A day in the life of a dust off pilot | Doug Petersen | TEDxSanAntonio

yesterday was Veterans Day and you probably all heard the definition of a veteran is someone who has at some point in their life written a check payable to the United States of America and the amount of up to including his or her life let me take you on an actual mission with me it may have been a Tuesday or perhaps Sunday it's hard to remember since there are no weekends in war what I do remember it was another hot muggy day late 1970 in Vietnam my callsign in Vietnam was dust off three four and we are first up meaning we would be launched for the next medical evacuation mission in our area of operation usually multiple times a day and night the mission horn sounded we were off the whole crew is now sprinting to the helicopter within two minutes we are airborne the mission came across the radio one us critical hoist required coordinates Yankee tango three two zero one two zero contact tango two two on for 7.30 those words on the radio meant there was an injured American soldier needing to be extracted out of the jungle of Vietnam and taken to a medical facility for treatment the callsign for the unit in the jungle was tango two to the pickup zone was about forty miles east of our location we need to clear a route through the artillery fire bases making those radio calls the flight path was good when we were in the general vicinity at a safe altitude from small-arms fire we radioed tango 2 to asking about the situation the status of the patient and enemy contact tango 2 - this is Dustoff 3 for pop smoke this many was to mark his position with a smoke grenade - two cherry I radio back to tango to to as the red smoke fill traded up through the jungle canopy we use kool-aid flavors to identify the smokes color crew briefing done approach path selected the crew ready we made a rapid descent from our current altitude down to the top of the jungle canopy things begin to progress rapidly from this point on one radio we were talking to gunships in the area on the second radio we were talking to tango - - and as we approached the treetops of the jungle the crew went hot mic so we didn't have to press the little talk button to communicate with each other since we couldn't land to pick up the injured American we were abusing our hoist to lower a cable and jungle penetrator down to the ground to bring the wounded soldier up to the helicopter hovering around the top of the jungle looking for the remaining smoke filtering through the jungle canopy we were talking to tango - tui is giving us directions to his location and then the under suitable sound of an ak-47 rang out to prove shouted we're taking fire we're taking hits and tango - - shouted get out of here dust off three four the mission changed in an instant the warning lights in our cockpit began to come on and the pressure gauges began to fall below acceptable limits we needed to find a place the land before we crashed into the jungle the arteries of our Huey were severed leaking engine oil transmission in hydraulic fluid and fuel the mission now was to get my crew to safety a couple thousand metres away was a clearing and we headed for it the engine could quit at any moment so each minute counted we had no idea it was occupied by the Vietcong or not it was our only choice Mayday Mayday Mayday dust off three four going down west of Yankee tango three two zero one two zero Mayday Mayday Mayday dust off three four going down was transmitted over the emergency frequency what seemed like an eternity after making our emergency landing and that clearing other helicopters were now circling overhead another American troops surrounded us until we could safely be extracted out about an hour later thousands of these missions were conducted just like this one day after day night after night and good weather were bad by 21 and 22 year old young man just like you and me it just didn't stop these crews from doing their mission the great words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy are so true today a nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men at honors the medic remembers these are the heroes of the Vietnam War and their names are carved on a black granite wall in Washington DC there are over 50 8,300 heroes on that wall whose check was cashed with their life in honor of Veterans Day and every other day I salute my fellow veterans for your service to our great country [Applause] you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 200,484

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, United States, Life, Military, War

Id: vqqLfIxx1F0

Length: 6min 17sec (377 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 11 2017