Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Book by a chopper pilot in 'Nam

I just finished a book written by a Huey pilot in Vietnam about the year he spent in country. Pretty interesting read. I saw my cousin had posted a pic of the book on FB recently, and going off the title I figured it might cover his dad's time over there. When I called and talked to my uncle I asked him if there was any significance to it.

Actually, yeah, the guy that wrote it was in his unit. My uncle flew with him, and shared a hooch with him for awhile I guess. One particular incident that was about the only thing I knew about his service over till about 7-8 years ago there is mentioned. Super interesting to me, as I'm pretty close to my uncle and to get a brief window into his time there was really cool. I found used copy on Amazon, and am looking forward to talking to him in a couple days now that I read it.

Chicken Hawks is another great read in the same vein.

Lot of tales from those days. Interesting times.

I'll check it out thanks.



Undoubtedly. Interesting thing in this book is he did not seem to overstate anything. Just an accounting of what he did and what it was like.

I've pm'd you offline, and posted on here about it a bit before. But after listening to some podcasts about the MACV SOG guys giving their stories, and then finding out my uncle was one of the guys piloting the slicks that inserted and picket them up, it really gave me a new appreciation for what he did. I've always loved him dearly and respected him, but I couldn't help but look at him in a bit of a new light after he started talking to me about it.

I read one once titled Warrant Officer, also about a chopper pilot in the Vietnam Conflict. I can not find a source anywhere on Google today. It was not a bad read. But it does not compare to the memoirs of our own Rocky Raab.

I still need to (and plan on) read Rocky's books. Actually I might see if I can order them tonight.

Different role, different perspective. Same as listening to the MACV SOG guys, or any of the various units and unique perspectives they bring to the table.

BBG:

I assume you've read DD's posts on his Vietnam adventures?

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...r/6585900/A_roll_of_the_dice#Post6585900

"Helicopter hoverin, hoverin over head"
"Pickin up the wounded"
"Passin by the dead"

What are the titles of Rosky Raab’s books.

Thanks.

Frank

DD needs to get that published!

Baggy Zero Four
https://www.amazon.com/Baggy-Zero-Four-Rocky-Raab/dp/1411664388

and Mike Five Eight
https://www.amazon.com/Mike-Five-Eight-Over-Cambodia/dp/1430300620

Yeah. I'm well aware of a guy who has put a pile of stuff on paper.
(Good for him, it needs to be written down)

He should consider getting it in book format.
Share it with a wider audience.



Thank you for sharing it with us.

I have a dear friend who quit high school in his senior year, enlisted in the Navy, completed Seal training, served in MACV SOG, was awarded at least three purple hearts, completed his time with MACV SOG and came back home. After coming home he went back to high school and got his high school diploma. Did a career as a pipe fitter. Went to college and completed a PhD, ran over a dozen marathons. Incredibly humble guy. Only way you’d be able to pick him out is by the ball cap he wears with a small MACV SOG patch on it. Wouldn’t notice it if you didn’t know what it was. His town has the “Hometown Heroes” flags. He never had one put up.

A man’s man.

Pard what years was he over their?

Thanks for posting this! I need to pick it up and read it.

Haven’t read that one. I read Chickenhawks. Excellent book.

Ron

Thanks for the compliments. When they finally declassified MACV/SOG about 1985, a lot of us wrote about it. In truth, the Air Force still has no official records of how we were involved in SOG. The only "official" records are what we gave as our cover story. Which was but the palest half-truth.

The MACV/SOG in-brief was the inspiration for the TV Mission Impossible intro. The part where "If you are discovered you will be disavowed" was sobering enough, but when they said "If you are shot down, you will not be rescued" it took the cake. We learned much later that if we had gone down, we would have been officially listed as deserters and probable drug runners. That was the reason for us flying unmarked airplanes. Nice, huh?

Great book. On one occasion, he flew in to rescue wounded. He knew that his Huey had been overloaded with wounded and could not take off. But, he was on top of a hill. He gave max power, and got the chopper 2 feet in the air. He glided downhill five feet and had the chopper land hard, so that the landing gear were compressed, once again he applied full power, and the aircraft bounced 5 feet high the second time.

He did this three or four times, and finally bounced high enough, that heading downhill, he was able to take off.
A miracle this guy survived his tour.

I think the practice of bouncing off the skids was called "pranging" in honor of the sound that it made.

ACE bt Rex Gooch. Story about Lt Col Ace Cozzalio.

I first read about ACE in an Infantry book describing a Balls Out Heli Pilot who saved a pinned down unit.

I’d read that infantry book again if I could remember what it was. The downside of Digital vs Paper reading is finding that kind of stuff.

I'm a fan of LH (Bucky) Burruss's books too. All That Matters, Mike Force, and A Mission For Delta are all good reads. He signed my copy of All That Matters in his backyard while we picked apart blue crabs and drank Legend Brown Ale several summers ago.

The proceeds of the sale from All That Matters are donated to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation which was developed after the tragic events of Operation Eagle Claw which Bucky participated in.