Nick being a former Cobra pilot and erstwhile Teetotaller....I surmise the elephants were pink when observed.
The sounds of bullets hitting the aircraft seemed to vary directly with the caliber and distance from my naughty bits. The smaller and further away they were....the less they impressed me. I can assure you when a .51 caliber machinegun round hits the main former beneath your luxurious Boeing-Vertol....one size fits all throne....it sounds like the world has just come to an ugly end! The AK rounds that merely punched 7.62 mm holes in the 0.064 inch thick aluminum armor plating back in the ramp area....well I guess someone might discover them on a post flight or something.
The real thrill was when the underslung load of 105 mm howitzer projectiles and fuses got hosed by a machine gun from about 300 feet and the fuses all let fly ......now that was a soul enrichening event! Anyone who says time does not stand still when you are confronted with your own mortality instantly......just doesn't understand. For a moment, we actually thought we had lost the main rotors through some catastrophic event that great two headed sausage maker was infamous for doing. After lighting my Kool and asking for the cruise checklist, getting my heart re-started and swallowing my stomach and other sorts of internal items.......we sorted the situation out and made the first official arrested landing of a Chinook at an artillery firebase.....we dragged up about 400 meters of concentina wire, trip flares, and claymore mines getting the old girl on the ground. The infantry guys who had to re-install that were not amused!