DUCK !!! Incoming !! Common words in Vietnam.. Thanks for putting a humorous note on that one.. I wonder, somewhere in the military archives, if there is a Hat Col. report, duly filed, regarding the wearing of regulation cover by duty flight personnel. Perhaps he also wrote up his report about being invaded by native ducks and the destruction of government property... In triplicate, of course.
On Thu, Aug 14, 2014 at 6:23 AM, WILTON via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > Yep, another silly SAC tale already. > > THE HAT COLONEL > By Wilton Strickland > > During all of my career (22 years active) in the Air Force, being > outside a building or not on the flightline wearing a uniform but not > wearing a hat was to be "out of uniform." In other words, if you were > wearing a uniform, you had to wear a hat, except inside a building or on > the flightline, where aircraft are maintained, engines are running, > airplanes taxiing, etc. Because of the danger of a hat being sucked into > an engine, it is OK to be hatless on the flightline. > Outside the B-52 flight operations building at U-Tapao, Thailand, was a > small building where air crewmen purchased snacks, hot-dogs, hamburgers, > soft drinks, etc., before getting on a bus to go out to the airplanes to > fly bombing missions to Vietnam. There was usually a short period of > leisure time (5 to 15 minutes) between completing pre-mission briefings and > going out to the planes. Crewmen would mill around the small building, the > Snack Shack or Hooch, and under the thatch-covered shelter nearby - some > sitting at picnic tables, joking, eating snacks, sipping soft drinks or > milk shakes, some smoking, some quiet with their private thoughts. We were > usually no more than about 18 to 20 (3 crews) at a time at the Hooch. We > were all in our flight suits, of course, and some were almost always > hatless, the flight cap folded flat and in one of the flight suit pockets - > usually a pocket down low at the side of a leg. > Occasionally a colonel, obviously with nothing important to do, would > come out to the Hooch and take names of crewmen not wearing hats. I never > knew what he did with the names. Now, all the B-52 crewmen I have known - > there were many during my 13 years in the BUFF - were highly dedicated, > highly professional, highly-motivated, well-educated and well-trained men - > not a slouch among them - some of the nation's best and brightest. Ages > ranged from about 25 to about 45; about 90% were officers in grades from > 1Lt through LtCol. Whether we wore the flight cap, or not, at the Hooch > had nothing to do with our dedication to duty, our professionalism, our > character, our military bearing, how well we did our jobs, etc. > Every night during the December, 1972, Linebacker II, B-52 bombing > campaign into the Hanoi area of N. Vietnam that led to ending the war, > there may have been as many as 75 or more crewmen at a time milling around > the parking lot and Hooch area waiting a few minutes between pre-mission > briefings and going out to their aircraft. Hat Colonel came out every > night taking names of men not wearing hats. We were all going off to war > in a few minutes; some have never returned. > There was always a flock of large ducks (probably about 15) also > milling around the Hooch begging for handouts. Just before getting on the > crew bus the night of Dec. 29, (as it turned out, the last night of the > BUFF missions to Hanoi), and soon after Hat Colonel had paid us his nightly > visit, I suddenly decided to have some fun with the ducks and Hat Colonel. > I asked someone to hold the door to the operations building open; I > enlisted additional help, and several of us rounded up the ducks and herded > them through the door. The last I saw of the ducks, they were waddling > down the hall into and past Hat Colonel's office doing their business. I > left Thailand the following night and never saw Hat Colonel nor the ducks > again. I've wished for more than 40 years, now, that I could have seen Hat > Colonel trying to get the ducks and their "business" out of his office. > > Wilton, LtCol, USAF, (Ret) > 13 years and 5000 hours in B-52's > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those > individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner > has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor. > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
