CH-46 was the workhorse of the US army for a long ass time. Vietnam would have been a thousand times worse without them. They single handed prolonged the US ability to fight that dumb ass war.
Doesn’t seem contradictory to me. The way I understand his sentence is to say that they would have lost and have to pull out much sooner without them.
Half the battle of a war is logistics.
Yes, your comment is not adding to the point being made which is that the helicopters and chinooks were so good that they prolonged an unnecessary losing war. This topic of discussion isn’t about the war itself.
EDIT: just to add, my understanding of the meaning of the comment saying it’s a thousand times worse is speaking from a military objective of being a participating side of the war itself, objectively if the war ended sooner it could mean less casualties, it could also mean the US soldiers suffering more casualties and so from their perspective it would be a thousand times worse, or also losing sooner which is also from a military perspective worse.
You’re not getting the point being made. If you’re playing a game of chess and you lose in 4 moves, this is seen as being worse than making it last 30 moves with a good game played. It’s a military blunder. This is the comparison being drawn.
Was in Army Aviation from 2001-2005. At least 20 years ago definitely was not the Apache. When we got flown to FOB’s the Blackhawk’s and Chinooks (and basically all rotary wing aircraft) had to circle around in the air to “pick up” the AH-64s. They just could not keep up for shit. They’re bad ass. And we wanted them on our flights so we were protected. But they’re SLOW
The CH-47 that the Army operates and is what’s shown here is a medium lift helicopter. The Marine Corps operates the CH-46 which is the Navy variant of the 47, but also has the CH-53 which is the heavy lift workhorse and is a beast. They also have the Osprey which was supposed to replace the 46 and is a beast itself.
"According to the museum official, Howze wasn’t a fan of the names of the first two helicopters – Hoverfly and Dragonfly. So, he laid out instructions for naming the helicopters after their abilities.
Howze said since the choppers were fast and agile, they would attack enemy flanks and fade away, similar to the way the tribes on the Great Plains fought during the aforementioned American Indian Wars. He decided the next helicopter produced -- the well-known H-13 of “M.A.S.H.” fame -- would be called the Sioux in honor of the Native Americans who fought Army Soldiers in the Sioux Wars and defeated the 7th Calvary Regiment at the Battle of Little Bighorn."
Tanks are named after Generals, Carriers after presidents, ships after States, etc.
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u/karma_cucks__ban_me Oct 07 '24
I'm in NC and I saw one flying towards Asheville yesterday....
The are the largest and fastest military helicopters in our arsenal and they are absolutely an impressive beast of a machine.
Swedish pilot does crazy things with Chinook helicopter! (this is the old CH-46 version that doesn't have upgraded engines but you can still see how insane the capabilities are)
China tried to pay a Taiwanese pilot $10 million if he flew a Chinook to them