27. Secret Military History

1975-0615, Aviation, Helicopters in Vietnam.
11,827 Helicopters Sent.
5,086 Helicopters Destroyed.
40,000 Helicopter Pilots Sent.
2,202 Helicopter Pilots KIA.
2,704 Non-Pilots KIA in Helicopters.

1975-0615, Quartermaster, Army Mechanical Hair Clippers.
Ouch! How could an organization that places importance on proper hair grooming buy and give an NSN to a manual hair clipper machine? the dangerous spring-loaded stainless-steel clippers would just yank hair out by the roots. The contraption looked like a combination brass knuckles and hedge clipper. Every unit in the Army had a pair but they were never used.

1975-0615. VD, VD Rates from WW1 to Vietnam.
VD has always been a major cause of non-battle-related military non-effectiveness in war.
VD Cases per 1,000 Men per Year:
WW1 87
WW2 49
Korean War 146
Vietnam War 325

1975-0717, The World’s Most Scandalous Helicopter Crash.
At 0200 hours an MP noticed inappropriate conduct in the 82nd Aircraft Medical Evacuation Company (MEDIVAC), Ft Riley, Kansas. Thru a curtain less window of the crew quarters a girl, SGT Janet Winter was naked on a bunk giving 1LT Jimmie L. Reynolds oral sex, SP4 Mark T. Francis, SP5 Manuel E. Moore, SP5 Robert Barker & SP5 Danny A. Marshall watching, taking their turns.
SGT Winter, a medic was a very tall blonde of average appearance, 160-pounds. The five men involved in this sex scandal were all married, pilots & crew on overnight standby. SGT Winter’s husband was a SGT a helicopter mechanic in the 335th Assault Helicopter Company.
He was also very tall, about 6’ 3”, 220-pounds, brown hair.
Just days after they were caught, the five men were given letters of reprimand & transferred to the 335thand the 701st Maintenance Battalion. SGT Winter was busted down to PFC. One after another, they all got their pink slips telling them they had 90-days to clear post.
They were being chaptered out of the military under the Reduction in Force (RIF) program.
Six weeks after the scandal, on July 17, 1975 a UH-1H helicopter from the 701st, with six Soldiers on board was out looking for a secluded area to land & have a party. The crew consisted of five men, the same men who were caught having sex with the PFC Winter. In the copilot’s seat sat PFC Winter, she was naked & @ the controls. The soldiers had all received their RIF orders & were throwing themselves a going away party. PFC Winter was the entertainment. It was fun buzzing boats & seeing their reaction when they saw a naked female @ the controls. The crew was looking forward to an afternoon of food, beer & sex. While flying
@ low level, over the water the aircraft crashed into Milford Lake, drowning 1LT Reynolds, SP4 Francis & SP5 Moore. Three soldiers survived the crash SP5 Barker, SP5 Marshall & PFC Winter. PFC Winter, had the easiest time swimming to shore, she was naked, she was naked before the helicopter crashed.
About a month later, @ 0300-hours an MP was driving around Marshall Airfield, when he noticed a fire beneath a UH-1H helicopter parked near the 82nd Company, HQ. The fire was arson. Everybody suspected the arsonist was a family member of the three dead men. The MPs did not seem to investigate the damaged $4,000,000 helicopter very closely. MPs talk, they all knew the real story. The arsonist was never found.
PFC Winter disappeared, nobody knew where she went. SGT Winter, her husband, was transferred from Fort Riley to Camp Humphries, Korea.
Author’s Note: On 2015-0616, I had the Junction City, Kansas library research this article for me. I paid them $100.


1975-1231, War, KIA in Vietnam:
1965 1,863
1966 6,144
1967 11,153
1968 16,589
1969 11,614
1970 6,083
1971 2,357
1972 759
1973 68
1974 1
1975 62
KIA By Service Type:
Regular Military 34,464
Drafted 17,672
Reservist 5,758
National Guard 97
Officers 7,878
Enlisted 50,306
Youngest: PFC Dan Bullock 15
Oldest MSG Kenna Taylor 62
Army 38,209
Marines 14,838
AF 2,584
Navy 2,555
Coast Guard 7
Total KIA 58,178
Medals of Honor 153
3,800 K9 Dogs served in Vietnam, 230 were KIA.
600 Total military females served in Vietnam all nurses, 1 was KIA.
The draft did not target the working class or minorities. The demographics of troops deployed to Vietnam were close to a reflection of the demographics of the US at the time:
88 percent of troops deployed to Vietnam were Caucasian.
11 percent were colored.
01 percent were of other races.
The 1970 census estimated the colored population of the US at 11-percent.
76 percent of those who served did come from working-class backgrounds, but this was a time when most troops had a high school education, compared with enlisted men of wars past, among whom only half held a high school diploma. Wealthier families could enroll in college for a draft deferment
Most of the men who fought in Vietnam were not drafted they volunteered. 78-percent of the men who fought in Vietnam volunteered to join the military. Of the 9 million troops who served in the military between 1965 and 1973, only two million were drafted. Three million of those in the military fought in Vietnam at this time. Only 25-percent of that three million were drafted and 30-percent of the combat deaths in the war were draftees.
Vietnam Veterans are not crazy, homeless, drug users. There is no difference in drug usage between Vietnam Veterans and non-Vietnam Veterans of the same age group. 97-percent of Vietnam vets hold honorable discharges and 85-percent of Vietnam Veterans made successful transitions to civilian life. The unemployment rate for Vietnam vets was only 4.8-percent in 1987, compared to the 6.2-percent rate for the rest of America.


1977-0101, Gender, Women in the Male Barracks Test.
The US Army in Germany conducts a five-month barrack visitation test. Females will be allowed inside the barracks between 1800 and 2100. The plan will be strictly supervised by unit leadership. Soldiers must keep the barracks room door open 36-inches if a member of the opposite sex present. Soldiers may now have one bottle of liquor or a six-pack of beer in the room.
1977-0715, Barracks, Test Fails:
The experiment in Germany is a failure. Rick Atkinson's book, the Long Gray Line describes the results: Barracks were dark, dangerous hovels filled with beer cans, drunken Soldiers, leaders were afraid to enter the barracks after duty hours. Females who frequented the barracks under the test were found to be either hookers or promiscuous local women.

1977-0112, UCMJ, MP Murders Three Teenagers.
An MP murdered three teenagers and the attempted murder of a fourth. The military policeman, SPC Johnny Lee Thornton, was convicted of kidnap, rape, assault with intent to kill and murder. Plaintiffs are Juanita Ann Deckard, the only survivor of the incident and the parents of deceased victims Anthony Lee Bates, Wesley Hawkins, and Linda Needham.
Thornton was a military policeman assigned to the Game Warden Section of the Provost Marshal Office at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. All the facts which form the basis of the present action occurred on the Fort Leonard Wood Military Reservation in Pulaski County, Missouri.
Thornton stopped a car in the training area he ordered the two males, Bates, and Hawkins, to get out of the car. He handcuffed Bates and Hawkins' hands behind their backs and placed the two youths in the back seat of the MP jeep. Then, without provocation, Thornton shot Anthony Lee Bates and Wesley Hawkins through the chest with his military issue 45-caliber pistol as they sat handcuffed in the back seat of the jeep.
After shooting Bates and Hawkins, Thornton ordered Juanita Ann Deckard and Linda Needham into the jeep and took them to a cabin on a remote part of the Army base. He then forcibly raped the women and forced them to commit oral sodomy upon each other and to commit oral sodomy upon him. Afterwards, Thornton shot the two women. He then buried all four victims in the snow and left them for dead. Anthony Lee Bates, Wesley Hawkins, and Linda Needham died as a result of the gunshot wounds inflicted by Thornton. Juanita Ann Deckard was the only survivor of Thornton's attack.
SPC Thornton was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life.
2016-0720, Hat tip to Stephen Shaw who found this article for me. I had been looking for this for years.