A Troop, 7th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment

7/1 A Troop	Guidon presented to A troop commander upon departure from the unit	A troop lift pilot's nomex shirt with insignia direct embroidered into collars and chest plus large Lift platoon patch on right pocket.
Stetson worn by A troop commander. A troop HQ was known as "Fort Apache"	Scout Platoon patch	A troop Scout platoon "Beercan" pocket badge. "Beercan" insignia was locally made from very thin, embossed tin with painted details, thus the term "Beercan"
An early morning departure of an A Troop, 7/1st Cav Cobra gunship from Vinh Long. February, 1972 Image courtesy of Bob Hesselbein	A Trp, 7/1st Cav gunships rest beside the Rach Soi longstrip before starting operations. These gunships are standing by while waiting for mission tasking to arrive by radio. January, 1972 Image courtesy of Bob Hesselbein	In 1971 and early 1972 A Troop worked hunter/killer teams of scouts and gunships throughout the Mekong Delta. Normally one team of two gunships and two scouts would perform visual reconnaissance while another team would rearm, refuel and stand strip alert at a nearby staging field. Strip alert was the opportunity to grab a "combat nap" of 30 minutes or so when conditions would allow. Image courtesy of Bob Hesselbein
Painted unit insignia on walls in Can Tho Image courtesy of John Jones	the general A-Troop area. Image courtesy of Ron Woodgeard	Some of the Scouts in front of the Scout Shack, Late 71 Image courtesy of Ron Woodgeard
Capt. Tingle, Company Commander the first part of 70, If I remember right just before Bill Staffa took over. Image courtesy of Ron Woodgeard	I couldn't figure why the mini-gun quit! (Bullet hole!) Image courtesy of Ron Woodgeard	This was a BBQ, A-Troop Image courtesy of Ron Woodgeard
Danny Justice, Scout observer Image courtesy of Ron Woodgeard	Capt. Kraft and Summerhill. Image courtesy of Ron Woodgeard	Dyer and McCoy Image courtesy of Ron Woodgeard
Allen Noble, just before entering Army. He was KIA, together with DYER, along with Loponchonski, I got this picture from his mom, whom I still keep in close E-mail contact with... Image courtesy of Ron Woodgeard	Gunner, Larry Brown (slicks) Image courtesy of Ron Woodgeard	Scout Pilot, CW Dan Bankston. (He's doing well and said to tell any one that knew him Hello-He doesn't have a computer). Image courtesy of Ron Woodgeard
Yours truly in my "office" Click here to read the poem "The Chosen Few" Image courtesy of Ron Woodgeard	Capt. Dennis Haugen Image courtesy of Ron Woodgeard	Mr.Dyers and Mr Bakersroom, note unit patch on helmet bag on the wall Image courtesy of Ron Woodgeard
A picture of my father, CWO-2 Melton (Mel) Lee Hinton of the 7/1 Cav, A-troop in 1971 or 72 next to his helo, "96 Tears", 434 are the last part of the serial number. There are some holes and patches on the nose! Dad retired as a CW4 at Ft. Lewis. Unfortunately he passed away in 1997 while at work with Boeing Helicopters, working the V-22 project. If you have any information about CWO-2 Hinton his son would like to hear from you at hintonm002@hawaii.rr.com Image courtesy of Major Donald A. Hinton, USAF	Capt Jackson (my Dad wrote this on the slide) is in the rear seat of "96 Tears". Image courtesy of CWO-2 Melton (Mel) Lee Hinton courtesy of his son Major Don Hinton, USAF	A troop AH-1G in revetment. Image courtesy of CWO-2 Melton (Mel) Lee Hinton courtesy of his son Major Don Hinton, USAF
A Troop AH-1G and Pilots. Note Apache head troop marking on the Doghouse. Image courtesy of CWO-2 Melton (Mel) Lee Hinton courtesy of his son Major Don Hinton, USAF	It was a Hot and humid day, heavy weight. Dad had to do a running take off and was at about 80 knots or more when the 90 degree gear box seized up and the tail rotor separated. He had enough speed for the fuselage and tail fin to maintain some directional control and set it down in a running landing with no further damage. One rotor blade was found 1/2 mile away. Image courtesy of CWO-2 Melton (Mel) Lee Hinton courtesy of his son Major Don Hinton, USAF
I have no idea which serial number "Thor's Hammer" is (that's Dad sitting on the ammo door). I wonder if that might have been the opposite side of his "96 Tears"? Image courtesy of CWO-2 Melton (Mel) Lee Hinton courtesy of his son Major Don Hinton, USAF	"A" troop Gun platoon pocket patch & 1st Aviation Brigade sleeve patch Image courtesy of Jim Prine	The name speaks for its self, alias Rubber Ducky. The side panels were painted black to cover the name of rubber ducky and to highlight the new name of "The Prophet". I changed the name when I got a new pilot, and he was happy that I did. Image courtesy of Jim Prine
The guy in this picture is a artist, he painted the company logo's and the names on the choppers. What killed me was he was from Puerto Rico, I thought man what the f--- are you doing here? He was a nice guy. Image courtesy of Jim Prine		This was the day that I flew front seat to Cambodia. We were at a landing zone refueling and this little kid came walking out of "nowhere" with an ice cold Coca-Cola.....saying, "G.I. you buy a Coca-Cola?" I was amazed that he had it out there in the middle of no where and it was ice cold. So I gave him my candy bar out of my C-rations. Took the clip out of the 45, set him up on the rocket pod and had him pose. Image courtesy of Jim Prine
BoreBQ - We ( The Gun Platoon ) shot a wild Bore and the Slicks picked it up, flew it back to Base Camp, prepared it and I helped BBQ it. In the picture (From left to right, Gerry Case, an Armament Specialist (( Can't remember his name but a good guy )), me "The Mixer" and Cpt. Ousley). Image courtesy of Donn "Mixer" Wilimzik (Sept. 69 to Sept. 70)	Mixer and his ship. Image courtesy of Donn "Mixer" Wilimzik (Sept. 69 to Sept. 70)	Mixer and CR Lindt. Image courtesy of Donn "Mixer" Wilimzik (Sept. 69 to Sept. 70)
A Trp. pilots & crewchiefs 71-72 Image courtesy of Jim Mccasland	Curly and me Image courtesy of Jim Mccasland	Some of A Trp Gunners 71-72 Image courtesy of Jim Mccasland
Vance Image courtesy of Jim Mccasland	Outside C.O.'s office Image courtesy of Jim Mccasland	My flag helmet and Curly's Image courtesy of Jim Mccasland
Mason Image courtesy of Jim Mccasland	Vietnam November 1971. What we have is 1 Huey door gunner on the left and 2 Cobra crew chief's sitting out on the flight line enjoying the evening. Left to right James Christianson, James Prine & Patrick Donavan?. Pat and I when to the IG to get the Cobra Crew Chiefs Non Commission Flight Pay of $55. a month. We would fly part time door gunner to qualify. Image courtesy of Jim Prine.

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