An Cosantóir

29 'CHICKENHAWK' AN INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT MASON on and you just cannot move. You can't say "shit they're shooting at me" and turn left and get the hell out of here. No, you had to maintain the same formation - tight. The things you had in mind were: not running into another helicopter, and when the bullets started coming through that flight, you couldn't move. So, I tighten my stomach, muscles tensed up on everything and just held on. That's all you can do, right? It was an exciting experience I have to say - one that I have not forgotten to this day. LG: One of the other common questions must have been about the time you shot your own helicopter from a handgun while on the ground. Do you recall more of the funnier situations from your deployment? RM: Things get boring sometimes when flying from a mission so we would get down to a highway, my buddy Gerald Tyler, and I. We would have a game where we could see who could follow the road the best with all the turns, without having to pull up. Of course, if the turn is too steep you had a chance of hitting your rotor against the tree crown, that's how low we were flying. It was an illegal sort of game. I remember coming down the Highway 19 towards An Khe and there was this convoy that we were approaching head on; Jeeps and trucks and all so we decided and just stay low and bust that convoy. So, as we got closer and closer, that lead jeep started flashing his lights because he was so scared we gonna hit him and I pulled up just barely missing the guy and his tall whip antenna. We went on laughing our asses off, thinking this was the funniest thing in the world, scared the shit out of the grunts. The minute I got back to the division, we were both called in. We were 'talked to'…(laughing) hey, what are they gonna do? Send me to Vietnam??? So definitely we had moments when we just goofed around. LG: While in Vietnam, and back home, with all the stress and trauma going on, did you have any way of coping with it? How did you cope with loss? RM: That's an interesting one. I flew too much time in the combat zone. I had a thousand combat missions, and it wears on you. I became a very anxious person, and I had a hard time sleeping at night. It was in 1966 and I just came out with Valium, the flight surgeon said: "take these and they will help you sleep, just don't take them during the day". So, I started taking Valium in Vietnam in combat and it did help. It allowed me to sleep but it's just masking the symptoms. I had developed a serious case of PTSD anxiety disorder, before I left Vietnam. I am still suffering from it. I'm treated by the VA for it and I still have symptoms of anxiety today, it doesn't go away. Human beings have a certain tolerance for continuous stress and finally you start feeling physical things from it. I have paid for the kind of wounds that are invisible, one might say. LG: Just a final question. Do you have a particular memory or something that you enjoyed such as having a breakfast in the helicopter out in the field? RM: No. (laughter) You mean the actual living conditions and being nostalgic for being bitten to death by mosquitoes? I don't have any nostalgic moments like that that I can think of. I don't wish to be back there at all. v Huey helicopters fly over Vietnam at sunset v An experienced Robert Mason relaxing at the front of his huey helicopter

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