I flew the C-130 in Vietnam and enjoyed the colorful story about flying it
in Iraq. Sure, it was hyperbole, sure it went way over the top,
particularly in regards to making fun of the other crewmembers. However, it
was so far over the top that it clearly didn't represent reality and I just
read it as a funny fictional story.

As far as accuracy goes, I'm surprised they would still be flying E models;
the Air Force switched to H models shortly after Vietnam. In Vietnam, we
did random steep approaches, not random shallow approaches. And the concept
of the 90-270 seems to me to violate the idea that the approach is random.
Random approaches make it more likely that you are going to avoid flying
over a place where the enemy is expecting you. But that was then, and this
is now, and I'm sure things have changed. And I'm sure the Marines have
different procedures than the Air Force.

Dennis