Poser question

[Gunz]

A guy outside the supermarket this morning was collecting money for some veteran's "outreach" program. He had a cap with a Vietnam Service Ribbon on it, silhouette of a Cobra gunship and the words: "AH-1 Cobra Crew Chief." I made some remark about AH-1s and he said: Yeah, I got shot down in Cambodia...didn't get hurt though, just scared. Hahaha. I thought AH-1s had a pilot (backseat) and a gunner (frontseat). Both officers or WOs. Where does the crew chief fit in?

 

[Raksasa Kotor]

A guy outside the supermarket this morning was collecting money for some veteran's "outreach" program. He had a cap with a Vietnam Service Ribbon on it, silhouette of a Cobra gunship and the words: "AH-1 Cobra Crew Chief." I made some remark about AH-1s and he said: Yeah, I got shot down in Cambodia...didn't get hurt though, just scared. Hahaha. I thought AH-1s had a pilot (backseat) and a gunner (frontseat). Both officers or WOs. Where does the crew chief fit in?

He's full of shit. There are two, maybe three scenarios I can think of where a crew chief would replace a rated crew member in a two seat aircraft, and none of them involve combat operations.

 

[pardus]

Check out the "outreach program" he is supposedly collecting for. If you don't find it via google, call the cops.

 

[Gunz]

Rog that. He looked like 200 pounds of shit in a 100 pound bag. I see these guys all the time.

 

[RetPara]

I spent a tour with a Cobra Bn in the mid-80s. Learned a lot there...
Like.... A large number of Senior NCO Avn Maint types have FAA hover tickets and a shit load of 'bootleg' hours.
In Nam, when there too many casualties in the WO/O aviation types, NCO's would be put in the front seat as gunners with 'real' pilots in the back flying. My source for that was a then Field Grade Avn Officer.... it was not something widely discussed or documented..... Like the pilots manning perimeter posts so the enlisted maint troops could work on the birds.

 

[Gunz]

...A large number of Senior NCO Avn Maint types have FAA hover tickets and a shit load of 'bootleg' hours.
In Nam, when there too many casualties in the WO/O aviation types, NCO's would be put in the front seat as gunners with 'real' pilots in the back flying....

That's why I didn't call him out. It was the "shot down in Cambodia" thing and the blowhard attitude got my BS detector going. Why does it always have to be Cambodia with these motherfuckers? I still think he's a poser. I went back the next day to ask him a few more specifics but he'd moved on.