I'm not an engineer but I can certainly back that mentality. :P

: Interesting. How widely was this troop pod used?

No idea. The Chinook largely replaced it as the primary heavy lifter in Regular Army service by the mid-1970s and I'm sure its troop carrying role was supplanted by the Huey in Vietnam having favored small-unit deployments. Tarhes were most widely used in Vietnam in the heavy lifting of equipment such as howitzers, downed aircraft, launchers and ordnance, and pretty much everything else you can think of. I remember reading that Tarhe was actually a superior heavy lifter than early-model Chinooks and Sea Stallions.