This is Jockel Podcast number 275 with Echo Charles and me, Jockel Willink.

Good evening, Echo.

Good evening.

I have thought about writing this for the past 48 years.

As I wrote, I felt it was important to relate to those great soldiers that made this such a great company.

We all have a journey in life with many crossroads, curves and offshoots.

The synergistic effect created by individual journeys coming together at this point in time,

at this location created an organization that truly stood above the rest.

The quality of an organization ebbs and flows with the quality of the leadership and the dedication,

personalities and expertise of the individual's present at a particular time.

During this time period, I witnessed the synergism of the unit only increase further with each passing month.

This story is important so that people know who the helicopter crews were and what they were asked to do and did.

In 1964 and 1965, the Army ramped up the Warren Officer candidate program to meet the expanding need for helicopter pilots in Vietnam.

Between 1965 and 1971, 44,000 Warren Officer cadets were awarded flight wings.

Most were high school graduates and some had some college.

The average age of pilots, crew chiefs and door gunners was 20 years old.

Badly needed, they were trained quickly and given enormous responsibility to maintain a very complex piece of equipment.

Our aircraft were not as sophisticated as the machines today, but the UH1D and the UH1H models were exceptional.

Forgiving war courses without which this war could not have been waged.

Of the 5,000 UH1 helicopters that went to Vietnam starting in 1962, over 3,300 were destroyed in combat.

This undeclared war also could not have been waged without the young men that supported, maintained and crewed these aircraft.

The average age of pilots and crews 20 years old, 3,300 out of 5,000 helicopters lost in combat.

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