Posted on Aug 5, 2016
A close friend of mine was a UH-1 door gunner in the RVN. He says the lifespan of that slot was about 10 minutes. Could he be mistaken?
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153B: UH-1 Pilot (RC)
Gunner
Helicopters
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 25
SSG William Jones As a Radio Operator, we heard the same kind of story about our lifespan measured in minutes. I am not sure where the stories started, but they were not true for most of us.
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SGT (Join to see)
Sgt (Join to see), It might have gotten started by a wannabe. I never anything like that in Nam. I heard about it after I got back home.
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SGT (Join to see) can give you a real life experienced answer! He was a door gunner in Vietnam! However, he's still here, so the 10 minute theory certainly didn't apply to him, thank goodness!
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CPT Lawrence Cable
My buddy Bob did most of three tours and was still with us last I heard. He did get hit twice, however, last time put him out of the service.
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LTC Stephen C.
CPT Lawrence Cable, SGT Keith Bodine was a long time and frequent contributor to RP, but he jumped off for personal reasons sometime ago. We keep up via email and he is doing well.
SGT Lou Meza
SGT Lou Meza
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CPT Lawrence Cable
LTC Stephen C. -Bob was that crazy friend before he went. I asked him why he kept going back and he gave me the speech the character Bunny from the movie Platoon gave, that he liked it there, nobody F***** with you and all you had to worry about was dying. He did mention a few other things like the cost of a prostitute and that booze and MJ were plentiful and cheap. The last tour he got hit by a 12.7mm machine gun, just seeing the scars makes me wonder how on earth he survived it.
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SSG William Jones
LTC Stephen C.
Would you believe... I'm just seeing this 2 years after posting. I do appreciate the replies and I truly honor SGT Lou Meza and SGT (Join to see) for their great courage and dedication to duty. I, too, am thankful that they safely returned.
Would you believe... I'm just seeing this 2 years after posting. I do appreciate the replies and I truly honor SGT Lou Meza and SGT (Join to see) for their great courage and dedication to duty. I, too, am thankful that they safely returned.
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An old school counselor of mine was a door gunner. He's still kicking and able tell about it.
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MSG (Join to see)
my cousin door gunner vietnam with the cowboys, shot down, mia for short time, he's retired now
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SFC Jim Ruether
A friend of mine was a door gunner in a UH-1 and lived to talk and tell about it. He was more concerned with the "Jesus Nut" that held the main rotor blades on the helicopter. Every time they went flying he'd say; "Jesus I hope that nut stays on"
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