If there was one thing Ron Nimblett of Palmerton got from serving in Vietnam, it was a career.

After his military duty, he had private helicopter jobs, flew air medical for 20 years and was part of the response team when the Pentagon was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. A picture of his chopper flying over the ruins of the Pentagon appeared in national magazines.Nimblett didn't plan to become a helicopter pilot.He was attending the University of Maryland in 1968 but left college. The Vietnam War was flaring at the time.His father, who was in the military for 20 years, "gave me the best advice ever," he said. "He said, son, don't let them draft you or you'll be carrying a big rifle."A native of West Virginia, Nimblett went to a local Navy recruiter and asked if he could be a medic. "I had a little knowledge of the human body being a phys ed major in college, and I thought I wouldn't get shot at as a medic," he said.The recruiter said there was a six month wait before training opened for medics.While sitting there, Nimblett noticed a picture of a helicopter on the recruiter's wall. He asked if he could be a pilot, and the recruiter responded, "Absolutely. We need pilots."He was sent to flight school, then advanced training. Within a year, in 1969, he was taken "across the big blue sea to a strange world.""I got to fly gunships," he said. "I got to shoot at people."Nimblett arrived right after the Tet Offensive."As a 21-year-old, there were some things I didn't understand," he said.He said one day he was circling all day, picking up wounded soldiers, witnessing heavy fighting. Then he got a call. He was told, "The District 4 Commander doesn't want fighting after 4 p.m."So he was forced to land the helicopter. "I wondered, 'Are we here helping people or taking orders from these people,'" he said."It was not the kind of war I was prepared to fight," he said.He served in Vietnam until October 1970, and during that period, learned that "humans are horrible, horrible people."He said, "You have 19-, 20-, 21-year-old kids over there, many scared to death. When we killed somebody, we actually made sure they are dead."Among the memories that haunt him are of "a poor fellow from North Vietnam lying in a bomb crate. He probably had a family; possibly even had kids. The body sat in that thing for six months. It was probably rotted and decaying. I said to my lieutenant, 'We should remove this.' He said, 'When Charlie sees this, he's going to lay his arms down and run the other way.'""I still have memories from that," Nimblett said.The Navy veteran said he also has good memories. "Yes, it was a war zone," he said. "But we had a lot of camaraderie in the evening. We had lots of fun."Because you didn't know your friend from your enemy, it was a difficult war.He said he was fortunate he was flying above the war zone and not part of ground combat.After nearly 10 years in the military, "I got this itch to get out," he said.He ended up in Iran, which was run by the Shah and was friendly to the United States at the time. In 1977 and 1978 he was teaching Iranians how to fly choppers.The Iranian job was through Bell Helicopters, of which Lady Bird Johnson had financial stake.He flew air medical helicopters, mostly in the Washington, D.C., area.When terrorists attacked the Pentagon, he was on duty. He and a mechanic grabbed the helicopter and flew over the Pentagon.He recalled there were a total of three medical helicopters there at the time. Only one of the three transported a burn patient, but it wasn't his. All others who were injured were transported by ambulance.One time he had a job transporting executives and celebrities, including John Denver, Kenny Rogers, The Who, Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt and Redd Foxx.He recalls one time Foxx climbed into his helicopter with two attractive women. They were flying from Washington, D.C., to Florida. Foxx asked he if could smoke. He was told he could."Then I smelled it and knew it wasn't cigarettes," Nimblett said. "I told him, 'I can't allow you to smoke that or I could lose my helicopter license. He stopped smoking."RON NIMBLETTAge: 66TOWN: PalmertonOriginally from West Virginia.SERVICE: U.S. Navy - EnlistedIn Vietnam from 1969 to October 1970Served as a helicopter pilotIn the Navy 1968 to 1977