? : I remember Winsett explaining the rules for capturing a guy in the water. Because they'd get in there an use that reed to breathe underwater.  I said, "Gary, what do we do, how do we capture those guys"? "You drop in a concussion grenade." He said, "That'll usually bring them out of the water. When you get that grenade close enough that'll bring them out of the water".   So I ask, “What if he comes up out of the water but he doesn't want to get on the skid and go for a ride"? He says, "Then he floats downstream".  It was real clear to me what had to happen.

Ras: Well that's true. We do give you a chance if you want to drop the gun and Chu Hoi, no problem, take you on the skid back to....oh no.. who knows what your going have to face, or lets just kill you right now and save yourself the torment of your future. Having to be dragged back some place else so they can torture the hell out of you. Its easier if I just shoot you now.

? : Yeah but I never saw anybody shot like that.

Ras: I donut think it happened either but its an interesting concept. Like some of those guys that ran and shot at us were thinking, "Ooh I'm not going to have to ride on those skids back to be tortured. And to interrogation and Ill never seem my family again, lets get it over with now"!

?:  I can't remember who Jimmy Nester's crewchief was, but I was trailing Jimmy one day and we came upon an old VC sitting there, pajamas dropped down, he was squatting, AK47 laying on the ground next to him. An Jimmy pops up right over a tree and there he was and he honks it back to a hover right above the guy. I  swear ..I was close enough to see the guys face. He looked up at Jimmy's crew chief with that M60 pointed at him, he looks down at his AK47. The gunner just nodded NAH!. The guy pulls up his drawers, Jimmy hovers down and the guy climbs on the skid.

Rasbury: Right. When you're caught taking a shit out in a rice paddy by one of the most ominous war machines the Army ever put in the air, that was a scout that didn't give a shit, in a helicopter that would do anything. The guy goes white, my shit is weak. I’ll just wipe my as and I’ll go with them.

?: You know we did do a lot of capturing of those people...specially around Ben Tre. It was getting to be a family tradition. We'd capture the same guys every two or three weeks. Same guys would show up, seems they all the same ID. Go get a stalk of rice and a few piasters.

?: Were you down there that day we pulled into Ben Tre and we had to ride into town in jeeps to get briefed? That was the morning after the VC had come in and hung the mayor and the province chief.

Ras: No we flew all that night as gun cover. It was terrible, that little hamlet, they had people wired to trees , people cut up big time, and it didn't look like anybody was alive. We'd been there for about half an hour  and I was down low with the search light on trying to draw fire but there was nobody around, just all these dead people. I donut remember who my wingman was but he was about 500 to 100 feet above me.  With lights out, he was the high bird. Well actually there was an asshole up about 6000 ft decided he wanted to put in an artillery strike on this area to kill all of the fucking communists that frankly, we hadn't seen yet. And they didn't tell us they were going to start firing 105s  into where I was hovering at 25 ft.  HOLY SHIT!  Man, I'm in the middle of a six round shot group and I'm thinking, "What the fuck!" And  my night vision is gone and I got to get the hell out of dodge because I donut know when the next volley's coming. Or somebody's gonna fire for effect and I'm a dead man. I just nosed it over and pulled an armful of  collective pitch. I didn't care about no red line. I wanted to get the hell out of there and right now. After I got out of there I went up on guard and told everybody that, ”I was really pissed. And I asked him if he saw my blinking lights as I left the shot group”?  The FAC, some full Col., called me into his office, he was the ADC. That was the Article 15. Swindel was pissed.
     It used to be really gauling to think those people that believed there was a protocol that we had to survive. I mean here we are, we're gathering the damned data, we're trying to stir up the hornet's nest so the guys can go and do they're darned mission it's like they were doing us a damned favor just by being around us. I never understood that mentality. I’ll tell you what used to scare the shit out of me was I didn't mind those night missions that the Sneaky Petes came up with where we'd go in at night and drop off a couple of slicks full of troops and let them go in and do a quick 30 minute walk around and see what they get out of it and then get back in. The dangerous part was the artillery firing those flares canisters and having the damned parachutes coming down near our turning rotor blades. Kenny Green and I just about bought it one night. I can't tell you how close the canister came to the rotor blades. That was probably the only time I can remember when I jerked the controls out of  another guys hands. There just wasn't time for yelling, "I got it"! It was just one of those reaction type things. Kenny was right back on track quick and he realized what had happened.