Chickenhawk

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Mason has subsequently published two novels, Solo and Weapon, as well as a second memoir, Chickenhawk: Back in the World. 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. Mason) never lost sight in the bigger picture though of his personal responsibilities to those around him. As he completes basic training, advanced individual training, and two attempts at passing preflight training, he comments that he never “suspected that the army taught people how to fly helicopters the same way they taught them to march and shoot. Maybe the only people who wanted us around were the Saigon politicians who were getting rich from having the Americans here.

For Mason at times he believed the United States was winning, then doubts would creep in based on his experiences in combat. Following Robert Mason into the early days of Vietnam as a young man determined to fly, you are also swept into the flood of technical information and skills necessary for a helicopter pilot. But this is my first book that I have read that puts the reader in the head of the helicopter pilot, on the ground and in the air. 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. Chickenhawk is widely touted as one of the best accounts of the Vietnam War from the perspective of a soldier serving there.He describes all the events unfolding around him vividly and he really takes you back in time with him.

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In exploring the Vietnam War from the lens of a Huey pilot the reader will experience with Mason a myriad of situations. The Vietnam Veterans I knew in the 1970's would show me scars on their body, tell me stories of the events of battles - all I could do was listen, I did; and, later I served in the USMC myself.

Many consider it the best book written by a Vietnam vet and I would be inclined to agree (the only close contender would be the sniper memoirs of Carlos Hathcock, penned by Charles Henderson). While the First Cav slipped unceremoniously back to An Khe, the 101st decided to end the operation with a parade. Reading through this torrential hell of the many valleys and outposts in Vietnam we the readers see the deep truth to the cynicism behind the events as they occur. It led to a discussion with his co-pilot, Gary Resler as they tried to determine their attitude toward the war; where they afraid or “chicken,” or after seeing the constant pile of dead American bodies they wanted revenge, making them “hawks. Nguyen Cao Ky, former head of the South Vietnamese Air Force and Prime Minister in 1965, provides a chapter-epigraph in Chickenhawk.

Further, the transport of small groups of officers on their own “secret” missions, as well as using the Hueys to visit friends a hundred miles away. Maybe also too detailed for me in regards to the intricacies of flying helicopters, all of which went way over my head.