BAMBI                                                              Denny Turner


WO "Ritchie" (Richard Richardson if I remember correctly) and I were assigned an afternoon mission to go do recon along the small valley rivers just south of the marshlands out west of Bao Loc.  When we finished the uneventful recon we heard another Stallion on the radio close by and decided the 2 ships would meet up and go up to the wetlands and see if we could bring back one of the HUGE deer that frequented there in herds, for the messhall.  We met up with the other ship and it was decided they would provide cover at altitude while we went down and shot a deer in the herd below.


So down we went, I'm flying Peter Pilot / Co-Pilot on the right side, slowing to a right side-slip as we approached the now running herd so the Door Gunner could get us a deer with his door's M60 machine gun.  BA-DA-DA..... gun jammed.  So I swung around in a left slip while Ritchie took the controls and the CE (Crew Chief) could finish the job.  BA-DA-DA-DA..... GUN JAMMED !  JEEEZ.  The Door Gunner said swing around to his side again and he would get one with his M16.  Brrrrrrt Brrrrrt Brrrrrt Brrrrrt ... one clip.  Brrrrrt Brrrrt Brrrrrt Brrrrrt ... the other clip taped "69" to the first.  SHEEEEEEIT ... can't believe it ... not one single deer fell.  Ritchie said we'd been down there long enough and we should dee-dee-mau (leave).  I said steer me up to that one running right there, and commenced to pull my .38 out from my crotch holster.  Ritchie laughed yea yea as I hung my .38 out the window, arm bent 90 degrees at the elbow resting on the top edge of the side window (remember, it didn't go down all the way).  Ritchie put me right on top of a big fat one.  POP POP POP; ..... THE FRIGGIN DEAR DID A SUMMERSAULT SPLASH INTO THE SWAMP with a few last jerks of life.  I pulled my pistol in, blew across the barrel and said "got'em".  Now I honestly knew there was no way in hell that a .38 pee-shooter would bring down a cow like that even if I had a dead still straight shot at him ... so we all laughed and realized that the deer just finally ran out of gas to one of the door guns' previous rounds.


So both ships landed and 5 of us managed to get that cow into the back of our Huey.  It weighed in at the messhall over 500 lbs!  Did I say COW?  We took it back to the messhall, although the several thousand dollars it would bring in the village was discussed.  Well, ...I should say THEY took it to the messhall;  As soon as we got back to Bao Loc from the mission I was told on the radio to get my stuff and get on the Huey leaving right then for our home base at Dong Ba Thin ..... as while we were out on the mission, the lab results from my stinging chicken had come back and I would be grounded for a few days of tetracycline.


Several days later Ritchie came back to DBT and rubbed in how delicious the deer steaks were ...... and the surprise to all that the only round in him was a .38 that shattered his shoulder and severed an artery!  Tell you what;  I don't know about destiny, but that .38 round had Bambi written all over it from the factory.


(Now I hope the memory blanks can be filled in by hearing who the rest of the crews involved were.)