>>2770528>Thanks for info. I amended my post above to say they had a whopping 17 Majors to start out. Since it was the start of the war they quite literally had to set up the base as well so I guess all of the high ranking guys were indeed required.Another factor could be majors themselves pulling strings to get combat experience to further their own careers, but more likely explanation is expansion.
>I'm not sure how many missions or such he flew. He was awarded the Air Medal 11 times, and it seemed like they just handed that one out for mostly anything (not trying to downplay it too much but it is what it is I guess). He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for a medical evac he took part in one day. I have the paperwork for that and it's quite interesting, he brushed with death that day for sure.Helicopter pilots flew a lot in Vietnam, mostly because in many places it was only way to get people and supplies to the bush and only way to evacuate wounded. A lot of pilots certainly had close calls, partially due to fact that they flew low above the jungle that was potentially filled with lots of machine guns. Tactics with helicopters weren't fully developed yet, so they basically in situation where no one knew exactly what they were doing, during Vietnam war the tactics changed a lot towards the end, as did equipment.
>>2770531>-better payThat depends a lot on employer, pay on entry level pilot positions with budget and regional airlines is probably worse than military. People coming from military usually can avoid that shitty part of starting to acquire flight experience in commercial airlines.
