162nd AHC History - The Beginning

The Beginning

The 162nd Aviation Company (Air Mobile Light) was constituted on 31 August 1965 in the regular army and activated on 1 September 1965 at Ft. Benning, Georgia. The unit formed up, received its men after a rather difficult time rounding up a full complement of pilots and maintenance personnel and began training in early December with the 10th Aviation Group using their aircraft (B model Hueys) and equipment. Small groups of men were sent to Ft. Rucker and Ft. Bragg for additional specialized training.

Most pilots received only 20 or so hours of training with the unit prior to shipping out to Vietnam. However, virtually all of them had significant prior experience with an average of 2100 hours each. Many were dual rated and had over 3,000 hours of flight time so they didn't need a great deal of training. After completion of training in B models each pilot had a one hour D (or C) model transition and they were ready to go.

Many of the enlisted men and even some of the officers were new to the army. Cpt Ronald Crown, the flight surgeon, had only recently been drafted and on one of his first days at Ft. Benning he "borrowed" a jeep parked near the 162nd area to go to the PX. However, the jeep belonged to another unit and was reported stolen. The MP's quickly located the jeep, apprehended "Doc" Crown and brought him back to the 162nd compound for disciplinary action. Of course, "Doc" Crown, being just drafted, knew nothing of military life and assumed all army vehicles were communal property to be used by anyone in the army. By his reasoning, since he was in the army, he was entitled to use an army jeep.

	The Beginning The 162nd Aviation Company (Air Mobile Light) was constituted on 31 August 1965 in the regular army and activated on 1 September 1965 at Ft. Benning, Georgia. The unit formed up, received its men after a rather difficult time rounding up a full complement of pilots and maintenance personnel and began training in early December with the 10th Aviation Group using their aircraft (B model Hueys) and equipment. Small groups of men were sent to Ft. Rucker and Ft. Bragg for additional specialized training. Most pilots received only 20 or so hours of training with the unit prior to shipping out to Vietnam. However, virtually all of them had significant prior experience with an average of 2100 hours each. Many were dual rated and had over 3,000 hours of flight time so they didn't need a great deal of training. After completion of training in B models each pilot had a one hour D (or C) model transition and they were ready to go. Many of the enlisted men and even some of the officers were new to the army. Cpt Ronald Crown, the flight surgeon, had only recently been drafted and on one of his first days at Ft. Benning he "borrowed" a jeep parked near the 162nd area to go to the PX. However, the jeep belonged to another unit and was reported stolen. The MP's quickly located the jeep, apprehended "Doc" Crown and brought him back to the 162nd compound for disciplinary action. Of course, "Doc" Crown, being just drafted, knew nothing of military life and assumed all army vehicles were communal property to be used by anyone in the army. By his reasoning, since he was in the army, he was entitled to use an army jeep.
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