281st AVIATION COMPANY (Airmobile Light)
1965-1966
This is a group photograph of the 281st Aviation Company
(Airmobile Light)
and attached units (483rd Transportation Detachment and 499th Signal Detachment) taken at Fort Benning, GA where the unit was organized under
General Orders dated 7 October 1965. The photo was taken March 1966
shortly before the unit deployed to Vietnam.
[Close up images of four sections of the photo can be seen by clicking on the
links below the photo. Enlarge the sections to see faces on the back row.
Picture provided by Willy Isaacs, Intruder from 1967.]
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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
David E. Bush
Sergeant
First Class (E7)
United
States Army (Retired)
I served with the unit from the time in started forming at
Fort Benning, GA in late 1965 until approximately December 1966 when I
transferred to the 223rd Avn Bn (Qui Nhon) while in country.
When the unit was forming up, I believe I was one of the
first fifteen or so members on board. We flew to Oakland, CA where we boarded
the USS W. H. Gordon and went to Nha Trang, RVN. The aircraft were shipped by
an aircraft carrier (or) carriers. I remember many of the personnel were
seasick before we even left port. Off the coast of Okinawa we hit a typhoon
which created even more personnel suffering being seasick. As I recall, when
we left the ship in Nha Trang it was similar to the landings of World War II.
We went over the side of the ship into LSTs and then on to shore.
At that time, the unit consisted of the 281st Aviation Company and the 483rd TC Detachment of which I was a member. Our
quarters consisted of cement pads with screened walls and I believe GP medium
tents stretched over them. Showers were made from 55-gallon drums, although
some people showered in the company street areas when it rained. Initially,
personnel kept their rifles in the hootchs, until some got liquored up at the
5th Special Forces Club (Playboy Club) and started trying to have western
style gun fights with each other in the company streets. Shortly thereafter,
weapons were locked in a conex unless either on guard or during alerts.
The first sergeant was 1SG Cooley who made first sergeant
during the trip by ship. He was still an SFC when we left Fort Benning. The
483 TC Det had a separate first sergeant (whose name I can't recall). He and
Cooley didn't get along, and once I witnessed them come to blows. Cooley
wasn't particularly liked by anyone in the company that I am aware of.
I recall our company being levied for personnel to aid in
building a handball court for the 5th Special Forces commander. It was
located close to the area were the 281st was billeted. I still have black and
white photos of the unit right after they basically got settled in in Nha
Trang. Some consist of 1SG Cooley conducting a guard mount and others are
just of the unit area and some of the personnel at the time. We had the
responsibility of guarding the airfield were our birds were located. At times
however, we were farmed out to stand guard at such places as the PX warehouse
and other locations.
I somehow got assigned as the Unit Mail Clerk prior to
leaving Fort Benning. When we arrived in country, no one bothered to tell me
that we had absorbed another unit that was basically all in the field. When
their mail started arriving, I was sending it back as "unknown" or something
or other. I remember that HQ in Saigon contacted the unit and wanted to know
what happened to all these people. 1SG Cooley was hot over that one.
I was a SP4 when I was assigned with the 281st and made
SP5 with the 223rd Cbt Avn Bn prior to returning to the states.
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