Memories of Service 3 - Greg Rodgers

Web (Full Length) – 2016

The subject of this interview is Greg Rodgers, a Flight Sergeant in the RNZAF in Vietnam and Malaya. Rodgers joined the air force after college, and trained as a mechanic. He talks about the bond between ground crew and pilots, and the responsibility of having a pilot’s life in his hands at age 18. Rodgers also mentions off-duty good times (including jumping from choppers into the sea, before being wet-winched up again) and reflects on bad times after returning to civilian life: official neglect ("there was no support"), and the shock of leaving his Air Force "family".

They relied on you at the end of the runway that you were pulling the right pins out, so they could drop their weapons … we had a bit of a special bond with the pilots. Now and again they’d take us for a ride … we loved it.
– Greg Rodgers on the bond between armourers and pilots