Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:11 | Rick Roll was aware of the war in Vietnam but it wasn't much in his thoughts. What he thought about was flying and he was getting his chance in the Army. Flight school turned out to be the most fun he ever had and he learned what it is that makes a good pilot.
Keywords : Rick Roll helicopter (chopper) pilot Vietnam flight school Fort Wolters Fort Rucker Bell UH-1 Iroquois (Huey) Panama City Beach
Rick Roll had two uncles who were airline pilots. When he told them he wanted to become a pilot, they both told him, do what we did. Let the military train you. So, while at Georgetown University he used ROTC as a way to make this happen.
Huey gunship pilot Rick Roll would scramble when ground troops were attacked. If a base was getting mortared, he would seek out the Viet Cong who were responsible and when a patrol was in contact in the field, he would suppress the enemy fire. After he sorted out the location of the combatants, of course.
As well as the Huey, Rick Roll also flew the smaller scout helicopters. These usually carried two people but when a platoon on the ground had an injured man, he landed, strapped the stretcher to the skids and directed the medic to come along to balance the weight. He flew out of there with four people, far beyond the supposed capabilities of the aircraft. This earned him the first of two DFCs.
