Vietnam Voices: 'I certainly did not expect to be sent to a combat theater' 

Please sir, continue this series if possible, even if you have to branch out outside of the area of Billings, you do a very good job with these interviews.

Finally, a Vietnam vet pointing out what I have always thought about the panhandlers. I wish they would attach their DD-214 to their cardboard signs. I bet the majority are not veterans🇺🇸

Thanks you for your service Greg. Great insights into what it was like to be a pilot in the early and prime time war in Vietnam. God bless you and your family.

This is interview and Douglas Kern is the best, Salute to everyone that serve in Vietnam and came back alive

"Total War" vs "Limited War" analysis totally spot on!

Thank You For Your Service Mr. Childs, I was on an ATC base in the early 80s, I remember the the simulator building , a lot of the trainees would wash out of the school, if they crashed a simulator twice , they would never see a real Plane. We maintained the Large Water Chillers that Air Conditioned the whole building including the simulator cockpits.

I can’t imagine what it would take to rattle this pilot! Everything he explains was no big deal. I know as a soldier that’s exactly what I would want for sky support! It’s calming to know when you’re knee deep in the s**t, that the person your reaching out to for support is cool as a cucumber! It really does change the mission attitude to “we’ve got this” especially with chopper pilots! (True story!)Thank you for your service sir, welcome home!

I watch a video every night Love the interviewer… Badass

The food is still good. Sanitation is VERY much improved. Parts of Saigon now are much like downtown Hong Kong, or Singapore, or Taipei. I've spent over a year over there in 8 trips since '96. Things have changed dramatically since my first trip in '96. I doubt you would recognize anything from the sixties. Great interview. Thank you for your service.

Really have enjoyed this series of interviews. Did a very good job.

I started watching this round of Nam interviews last night and until this particular man he was the first USAF pilot I'd seen. Aside from one man who I picked just for his last name cuz a friend of mine who recently died shared a last name. It was a good interview and I enjoyed listening to his stories.

Sounds like he was involved with Operation Dumbo Drop. Never thought I'd be hearing about the elephant transfer on these interviews. What a great experience & story to have lived out. Being stuck in asphalt and having to use all that torque to get out of it was very interesting also.

Perforated steel planking not pierced. Better known as PSP. I did ground ops doing engine running offloads & onloads to avoid charlie hitting them with mortars while on the ground. That was in 1969 at a remote location. We also worked C-123 and C-7 Caribous. Including Australian Caribou's which is how I was introduced to Fosters Lager.

These interviews are so interesting I find myself at work during lunch watching these

Thanks for your service

THANK YOU GREG !

I loved the Herc. Just a versatile workhorse, it does everything from tanker and cargo, to paratrooper delivery and fire support from the AC130.

I love this ish. My pops was in the war and he don’t talk about it, other than wacky anecdotes.

Amazing stories. Love these guys

Thank you Greg for your service

Welcome home Mr. Childs, welcome back to the world.

You gotta love guys like this❤️

C130's were awesome. I was on the flight line one day when we all heard this ungodly roar. Looked over and saw a C130 climbing almost straight up. One of our crew chiefs was taxiing his plane and had his radio on. He had heard atc ask the 130 pilot if he was gonna put his wheels down to land.

The man nailed it about the middle east!

Well this guy for the most part had it made in Vienam. So when he belittles a lot of ground pounders who went through hell in Vietnam he doesn't have a clue what he is talking about.

Thank for your service! We need Statesmen not politicians in our government, people who protect our freedom thank God for these military heroes !

Thank You for your service SIR!

Right on brother thanks

Moving Elephants in flight-great stuff!

Amen on your summation

at times Greg reminds me of Woody Harrelson in No Country for Old Men

Outstanding interviewer,

Terrific Ring Tone at 32:00!! 56:56 Hank Senior. Terrific tune...

I started my air force career on c130 aircraft. Naha AFB Okinawa. We hauled every thing for the war effort. (Water Buffalo)

Man, echos of my father, a WWII veteran. He was incensed that the US Government was using our young men as cannon foder. He felt it was criminal to expect our service members to "fight a war" by anything more than the Geneva Convention (even that he said we couldn't expect the enemy to adhere to but we needed to be better). He would say repeatedly we couldn't possibly expect to win in Vietnam because the damned politicians kept interfering.

fyi: One Ton = 2000 us pounds. (2) 3-ton elephants = 12000 pounds

1:00:57 interesting about asian pilots being computer programmers not real "look out the window" pilots.

when the interviewer said at the end ".. and everybody who is listening.. " that's for me :D I'm listening :D

C130, affectionately called "The Trash hauler".

Andes: Mt Aconcagua is 23 thousand feet above MSL. That means that at 24 thousand you would not look up.

I said the same thing in ‘68, usmc 3/6

This guy ever drop at Khe Sanh Vietnam.

Imagine being 20 something flying anything let alone a hercules

His comment about the scumbags in SF Hits home with me ! Gladly I used self control ! I just wanted out ! Interesting story from a interesting Man !

Interviewert times answers his own questions, changes the question in the middle o a sentence, adds another one or two... pauses nnously like he wa improvising ...

Total war or no war, Makes sense.

I like that Hank Williams. A friend of mine graduated Drake High class of 74 went in the Air Force as enlisted and worked on gauges . It was’t long before He was a Infrared scope opertor on a Spectre C-130 out of Thailand , then advanced to Flight Engineer in the C-5 Galaxy. Also went into commercial while staying in the reserves and later worked as a Sheriff in Kansas. Right on about those hippie loser’s they are all over in America and other countries . The are not unique to the US . My Nephew was Air Force Security in Iraq doing convoy duty in the turret of a Humvee behind a 50 Cal. Machine Gun. And got a good Job as a health inspector in Las Vegas . One of My Sons went joined the Army out of High School after 911 and served in Iraq as a Paramedic. On reenlistment He chose to try for Special Forces and Made it in. He became a Special Forces “Doc”. He loves the Army and said they have really good schools and anyone will get out of it what they put in. Then there are guys like the Gulf war vet who was a Mechanic and turned into a civilian Meth dealer up around Placerville and He a a scurvy crew robbed My Brother’s cabin like a bunch of Gadangars , taking Hundreds of thousand worth of heavy equipment , generators , motorcycles , anything not rooted in the Ground , they used the tractors to move massive metal lathes from the property of a old Navy Veteran who had been a machinist and was moved off His property before passing away. Someone had inside intelligence from the county on that and staged the theft before the County was due to clean up the property. When they were tracked down , the first thing those wet blankets did is cry PTSD. It didn’t stop them from running a homeless encampment for their clients and a sex dungeon too. The cops Did them a favor . If I was to do as I wanted They would have taken long rides on symbian machines equipped with electric cattle prods. That Hippie at the Airport is probably telling everyone He was a member of MACV and a code talker.

T-38 is a slick machine

3 tons 60,000 lbs ???? i sure wouldn't want to fly with this character lol

Very smart man

That boom was wicked many soldiers lost their food in the field when they were new and a plane flew past. Awfully funny

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I thought his comment about some of the vets who suffered with PTSD being losers was a bit narrow minded. Way more complicated than that

I can’t believe the comment about “losers”; skilled pilot, zero humility, not bright enough to think about the diversity of people’s paths and the thousands who will be looking for his you know what; and if your all that see the dentist.

I watched these veteran interviews bcoz my late father fought the jungle fights way back in the 1950-60 against the communist. It's not easy to fight in the tropical jungle, the ambushed took place with the enemy is shooting you from a distant of 30-50 ft. In most case, the first fire will kill someone. At that point of time, my late father was in his 18 years of age when he join the infantry. He had a 10 years in the front line, before he change into a non combatant outfit. In 1950-70s is the time communism is spreading like wild fire. Trust me, what these American soldiers have done could have stop that spread of communist ideology.

His comments about the hippy at the airport was highly suspect and the critical comments about those who really fought in the war as scum bags is easy to say from a guy that was never shot at and could order a t-bone stake at will. You should have cut the last 5 minutes and did this guys memory a favor.

Man's man

Where are the grunts. All i find are pilots navy medics im want to hear stories of ppl in the shit

A bit weird hearing a pilot - fairly far removed from the actual face-to-face killing that the grunts did - berate the men who fought in the lines and suffered through their lives for that. Typical POG stuff I guess.

This interviewer takes FOREVER to stammer through a question. Is it just me or does anyone else agree? I flew '53's in the Navy and used to get fuel from the Herc's. Flying left seat and plugging on the right side of the Herc was unnerving, second to flying at the boat on a moonless night. Awesome! They were losers when they went over and they were losers when they came back. Vietnam didn't do that to them.

Interesting guy to listen to, but his math is way off. Two, 3 ton elephants don't weigh 60,000 pounds each. Try 6,000 lbs. ;~}

all good except the blanket generalization of "losers" ....a view he made from 15000' above the war

A trash hauler

Oh my god his view on homeless people is so disgusting

THIS IS THE ONLY C UNT IN TH E SERIES

What separates these clowns from the vets of ww2 is ,their elders knew that victory was possible and they believed in it...these vets echo the protesters of their involvement,they are no better then the protesters .The south could of won if we as a people stood true to those values we say we stand for.BUT WE FELL SHORT AS A PEOPLE and as a result ,those in the south....the millions that believed in us,paid the price along with those Americans who paid the ultimate price.Those people are the only ones worth interviewing....not those who went over and did nothing.