I have spent quite a bit of time digesting this and evaluating it with as little emotion as possible. Under the circumstances I believe that virtually all the Dustoff pilots I have known, in particularly the 45th, 57th, and 498th, I can’t remember a single AC refusing a mission due to the tactical situation. You must remember that Dustoff, unlike other missions, was a single ship mission. The Dustoff AC was in charge of the entire mission. We summoned and coordinated our gun cover, we organized the pickup site with the ground commander getting patient conditions, numbers, etc and we received the LZ situation directly from the ground unit with regard to enemy fire directions, type of fire (small/heavy automatic weapons, RPGs, mortars etc). With this information we were able to plan our route in and out, type of approach, and pass this on to our gun cover, the ground commander and our crew in the back so everybody knew what was going to happen and what was expected of them. At least in my situation there was an urgency attached to every mission and all I wanted to do was tip the balance in our favor of success. It might have taken a little longer to complete than we all might have wanted but at least we were generally successful.

Sure, from time to time we were being second guessed and coerced into doing it “their” way but with experience, we knew a lie when we heard it. Most times it was a desperate plea by the ground unit or their C&C overhead to get their wounded out as soon as possible. But once they realized we were coming in no matter what, we would start getting actionable information. That crap about having to move to an LZ or cut one out of the jungle was nonsense. That’s why we had hoist ships and that bullshit about dustoff requiring a “safe” area to drop the hoist is just that-BS. I NEVER had a secure hoist mission.

With regard to the availability of Dustoff aircraft assets , I’m sure you all remember the multiple field standby locations we manned-Quan Loi, Song Be, FSB Loc Ninh & Snuffy, Dong Tam, Phan Rang, Phan Thiet, Nui Dat and a multitude of other temporary daytime FSBs in support of on-going operations. Generally we were within 10-15 minutes of a pickup site, day or night. I can’t speak for the slicks or guns but during my second tour our ARA Snakes were on station every time called.

Another thing, I never have nor ever will take anything away from the slick drivers. I could never have had the discipline to fly in formation into a hot LZ. Sure they did some medevacs. Generally they were going in and out of the LZ for insertion or resupply or had just completed and were available to do the mission. We must also remember our dustoff aircraft carried no armament-only the international red cross. (We did carry personal weapons-some more than others!) The slicks did some great things but that was our life every day and maybe we didn’t grow to really appreciate what our dustoff crews did until many years later.

From the writings below it appears that their quandary was the dustoff mission stalled their advancement and closing with the enemy. In most of the hot LZs I went in to they had already closed with the enemy and that’s why I was there. I suppose they could have left the grunts there to die or not die and recover them after the contact was broken. How can you say there was too much in the way of treasure or resources given to the dustoff mission? When my ass was on the ground and hung out, I knew and believed someone would be coming in and get me out and they did. That was a comfort if there could be comfort in a situation like that.

Yes, the individual soldier does matter, dead or alive. When my SF son was badly wounded several years ago in Afghanistan he did have to wait for dustoff but he said we were busy as hell killing savages so the wait didn’t seem as long as it was. Evidently there was some hesitancy on the part of the dustoff mission commander. Another war another era. Remember our motto from Charles Kelly “not until I have your wounded”. It still fits.
Regards,
Boyd
Dustoff 27-the original one