Experiences of a 68th AHC Pilot_by Ron Sheffield

Experiences of a 68th AHC Pilot

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Chapter 02 by Capt. Ron Sheffield Volley Ball 101

	The 68th Top Tigers officers barracks and bunker. Photo by WO Ed Sitzer Jan. 1968.
For a large view of this diagram see Ed's Photos under the Mustang section of this site.

In 1968, I was transferred within the 145^th Aviation Battalion because one of the companies was not doing well. There were three of us that were transferred into the 68^th AHC. I was sent there as the new gunship platoon leader. The previous platoon leader was not very brave and literally did not fly during TET. The crew chiefs and gunners were about to revolt. I walked into the unit thinking I would have a very difficult time. I didn’t and the officers and men of the platoon were absolutely great. They only needed a crazy idiot like me to lead them. Those 6 months was a very enjoyable time for me and we did great things and developed an unusual camaraderie.

We were still fighting pretty hard for several months after TET. We lifted both American and Vietnamese troops into hot and cold landing zones all over III Corps. We had just finished one of those 12-14 hour days and I was beat. Just to harass us, the Viet Cong would shoot rockets at Bien Hoa every so often. To counter the attacks, the US had a helicopter flying over the edge of War Zone D (a famous VC base camp and staging area). The rockets that hit us always came from War Zone D. The helicopter’s task was to fly a race track pattern to watch for the flashes of rocket launches and to engage the location with M-60 machine gun fire. They also gave Bien Hoa about 30 seconds warning that the base we had incoming and to head for the bunkers.

Most of the time the rockets landed on the far side of the Bien Hoa runway. After a while, most of us old timers would just roll over and go back to sleep because the rockets were no threat. On the night of this incident, the siren went off and I rolled over and went back into semi-sleep. I heard a few rockets hit over on the other side of the runway and said in my semi-awake/sleep state “No big deal”. Suddenly two rockets hit in the vicinity of our area and in the Special Forces area next to us. Right then and there it became much more important that I get to the bunker.

Since I had just moved to the 68^th Assault Helicopter Company, I hopped out of the left side of my bed as I had done in my previous unit. I hit the wall with a real jolt. Still half asleep and pumped up with adrenalin, I tried again with the same disastrous results. Being smarter than the average bear, I quickly figured out that the left side was not the exit side of the bed here. I hurriedly got into the standard rocket attack dress (BVDs, boots, helmet, and pistol) and moved smartly out my door. As I got about one half ways down the BOQ hall, another rocket hit very close to our bath room building. I went into afterburner and soon was running for the bunker at least at Mach 3. I exited the building, made a 90 degree right turn for the bunker, and all the while I am going flat out at maximum speed. I had forgotten one thing. A volleyball net was between me and the bunker. I hit the bottom of the net, which had a ¼” steel cable running through it. It was a sudden stop with my head thrown back after my face was planted into the net and my feet were thrust forward parallel to the ground. I next had the sensation of being thrown backward similar to a rock out of a slingshot. One minute there I was with my head into the volley ball net and my whole body parallel to the ground. The next minute I have been slung backwards by reaction of this volley ball net being stretched and am skipping across the ground on my fanny. After about three good bounces I skidded to a stop and quickly got to my feet and ran to the bunker. The two guys standing inside the door to the bunker are rolling with laughter. I didn’t think it was that funny at the time. Had the net been an inch lower it would have hit me in the Adam’s apple or two inches higher across my nose. Either one of those two cases could have been fatal. But God looks out for the fools and little kids. I will let you guess which category I was in.

Ten minutes after I had hit the net and got into the bunker, the “all clear” siren is sounded and we went back to sleep.

Next morning I get lots of funny looks from people as I walked into the mess hall. You see on my face was the strangest looking pattern you have even seen. There is a dark red mark on my chin and red squares on my face. When someone got enough nerve to ask me what happened, I promptly said “I went to sleep under the volley ball net yesterday and got sunburned. Everyone shrugged and seemed to accept it as fact. Now think about this! My face is not red from sunburn only the squares and the line are red. I had also flown 12 hours with these same guys the day before. I guessed it wasn’t important so it didn’t get questioned. Actually I think the two guys that stood in the bunker door had already spilled the beans.

I thought about giving up volley ball for good after that—but decided against it. I did react differently when the “incoming” siren sounded from that day until the day I left. In fact we got very few incoming rockets after that.

However, I got even with the volley ball net. I had hit it so hard that it bent the poles in toward the center. It took a 2 1/2 ton truck to straighten the poles. Take that volley ball net!

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Author information goes here.Copyright © 2004 68thahc.com. All rights reserved.Revised: June 29, 2012 .

Author information goes here.
Copyright © 2004 68thahc.com. All rights reserved.
Revised: June 29, 2012 .