Heh.
As far as the guys in the rear taking care of the gear, we mostly had envy. A couple guys I knew put in for embassy school and got accepted. One SOB got stationed in Copenhagen, while the rest of us went to RVN. Can you believe that shiite?
Another guy turned out to have a talent for language and spent his enlistment at the Naval War College in Monterey.
We sure never held it against them, except for that bastard in Copenhagen..............
My flight school class graduated in August 1971. Three guys got selected for fixed wing transition, we were happy for them. The rest of us went on to fly Hueys except for six crazy SOBs who volunteered for OH-6s.
The neat thing about a crashed LOH was that a H-model could slingload it back. Hueys avoided ground fire, these guys went looking for it. With Cobras overhead, of course.