Sniffer - the off pink team

I remember the first sniffing mission our unit did. At least I say it was the first and I don't know of another one done after. It may have been the only one... This was back in March or early April, 1969. I don't know how we came to acquire that "sniffer unit". I bet it was on loan.

I had some experience using one down in the flatlands of III corp and so maybe I volunteered to show Bill Brooks the fine points in this operation. Bill was just prior to getting his command in Hueys. It was a grand day for flying and nothing was rushed except maybe Bill as he was looking forward to this.

Sniffer missions require a large (small file cabinet sized) metal box that sits behind the console in the UH-1. Besides normal crew you take one or two people who read the dials and translate and report to the pilots what they find. There is a probe that hangs down one side and this picks up ammonia given off by humans. Monkeys give it off too. At this time however unkempt gooks were considered to give off more.

The fun part of this mission was you got to fly a Huey like a modified Loach. You even got to drag a Cobra along. He's the guy that gets to shoot up the place when you've picked up the ammonia and marked it with a smoke grenade. I don't know. Call it an off-pink team. Our mission that day was training and showing Bill how to do this.

As we were heading out west that day I was thinking of just how we would do the A Shau. I'd been out enough by now to know my basic way around and giving Bill the controls I was maybe looking at the map. Cobra leader came on and told us they wanted to do a little valley somewhere between Blitz and Eagles Nest. That was do-able and it would give everyone a little more time before the big test.

We found the rugged tree filled valley and I lowered down to about a hundred feet over their tops and began flying along about 40 knots or so. It certainly was a welcome fun change from the rice paddies around Saigon. Bill was picking up the idea real fast of how everything was done and itching to get his turn. I was proud as a new papa in telling him all I knew too.

Cobra called out from time to time wanting a progress report and we told them it was going well or some such thing; Life and all. I suppose they wanted to know if we picked up anything so they could shoot at something though.

We were about three quarters down that little valley when the door gunner came on the intercom. "sir... sir, do you know we have black... their running sir."
..."and then you want to remember to make all your turns nice and slow too Bill. Remember you're still sniffing..."
"SIR?"
"yes, door gunner?"
"GOOKS Sir!"
"Gooks?"

"You guys back there pick up any readings on that sniffer?"
"...not yet. We're still getting this thing calibrated back here... should be up shortly."

"sir. those gooks were running all over down there sir, black pajamas, they're all over the place."

"Door gunner, did I ever tell you about my friend down in the delta? He embarrassed the whole company by calling in an air strike on gooks. His black pajamas turned out to be an entire population of monkeys."

Crew Chief: "Sir. They were black pajamas and they were NVA. You'll find them the next pass through."

We were almost turned around now. Bill and I exchanged glances I'm sure. "YOU guys got that machine calibrated yet damn it?"
"Yes sir."

We found them just as the door gunner and crew chief said we would. They were all over that little valley but we couldn't get an accurate bead on them. I suppose I (or Bill) was flying too fast that second trip through... maybe hugging the ground a little more too. The readings on our sniffer were off the end of the dial for much of it. There was a little shooting going on too. They started it.

I think we must have told our Cobra about all this. They sure acted excited. Wanted us to drop smoke or pinpoint the location. I don't think it was a location as much as that little valley that they needed to roll in on. Probably told them too. Long story short, they wanted us to go back in there and point them out.

We did. Dropped smoke here and there... and there. Didn't need the sniffer either. I think we were running out of M60 ammo by the end of it. The Cobra had multiple real targets and rolled in several times.

We didn't do an assessment of damage. I don't even know if we compromised a LRP team in there but doubt it. After making sure Bill understood sniffer missions and the crew was not hit, the ammo was low, and the Mission was a success, we called up to the Cobra. I Think they were somewhat pleased with us. They too, were getting low on ordinance and so we decided to go back. I don't ever remember another sniffer mission after that. Those hills just didn't need people sniffing up them. It was far easier to look for black pajamas.

I don't ever remember a monkey shot either.

S. C. Jones
B/2/17 Cav - Banshee 42