Randy Meade, Jim Hoag, Joe Hoover, Jack Nemeyer, Stan Allen, Johnny Gray
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Randy Meade: To my crew the idea sucked because of the lack of Gun mobility. We went right back to a free infantry 60 on bugee, with the crew on a Monkey harness... shoot up, down, behind and way in front, and underneath. Perfect..
In Feb 69' I recall that D troop aircraft were all Cobra's, mostly H Model Hueys with few D models left, and OH-6's....Since the Charlie Model Gunships were gone I would assume the crew from the gun platoon brought their M-60 tactics when they came over to the Slick Platoon when transitioning. It was also true that the Slicks were always trying new ways to do the job. I recall: Twin 60's... Hand held Mini Guns... And a 50 cal..seriously bad idea.... There were many good ways to accomplish the mission. I believed and practiced it was a agreement between the A/C, Crew Chief and Door Gunner working together. The Co-pilot was there to learn from different crews "his way" to live through the Year.
Jim Hoag: Just an FYI: Loach gunners also used bungee cords.
Joe Hoover: When I was crewing slicks in 71 it was up to the discretion of the crew chief and door gunner. Smitty and I hand held our 60s without bungees. It was a mixed bag. Some preferred the pintle mount, some (not very many) used the bungee and some were free. Mostly used the monkey harness when flying Night Hawk or ash and trash resupply. When doing insertions and extractions the harness was constantly getting tangled with the grunts getting in and out. Normally, we did not have any seats or doors installed for missions except for “VIP” passengers which we didn’t get too many of. When we flew C&C for the Hunter Killer teams, we put in the two forward “jump seats” so the liaison could ride and map any findings the scout reported.
For the Night Hawk, the minigun was mounted on the pintle and the aviation 50 was mounted on the pintle.
Jack Nemeyer: Late 69 and 70 our Slicks used bungee cords . Hung the M60’s by the rear sight ring .
I was the only one that had a Monkey Strap . I found it in the flight line Conex , it was almost new . After Using it for a couple days I knew why.
As a Slick Crew Chief personally I Did not like it . A little too restricting at times. I could not get used to having a “Tail”... too many trips out of the aircraft to load or unload and that required frequent unhook and rehook of the strap .
Yes , the idea was a good one as far as crew safety and retention of the crew member if he was wounded and unable to help himself . There were times when I did use it during some LRRP extractions; especially when they were using their Stabo Rig , or when we were Sling loading or dropping Foo Gas barrels, anytime a Crew Chief had to be out on the skid to direct the pilots.
I do recall that our Slicks sometimes used the bungee cords , some didn't like them and held the M60 in their lap or arms . Then along came MAJ Groff ,( new CO). He thought “free60’s” would get pilots or other personnel killed in the case that a gunner was wounded and turned in his seat while firing ... in the field we pretty much used our own thinking and we never had any trouble with suppression or covering our aircraft. Its good to be able to lean out the door and fire back under the tailboom while coming out or going into an LZ .
Stan Allen: You mentioned the use of Bungee cords to hold the M-60s in the Slicks. To my knowledge we all used them. Also we had monkey straps but did not use them all of the time. Very stupid on our part. I personally did not even have my seat belt fastened most of the time. I used the bungee cord, all of the time on the Nighthawk bird whenever the Mini Gun was not working. My Door Gunner always used a Bungee Cord. This was during 69 and 70.
I tried the twin 60s on the Night Hawk for about 2 or 3 nights. They did not work out well. As someone else already said, they did not have the mobility of the regular Infantry M60. Also the biggest problem that I had with them is that they jammed regularly. They were mounted on the left side of the ship, sticking out into the air stream, going by the helicopter. The brass and links eject from the right hand side of the guns. Throwing them into the wind stream. Then they would blow back into the ammo feed shoot and get hung up, causing a stoppage in the gun. Usually at just the wrong time.
Johnny Gray: My M-60 it was a single one that hung with bungee cords and I was always the right door and I free handed when I was in a loach as observer/gunner. There was one slick that I was on that had a mounted mini-gun the crew chief used in the left door. I had no assigned craft since I filled in where needed. Note that in real life I was the base RTO who tried to keep track of you guys while in flight. I was only with you guys for about 5 months then went to "A" troop as a RTO and radio mechanic.