Such pilots hate to land their aircraft in a spot not laid out as an LZ and it is practically against their religion to leave the seat of their aircraft. Young Hugh did both to his great credit.
Yeah, my dad was a crew chief. He got into with a few helicopter pilots who thought they were the ones in charge. ;)
Once he stepped off and unhooked to keep a pilot from lifting off before a soldier who had his foot blasted off could be loaded on. He figured that the pilot would get into more trouble for leaving a crew chief than leaving a wounded soldier.