Graywolf88

I don't think it really mattered which engine was started first on the E-models. We hardly every had any ground power units in-country and usually started engines with the GTC if we even shut them down at all for loading or off loading. If any engines were shut down at forward fields it was usually the 2 outboard engines. The engine start procedure in the check list is what was supposed to be the correct sequence, but after all these years I just do not remember what it was. It seems like it was 2/1/3/4. Some of the other models could have had different procedures for some of the reasons already listed.

It is done. The VA changed my status today with no questions and no problems. Yep, I realize the VA and/or the congress is probably sneaking up behind us all right now with another long purple shaft, but I am celebrating this small victory for the time being!

Spare 617 has gone to the USAF Museum. I just posted the link in the News Forum. Col. William Cauldwell was at the ceremony welcoming Spare 617 to the USAF Museum. http://www.historynet.com/storied-c-130e-goes-to-usaf-museum.htm I replaced Charley Shaub on Capt. Cauldwell's crew 1972. Flew with him for several months until he DEROSed out of CCK.

Spare 617 is now on display at the USAF Museum. Col. Cauldwell who brought her back to Ton Sun Nhut officiated at the ceremony. Happy to see that she finally got a place of honor. http://www.historynet.com/storied-c-130e-goes-to-usaf-museum.htm Col. Cauldwell in his younger days when he was Capt. Bill, best pilot I ever had the pleasure of flying with! (not to take anything away from any of the other fine pilots that flew for the 776 TAS) Congratulations to Col. Caulwell and Spare 617! http://www.troopcarrier.org/spare617.html Spare 617 was the call sign. Tail # on that bird is 62-1787.

OK, quick update here...... I think I am making some progress now. Today the mailman brought me a DD-215 which adds the Vietnam Cross with palm leaf and the Vietnam Expeditionary Medal to my DD-214. Already had a Vietnam Service Medal on my DD-214, but that was not acceptable to the Veterans Administration as proof of "boots on the ground" in Vietnam. I had paperwork of my own and had copies from the records office in St. Louis. Have had the paperwork where the VSM and the VEM both came from the Squadron Awards and Decs office signed and dated. Had flight records showing well over 200 combat missions in Vietnam with more than 800 combat sorties. This was not proof for the VA. They would not even look at the paperwork I had from St. Louis nor any of the other piles of paperwork some of which included travel vouchers showing months on the ground at Ton Sun Nhut and other s**t holes in country. The VA just kept handing me a pile of papers that related to service with the Navy flying off of ships in the Tonkin Gulf. When I informed them that C-130s did not normally fly off of ships they said it didn't matter. If the correct information was not on the DD-214 or a DD-215 that I was not considered "boots on the ground", a term that I had never heard of before dealing with the Veterans Administration. I tried going through the Veterans Service Office at the VA and then tried filing for corrected DD-214 through the County Veterans Service Office in my home county. A year or two went by and seemed to be getting nowhere. I wrote to the Member of the House of Representatives who serves my district and some things started happening. Had to fill out and send in a lot more requests and copies of paperwork, but slowly the requests worked their way through the maze of admin and different offices until I now have in my hands the DD-214 with a DD-215 correction to the original DD-214. I plan to take that to the admin office at the local VA tomorrow and try to get them to correct my VA status again ........ if they have not changed the rules again in the years it took me to get the corrections. Tomorrow I take the DD-215 to admin office at the VA and if they do not accept as they said they would I have the phone number of the House of Representatives local office in my cell phone. The call will be made standing in the VA admin office. The advice I have to other veterans or active duty is never throw away any paperwork and if the VA does not have your status correct start on it early and keep at it. I would not recommend even bothering with the VA Veteran Service Office. The people in there work for the same organization that the administrator who denied your claim works for. Some of the county veteran service offices might be better at getting results than mine was, but only by going through the local office of my member of the United States House of Representatives was I able to get the paperwork through. I will not put the name on this forum to avoid any political involvement, but my Representative will be getting a letter of thanks and any boost in the upcoming elections that I can give. Always was a Vietnam Veteran to everyone except the Veterans Administration and maybe soon will be one to that bureaucratic entanglement.

Yep, I was sober at the time. Got it in Lake City, FL about 10 or 12 years ago. Just stopped in the place with another biker who was getting some ink done. I was impressed by how clean the place was and the young kid did some dang good detail work. Scheduled that for the next time he had an opening. He done it right. That is one I won't lose in the file cabinet or a shoe box. He got the details from a picture of an E model on the Internet.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4241[/ATTACH] How is this for some old Loady stuff?

C-130 Aircrew Losses 04/29/02 .....saved section of the report. [ATTACH=CONFIG]4240[/ATTACH] I have no comments on what they may or may not have done. None of the stories seems very strange when we flew in an insane place almost every day. I have the full 04/29/02 C-130 Aircrew Losses Report in HTML format.

You could be right. I may have some old pictures somewhere with a tail in them, but would have to really hunt through some shoe boxes and they would be pretty faded. Not likely to find that particular bird out of the flock we used. If I knew Al Gore was gonna invent the Internet, I would have took better pictures.

Thanks BGunn! Got them saved. Got a lot more stuff to put up. Will try to get to work on it after the week end. Good stuff! All real history!

Already done. Thanks!

Roger dat......... found a few more news clippings I can upload too. I will hold off until it gets here and put it all up together. No problem to mark off another section and add more.

Yeah, if you got old clippings from the CCK period send them to me. I can add more, but I have to FTP them to the server. If you can scan them in and put them on a photo website it will work. Give me a link to the pictures and I can get them on with the other news clippings. Pictures will need to be large size to read the old news print. I will make thumbnails for them before I put them on line. Sent you a PM. The news clippings are also linked from the 776 TAS history and info website that I put on line in 2004. That website has links at the bottom to Sam McGowan's Anloc Airdrops story and the story that is on line about Charley Shaub. I replaced Charley on Capt. Cauldwell's crew after he got burned and Erik Hermanson replaced Jon Sanders. http://www.tanwater.com/776/

Is the club gonna get some cool looking patches with a Cucaracha on them made up to sew on my bike vest? Man, if you gonna start a club you gotta have a logo.........

Yeah, remember it well. I was there too. Loadmaster on some of the Anloc lows that put the holes in the sheet metal. Got a few holes through a radome too. Holed a few sheets of metal at Kontum. Might even have the tail numbers of some of the missions in an old log book. We got several other Loads that come on this forum who helped you stay employed in 72. Couple of the Engineers post here sometimes too, probably a few of the Drivers. Might still have some links to some of the old war stories about it that have been put on the Internet if you are haven't already seen them. I put some old news clipping from "The Airlifter", "Det 1 Report", and "Stars & Stripes" up on an Internet page. http://www.tanwater.com/834/dex2.html

Congratulations to all those who have become Vietnam BOG Veterans several decades late. Hope to join your club real soon. NDSM was always on my records and shows on DD-214. I never really worried much about how many battle stars on any other ribbons. Still using the ones that were on my uniform when I got back from CCK. If it had been awarded to 776 and it was required to be on the ribbons then it is still there. Only wear uniform occasionally for funerals anyway. Got records of other ribbons that should be on the uniform, but never had anybody tell me I was out of uniform because the ribbons were not on it. What they don't know won't hurt them.

Some of us kept little log books with info to file travel vouchers. Still got some of mine. Got my old flight records too, but nothing going back to 68. If you could find somebody with the right logs still in a box you might could get a little info, but only if they crewed your plane on that date. Not sure what the USAF has in their files.

Don't throw nothing away! VA here won't accept anything but a DD-215 with VEM or VN Cross on it as proof of BOG, but the travel vouchers will help. Got some of mine from St. Louis and some other paperwork. Took a lot of time to get them. Got a VSM on my 214, but that ain't good enough for the VA. USAF has issued a letter stating I was BOG and still working on the rest. Been years fighting this stuff. Got the office of my congressional representative pushing it now and still nothing the VA will accept yet. Hoping something will come through soon. Takes time to deal with the VA, so start early. From the instructions the VA gave me to resolve it they think I flew several hundred air drops off a carrier in the Tonkin with a C-130.

Only the last 3 show on the flight records. I got some 865 numbers on some flights in country in 70 and 72. Might be more, just scanned over the pages. Apparently drops or we broke her somewhere. Only showing one sortie. If she was with the 834th in TSN it might be the same plane. All I could give you would be dates, air time, and sorties on the missions we had her. We swapped birds most every mission. Had a lot of TDY birds brought in from different bases too. I was with 776 TAS out of CCK.

Know a couple who died of ailments on the AO list. Got a club for dealing with the VA when you was TDY from CCK to the TSN?

Looking for something in a desk drawer today and ran across this. CCK NCO Club used to give them out to members when you went back stateside.

Have not done anything on it lately except update the links. Got a link to this forum if anybody is looking for 776 refugees. Had a forum linked to it for a while, but it got to be too much of a job keeping the porn links deleted. If you put anything interactive on the web it gets hit hard with advertising links.

I was there 70-73 off and on. Not sure when the revetments were put in.

I am only about 60 miles north of Gville up near the FL / GA line. If there is anything I can do to help shoot me a PM. Got a little farm and a shack up here. Keep us posted.

Thanks......... got contacting congressman as backup plan. I am giving the local County Veterans Rep time for his request to work. It got me some of the paperwork that I did not have already. If the amended DD214 doesn't come in within 6 months of the request I go to the backup plan. VA doctors and medical personnel for the most part are doing a great job. It is the admin section that is not our friends. We are dealing with the peons who are just doing what they are told from higher up. That is never a good situation.