Air America came thru Pleiku recruiting in the 1965 monsoon season. The money and the admin side were certainly better than what we were faced with but no one bit. This was before the 1st Cav showed up over at An Khe
Air America could be risky business. In 1963 I got a CH-47 qual at Ft Rucker ( Test Board ) via two Boeing Test Pilots who left Boeing for Air America. Both Jim Campbell and Bill Frazier lost their lives in separate actions. Never heard the Jim Campbell story but did hear an unconfirmed report that Bill Frazier was victimized by one of the Laotian troops and those rubber bands they used around the grenade handles, the pins being removed. Our local ARVN’s did that, but our local US chain of command was unsuccessful in doing anything about it.