LOH Performs Medivacs - Mar 1971
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The LOH OH-6 Scout Aircraft was not designed for Medivacs:
I was flying a support mission flying things and people to various places in the area of operations, or AO as a break from flying scouts.
I was told to pick up a battalion commander, a Lieutenant Colonel, and fly him to a location where one of his companies was operating somewhere in the jungle. No sweat, I had done it plenty of times.
We are flying along in the early afternoon, probably in early March 1971, and I had dialed in FM radio frequency for his company commander whom he was going to visit.
There was a call out on the radio for the need for a medevac because a unit of that company was in contact with the enemy. The colonel asked me if a medevac would be available. I made a call in the blind (Guard Frequency) for medevac helicopter and gunship support for a contact at the coordinates I was given. The only response that I heard was from a passing medevac helicopter who was 'too short to comply.' I was about 30 days more than him to go home. My colonel asked me if I could do the mission. I didn't have a crew to provide defense fire, nor were Cobras from my troop available within 15 minutes. I reluctantly said that I would do the mission to extract the wounded soldiers. I dropped off the colonel in a small circular "hover hole" surrounded by 50-foot-high trees. I came out and called the unit in need of the medevac extraction, and I got the coordinates for the pickup.
I approached the LZ and saw about 4 or 5 men standing by two ambulatory wounded men. The wounded were put in the back seats of my OH-6A, and the squad leader gave me a note with the coordinates, call sign, and FM frequency for the battalion aid station. I take off, and about 12 minutes later, I landed next to a medium-sized tent with a white and red cross. Medics came to my ship to help the wounded off.
I went back to the location of the fire fight to pick up more men. Only this time, the men were covered in ponchos near my landing area. These were KIA soldiers. My heart sank. Nothing was said while they were loaded on the rear floor of my OH-6A and a solemn thumbs up was given for my departure. I called the aid station that I was inbound with 2 KIAs. Again, the offloading of the deceased was solemn.
I flew back to the hole in the jungle to pick up the LTC. After running at flight idle for 10 minutes, he came out to me and asked me if a captain could come back with him. This guy was big and had his M-16, web gear... in other words I was wondering if I could hover out of that hole and clear those 50-foot trees with 3 of us on board. Yep, I did with some very delicate flying.