J.T. McDaniel Official Website

During my time with the 308th I found myself associating with a lot of warrant officers. Besides flying helicopters, at least one of them in each unit was generally assigned to write up all the unit news, which would then be dropped off or called in to me at HHC. I'd do a little editing, then pass it on to the Group Public Information Office down in Da Nang. Some of the pieces would also go into the Black Adler Flyer, which came out once a week, printed on our old faithful mimeograph machine.

From Da Nang, I suppose, most of the stories moved on through the Army Public Information system, to eventually wind up in someone's hometown newspaper. The small weeklies were the primary consumers of these stories. The big papers didn't publish a lot of "home town" material. They got their war news from the AP and UPI correspondents in Viet Nam.

The warrant officers were, in general, a lot easier to get along with than a lot of the junior officers. Most of them hadn't planned on flying anything when they joined up—or were drafted. Sometime during Basic Training someone would have visited their unit and given a little talk on the Army's need for helicopter pilots, maybe even hinting that the best of those who entered the training program might get to fly airplanes instead.

Anyone who was interested could take a fairly simple written test. If they passed that, they'd go for a Class One physical. If they got through that—and a lot didn't—and their Basic CO approved their application, they'd be off to Fort Rucker and flight school once they completed Basic.

So, mostly, these were young guys who had expected to be doing something entirely different. Most of the draftees had started their service with the reasonable expectation of wandering around the jungle with a rifle, and now they were getting to fly around in some very expensive toys. A warrant officer's rank fell into a sort of limbo between enlisted and commissioned rank. Warrant officers are specialists, highly skilled in a particular job. Before helicopters and the Army's need for lots of pilots, most warrant officers were found in Supply, the Finance Corps, or leading Army bands.

One obvious difference was the way they were addressed. Commissioned officers were always either "Sir," or "Captain Edwards." (Did I just remember one right?) Warrant officers were addressed as "Mr. Jones."

Mr. Jones was a young CW2 who dropped in on me from time to time with the latest news out of LZ Sally. One day he came in just a little upset. It seems someone had killed his pet VC.

The enemy in question, it turned out, was a VC sniper who used to sit at the end of the field and take shots at the Hueys as they took off and landed. "He was a really lousy shot," Mr. Jones explained. "He's been out there for several months and I don't think he's ever managed to hit anything. Having this guy trying to shoot you down was a little like being hunted by Elmer Fudd—except Elmer was a better shot.

"So, last week we get this new kid assigned to the unit as a door gunner on Mr. Hart's slick. First time up with the new kid, our pet sniper starts shooting and this kid figures he's John Wayne and opens up with his M-60.

"Well, the sniper couldn't shoot, but it turned out the kid could. He got the poor bastard with his first burst. So, okay, for a few days everything was quiet. Then yesterday the VC found themselves a new guy and stuck him in the usual place. The little f*** put a dozen rounds in my tail the first day.

"Well, right now the kid who killed the first guy isn't very popular. I guess no one ever taught him one of the basic lessons. If you've got a bad guy out there who a general screwup, leave him the hell alone. You kill him and they're just liable to replace him with someone who knows what he's doing!"