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Last updated on 4/7/24

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C Troop, 16th Cavalry Regiment

Click here to visit C trp {air} 16th Cav

Transition design worn by Scout platoon

"The decision to have a white skull, with other small changes to the patch (to include adding C trp 16 Cav), was a conscience one. The change was made to distinguish the difference between C/16 and D 1/4 after we arrived at SocTrang. It was changed again when the Troop moved to Can Tho." - Rod Willis

C troop, 16th Cav

OH-6A #17340 Miss Clawd IV in her revetment at Can Tho, 1972
Image courtesy of Hugh Mills

Vietnam hand crafted miniature of the OH-6 adorned with authentic markings and nick names of the pilot and observer.
Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

"Outcast" Scout platoon Guidon used in Country circa 1971
Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

C troop "Mustangs" Platoon patch & "Darkhorse" C troop patch worn by R.D. Moser

Hand crafted, hard wood likness of the OH-6 Loach made in Vietnam and presented to Jim "Moon" Sheetz as a service time souvenir. The silver metal plate mounted on the base is inscribed with troop legend and fitted with an "Outcast" Scout platoon "Beercan" crest that is a miniature version of the patch

Troop patch personalized with Gun platoon call sign "35" following troop designation "Darkhorse". This patch was locally made and worn on left chest pocket

Collection of insignia from C troop includes Scout platoon unit scroll and 1st aviation brigade patch (as worn on left shoulder), "Outcast" Scout platoon patch (worn on right pocket), "Darkhorse" troop patch (worn on left pocket) and stamped brass Scout platoon "Kill" pin presented upon the occasion of the first confirmed enemy kill by a member
Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

C troop Scout Platoon "End of Tour" plaque presented to Jim Sheetz by platoon commander Bob Todd while unit was operating out of Can Tho Army air field, 1971
Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

'Official' C troop "Outcast" Scout platoon T shirt made for wear by platoon members while "In Country". This is the frontal view
Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

Back view of C troop Scout platoon T shirt
Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

Early pattern, "bowling ball" helmet bag used by "Moon" Sheetz and adorned with crewman's wing & C/16 "Darkhorse" troop patch.
Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

The other side of Helmet bag decorated with unit scroll & "Outcast" scout platoon patch
Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

SPH-4B flight helmet repainted in dark green and adorned with hand painted nickname "Moon" on visor housing
Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

Reverse of "Moon" Sheetz' helmet decorated with hand painted rendition of "Outcast" scout platoon patch. Note wear to finish incured as Jim performed his duties as a Scout Observer/Gunner
Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

G.I. "Boonie" hat personalized with embroidered unit designation, Confederate Flag, grenade pins and more by the owner who was a Gun Pilot in C troop

C troop Guidon patch worn by members of the lift platoon
Image courtesy of Bob Reese

Flame resistant "Nomex" flying shirt worn by Warrant officer Dave Middleton while assigned to the C troop Scout Platoon "Outcasts". Note Outcast patch on right chest pocket
Image courtesy of Dave Middleton

Detail of the Aero Scout platoon scroll & 1st Aviation bde. patch on the left shoulder of Dave Middleton's shirt
Image courtesy of Dave Middleton

Original photo taken by Joe Eszes in the summer of 71. "Outcast" (Scout Platoon) Christmas card featuring Crew Chielfs/gunners. Back row L-R "Bob Bad" Blackmon, Rich "Puke" Pawelke (KIA 12-9-71 a day or 2 after photo taken), Jim Hand, and "Polack" Skorczewski (Don't hold me to this one, could be Skortch) Front Row L-R Ray "Festus" Allee, Dave Patterson (I think), and Jim "Moon" Sheetz

Click here to read a story about "Polack"

Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

Cav scarf made up for Darkhorse Gun Pilot. "Rebel Guns" is in reference to the callsign for B Company, 1st Aviation Battalion, 1st Infantry Division. Apparently the owner of the scarf (and boonie hat featured above) flew with the "Rebel Guns" and then with C/16th when they combined the assets and moved them south to the Delta.
Information courtesy of Dave Fesmire

Tiny, hand made version of the C/16 "Outcast" scout platoon patch.
Image courtesy of Bob Reese

Inside Cambodia, April, 1972. A pair of rockets move towards a smoking "treebox." C/16th Cav gunships were sometimes tasked for close air support, leaving their scouts behind for these limited missions.
Image courtesy of Bob Hesselbein

C/16th Cobra idling while crew steps away for a quick briefing with the ground advisor. Smoke in the background is from airstrike bombing approximately 1 KM away! Taken in mid-April west of Moc Hoa in support of ARVN mech infantry unit.
Image courtesy of Bob Hesselbein

This is a C/16 Cav starting engines at Dong Tam, early May, 1972. It show's the patchwork and teamwork well
Image courtesy of Bob Hesselbein

A C/16th Cav OH-6 departing from the runway at DongTam in May, 1972
Image courtesy of Bob Hesselbein

Cav scarf worn by Terry Davidson, lift platoon door gunner.
Image courtesy of Terry Davidson

Front & Back of C-16 Gun Pilot's classic "Zippo"

A C Trp, 16th Cav "Mustang" gunship rests in the revetments at Cantho, May, 1972
Image courtesy of Bob Hesselbein

This a picture of C-16 1972 downtown Chan Tho.? I believe it was a birthday party.
Image courtesy of David Smith

Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

4 horseman crew chiefs 1972
Image courtesy of Dave Smith

C-16 barracks
Image courtesy of Dave Smith

Snake gun run 2.75 & 20mm
Image courtesy of Dave Smith

Snake in bound, Darkhorse 34
Image courtesy of Dave Smith

"The Bell Hotel" Darkhorse tail no. 396?C&C?CE Smith/Door Gunner?Johnson
Image courtesy of Dave Smith

Scouts ready
Image courtesy of Dave Smith

VC field pack
Image courtesy of Dave Smith

Coming home after full days mission?Chan Tho
Image courtesy of Dave Smith

Darkhorse troops in Can Tho enjoying a Philippine band, complete with Go Go Dancers

That's Bob Blackmore's shirt on the rear seat, so I'd say the ship is 68-17365 (OH-6). I saw that aircraft when I was at the Presidio of San Francisco in 1973. 2 civilians were flying it and they stopped at the 6th army hangar to refuel on their way to? They wouldnt tell me. Thats the same ship that I was in when I stopped a bullet with my chicken plate
Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

The man in the right seat is none other than Lt. Joe Eszes, Darkhorse 16 at the time. Can Tho, around Sepember of 1971

Click here to read a story written by Lt. Eszes about his gunner, Jim Sheetz, being shot during a mission

Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

Thats "Quick Draw" McGraw. Photo taken at Ca Mau. Quick Draw and I got shot down together and I spent November in the hospital. He quit flying scouts after that episode.
Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

Pete Peterson, Scout platoon Crew Chief, September/October, 1971
Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

"Outcasts" Aero Scout Platoon sign, CanTho, circa Fall of 1971
Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

Chicken plate (Body armor) was heavy, hot and uncomfortable, but saved a lot of lives. These newspaper clippings document an incident experienced by Jim "Moon" Sheetz, A scout platoon Crew Chief with C troop, 16th Cav. Note Jim's Bullet dinged Chickenplate on "display" in his hooch in the upper right hand photo

Click here to read a story written by Lt. Eszes about this incident

Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

C troop reventments at the Can Tho Army Air Field
Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

Jan Null at Soc Trang in the 1970 with C troop. "My MOS was as an Avionics Tech (35K) but I received 3 awards of the Air Medal as a door gunner on a variety of slicks during my tour with the 1st Infantry Div in Phu Loi (Nov 69 - Apr 70, and C/16 (Apr 70 - Nov 70)."
Image courtesy of Jan Null

Image courtesy of Jan Null

Soc Trang
Image courtesy of Jan Null

OH-6A #17340 Miss Clawd IV taking off from Can Tho, 1972
Image courtesy of Hugh Mills

Outcast down in Delta
Image courtesy of Woody Mashburn

Well used Viet Cong flag captured by Scout platoon Crew Chief
Image courtesy of Jim "Moon" Sheetz

Captain Rod Willis. Photo taken in Can Tho, South Vietnam in 1972, Rod was on his 2nd tour with Darkhorse as a scout pilot. In two tours as a Scout pilot he went by the following callsigns, Darkhorse 17, 16, & 13, he was Darkhorse 16 in both his 1st and 2nd tour. He left Darkhorse with 2012 Combat Hours in Jan, 1973.
Image courtesy of Rod Willis

Stetson hat worn by Scout Platoon Pilot (Outcasts) Ken Snyder. Snyder served his first tour with MACV-SOG (Military Advisory Command - Vietnam, Studies and Observation group). This is reflected by the small metal badge on the right side of the hat.

Pictures my first pilot, Mr. Woods, took.
Image courtesy of Bob Reese

Artist's rendition of then Captain Hugh Mills' OH-6A "Miss Clawd IV". After her tour in Vietnam Miss Clawd (17340) served a with the army's precision helicopter team, the Silver Eagles. Sometime afterwards she was donated to the army aviation Museum at Fort Rucker. It was there, by total coincidence, Mills discovered his old bird. Soon 17340 was restored to her Vietnam configuration and reinstated in the Museums exhibit.
Image courtesy of Rod Willis via Jeff Dance. Caption information courtesy Hugh Mills.

This photo was taken in the late fall of 1971 when I was both "Darkhorse 16", flying OH-6s , as well as performing as an Air Mission Commander. That took some doing by the troop, battalion and group commanders because I was only a First Lieutenant at the time and as an air mission commander was issuing orders to officers senior to myself. I was a second tour aviator at that point with about 18 months of combat time. The photo was taken in the Mekong Delta by the crewchief of our command and control UH-1. I believe I was talking to the regimental commander of the 3rd regiment, 21st ARVN division, Colonel Kim. We were probably going over the scheme for a late afternoon operation. On my right wrist you can see a wristwatch, the Bulova Accutron. If you look closely you will see the band slightly separated at the watch itself. Reason...it was torn off my wrist a few weeks prior when trying to egress from an OH-6 I had to force land because of severe bullet damage to the rotor system. The local watch repair guy had to do a half-fix so I could wear it.

I wore this watch until the summer of 1973 when it was again torn from my wrist in an incident at a lake. My 2 year old daughter fell in the lake while we were looking at a friend's boat in his boathouse, at night, darker then hell except for a small light above the boat. She went under somewhere around the bow of the boat, I didn't see it happen, just heard the splash. I went in after her and eventually found her caught under the prop of the boat. She was not injured but nearly drowned. The watch went into some 20 feet of water and was lost.About three years later the lake underwent a severe drought and lowering of the water by some 25 feet. The owner of the boathouse found the watch in the dried mud and returned it to me. I hosed it off, replaced the battery and wore it for years after that. Alas, Bulova no longer repairs them , batteries are impossible to find and there are no repair parts anyway. I bought the watch at a the Bear Cat, Viet Nam PX in the summer of 1969 during my first tour of duty.
Image courtesy of Joe Eszes

Here's a picture of the seat attached to aircraft 16435 before it was damaged. The person in that picture is Gene Groves my crew chief. The next picture is me in front of the same aircraft ( the picture is in reverse since it was from a slide that got printed backwards). I understand the someone in Houston recently restored this aircraft. The bullet damage occurred in Feb/March of 1971. We were working just South of the U Minh Forest between the forest and the ocean. We had a hot area and called in the Cobra's for a rocket strike. Normally we would climb to around 1200 ft and wait for them to finish before going back in. But that day, because the terrain was rather open, we stayed low and away from the action. While circling that area a bad guy stepped out of hooch and fired several rounds at close range with an AK 47 at us. We took several hits including the one in the armor plating. Neither Gene or myself were hit and the bad guy paid for missing us. I joined C/16th on May 8 1970 and was assigned to the lift platoon due to a shortage of pilots at that time. During my time in the Four Horseman I flew a lot of C and C, especially when Major Frierson was the mission commander. After much begging I got assigned to Outcast in November 1970 and stayed with the Outcasts until I DEROS on May 7, 1971.
Image courtesy of Doug Hicks, Darkhorse 14

Metallic version of the 4 Horseman Lift platoon insignia.
Image courtesy of John Hyatt

Some of the 4 Horsemen's best. Buddy Parker, Jerry White and Jeff Rider chilling on the flight line. And no, that is not a toilet bowl mounted on the exhaust of that slick.
Image courtesy of John Hyatt

Buddy Parker and John Hyatt making sure that absolutely nothing happens to this round eye angel.
Image courtesy of John Hyatt

The ultimate in personalized headgear. Lift Platoon Crew Chief John Hyatt sports a bright orange SPH-4 personalized with lift platoon and troop patch designs as well as other personalization.
Image courtesy of John Hyatt

That's me looking through the M60 site and Mike Little, a door gunner in the slick platoon.
Image courtesy of J.A. "Bud" Parker

Bud and Baby Boo
Image courtesy of J.A. "Bud" Parker

Lt Tuhy was one of the C Troop 16th Cav Liaisons with the ARVN. The other ugly face is me.
Image courtesy of J.A. "Bud" Parker

Stamped brass "Beercan" sabers worn on the Stetson hat.
Image courtesy of Ken Snyder

The Jiffy Pop was sent to me by my mother. Note the altered exhaust coming up the side/rear above the engine. When the 'bad guys' started using SA-7 heat seeking missles, the Army altered all exhaust outlets to dissipate the heat. Operating procedure required a two minute idle before shut down to stabilize temperatures within the turbine, so I and many others would taek advantage of that to heat rations, or in this case, cook up a batch of Jiffy Pop!!!
Image courtesy of Ken Snyder

Taken from 1972 Unit history
Image courtesy of Rod Willis

Image courtesy of Hugh Mills Darkhorse 16

Hugh Mills or Mike King (I can�t remember) making a tight turning pass over my spot at the end of the Moc Hoa airstrip. Notes: I intentionally asked him to make the pass so I could get an image of what an NVA would have seen when a C/16 CAV scout overflew him in 1972
Image courtesy of Bob Hesselbein

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