This is a true story of a young helicopter pilot's tour of duty in Vietnam. The story was originally published as a series of ten novellas which were consolidated into two books after the last episode was completed. This book includes episodes one thru five. When I returned from Viet Nam in 1969, at the ripe old age of twenty, public opinion and to some extent, my own emotions kept me from talking about my experiences in Vietnam. But, I made myself a promise to someday tell my story. Although, many of the events were permanently seared into my memory, I wanted to be sure that when the time came to make good on my promise, I could recall the events truthfully and accurately. So, soon after returning from Vietnam, I started writing extensive notes on my experiences. Five years later, I started writing my memoirs, but my life was full of commitments and distractions in those days. So, the project was frequently sidelined for long periods of time. But in 1990 after ending my career with a national sporting goods retailer, I took a year off to finally finish my Vietnam book. By the end of the year, the 631 page, manuscript was finished and I started the painful process of trying to find a publisher. After sending out countless query letters and receiving countless rejection letters, I finally received a handful of requests for the entire manuscript. Ultimately, two publishers expressed an interest in the book, but only on the condition that I cut the book by at least 50% which is much more difficult than it sounds. Unfortunately, I couldn't just throw out half the chapters and call it good. So, the project was again sidelined and then forgotten as I embarked on a new career.Another twenty-four years slipped by and when I turned 65, I realized that I was running out of time to fulfill my promise, which over the years I had come to consider an obligation to the 58,000 who never had the opportunity to tell their story. So, in 2014, I started to wade through the original manuscript and I immediately realized that the project was a much bigger undertaking than I anticipated. As a result, I decided to publish the story as a series of episodes to ensure that at least some of the story would get told. Two years and ten episodes later, I finally finished telling my story. The ten episodes were originally published in e-book format only, but after receiving countless requests for the series in a single e-book as well as in printed format, I decided to consolidate the series. Unfortunately, the length made it impractical to publish the story in a single book , so the story was published in two books. Other than some additional editing to correct mistakes that were overlooked in the original editions, the story ...
