How can I track down anyone who went out on helicopters and was dropped off to help fight Tundra fires during the 70s?

You may have more luck reaching out to the State of Alaska for records of their varied fire services (responsibility changed hands multiple times in the 1970s) to see when they requested military assistance. My money is on 1977. 1977 accounts for over half of the acres burned in the decade. https://www.uaf.edu/files/snre/B114.pdf

Fort Greely Alaska fire 7 April 1977 https://books.google.com/books?id=xdY3AQAAMAAJ&pg=SA4-PA9&lpg=SA4-PA9&dq=fort+wainwright+tundra+fire+1977&source=bl&ots=g020PRJSAX&sig=ACfU3U1q86TVm0Sm6fh6pgoA6qSLge5n4g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjojfuO353iAhXMo54KHRUDAXIQ6AEwBnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=fort%20wainwright%20tundra%20fire%201977&f=false

SP5 Mark Aaron - I ran out of time to investigate this. I would look for archival records and regional/local newspaper reporting from the time. You have to narrow it from a decade to a specific year. I half expected to trip over the post newspaper talking about the unit's deployment to fight the fires.

I would do a FOIA request to BLM to see if there was a request for federal assistance for fighting the specific fire(s) you narrow it down to. I'd do a state equivalent to a FOIA request to the state of Alaska for the same info. Their fire service was not created until 1980 according to what I read. The Fires in the Naotak and Bering Strait areas in 1977 were noteworthy as scholarly reports on this (conservation type articles and papers) reference it specifically. The emergency management laws are such that federal assistance can not be made without a state request, even under a commander's emergency response authority, although that request may simply be a frantic phone call. The Federal agency needs that request to recover their money.

If you can show VA that there was a tundra related fire in (example) 1977, and federal military assistance was requested (assuming you are not ARNG/Reserve), and the Army sent your unit, and you can show you were assigned to that UIC at that time, then VA can ram it.

Unless you have good contact with a someone from your unit that was there, fishing here is like looking for a needle in a stack of needles. Have you tried using the search box on RP to look for people assigned to your unit at the same time?

SP5 Mark Aaron you need to edit your original post, this comment will be separated from your original post and no one will link them up. Recommend you list the full unit designation, which installation you were pulled from, any other pertinent details.

You may also want to tag the post with topic tags. The unit, some tag regarding wild land firefighting, Alaska, the post involved, etc so more users see it hat might have knowledge.