John, I was actually curious about the "beanie" since the S-92 has one. I assumed it is a drag reduction measure.
Only having flown the Huey and Pavehawk (nee Blackhawk) I actually like the "Army" tail wheel location. It makes landing in the dirt very forgiving, I know it's vastly more forgiving than the H-53 gear arrangement. Although I'm sure the rear folding nose wheel on the H-53 made things worse.
Actually one of the coolest things about the H-60 design is the incredibly forgiving CG range. The only times I've seen an actual out of CG W&B sheet had the probe removed (the Pavehawk has a lot of weight in the tail cone). In practice CG location just doesn't matter, as long as it'll fit and you can hover, it's good.