Roger, I'm friends with Darryl Whitcomb who not only was a technical adviser to Bat 21 but was one of the lead FACS flying in that days-long rescue effort. One who survived it, obviously. Several FACs, fighter jocks, and numerous helo crews did not. Darryl just shakes his head at how the movie turned out - as do any other actual FACs.
I've said before that Vietnam was not one war; it was half a million wars as seen through the eyes of everyone who went there. There was opportunity for terror even by the 70% or so of people who went to Vietnam and never saw combat first-hand. Rocket and mortar attacks could kill you at any moment; a cute little girl could drop a grenade into your jeep on a routine trip into town; the smiling barber could slit your throat on a whim. Many could and did die of a bug bite.
It was a literally [bleep] war, but it was the only one we had at the time. It changed me forever. In my mission, I was the last molecule on the tip of the spear and flew every day 100 miles into enemy territory - alone - with a $10,000 in gold bounty on my head. I quit counting after half a million rounds fired at me. I often carried so much adrenaline that I'd puke the minute I got out of my plane. That was MY Vietnam, and it was easy in comparison to some others'.
