The Army's
173rd Airborne Brigade was the first
ground unit to enter combat in Vietnam.
They stayed from 1965 to 1971. The
173rd, one of the most distinguished
units of that war were paratroopers.
Casper Platoon was the internal aviation
unit for the brigade. It is said they
were the only separate aviation platoon
during the war.
As a new
pilot just past my twentieth birthday I
arrived in Vietnam. Some came to war in
ships loaded with people and equipment,
some came in military airlift command
planes. Most of us came on civilian
airliners chartered by the military.
Along with 140 other young pilots and a
few other non-aviator types, unfortunate
enough to be stuck in an aluminum tube
with us, we arrived at Bien Hoa airbase
on a Continental Airlines 707.
If I could have hidden out in the jet
and gone right back over the Pacific
Ocean, I would have. It wasn't that I
was afraid. I almost certainly was. I
just didn’t know it. I should have had
plenty of fear. Vietnam was such an
alien place and environment. Flight and
Warrant officer candidate school, the
military in general, are neat and tidy.
War is not. A gleaming Boeing 707
sitting on a military airfield,
surrounded by a weird assortment of
military vehicles, men in disheveled
fatigue uniforms, against a panorama of
low jungle, dust and burning feces. It
was anything but a neat and tidy place.
I always liked the heat. I never liked
the cold. I was not disappointed. The
jungle heat didn't bother me. Now, I
didn't march through the mountains with
90 or 100 pounds on my back like our
grunts did. I might have felt
differently about the heat if I had had
to.
From Bien Hoa airfield, we were put on
buses and the surreal adventure
continued. The buses had metal panels
bolted to the windows as a very small
measure of protection against small arms
fire or grenades. Theirs and ours. What
they really provided was the same
unrealistic filter that our country,
back in the world, viewed the war and
its involvement. The panels only made
seeing out a task that made what was
around us all the more unbelievable.
Winding streets choked with military
vehicles, bikes, pedi-cabs, and motor
scooters loaded several deep, and
people. We were at war, but our narrow
vantage point only yielded what looked
like an occupied bustling third world
sprawl.
We were on the way to the Long Binh
replacement depot. When you arrived in
Vietnam, as a new hire, you were sent
here to receive further orders and in
processing. We were no exception. My
three flight school roommates and I had
orders to go to the 173rd airborne
brigade. When we arrived at Long Binh
all that changed.
We felt like puppies that had just
turned 8 weeks old , watching as our new
owners where jostling for position to
see who would take each of us home. Pick
me, pick me. We each at an emotional
attachment to our randomly being
selected to got to the “Herd”, as the
173rd was affectionately
know. Our new orders were cut. I ended
up being the only one of our 4 going to
the 173rd. My flight school associates
went all over the country to units most
of us had never heard of. Many of us
would never return.
The separation anxiety from our pack
mounted for each of us. I do not recall
having to sleep with an alarm clock or
other device to substitute for
separating from guys we had spent most
of the past year with day and night. I
soon adapted to my new pack. The Casper
Aviation Platoon, Headquarters and
Headquarters, Company, 173rd
Airborne Brigade (separate), 503rd
Parachute Infantry Regiment.