Nick Riviezzo
07-04-2010, 02:39
My second tour in "the Nam" was my first as a pilot. I was assigned to the 162nd. Assault Helicopter Company at Phouc Vinh. I was ,at the time,a new WO-1 and one of the first replacements to that unit. They had been in country about 2 1/2 months and were loaded down with Majors.I very quickly became a gunship pilot and then a fire team leader. Our CO was a great commander and hard charger of the "old school". Ltc. Kirklighter,"The Red Baron", was the sort that you would charge hell with a bucket of water if he said,"let's go!"One day he called me in to his office and told me that he knew I had an uncle in the Signal Battalion near Saigon and asked me to see if I could get him to help us with re-wiring our little compound.The Col. ,CO, of the 40th Signal Battalion at Long Binh was in charge of all the electrical works going into the "Pentagon East", the new huge American Headquarters Complex, being built at Long Binh[1966-67].So, I went to visit my Uncle Albert, the Sergeant Major of the Bn.My uncle Albert set me up with the Bn. CO who told me he needed the "unlimited" use of a Huey helicopter for two afternoons so that he could get good aerial photos of the construction project to send to Washington to his superiors.Then he[the Col.] would see that we got "what we needed".To shorten the story a little, he got what he wanted and we started receiving poles,pole setting equipment, wire, and a field wiring crew for close to 3 weeks! The compound got "professionally"wired[to include street lights] and I got another "project". Ltc Kirklighter said,"Mr.R. you did a great job but now we need some generators[all we had at the time was a small emergency generator,maybe a 35 or 50 KW, to run the entire compound]I'll not incriminate myself or any other actors in malfeasence but I will say the U.S. Air Force,bless their souls, really didn't miss those TWO big yellow and blue beauties [I don't remember but I think they were 125 KW each]'cause they were sitting in a supply yard doing nothing when they were last seen being sling loaded south by two Chinook helicopters with "indistinguisable markings".[Our compound was 100 miles North!!] They really did look better in OD green and black[not so garish ya know!] and MAN did we have power to run everything and then some,You Bet!!!My stock was up,respect in all eyes[probably because of the refrigerators and air conditioners operating all over the compound,including the Enlisted hootches].Just a little sidelight in the "horrors" of war, and yes,there were those bad times too.I can't close this without saying[then] Col. Kirklighter died in California in the early '70s.I don't know the cause. I do know he was one of the finest Commanders I ever served under and that unit was the best I was ever in,except maybe some of the ones it was my priviledge to command later.Col. Kirklighter was the driving force in my receiving a "battlefield commision" in RVN.It was ,and still is a rare occasion. RIP Red Baron. Nick