Info Sheet - SP4 Jim R. Hoag
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My first job was a Scout doorgunner. That lasted about 3 months and then I moved to be the Crew Chief of 67-15546 Cobra while in Cu Chi. As opposed to what WO Randy Jones says, Gary Schmidt was not the Crew Chief when the aircraft was sent to Vung Tau to get the tail rotor moved to the other side of the tail boom after we had moved to Camp Frenzell-Jones.
I went to Vung Tau with the aircraft for a week and twiddled my thumbs the whole time because the Dynalectron Corp folks didn't want us anywhere near them. This was the first and oldest Cobra in country to get the tail rotor moved and the air conditioning unit installed. Because of that, they only had blueprints sent over from the states as no one there had done this before. That's why they spent a week with the aircraft. After this one, they got better at what they needed to do and could get the job done in about 4 days as opposed to 7.
After getting back, I had to give several training classes to the other Crew Chiefs and pilots so they could operate the A/C correctly and not walk into the tail rotor. One had to pay rapt attention to where they were walking because this was the only one for a time with the tail rotor on the other side. Turns out the A/C sucked cause it was either on full blast or not at all. I'd flown in it when it was firing little snow balls out at me in the front seat.
Sometime later on WO Randy Jones was named the "owner" and asked me if it would be okay to paint a stern wheeler on the dog house since he was from Mississippi. I told him that would be fine, but he'd have to do all the painting. I did help with touching up the teeth though. Gary Schmidt probably got the aircraft after I left in June 1971 when we were in Lai Khe.
Vung Tau was interesting. The base commander thought he was stateside so all the troops were in starched fatigues, shined boots and proper haircuts. Here I come all scruffy, hair at least to & slightly over my ears, in need of a shave and wearing a Nomex flight suit. To preclude getting all spiffed up to their standards, I ended up hooking up with some Australians and spent the week with them in their compound. Most folks don't know that and I never told many folks about it before. I'd come on to the base via the Australian gate, check in with the maintenance folks doing the work on the aircraft to find out how much longer they expected to be and then go back to the Aussie area. I had to go thru the Aussie gates because the Americans had a pass system going on/off base and there was no way I could get one. When our troop commander came down to get 546 in a Huey he dropped off the Cobra pilots, signed for 546 and we left.
I remember we stopped at the USS Corpus Christi Bay to get some parts and we were there for a couple of hours. I vaguely remember walking to the edge of the ship as there were armed folks sitting there. I asked what they were doing. In the water were some folks swimming. They had a net lowered in the water and it was supposed to keep the sharks away from the swimmers, but just in case, the weapons guys were there to shoot the sharks if they got too close. I decided we didn't have enough time to go swimming, not that I wanted to anyway with sharks in the water.
Jim Hoag - Dec 2014
Jim Hoag, US Army (Retired), 67T40
BCT at Ft Gordon, GA Mar-May 1969 (E-1 to E-2);
AIT at Ft Rucker, AL May-Sep 1969(E-2 to E-3, PMOS 67N);
14th Armored Cav Fulda, W. Germany Oct 1969-Apr 1970 (E-3 to SP4/E-4);
D Troop, 3d Squadron, 4th Cav, 25th Inf Div, Cu Chi, Camp Frenzell-Jones, Vietnam May-Dec 1970;
F Troop 3/4 Cav, Lai Khe, Vietnam Jan-Jun 1971;
512th MP company and HQ STRATCOM VIP Aviation, Ft Huachuca, AZ Jun 1971-Aug 1973 (SMOS 67G);
3d Avn Detachment, 19th Avn Bn, Camp Humphreys, S Korea Aug 1973-Aug 1974 (E-4 to SP5/E-5);
B Platoon, 116th Combat Asslt Helicopter Company, 10th Avn Bn, FORSCOM, Ft Lewis, WA Aug 1974-May 1977 (changed from SP5 to Sgt/E-5);
10th Air Defense Artillery (VIP Flt Detachment), 32d AADCOM, Darmstadt, W. Germany May 1977-Sep 1980 (E-5 to SSG/E-6);
Compassionate Assignment, Recruiting Station, N. Ft Myers, FL Oct 1980-Jul 1981;
Army Recruiting Station, N. Wilkesboro, NC Aug 1981-May 1985;
Div Avn Maint Office, Ft Campbell, KY May 1985-Aug 1986;
B Co, 2d Avn Bn, 2d Inf Division, Camp Casey, S. Korea Aug 1986-Aug 1987 (E-6 to SFC/E-7);
4th Intermediate Maint Company, D Troop 3/7 Cav and D Company 4th Avn Bn, 4th Inf Div, Ft Carson, CO Sep 1987-Jul 1989
Retired Jul 1989 with last duty assignment as First Sergeant at D Company. Actual 1st Sgt/E-8 was promoted and left leaving a void so as ranking Platoon Sgt I was automatically made the 1st Sgt. Held that position for 7 months until I retired. People will always ask how an E-7 could be a 1st Sgt which is generally an E-8 position. Cause there aren't enough E-8s available all the time.