Chickenhawk

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The book was published in 1983, the year Robert Mason was forty-one years old, eighteen years after he was a twenty-three year old in Vietnam. I had long wondered what it was like for those who were in Vietnam and this account, by Robert Mason, a helicopter pilot, gives us a good look at the conditions which the troops over there had to work under, as well as the author's questioning of why they were there and how to tell friend from foe. So many shades of grey. The troops on the ground undoubtedly had it far worse than the helicopter pilots did and the accounts of bodies piled up or soldiers missing limbs, was a constant refrain.

As he began to suffer from the accumulated stress at the end of his tour, he found he was most comfortable when he was flying. This is one of my favourite books of all time. It was loaned to me very graciously, many years ago, and once I got my own copy I have never stopped re-reading it. Mason's honesty about his ambitions (not really a very gung-ho warrior) and subsequent realization that all the smart-ass antics in the world weren't going to save him really endeared him to me. I cried at the end the first time, and most times since. Yeah.’ There was silence. Yes, I thought. We’re both scared out of our minds. It felt like we were near the end of our wait on death row.” I hated Sherman. Now we were delinquent in our deaths. Running behind in our proper death ratio were we? Well we’ll just see about that. C’mon you guys, let’s go out there and die!” Yeah, I guess it does.’ He paused. ‘And when I’m flying the assaults, I start feeling brave, almost comfortable in the middle of it all. Like a hawk, maybe.’classic descriptions of helicopter warfare that are among the most realistic and exciting in print...humor and pathos, anger and frustration...grit, grime and gore." Just remember,’ said Farris, ‘of the thirty-three kinds of snakes over here, thirty-one are poisonous.’ While waiting to see whether Burger could sell the book, Mason began writing what would eventually be his second book, a novel, Weapon. In January 1981 he was arrested for attempting to smuggle a boatload of marijuana from Colombia into the United States. I will have PTSD just from reading this book. Short scenes and events strung together. Moments in the lives and deaths of a group of men in a war. The big story is the war. The real stories are the individual actions and interactions between the men. And then there is some occasional sane thinking:

Some other reviewers have stated that they felt it a bit repetitive, over-simplified and, despite the action, somewhat slow. I agree that it is a simple, bare style but would argue that is what makes it so difficult and rewarding to read. Without doubt being a helicopter enthusiast, or better yet, a fellow pilot will help because of our appreciation of how risky mountain helicopter operations can be even without the gunfire. You can feel how agonizingly vulnerable a 2 minute engine start makes you, or how slow 120 knots is compared to bullets. Mason transferred to the 48th Aviation Company (referred to as the 49th in his memoir) in May 1966. He continued to fly helicopters, including assault missions for the 101st Airborne in Dak To as part of Operation Hawthorne in June 1966. [1] Chapter One, "Wings", covers the period June 1964 to 1965 and details Mason's training at the Army's Primary Helicopter School at Fort Wolters, Texas. After graduation in May 1965, most of Mason's classmates were sent to Vietnam. Mason thought he had avoided the war but, in late July, learned that he would be going overseas. I read this as a young pilot about to embark on a career flying military helicopters. It should have put me off for life. Robert Mason tells a gripping account of the relentless courage and heroism amidst the insanity of the Vietnam war." - Tim Peake It is very simply the best book so far out of Vietnam—the best book so far and the best book by far."The author, Robert Mason, was sent to Vietnam between Aug-1965 and Jul-1966 and flew more than 1,000 assault missions. He had joined the army in 1964 to be a helicopter pilot. This book, as he notes, ‘is a personal narrative of what I saw in Vietnam and how it affected me…Instead of dwelling on the political aspects of the war, I have concentrated on the actual condition of being a helicopter pilot in Vietnam.’ powerful, sustained descriptions...of men at war...painfully honest...an integral book about the war of attrition." Unaffected, straightforward... His descriptions of flying air assault, med-evac and ammo-resupply missions make exhilarating reading...an important addition to our growing Vietnam War literature. This is a personal narrative of what I saw in Vietnam and how it affected me. The events all happened; the chronology and geography are correct to the best of my knowledge. The names of the characters . . . have been changed . . . A great, great memoir of a vietnam huey pilot. mason really puts you right in the action with amazing detail, personal (emotional and physical) experiences and some humor thrown in for good reading. I keep wavering between a 4 and 5 star read. I still may change it. I thought his writing was brilliant as it really put you in the jungles of vietnam, provided experiences on so many levels (emotional, physical, and personal to him) and even in glimpses of the vietnamese people. really a powerful read. My struggle between a 4 star and a 5 star is the technical aspect of the flying of helicopters. Initially it went over my head and I kind of skimmed through it. But as his experience as a pilot grew, I grew with him (at least in my imagination) and could follow more of the descriptions and images of the technical flying scenes with greater detail, thanks to mason and his writing style. So, I guess I'll call it a 4.5 star read for the time being.

The author is at his total best when he’s recalling his maneuvers getting in and out of “hot LZ’s” (to you and me, that’s landing zones where the enemy is shooting at you) and I could probably read about every single landing and takeoff detailed in here ten more times and not feel it’s been a waste of time. Halfway through the title of the book is explained. Mason has many stories of close calls. It is amazing that he makes it through to write a book about it. There is a toll. A toll to his mind, to his mentality. The strain and stress have taken their toll. How do you get through what he has seen? What he has had to do? ‘My days were good; my nights were hell’. In an epilogue, Mason sketches out his activities upon returning to the US, including his incarceration for smuggling. Death is almost always gruesome as it is described by Robert Mason in this most gruesome book. There is the intensity of heroism too. Eventually there is the heroism of going on with life having experienced so much death. Chapter Four, "Happy Valley", covers October 1965 and describes, among other things, Mason's first R&R in Saigon and an episode in which he accidentally shot out the instrument panel of his own helicopter with a 45 caliber pistol.He was an everyday combat hero in Vietnam, and he has written quite a good book...endless cold sweat nights before and after repeated landings in enemy-ringed landing zones...the serious and intuitive business of flying helicopters in combat." Robert Mason writes about his experience of the brutality of a war he fought when he was young. He wrote about his time in Vietnam in 1965-66. For a while those fighting thought they were winning a war that would go on for years longer and claim many more victims. Chapter eight, "Bong Son Valley", written about the events of February 1966, contains Mason's description of a Vietnamese village and the bars of Qui Nhon. In chapter nine, "Tension", Mason details his R&R in Taiwan in March 1966 and his decision to volunteer for a transfer out of the "Cav" to another helicopter unit.