Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:48 | For the second half of Rick Roll's Vietnam tour he was the personal pilot for the legendary John Paul Vann, who tried to get him to re-up and keep flying for him. But he was ready to go home, never intending to make the military a career. For the rest of his enlistment he was an instructor pilot, passing along the lessons he learned in Vietnam.
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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.
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.
When he got to his Air Cavalry Troop, new helicopter pilot Rick Roll was selected for gunships. These Hueys carried a lot of firepower. The choppers were going to Vietnam aboard ship but he was part of an advance party who went ahead to train in country.
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.
Neil Sheehan's book, A Bright Shining Lie is considered the finest book on Vietnam by many of the veterans of that war. It is centered on the exploits of John Paul Vann, a former officer who returned as a civilian with USAID. Rick Roll became his personal helicopter pilot and relates his experiences with the legendary figure.
The Tet Offensive. Considered the turning point in the Vietnam War, what was a crushing defeat for the Viet Cong and the NVA somehow became a disaster on the evening news back home. Rick Roll laments that manipulation of the facts and lays out a plausible way we could have "won."
Helicopter pilot Rick Roll reveals what his favorite song was during his Vietnam years. He also has a striking plan for future wars, our robots versus their robots. A much better way to do it.
