Veteran served as attack helicopter pilot

(North Plains) -- Combat in Vietnam was not limited to ground battles. For Herb Hirst, flying the skies over the embattled war zone was a part of his duties.

The 86-year-old Hirst, who lives with his wife Cindy in North Plains, joined the U.S. Army, serving in the 2nd Battalion, 20th Aerial Rocket Artillery and 1st Cavalry Division.

“I had the opportunity to join the National Guard, so I did,” Hirst said. “In Schenectady, New York, I joined the 27th Infantry Division, and after a year or two, went to officer candidate school and got commissioned as a lieutenant, then decided I really wanted to be on active duty.”

Hirst continued, “So I applied for active duty and wound up eventually becoming a pilot.”

Having served as an attack helicopter pilot, Hirst flew the Southeast Asia skies both by day and night.

“In the helicopter, we could only be out on a mission for an hour and a half, that’s all the fuel we had,” he said. “It was not unusual to get seven, eight or nine missions in a day. My worst day I had 11 missions.”

Hirst, who served in Vietnam in 1966 and 1967, added, “What we would do is fly during the daytime and then, alternately, we would have to go on night flights. We flew around the perimeter of the 1st Cavalry Division’s home base in Vietnam … in case the North Vietnamese decided to shell our guys, we had somebody in the air who could counter them.”

On night missions, according to Hirst, “You flew an hour and a half on, an hour and a half off, an hour and a half on, all night long. The next morning, you already had missions you had to go on.”

During his tour of duty, Hirst was not able to avoid injury.

“I crashed and I wound up in the hospital,” he said. “After being in the hospital for a little bit of time, I was right back flying … I had sustained back injuries, which I’m somewhat suffering from now.”

Hirst’s wife, Cindy, has also served her country, as a stenographer in the Civil Affairs Brigade of the U.S. Army.

Being the wife of a veteran, Cindy Hirst believes in serving the country and says military service is a good option for some.

“If you’re not sure what you really want to do, if you’re not sure if you want to go to college or not, or you want to take a couple of years of college and then are still not sure, the Army is probably a good way to find out what you’re really interested in,” Cindy Hirst said. “It’s worth looking into.”

Her husband, Herb, agrees, saying, however, that military service is not for everyone.

“To be honest with you, the military was very good to me,” he said. “I will say it’s not for everybody. Some people will really thrive in the military, some people will be a total disaster.”

Hirst continued, “It’s something you have to want to do, and it’s something you have to learn … you have to look at the miliary as a possibility for a career, but I personally don’t think they should take that as the only possibility. My advice to young people coming out of high school is go get a college degree.”