Jerry,

I know the HH-60 and other Blackhawk variants now operate off Navy ships of all kinds. But at the time that NBC segment aired, I don’t believe the HH-60 variant was in production.

My understanding, wrong perhaps, was the Marines were being forced to chose between something proven and buying a “pig in a poke.” Without or without lipstick, the chioce seemed clear to me AT THE TIME. Plus they needed the Helos right then, not five years later.

But I could be wrong. My larger point was that you’ll never, repeat never, hear Dan Rather say that.

And BTW, what will replace the H-46 for the Marines? Those birds are old…

Semper Fi.

Craig