"UH-1H?"
I would say you are correct with regards to civilian vs military.
I did work on 204B's & 205A-1's in the '80's. The 204 T/R was on the left hand side and on the 205's the T/R was on the right hand side.
With the incident a/c, it is an Italian military "Huey" with the CCW rotating T/R on the left hand side.
I do wonder who was flying at the time of the incident. Training flight with the "student" in the right seat and IP in the left? Who was on the controls during / after the pirouette and backing out of the shoot/gully?