In my last few months I had the chance to be farmed out to some of the smaller detachments. One of those deployments was to serve with the 54th Medical Detachment at Chu Lai.
Major Pat Brady had finished his second tour of duty at that time, but he was the talk of the unit. He had encouraged his entire unit to tremendous levels of courage and bravery and they all were a pleasure to serve with.
One famous "Major Brady" story was a request for an evacuation from a Special Forces camp west of Chu Lai. The weather was terrible and the mission was at night.
Major Brady requested radar vectors to fly in the weather at altitude to the vicinity of the camp. Then he requested the ground unit to shoot mortar flares into the air above the camp. He used the flares as a reference point and descended in the soup. He needed several flares to complete the descent.
Flying on instruments in a Huey, at night, in bad weather is hard enough, but to transition to a spiral descent with an object so bright it kills your night vision was next to impossible.
I repeat this story because I heard it first hand from members of his unit. Later read other reports confirming the details. His actions inspired me and speaks well of how our military serves our nation by serving their own so well.