The very first mission I flew was primarily to familiarize us with the area.  We had been airborne for about 30 minutes and were south of Da Nang.  I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head for I was trying to spot the enemy before they saw me.  My hand was welded to my M-60 machine gun.  I thought I was ready for most anything when there was an explosion close to me and the aircraft dropped about 100 feet or so.  My heart was really racing now, and much higher in my chest than usual, as I was attempting to see where we had been hit and the extent of the damage.  Then I noticed that my left shoulder was wet and red.  Well, I thought that being shot was not all that bad as I didn't feel any pain.  I did think I should try to find the hole to stop the bleeding.  I was within a hair of keying the intercom switch to advise the pilot I had been hit when I tasted some of the "blood" on my finger.  To my amazement it tasted just like 5606 hydraulic fluid.  Looking up, I realized one of our hydraulic lines had blown, not from direct enemy action, and had drenched me with the red hydraulic fluid.  The plane dropping had been the result of this line rupturing and the short period before the secondary, or redundant, system kicking in.  Thank God I didn't key that mike to report my wound.  It would have been a much longer tour if I had.