2023 Nebraska Season Thread

[CWSooner]

pick of my friend, Robert, the retired teacher

[img width=525.994 height=513.991 alt=No photo description available.]https://scontent.fdsm1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p526x296/556405_2949401664123_2091903061_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&_nc_sid=cdbe9c&_nc_ohc=y9z3cSYy36AAX86kkgh&_nc_ht=scontent.fdsm1-1.fna&_nc_tp=6&oh=645c95f747fce8e9d0b4fb34c5281c57&oe=5F50004C[/img]

Nice.  I've got some good helicopter pics from my time in the Army, but not from Vietnam.  (Looks like Vietnam, I think.)  Although, come to think of it, a Lt. Col. I worked for in Korea gave me a couple of blow-ups of his AH-1G Cobra in action.  He was in an Arial Rocket Artillery unit.  They flew at high altitude (well, high for a helicopter) and went into a dive to release up to 76 2.75" rockets on the bad guys.
Your pic is of a UH-1H Huey.  A.K.A. the "Bell Hotel." I would guess that this picture is from the latter part of the war.  If it's from Vietnam, that is.

[FearlessF]

my Friend Robert in the middle



Grunts taking a morning coffee break in the jungle from "huntin". RIPCORD AO, '70. Stay alert and stay alive! Tough duty!!!

[CWSooner]

Bob Kalsu, OU All-American OL in 1967, the Buffalo Bills' team Rookie of the Year, was the only active professional athlete killed in Vietnam.  He was an artillery officer at Fire Support Base Ripcord, killed in July 1970.  He was in the 101st Airborne Division.

Was your friend in the 101st Airborne in Area of Operations Ripcord in 1970?

[FearlessF]

yes sir

Robert Henningsen Grunt in first squad, second platoon, C/2-501,101st., Nov. '69- 31 May, '70

survivor of the Ripcord AO and happy to still be alive!


As a scout dog handler when you saw the company clerk headed across the compound you knew what the message was, you just pulled a mission and be on the chopper pad at 1st light. Listen to the turbine start to whine while the crew chief walked around the bird.The turbine comes to life and the rotors slowly starts to rotate picking up speed and finally leveling off as the first signs of light start to break over the horizon. Its March of 70 and the battle for Ripcord is on. For the next 4 months every mission will be into the deadly Ashau valley or the Song Bo river area. The crew chief gives you the sign and you start across the steel pad throwing your ruck on the floor and Duke jumps into the chopper like a hound in a pick up and it's back to the jungle. I seldom walked point with the same squad twice, never knowing anyone's name or story. Everyone had a job to do and for the next week mine would be to walk point and make sure I didn't let the squad walk into an ambush or booby traps. I was fortunate enough to work with this squad several times and got to know some of them . If you were going into the jungle with only 9 or 10 people this was the crew you wanted to be with. Before Ripcord was over some of these men would be killed and most wounded. Thank you Robert Henningsen for this pic of these brave men

[CWSooner]

Good stuff, Fearless!

You can see the "Screaming Eagle" patch on each guy's left shoulder.



Or, as the guys in the 82nd call it, the "Puking Chicken."

As the junior of the two airborne divisions that survived the post-WWII drawdown, the 101st was the one that got downgraded to an "air assault" division in the late-/post-Vietnam drawdown.

And the paratroopers of the 82nd have enjoyed rubbing it in ever since!

[FearlessF]

I'd guess most of the Puking Chickens would rather not jump out of an airplane anyway

In and out of a Huey was probably enough for them in 1970

[CWSooner]

Nah, they're good.  Screaming Eagles all the way.

[FearlessF]

Robert posted his on FB, must have known Kalsu

https://grantland.com/features/robert-mays-lifelong-sacrifices-made-kalsu-family/?fbclid=IwAR2_Ve78y-BoZ_SsnvUAesW4mF01NoJDbkEE24g9fuVyxlm-PKyRwK-WTtw

There are some who remember Bob Kalsu as a football star. In 1967, he was an All-American offensive tackle for a 10-1 Oklahoma team that beat Tennessee in the Orange Bowl. The next spring, he was drafted in the eighth round by the Buffalo Bills, and by the end of his first season he’d been elected the team’s rookie of the year. There are others who remember him as a soldier. At Oklahoma, Kalsu had completed ROTC, and he graduated in May 1968 with a commitment to Army service. Sixteen months later, with his daughter just 10 months old, he was called to Vietnam.

At the time, many professional athletes used their standing to avoid active duty and serve as reserves instead. It was a choice Kalsu’s friends urged him to take, but one he declined. On July 21, 1970, Bob Kalsu was killed at Firebase Ripcord, on a hill in South Vietnam’s Thua Thien-Hue province. He would be the only professional athlete to die in Vietnam. He was 25 years old.

[bamajoe]

I proudly have that Screaming Eagle on my left shoulder. I was in the A Shau during much of 1970. This brings back memories.

[FearlessF]

tough duty, for sure

[CWSooner]

I proudly have that Screaming Eagle on my left shoulder. I was in the A Shau during much of 1970. This brings back memories.

It's the best-looking divisional patch, IMO.
And the 101st has a history to be proud of.
Thank you for your service in the A Shau Valley, Joe.

[FearlessF]

asked Robert if he knew Kalsu.... this is his reply..........

Robert Henningsen

I knew he was the "big guy", footballer out of Ok and the NFL that ran the 155s on Ripcord. I never talked to him (unusual for me) but I saw him once hump 4 155 rounds on his back...busy man in trying times. RIP

[CWSooner]

asked Robert if he knew Kalsu.... this is his reply..........

Robert Henningsen

I knew he was the "big guy", footballer out of Ok and the NFL that ran the 155s on Ripcord. I never talked to him (unusual for me) but I saw him once hump 4 155 rounds on his back...busy man in trying times. RIP

That's one heavy load.  A 155mm howitzer round weighs about 95 lbs.
At OU, The Bob Kalsu Award is given annually to the football player who “personifies Kalsu’s spirit of leadership, serving as a motivator and role model for his teammates.”

[FearlessF]

The latest episode of Husker Sports Network Originals follows the evolutions of legendary coach Tom Osborne's option offense.

"Osborne and the Option" discussed the journey of Osborne's offensive scheme, from his early days as an assistant under Bob Devaney, the 1983 Scoring Explosion and the glory days of the dominant '90s. We highlight some of the key players in Osborne's offense, including Turner Gill, Steve Taylor and current Nebraska football head coach, Scott Frost.


https://huskers.com/podcasts/originals-osborne-and-the-option/279