helicopter, as well as the methods for getting a patient on board.  They had a chance to ask questions about the equipment on board, and the ways to keep a patient alive during transport.  They learned how to work with the local fire department to set up a safe landing zone.  They learned how to work as a team.

When the school year is over, these kids will graduate.  The courses they have taken will allow them to do their clinical rotation and eventually take their state licensing exam.

Oh yeah – the name of the high school?  Veterans Memorial High School.  I hope the students never have to bring in a bird for me – nostalgia has its limits.

Comments

[J. Bradford]

That's a scarey thought, someone your age, flying a chopper!!! A wheelchair maybe, but a chopper?

[Tom Murray]

It's funny how helicopters seem to be the essence of service in Viet Nam so long ago. I still find myself hearing a helicopter and thinking which type it is by the sound alone. That was so easy in VN.

When teaching The History of the Viet Nam War in high school each year I had three pilots come to class. One would pull an old OH-6A behind his Jeep. It was such a fun day for the students. They got to sit up front and see how the gunner would place himself in the back. It even had a wood carved M-60 hanging in the back which in today's world scared the school administrators to death.

The students always left that class gleaming with ideas and a lot of respect for the pilots who were not much older than them back in the 60s.

My time in 69, 70 & 71 was spent on the ground just south of the DMZ in Quang Tri Province and in the air above the old DMZ. Visiting the old places on Hwy 9 are interesting, but I've always wondered what one more trip in the air would look like along the river from the South China Sea out to Loas.