Amazon.com
From October 1967 to March 1968, the United States operated a top-secret radar system in Laos near that country's border with North Vietnam. This was a provocative move: Laos was a neutral country. Yet the air force desperately needed all-weather bombing capability in the region, and so the Pentagon decided to take a chance. When Communist troops learned of Site 85, they hit it hard. The result: "The largest single ground combat loss of U.S. Air Force personnel in the history of the Vietnam War."
The public still does not know what happened to nine of the men posted at Site 85. They may have been killed or captured, or perhaps fell victim to "some atrocity" perpetrated by the Communists. The military establishment isn't talking, and neither are knowledgeable sources in Laos and Vietnam. One Day Too Long combines scholarship, journalism, and detective work to learn all that can be known. Apparently there is plenty to hide. "It was criminal to leave the technicians and the other Americans and their security forces stranded [at Site 85]," writes Castle. Yet one conclusion is certain, he says: there is "an unseemly pattern of U.S. government duplicity" surrounding this forgotten incident. --John J. Miller
Book Description
One of the Vietnam War's most closely guarded secrets -- a highly classified U.S. radar base in the mountains of neutral Laos -- led to the disappearance of a small group of elite military personnel, a loss never fully acknowledged by the American government. Now, thirty years later, one book recounts the harrowing story -- and offers some measure of closure on this decades-old mystery.
Because of the covert nature of the mission at Lima Site 85 -- providing bombing instructions to U.S. Air Force tactical aircraft from the "safe harbor" of a nation that was supposedly neutral -- the wives of the eleven servicemen were warned in no uncertain terms never to discuss the truth about their husbands. But one wife, Ann Holland, refused to remain silent. Timothy Castle draws on her personal records and recollections as well as upon a wealth of interviews with surviving servicemen and recently declassified information to tell the full story.
The result is a tale worthy of Tom Clancy but told by a scholar with meticulous attention to historical accuracy. More than just an account of government deception, One Day Too Long is the story of the courageous men who agreed to put their lives in danger to perform a critical mission in which they could not be officially acknowledged. Indeed the personnel at Site 85 agreed to be "sheep-dipped" -- removed from their military status and technically placed in the employ of a civilian company.
Castle reveals how the program, code-named "Heavy Green," was conceived and approved at the highest levels of the U.S. government. In spine tingling detail, he describes the selection of the men and the construction and operation of the radar facility on a mile-high cliff in neutral Laos, even as the North Vietnamese Army began encircling the mountain. He chronicles the communist air attack on Site 85, the only such aerial bombing of the entire Vietnam War.
A saga of courage, cover-up, and intrigue One Day Too Long tells how, in a shocking betrayal of trust, for thirty years the U.S. government has sought to hide the facts and now seeks to acquiesce to perfidious Vietnamese explanations for the disappearance of eleven good men.
Customer Reviews:
One of those Must Read Books.......2005-06-15
This is a great book. Very well written and maticulously researched. I was flying for Air America when all of this happened. Tim Castle has captured it all. It tells a lot about our involvement in Laos, far beyond just the events at Lima Site 85. Thanks, Tim.
I WAS THERE........2001-01-09
As one of the pilots of Jolly Green 67 I simply want to thank Dr. Castle for his comprehensive and historical accurate account of the events at Lima Site 85. This is a story that begged to be told; Dr. Castle pulls no punches, providing a riveting and revealing account. His work was a key factor in the eventual recognition of the heroic efforts of Sgt. Etchberger at the Enlisted Hertiage Hall, Maxwell AFB Annex (formally Gunter AFS), Montgomery AL. A great read.
An American tragedy in Laos........2000-03-21
Congratulations to Dr. Castle for this fine book. A meticulously researched historical work of the finest order that reads like a Tom Clancy action novel. A bombshell that exposes one of the most egregious and hitherto publicly undisclosed tragedies of the Vietnam War. In March 1968 an NVA sapper team avoided detection and attacked a top-secret radar bombing facility (code name Jolly Green) which was manned by sixteen "civilianized" Air Force technicians. The site, LS 85, was located on a mountain top in Laos less than twenty-five miles from the North Vietnam border. The attack caught the technicians off guard and resulted in the loss of the site to the communist forces. Two of those dedicated volunteers manning the site were confirmed killed, five were rescued alive (one died on the evacuation flight) and the remaining nine have never been accounted for and their status remains unknown. This incident holds the distinction of being the largest single loss of Air Force ground personnel during the entire Vietnam War. Why did the Air Force continue to operate this site in the face of considerable evidence the site would soon fall under bombardment and attack by large NVA forces gathering in the area? Was it incompetence or was the site considered so essential to the North Vietnam bombing effort that the loss of the men was an acceptable risk? Dr. Castle looks at these questions in detail. One Day Too Long chronicles the history of Site 85 from its initial concept of operations through the tragic consequence of this miscalculation. But the story does not stop there. It also relates the stoic efforts by one widow to find answers to questions about her husbands death at this site the government was unwilling to provide. This book should be mandatory reading for all future military leaders.
An exposure of a shameful episode in US history........1999-06-26
I have a very personal reaction to "One Day Too Long" in that Mel and Ann Holland were our military sponsors when my family and I were first assigned to an AC&W squadron in southern Spain in early 1961, and I worked with Mel until he rotated to the States. It is embarrassing and shameful to learn how both the military and civilian authorities were willing to sacrifice those men in order to cover up their own mistakes, but I suppose if ALL the truth were known about SE Asia operations, we would not be able to stand it. Dr. Castle has perfomed an invaluable service for democracy. EVERYBODY should read this book! (Ann, we'd love to hear from you!)
Compelling story of a good cause gone bad........1999-06-11
A story of noble sacrifices by military men and their families. Regretfully, those sacrifices were eventually overlooked by those eager to use the PW-MIA issue as a convenient political tool -- first those who strove to keep Vietnam at arm's length, and since 1992 those who set out to use the ploy of alleged "full faith cooperation" to faciliate ties with Vietnam. One Day Too Long shows that when the American people seek to measure foreign government "cooperation" on such humanitarian issues, they must first evaluate the seriousness and good faith of efforts made by their own government.
Amazon.com
Red Pine (a.k.a. Bill Porter) offers a new perspective on the Chinese classic Taoteching. A competent translator and interpreter of Chinese religion, he renders his work with an eye for detail and a spiritualism cultivated during years of Zen monastery living. It's odd that many read translations of Chinese classics as bare-bones texts, whereas no Chinese would tackle such obscurity in the absence of a helping hand from previous pundits. Fortunately, it is no longer necessary to rely on mystical insight in order to understand the Taoteching. Instead, we can look to the 12 or so commentators that Red Pine resurrects from Chinese history. With its clarity and scholarly range, this version of the Taoteching works as both a readable text and a valuable resource of Taoist interpretation.
Book Description
Red Pine's translation of the most revered of Chinese texts corrects errors in previous interpretations, truly breathes new poetic life into the English version, and includes selected commentaries-judged by Chinese scholars to be essential to understanding the wisdom of Taoism. Pine incorporates the commentaries of emperors and prime ministers, Taoist monks and nuns, Buddhist priests, poets, scholars, and the country's most famous philosophers of the past 2,000 years. This marks the first time that non-Chinese speakers have been given access to such a range of wisdom explaining the deeper meaning of China's famous ancient classic. With its clarity and scholarly range, this version of the Taoteching works both as a readable text and a valuable resource of Taoist interpretation.
Lao-tzu, founder of Taoism, is supposed to have written the Taoteching around 600 BC in the Chungnan Mountain region, where
Red Pine (Bill Porter) interviewed contemporary hermits as described in his book Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits. Bill Porter is also the translator of The Zen Works of Stonehouse, of Sung Po-jen's Guide to Capturing a Plum Blossom, and of The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain.
Customer Reviews:
It makes you think!.......2007-09-20
I liked this book. the commentaries are interesting and provide insight into the Tao. I would have liked more commentaries on how to apply them to daily life, but overall it's a good book. I would recommend it.
'untying our tangles. . . softening our light . . .'.......2006-05-08
The only language in which the Taoteching could have been written is Classical Chinese, a medium seemingly open enough to accomodate any translation without losing anything at all. But we should keep in mind, as the good book here says, ". . . the Tao in words is not the real Tao . . ." We could say that Classical Chinese could not really, in our day and age, be served up in literal translation, and we can be grateful to Red Pine, once again, that in this fabulous rendering, he does not begin with the words, but rather with the Tao.
Paul Reps once told me that we humans "are on the outside looking in". Like the space between the kanji strokes, as with the Chinese, thus with the Tao, and even the Truth. (Chapter 11: "Thirty spokes converge on a hub, but it's the emptiness that makes a wheel work . . ."
This translation does work. As in his other impressive translations (I especially love his moving early 1990's translation of Bodhidharma - recommended to all who wish to learn more of Ch'an or Zen) there breathes an immediacy which flows forth into the consciousness of our moment, resonant in these teachings. Relatively obscure in the West not half a century ago, they thus have been recognized for their pith, their eternal relevance, their vision.
Each Chapter in this well-bound, well-designed volume is accompanied by a series of commentaries or alternative translations from various sages in the Taoist tradition, a process which itself, once again, reveals the Tao, ever changing, always unchanged.
Chapter 19: "Get rid of wisdom and reason
and people will live a hundred times better
get rid of kindness and justice
and people once more will love and obey
get rid of cleverness and profit
and thieves will cease to exist
but these sayings are not enough
hence let this be added
wear the undyed and hold the uncarved
reduce self-interest and limit desires
get rid of learning and problems will vanish"
I've been reading this book since the early 1960's in various English renditions - this one is far and away my current favorite - a real delight!
Finally! A Tao Te Ching with the appropriate commentaries.......2005-07-25
In Asia, sacred texts like the Tao Te Ching are read with reference to the commentaries of its key historical luminaries. Only in the west is it read by itself, with no guidance. Finally, we have a TTC with key commentaries. Plus, the author has here given a translation that may come as close as possible to expressing the Chinese in English. It is concise, even pithy.
A number of other features make this volume unique and particularly valuable. Pine's extensive introduction covers an intriguing linguistic insight into the Chinese written character for Tao, Lao Tzu's historical background, the usual issues of authorship, etc., and some of the deeper understandings of the important themes of philosophical Taoism. Also, he has provided black and white photos of the famed Hanku Pass and the Loukuantai where tradition holds that Lao-tzu wrote the Tao Te Ching. The Chinese text is provided along side Pine's clear and unadorned translation. He utilizes the earlier but more recently discovered Mawangtui texts, and explains his preferences in choosing among textual variants. But most important for me, and for any student of the Tao Te Ching are his carefully selected commentaries which follow each verse. These show how the Chinese have traditionally understood the passages of the TTC in selected commentaries from the last 2000 years. Also, the book provides an extensive glossary of the Chinese terms and the commentators. Highly recommended!
Indispensible.......2004-08-21
For those interested in the Tao Te Ching, the red pine translation is indispensible. Though there's little way to check the historical or translational accuracy in the provided sources to each stanza, they remain an invaluble insight to the meaning of each, significantly helping to aid your understanding, and come to a conclusion on your own.
I recommend this book to anyone I feel may benefit from it's wisdom, and plan whole heartedly on sending a copy of it as a gift to every elected president of the united states that comes along, as the book was originally intended as a commentary itself towards the ruling class.
This is it !.......2004-01-30
This is the most helpful book on Taoism I have ever read. After years of reading different translations, overtly loose or too stiff interpretations, and inaccurate relativistic teachings by some Taoist "experts", I have never found a better translation and study book on the Tao concept. The commentaries are very insightful and very useful with several comments on each chapter to look through and compare. The whole book is very practical and nice to read. I'm fairly skeptical at heart (indeed, a skeptic), but there is plenty of wisdom here that is just plain obvious and helpful. If I could only choose one book on Taoism to have, THIS WOULD BE IT. I even bought a spare. I think that much of it.
Book Description
Jane Hamilton-Merritt, Nobel-nominated scholar and photojournalist, has followed the plight of the Hmong and the war in Indochina since the 1960s. The staunchest of allies, the Hmong sided with the Americans against the North Vietnamese and were foot soldiers in the brutal secret war for Laos. Since the war, abandoned by their American allies, the Hmong have been subjected to a campaign of genocide by the North Vietnamese, including the use of chemical weapons. Tragic Mountains moves from the big picture of international diplomacy and power politics to the small villages and heroic engagements in the Lao jungle. It is a story of courage, brutality, heroism, betrayal, resilience, and hope.
Customer Reviews:
The Hmong, the Americans and secret wars .......2005-12-28
This is a documentary about unsung heros who paid a deal price working for the Americans from the 40s and on. They were being hired to stop communism working with the French in the 40-50s. As the tide of North Vietnamese infiltration into South Vietnam turned, Vang Pao, a former French colonial officier was put in charge of covert operations working for CIA in the little known secret war in Laos. The book went into details on how much sacrifice the Hmong people made to please Americans.
They gave up just about everything to wage an American war and learned their American sponsors who abandoned them after 1975. Similar to CIA's involvement in Cuba the Hmong fighters who were abandoned had to flee their country. This time they had to accept either slughter or content with refugee camp life in Thailand. The author, Jane Hamilton-Merritt, produced horror pictures and sketches of the effect of chemical-biological toxins on the people and the atrocities committed by the communists. Through some unorganized chapters Jane lost her enthusium and called it quits up to 1992. This may be the weakest part of the fine documentary.
As more and more Hmong immigrants are leaving the refugee camps and re-settled in many parts of the world, we need to understand their heritage and believes. Unlike the Indo-chinese refugees coming into the US who are mostly city dwellers, the Hmong have for 4,000 years able to attain a certain degree of identity/freedom. This is in a way like the Native Americans who do not wish to be fully assimilated. We need to respect and help the Hmong people by not imposing the same attitude as we have done on other immigrants. We also need to understand the cultural and habits of those who fought so hard for the Americans. Unlike other enthnic cultures, this is a hard to find book on the war history of Hmong people in Laos.
the truth? not really..........2005-10-12
this book has some truth...but woopti doo... anyone can research...but until you were actually there...you'll never know.
If you are Hmong and you read hamiltons book and you beleive all that is said, you need help....HA just kidding... but you do need to go to a HMONG SOURCE, someone that was there, fighting in the war, and leading the Hmong people to freedom, to find out what really happened, not rely on someone who wants to make a buck off our culture. Please do not think i'm trying to sound better than anyone, all i'm saying is that the world deserves to know the truth about the Hmongs and how MAJORLY significant we were to the "war". We have been sworn in as an ethnic group recently, but now we also need to map the Hmong into American History for all to learn about. This is not about Hmong pride, this is about education...Again, this book has some truth... but...stay tuned and the truth will soon be out.
Engaging.......2005-07-30
As will be established by many other reviewers, there ARE some significant points of contention, particularly regarding the Yellow Rain element of the book and the occasional heavy-handed romanticizing of the Hmong. But these are not enough to totally undermine the value of the book.
By and large, it really tells a deeply engaging story about the Hmong and should be considered one of the essential reads on the matter.
Considering the large lack of material on the Hmong prior to this book, it is an important step.
One might want to compare it to Backfire/Shooting At the Moon by Warner in particular, or even The Ravens / Air America by Robbins. Another good text to have on hand is Sky Is Falling by Morrisson.
We should all still be waiting for the great Hmong account of the war in Laos from their own perspective however. That should make fascinating reading.
UNTOLD HISTORY.......2003-11-29
THE BOOK "TRAGIC MOUNTAINS" GIVES ME AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE HISTORY IN THE PAST. ALSO, A REASON WHY HMONG WERE VERY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN THE SHADOWS BECAUSE THEY HAD MADE LOAS A HISTORY BY JOINED WITH THE AMERICANS TO FOUGHT AGANIST COMMUNIST. IT INSPIRED ME IN MANY WAYS WHICH I CAN NOT EXPLAIN BUT WITH TEARS AND FEARS. NOW THAT THE HISTORY IS TOLD IN THE BOOK "TRAGIC MOUNTAINS," I FELT THAT IT IS MY DESTINATION TO MAKE A DIFFERANCE IN AMERICA. "BY MAKING A DIFFERANCE IN AMERICA, IT WILL BECAME PART OF OUR HISTORY," SAID NELSON NAGAI.
Candlestick Fac analysis.......2001-07-17
Jane Hamilton-Merritt's research and reporting is outstanding.After serving as a Candlestick fac (NKP 1969-1970),I have spent the last three years reading about these poor people who gave so much for the American aircrews.. I spent a two week'Sabbatical" at 20 alternate and was shocked by the yound age of V.P.s troops.Ms. jane has portrayed it brilliantly....Her work is phenomenal and should be required reading for the war colleges She correctly questions why any country would sign a treaty with the United States.. The genocide which we have supported by "sticking our heads in the sand" is grievous.I retired early from the USAF since I lost confidence in our government.Indeed even the services spent a great deal of their time trying to absorb each other's missions,rather than dealing with the losing battle in SEA in the 1970s.. The administration never told the American people that we were actually fighting against Russian and Chinese advisors leave alone that we were in Laos for almost ten years. .Every congressman should also read about this stain on our moral fiber .Somehow,there are more important things in this life than being reelected .Thank you and Bless Ms. Hamilton-Merritt for trying to wake up Washington. The best treatise ever on our Laotian allies !
Amazon.com
When John Halliday arrived at Thailand's Nakhon Phanom Air Base in 1970, he thought the next year would bore him out of his skull. He believed his mission in the Vietnam War would be to fly cargo around Thailand. What could be easier? A couple of nights later, Halliday found himself dodging dozens of anti-aircraft shells in an aging cargo plane over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Flying Through Midnight is his riveting account of his top-secret black-ops assignment--one of the most dangerous of the war.
Halliday flew slow propeller-driven relics at night deep into guerrilla territory in the "unofficial" war in Laos. His task with the 606th Special Operations Squadron was to help pinpoint guerrilla truck convoys for U.S. planes to bomb. Meanwhile, President Richard Nixon denied U.S. forces were fighting in Laos. Halliday wasn't even supposed to tell his wife what he was doing. His mail and phone calls were monitored, and soon he went from being a jittery FNG ("f---ing new guy") to a decorated war hero who logged 800 combat flight hours in Vietnam and the Gulf War. He was awarded the Air Force's Distinguished Flying Cross for one particularly amazing feat of bravery--a nighttime crash-landing on an unlit airstrip amid soaring mountains, which saved his crew. Flying Through Midnight does a remarkable job bringing to life Halliday's dramatic combat experiences, the foibles of his superiors, the brutalities of war, and the colorful quirks of his fellow flyboys, including his roommate whose favorite hobby was reading canned-food labels. There's not much here about the deeper rationale of the Vietnam War, but it's a gripping read. --Alex Roslin
Book Description
Riveting, novelistic, and startlingly candid, John T. Halliday's combat memoir begins in 1970, when Halliday has just landed in the middle of the Vietnam War, primed to begin his assignment with the 606th Special Operations Squadron. But there's a catch: He's stationed in a kind of no-man's-land. No one on his base flies with ID, patches, or rank. Even as Richard Nixon firmly denies reporters' charges that the United States has forces in Laos, Halliday realizes that from his base in Thailand, he will be flying top-secret, black-ops night missions over the Laotian Ho Chi Minh Trail.
A naive yet thoughtful twenty-four-year-old, Halliday was utterly unprepared for the horrors of war. On his first mission, Halliday's C-123 aircraft dodges more than a thousand antiaircraft shells, and that is just the beginning. Nothing is as he expected -- not the operations, not the way his shell-shocked fellow pilots look and act, and certainly not the squadron's daredevil, seat-of-one's-pants approach to piloting. But before long, Halliday has become one of those seasoned and shell-shocked pilots, and finds himself in a desperate search for a way to elude certain death.
Using frank, true-to-life dialogue, potent imagery, and classic 1970s song lyrics, Halliday deftly describes the fraught Laotian skies and re-creates his struggle to navigate the frustrating Air Force bureaucracy, the deprivations of a remote base far from home and his young wife, and his fight to preserve his sanity. The resulting nonfiction narrative vividly captures not only the intricate, distorted culture of war but also the essence of the Vietnam veteran's experience of this troubled era.
A powerhouse fusion of pathos and humor, brutal realism and intimate reflection, Flying Through Midnight is a landmark contribution to war literature, revealing previously top-secret intelligence on the 606th's night missions. Fast-paced, thrilling, and bitingly intelligent, Halliday illuminates it all: the heart-pounding air battles, the close friendships, the crippling fear, and the astonishing final escape that made the telling of it possible.
Download Description
A powerhouse fusion of pathos and humor, brutal realism and intimate reflection, Flying Through Midnight is a landmark contribution to war literature, revealing previously top-secret intelligence on the 606th's night missions. Fast-paced, thrilling, and bitingly intelligent, Halliday illuminates it all: the heart-pounding air battles, the close friendships, the crippling fear, and the astonishing final escape that made the telling of it possible.
Customer Reviews:
One of the best books I have ever read.......2007-08-29
I have been reading aviation books since I was 10 years old. The first one was "God is My Copilot". This book rates at the very top. I read it for 5 hours straight. It is an amazing story, almost not believable. If you like aviation books, books about war, books about human failings and overcoming impossible situations, this is a book for you.
A Gripping Read.......2007-07-15
I read this book because a friend of mine wrote to me about it and picqued my interest in it. I'm glad he did.
I found the first part of the book somewhat disquieting as to what it was like to be twenty-four years old, an air force pilot and sent to the war in SE Asia and end up flying in the secret war in Laos, where the President of the United States said we were not fighting. (but that's another story)
Halliday is introduced to that aspect of warfare by a guy named Wiley, who over time indoctrinates him into what he has to know to both fly and survive. The plane they are flying is the C-123-J Provider. The airframe was initially intended to be a cargo glider, but over time it morphed into a twin engined troop transport and cargo hauler. The J model had jet engines added under the wings to give it extra boost when needed. Their mission, dubbed "Candlestick" is to provide illumination at night dropping flares over enemy troop convoys so that the "fast movers", F-4's and F-105's can come in and bomb the crap out of them.
There are numerous stories that Halliday tells wbout his coming of age as a pilot on these missions, however the one that starts at Chapter 31 and essentially carries through to the end of the book, is as gripping a recounting of flying and surviving as I have ever read.
I am aware that one of the reviews of this book by a reader claims it is fiction. However the other reviews, both by readers and writers do not make that claim and many of them have also been there. I believe Halliday and I thank him for taking the time to share this most remarkable story with us.
Been There...Done That.......2007-06-21
This book is virtually complete fiction. The author gives a hyper inflated description of his "heroic" deeds which is sickening to those of us who served in the same squadron at the same time he did. It's especially disturbing to see that some of his reader's actually buy his apocryphal meanderings. Very, very little of his descriptions of the hazards involved in the Candle Stick mission are true. What makes a person write a make believe tale of their own false heroism?
ONE OF THE BEST WAR BOOKS EVER.......2007-04-17
I have been reading non-fiction war books since I was about 10 years old and this is one of the best I have ever read. As a flyer in my younger days the author made me relive the feelings of being free. This book also tells it like it was in the secret war in Laos and Cambodia when they were asked to do so much with so little and under the type of leaders above them who cared only about their next step up the ladder. J.T makes you laugh, cry, and shake your head in disgust throughout the book. The self thoughts as he is trying to get down with zero fuel is better than any suspense drama ever written. If you have any interest in flying and the war in South East Asia, read this book, You will not be sorry. Thanks J.T for one of the greatest reads of my life. BY the way, I am 76 years old,with a collection of over 300 non-fiction mmpb war books. I have read about 2 times that many more. Happy reading. PS. I hope Mr. Halliday writes another one as I love his style.It keeps you on the edge of your seat.
authentic.......2007-04-06
Very much enjoyed this title, myself, but the acid test was when I handed it to a friend to read who had ACTUALLY BEEN to some of the places cited (at very close to the same time). His mouth locked into perpetual smile mode and every minute or so (at least during the first couple of chapters) he laughed out loud, saying, "Yeah, it was exactly like that. We had a guy in our unit who..."
Average customer rating:
- A poem based on The Price of Exit
- Save your money
- rayjoy@ipa.net
- I was there and Tom tells it like it was.
- Written from the heart , factual and detailed. Well written.
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Price of Exit
Tom Marshall
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
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ASIN: 0804117152
Release Date: 1998-04-29 |
Book Description
"The risk of a fatal catastrophe was constant. The NVA was the enemy, but the ultimate opponent was, quite simply, death. . . ."
For assault helicopter crews flying in and around the NVA-infested DMZ, the U.S. pullout from Vietnam in 1970-71 was a desperate time of selfless courage. Now former army warrant officer Tom Marshall of the Phoenix, C Company, 158th Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne, captures the deadly mountain terrain, the long hours flown under enormous stress, the grim determination of hardened pilots combat-assaulting through walls of antiaircraft fire, the pickups amid exploding mortar shells and hails of AK fire, the nerve-racking string extractions of SOG teams from North Vietnam. . . . And, through it all, the rising tension as helicopter pilots and crews are lost at an accelerating pace.
It is no coincidence that the Phoenix was one of the most highly decorated assault helicopter units in I Corps. For as the American departure accelerated and the enemy added new, more powerful antiaircraft weapons, the helicopter pilots, crew chiefs, and gunners paid the heavy price of withdrawal in blood. For more than 30 Percent of Tom Marshall's 130 helicopter-school classmates, the price of exit was their lives. . . .
Customer Reviews:
A poem based on The Price of Exit .......2007-09-26
The Phoenix
Just south of the DMZ, 1970
by John Irving
based on Tom Marshalls' wonderful book on flying helicopters in Vietnam, The Price of Exit
Company C
Assault Helicopters
158th Aviation Batallion
101st Airborne Division (Airmobile)
Platoon Leader Al Finn was flying
with a `Wobbly One' beside him.
120 miles an hour just five feet
above the ground was a RUSH.
Crew Chief Dan Felts and Gunner Bill Dodson
loved it. "Awsome!" they'd yell.
NVA gunners heard them coming
"WOP WOP WOP WOP WOP!"
Then fired one burst and cheered.
The Huey nosed into the ground
A flaming mass of chopper and body parts.
"Hair Teeth and Eyeballs, EVERYWHERE!"
That night, as the carved Phoenix
over the bar rose again from its flames
pilots drank their toasts.
in the `O' Club back at Evans.
DEATH, the ultimate enemy
had claimed four more of their brothers.
The combat hardened vets of a hundred battles
looked at the pale newbies, fresh from Rucker
seeking the anwser to THE unspoken question:
"Are you going to come get me, if I go down?"
The new, young pilots
all said it with their eyes,
"I do accept this duty, this honor.
I will keep the faith, no man left behind."
Together they drank and chanted
the time-honored Protective Spells,
"Better him than me!"
"He was a rotten son-of-a-[...], deserved to die!"
Save your money.......2006-08-10
This is the worst book on Viet Nam I have read. I didn't even finish it I was so tired of the whinning and crying along with the all for me and to hell with you attitude. Reminded me of a very spoiled baby. I will give him a point for showing up at the party. If you want to read excellant books about helicopters in Viet Nam read the following. All are great. Chicken Hawk by Robert Mason, Sea Wolves and U.S. Navy Seawolves by Daniel Kelly. Taking Fire by Ron Kelly, and Low Level Hell by Mills. I stuck with the helicopters rather than all aircraft types because the list would be too long, but there are many exciting aviation books out there to read without wasting time on a bad one. There is one on the Kingsman Helicopters in action but I can't remember the title but well worth reading. I have over 47 books on Viet Nam and have read many more,so am familiar with most of the styles of writing offered in war books. This one just don't cut it.
rayjoy@ipa.net.......2000-09-08
Tom writes it as it was. No holds barred. I had many an experience of the supposedly allies(the arvn) running and leaving the Americans to fight alone. To all the helicopter pilots I take my hat off.If it hadn't been for them many more of our young men would have died over there. Roadrunner6 out
I was there and Tom tells it like it was........1999-10-25
One of the battles will forever be a part of me. I was there and flew a huey into Laos many times. This book is most accurate! Black Widow 25
Written from the heart , factual and detailed. Well written........1998-10-09
Tom Marshall has written about his experiences as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam with close attention to detail. His thoughts and feelings are very real about his fallen comrades. This book is an awesome tribute to them and their families. As a Vietnam Veteran, he has professionally told his story, and their stories need to be told and read. They are our best resource to the factual history of the VN war. Thank you Tom Marshall.
Book Description
The richly illustrated story of four combat photographers who died in a fiery helicopter over Laos in 1971--and the search, twenty-seven years later, for the crash site.
In 1971, as American forces hastened their withdrawal from Vietnam, a helicopter was hit by enemy fire over Laos and exploded in a fireball, killing four top combat photographers, Larry Burrows of Life magazine, Henri Huet of Associated Press, Kent Potter of United Press International, and Keisaburo Shimamoto of Newsweek. The Saigon press corps and the American public were stunned, but the remoteness of the location made a recovery attempt impossible. When the war ended four years later in a communist victory, the war zone was sealed off to outsiders, and the helicopter incident faded from most memories. Yet two journalists from the Vietnam press corps--Richard Pyle, former Saigon Bureau Chief, and Horst Faas, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer in Vietnam--pledged to return some day to Laos, resolve mysteries about the crash, and pay homage to their lost friends. True to their vow, twenty-seven years after the incident the authors joined a U.S. team excavating the hillside where the helicopter crashed. Few human remains were found, but camera parts and bits of film provided eerie proof of what happened there.
The narrative of Lost Over Laos is framed in a period that was among the war's bloodiest, for both the military and the media, yet has received relatively little attention from historians. It is rich with behind-the-scenes anecdotes about the Saigon press corps and illustrated with stunning work by the four combat photographers who died and their colleagues.
Customer Reviews:
Not Captivating.......2005-10-18
Before picking up this book I had just finished Requiem by Horst Faas and Tim Page, The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam, A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan (all of which I loved), A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo, and Street Without Joy by Bernard Fall. I have to say that Richard Pyle is not in the same league (except maybe with Caputo). A dramatic, tragic story, but it just wasn't captivating in Pyle's hands. Also, he seemed to be stretching to create a book out of this story. Would have been better as an article in Atlantic Monthly rather than a complete book.
Lost Over Loas: A True Story of Tragedy, Mystery, and Friend.......2004-12-08
I throughly enjoyed this book. I love history and this book gave a good insight into the press of Saigon including their risks and misfortunes. I enjoyed reading about the relationships developed at a personal level between the press core and the military. I would highly recommend this book.
Explores and explains the psyche of the war photojournalist.......2003-08-08
For those of us born too late to be part of the generation that was, in the words of Richard Pyle, "educated, molded, and aged by the Vietnam experience," our second-hand knowledge of this war has been limited largely to the negative: the horrors of the battlefield, the mental anguish of the young soldiers being asked to sacrifice their lives for goals that were far from clear, and the deeply divisive debates over the agony of continued warfare vs. the humiliation of abandoning the cause. Yet this book is about journalists who VOLUNTEERED to go into the jungle. What would make an otherwise sane person want to do this? As Pyle explores the lives and deaths of the four killed photojournalists, various answers to this question surface, making the journalist's motives comprehensible even to outsiders such as myself--the lure of the exotic setting, the sense of regret that one might have felt if excluded from the most important event of the decade, and the sense of obligation to "compel the world to see Vietnam," to see it "through a camera lens that illuminated, explained, told truths of what the war looked like and how it felt to be there." As for coping with the drawbacks of death and dismemberment, there was always denial. As Richard writes: "It was part of the war correspondent psyche to recognize the possibility of the worst, but to worry or even think much about that was to invite oneself to look for work in another field"; and "there was a sense among members of the Saigon media that journalists who reached celebrity status through repeated stellar performance could become exempt from ordinary danger, passing into a realm of immunity where the worst simply could not happen to them--as if North Vietnamese gunners tracking a helicopter would receive a last-second order: 'Don't shoot. That's Larry Burrows up there.'"
As summarized in the reviews of others, the primary focus of this book is on (1) the lives of Larry Burrows, Henri Huet, Kent Potter, and Keisaburo Shimamoto; and (2) the difficult search for the details of a crash that took place behind enemy lines (details which, for almost thirty years, were limited to little more than "helicopter shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, apparently killing all aboard"). Yet it's the tangent themes that I found the most affecting, perhaps none more than Pyle's search for meaning in the tragic loss of his colleagues and friends. These four civilian photographers went to Vietnam to share the images of war with the rest of the world, and it seems to double the tragedy "that the only monument to their commitment, their skill, and their courage should be a few bone shards and bits of metal, left out in the rain on a nameless, forgotten hillside." Five stars.
An excellent, evocative book.......2003-04-15
This book describes the world of photojournalists in the Vietnam work and focuses on the death of four photojournalists in a battle over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos during a the US government's semi-covert war against the North Vietnamese in that country (the pilots of their aircraft were South Vietnamese and their death occurred during a South Vietnamese attack against NVA supply lines). The book also describes the effort to find their remains and the authors' attempt to give meaning to their loss. The photojournalists who died included two of the most celebrated of the war and two younger men of great skill. In a relatively short text, the book manages to tell their stories and the story of Vietnam War photojournalism in a manner that is reverent without being professionally aggrandizing. By coincidence, I visited the village where the search for remains took place a few months before the authors and their time in that place was particularly evocative for me. The authors offer a perspective on the war that is complex and, in some ways, more hawkish than other first-hand retrospective war accounts, although too skeptical to really fit the conceptualizations of hawk and dove that characterized the times. Given the many parallels that some have drawn between Vietnam and our own era, this is a book that thoughtful critics and partisans of the Iraqi conflict should read. My only complaint is that book does not include enough of the award winning pictures of Larry Burrows and his fallen colleagues.
Especially recommended reading for students of journalism.......2003-04-08
Collaboratively written by foreign correspondent Richard Pyle and Associated Press photographer and photo editor Horst Faas, Lost Over Laos: A True Story Of Tragedy, Mystery, And Friendship is an historical and memorial testimony showcasing four combat photographers who died in Indochina: Larry Burrows of "Life" magazine; Henri Huet of the Associated Press; Kent Potter of United Press International; and Keisaburo Shimamoto of "Newsweek". Twenty seven years later, a recovery team was able to visit the site of the helicopter crash that took the lives of these remarkable men, recover evidence, and bring closure to the tragedy. Lost Over Laos is a powerful and poignant narration, and especially recommended reading for students of journalism.
Product Description
On 31 May 1968, Lt. Kenny Fields catapulted off USS America in his A-7 for his first-ever combat mission. His target was two hundred miles away in Laos. What the planners did not know was that Fields was en route to a massive concentration of AAA gun sites amidst an entire North Vietnamese division.
Fields, call sign Streetcar 304, was the first to roll in, and he destroyed that target with a direct hit. Three AAA guns began to fire, but, following his wingman's run, he rolled in again. This time many more AAA guns opened up and Fields was shot down. Soon, a rescue pilot suffered the same fate.
The Rescue of Streetcar 304 is Fields' exhilarating narrative of the forty hours that followed and what turned out to be one of the largest and most spine-tingling air rescues of the Vietnam War.
Fields mixes humor and drama as he recounts teeth-chattering close encounters with Pathet Lao guerillas, and nearly being killed time and again by friendly bombs. He describes in riveting detail the radio chatter between participants, and the stress effects of coping with fear, sleep deprivation, wild animals, and relentless AAA. By the time it was over, the U.S. Air Force had flown 189 sorties to rescue Fields, and in the process four pilots ejected, seven planes were lost or heavily damaged, and one pilot became a POW for five years.
Customer Reviews:
Great read.......2007-10-08
A great page-turning read that brought back tons of memories ........I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to feel like the've actually experience a combat search and rescue mission. I flew several - Kenny Fields took me back to SEA for a while.
Joe Panza
Colonel, USAF (Ret)
Jolly Green Pilot (HH-53B)
40 ARRS, Udorn RTAFB, Thailand '67-'68
rescue of streetcar 304.......2007-10-04
excelent book. as a crew member of USS AMERICA, on the same cruise as the author, we had no idea what difficulties the pilots had to endure once they left the ship. this is a real eye opener. kenny fields did a great job of not only telling his story, but making the reader feel like you are right there in the cockpit with him. very well done.
One of the Best!.......2007-10-01
This is one of the best books to come out of Vietnam. Streetcar 304 gets you right down in the weeds with him while he does his best to "evade and escape." A serious page turner. Not to be missed. As an Air Force F-4 pilot, I was in on several rescues in the same area, and I can tell you this book is right on!
Yankee Station.......2007-09-27
Mr Fields, Yes, heroism was the main theme that came across in your book...heroism and the will to survive! Streetcar 304 shows the frail human qualities that we possess and the heroic qualities that surface in times of need. I don't know who said it but the difference between a hero and a coward is only a few minutes and that is clearly evident in this book! I hope there are plans to make this book into a movie? I have read many books about Vietnam...Bat 21 (both books) Flying Black phonies, Cheating Death, Going Downtown, Escape from Laos and too many more to list...this book is at the top! Fields' use of call signs rather than names was at first troubling but by the end it proved to be the best way so as not to confuse the reader by all the different participants...he then had a glossary at the end with all the actual names...great method! It was well written and very readable...when at the end of your work day, the only thought on your mind is to go home and pick up this book...you know it is a good one!
[...]........2007-09-13
Before you start reading this book, do the laundry, wash the dishes, buy some t.v. dinners, and dig yourself a hole , because you won't stop reading until the end. It is that exciting, well written, funny, sad, adventurous, clever, scary, told in a great voice, vivid, memorable (you'll find yourself thinking about it for days), magical, spiritual, but most of all you live it as you read it. That's a great book. I met the author at the Oceana Air Show in Virginia. What a guy. Holly
Average customer rating:
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In a Little Kingdom: The Tragedy of Laos, 1960-1980
Perry Stieglitz
Manufacturer: M.E. Sharpe
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Bamboo Palace: Discovering The Lost Dynasty Of Laos
ASIN: 0873326172 |
Average customer rating:
- Every American should read this book
- Unconventional Warriors in Exotic Lands
- Fascinating Look Into What "Never Happened"
- An Absolute Must Read!
- Extremely helpful book
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The Ravens: The Men Who Flew in America's Secret War in Laos
Christopher Robbins
Manufacturer: Crown
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ASIN: 0517566125
Release Date: 1987-10-14 |
Customer Reviews:
Every American should read this book.......2006-07-10
The Ravens would be an eye opener to virtually 99% of Americans who knew nothing about the secret war in Laos. The pilots who flew as FACS , volunteered for a program that was called "the Steve Canyon Program". With it, the turned in all their identity of being a USAF pilot , and together with the CIA they directed with an extrememly high level of bravado and skill, other USAF air assets such as F-4's , T-28, f-105 and other A/C to bomb targets on the Ho Chi Minh trail and othe rplaces where the NVA were infiltrating into Laos , bringing tons of supplies to reinforce their agression. They also bombed and destroyed sites whenever they could also. THey were not the garden vairiety of USAF officers and were shunned by the REMFS' and suits that may have visited Long Thien (sp) their main secret base, generally referrred to as "Alternate" in an attempt to thro off the enemy that is was their primary base. They flew with "Hmong" backseaters and trained other Hmong to fly T-28, one of whom had flow many 1000's of missions before he was shot down and killed, and became a national hero. THe Hmong , were a fearless bunch , unlike the regular Lsaotians , who often ran at the mere sight of the enemy. The Ravens in their secret war accomplished an awful lot of good when you consider that the tonnage of bombs dropped elsewhere were often inneffective ( mostly becasue of the very restrictive ROE rather than pilots who couldn;t do the job). THe Ravens flew sometines 200 hours a month and I am sure some did more. It was common for them to be in the air 6-7 hours a day directing fire upon targets. They flew there small O-1's into fire ranging from small arms to large AAA, and many of them died but they did the job that has to be done with valor. Air America also had some of the most gutsy pilots flying rescue missions as well, often going in to rescue a Raven when the USAF choppers begged off because of enemy fire.
I'd love to meet some of these guys at their annual reunions.
I hope that someone makes a movie about these guys because their story needs to get out. The Ravens ROCK!
Unconventional Warriors in Exotic Lands .......2006-01-21
"The Ravens" is a fast-reading, fascinating, pedal-to-the-metal account of the young airforce pilots who were forward air controllers in Laos assisting the Hmong army that fought on the side of the United States. The Ravens flew tinny obsolete planes in a war that never really happened if one is to believe the official histories. There were about one hundred of them during the course of the war and they were a bold, brave, and wildly individualistic group. A goodly number came home in pieces or in body bags.
One of the Ravens set a record for crashing or being shot down eleven times -- but he pointed out that all eleven planes he crashed weren't worth the price of one fighter jet. There are amazing characters scattered all though this Land of Oz story. One Hmong pilot is estimated to have flown the incredible total of 5,000 missions before the fates caught up with him. General Vang Pao of the Hmong presides over the Ravens and he, like Afghan warlord Ahmad Shah Massoud, is a character of legend.
The author focuses on about a dozen of the Ravens and the bulk of the book concerns their exploits in the air supporting the Hmong army and leading American bombers and fighters to targets. There is also much here of the stupidity of the American military machine and the REMF's -- look up that acronym in the book if you aren't familiar with it -- that were a burden to the men on the front lines. The tale of Laos and the secret war is an epic of derring-do, tragedy, and abandonment. "The Ravens" tells one important chapter in the story.
Smallchief
Fascinating Look Into What "Never Happened".......2002-11-27
Hard to put this book down. Who were these mysterious folks who wore cut-off jeans, cowboy hats, and sunglasses? A very interesting documentary about this secret operation. If a pilot was shot down they were to take shellfish poison and commit suicide, because officially, they didn't exist. What country is the most-bombed per capita in history of the world? Vietnam? No, Laos. There are frequent insights and descriptions into the personalities of this small group of daring people who took part in this widely unknown conflict and series of secret missions. It lasted 10 years. Military terminology, procedures, strategies, and informalities (the way things got done), are explained well in this book. The personalities, internal politics and military strategies within Laos of the U.S. military and political bureaucracy, and Viet Minh, are broken down in an easy-to-read and free-flowing way, that makes it interesting and enjoyable for the reader. Some battles were examined that most of the American public is still not aware of today.
There is a lot of information and real-life examples about endless catch-22-like SOPs and regulations that bound those who served in the Vietnam and the "other theater," (Laos).
Common expressions explained throughout the book explain what it meant when someone "went bamboo," or took a hit from the "golden BB." What is a "FAC" or a "REMF." Vets will be impressed when a civilian mentions these acronyms.
Like in Vietnam, the American military bureaucrats (suits) in downtown Vientiene offices were unaware and out-of-touch, yet, they were the ones creating and enforcing the rules and regulations, but not participating in the conflict. Therefore, they really didn't know what was going, and couldn't relate to the folks who put their life on the line every time they hopped in their officially non-existent jalopy. What is it like to realistically know that today may be your last day? Every day?
The picturesque and mystical description of Laos and its' people make one want to go there and see it for their own eyes. Thoses interested in history, foreign policy, and South East Asia in general will learn from and enjoy this book, which should be more well-known.
An Absolute Must Read!.......2002-08-09
Hollywood should have made a movie of this book instead of Robbins' earlier book "Air America". "The Ravens" is truly a great book about the unsung heroes of a war that "never happened".
Extremely helpful book.......2000-05-08
I did a report on the war in Laos for school. I couldn't find much on it at school, but when I found this book at the library I was set. I was first only going to read sections of it to get information for my report, but I liked it so much that I read the whole thing and did a book report on it for another class. It's a great book, and I think a lot of people who don't think they'd want to read a book about the secret war in Laos would really like it.
Amazon.com
In Shooting at the Moon, Roger Warner chronicles a covert operation that used Hmong villagers as guerrilla fighters against the North during the Vietnamese War. Thought to be an expendable resource by Central Intelligence Agency strategists, the Hmong died by the thousands fighting the North Vietnamese. Those who survived were abandoned to their fate when the United States pulled out of the war. Warner's history is the moving and tragic story of how America's "secret war" devastated its own allies in Southeast Asia.
Book Description
THE CIA IN ITS GLORY DAYS and the mad confidence that led to disaster in Vietnam are the subjects of Roger Warner's prizewinning history, Shooting at the Moon: The CIA's War in Laos (first published as Back Fire, Simon & Schuster, 1995). For a few years in the early 1960s the CIA seemed to be running a perfect covert war in Laos - quiet, inexpensive, just enough arms to help Meo tribesmen defend their home territory from the Communist Pathet Lao. Then the big American war next door in Vietnam spilled across the border. How the perfect covert war ballooned into sorrow and disaster is the story Roger Warner tell in Shooting at the Moon, awarded the Cornelius Ryan Award for 1995's Best Book on Foreign Affairs by the Overseas Press Club.
Warner describes his characters with a novelist's touch - soldiers and diplomats busy with war-making; CIA field officers from bareknuckle warriors to the quiet men pulling strings in the shadows; and above all the Meo as they realized they had been led down the garden path.
This is a book about war, about secrecy, and its illusions, about the cruel sacrifice of small countries for the convenience of large ones. Nothing better has been written about the CIA in the years when it thought a handful of Americans in sunglasses could do anything with planeloads of arms and money to burn.
Customer Reviews:
The Laos war from an american perspective.......2006-01-09
Shooting at the Moon is a book covering the US military war in Laos. Though some information is passed upon the war in Vietnam or Cambodia, the details are few and only mentioned when having an impact on the Laos war. Good descriptions are made on all the main characters involved and the war is covered both on the washington perspective and on the agents on the field. Only the effects on the civilian population is missing. A short summary is done on what happened after the war, on the further destinies on the peoples involved, on Laos and the refugees in Thailand. No real mention is done about the royalist puppet government of the US, other than a futile attempt to forbid US to do massive bombing flights. There is barely any mention on US activities apart from the military, such as factfinding, espionage and interrogation techniques.
Writing: 5/5
The book is an enjoyable read, well written with an easy to understand chronology. It is written not as an ordinary fact book, but more as a story about the americans involved in the secret wars of Laos. There are few direct quotes and the footnotes hardly points out which facts are received from whom. This is understandable, as many of the sources to the book are still working for CIA and don't want their names tied to some given fact. The the war in Laos is still a touchy subject. You get a feeling of all the main characters in the book, understanding why they took the decisions they did. Also, you get emotionally involved with the american allies in Laos, the Hmong people (in the book known as Meo), how they are used in the war and ultimately betrayed
as the US sees bigger gains to be had by abandoning the people that have been fighting for them.
Facts: 4/5
There is no doubt that this book has been well researched. There is a wealth of information on the persons involved, the most important events, which types of weapons were used, the strategies involved and on all things military. The problems comes
mostly when the author alleges things that aren't directly connected to the Laos wars. At one place he tells us that the CIA has never been involved in drug dealing, even if that has thoroughly documented in books like Alfred W. McCoys The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, Central America, Columbia. He states that the US had little to with when in 1965, the military regime of Indonesia slaughtered 300 000 indonesians, even though CIA was largely involved in the overthrow of the left-wing government of Sukarno, compiling lists of dissidents and turning them over to the right-wing generals. At another time, the author chides the CIA:s excessive caution regarding the bloody regime of Pol Pot in Cambodia, but never mentions that the US supported the Khmer Rogue regime with food and medicines to be used as a buffer against the Vietnamese. These are details, but as all these details show a will to hide the dirtier side of the CIA war, one wonders what else has been missed in the book.
Balance: 3/5
This is a book purely from an american perspective, although their Hmong allies are covered quite well. No greater depth goes into anyone fighting on the enemy side, no commanders are mentioned and the civilians (apart from the Hmong) aren't mentioned more than perhaps 2-3 times. This onesidedness are displayed directly in the first chapter describing a coupe in 1960 against the american backed royalist government in favour for a more neutral government, somewhere between the americans and the vietnamese. No where is it mentioned that this was in fact a counter coupe to when general Phoumi, with US help, rigged the ballots in 1958 to throw out the 21 leftist candidates from the national assemby.
However, this bias is moslty in the selection of what to cover. No moral perspective is given on the use of Napalm, or bombing Laos with the equivalent of 25 Hiroshima bombs, as no moral judgement is passed on the vietnames disregard of peace treaties and borders. While the vietnamese recruiting to the army is called 'brainwashing', the Hmong side 'hard recruitment methods' are also mentioned. What is more suprising is when the author names the CIA officers involved as 'descent people', even though one of them collects the ears from dead enemies and thinks that the marines should be sent against antiwar protesters instead of national guard 'because the marines shot better' and another officer thinks that Vietnam, the country they suppousedly are helping, should be bombed into the stoneage.
The faults mentioned above do not, however, deduct from the generally good experience when reading the book, and the story is genuinely fascinating. I recommend everyone to read this book. One should complement this book with some on the rest of the vietnam war, mostly regarding the effects of the weapons used on the population, as those parts are severly lacking form this book.
The most amazing war story that's never been told.......2005-12-11
Warner's history of the Laotian conflict from 1960-1975 is an amazing story of a secret war run by secret agents working for a secret agency.
Hidden behind the Vietnam War, the author reveals facts about the "secret war" that was even more critical than Vietnam at top levels of government. This book will change your understanding of modern Southeast Asian history and the magnitude of the challenges the United States faced.
What makes this book engaging, and at times absolutely riveting, is that Warner gained full access to the hidden CIA operative, Mr. William Lair, who laid the foundation for this secret American paramilitary campaign.
December 7th, 1941 is the day Lair's life changed forever. He was a 17 year old student at Texas A&M University when America was attacked. He convinced his mother to allow her only son to join the army so he could defend the ideals he grew up with in America's heartland.
He landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy with the 3rd Armored Division and fought his way to the Elbe River. There, he came face to face with Stalin's troops. He and many of his partners in arms realized that the next war, with a more fearsome enemy, had already begun. Communism was about to become a rising tide that would cover nearly half the planet.
After the war, Lair returned to Texas A&M and completed his degree. A new government agency formed less than three years earlier was on campus interviewing. Lair and his friends had never heard of it. It was called the CIA. He signed up.
In March, 1951, the CIA sent Lair to Bangkok on a seemingly impossible mission reminiscent of the opening scene of Apocalypse Now.
Lair's first and only mission was to fight communist insurgency in Thailand and in surrounding countries. He would travel, alone, to a third world nation with few English speaking people. Once there, he must organize a cadre of local fighters by any means necessary and train them in guerilla warfare. The budget was slim. Some surplus WWII weapons were available.
Lair took the job and Warner takes us on his incredible adventure.
Warner paints a fair picture of the background, situations and players in the Laotian conflict. His individual portraits ring true but the characters worthy of respect in the book are few and far between.
The "secret war" was filled with bungling bureaucrats, deceptive diplomats, corrupt businessmen, Asian warlords, greedy opportunists and loose cannons. Warner's history of the Laos conflict accurately reads like a train that's out of control. Some mistakes seem obvious but it's hard to see exactly which things could have been done differently to shift the outcomes.
Lair, a quiet, soft spoken man, rises to his challenge to become an American Lawrence of Arabia. He raises a 30,000 man secret army of Laotian and Thai fighters that actually stops the communist war machine. Until decisions at high levels of government in the Soviet Union, Vietnam, China and the United States changed the course of history and the outcome.
Despite the fact that this war ended 30 years ago, Lair's methodology for fighting foreign conflicts holds great potential for America, even in 2005.
This book is a front row seat to an epic conflict that was all but invisible to the American public. Lair is a hidden American hero whose actions will earn your respect.
The Secret War in Laos .......2005-11-23
While the Vietnam war was played out on your television screens a related war in neighboring Laos took place outside the line of vision of most Americans. It was a different kind of war. In Vietnam hundreds of thousands of American soldiers tried to hold ground and kill the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops. In Laos, a few American civilians working mostly for the CIA helped the Hmong hill people fight a guerilla war against the North Vietnamese. The ragtag forces of the Hmong kept three top-notch North Vietnamese divisions tied down in Laos for more than a decade.
This unconventional war attracted unconventional people. Chief among them was Vang Pao, the charismatic Hmong general, who ranks with Massoud in Afghanistan as a genius in conducting a war on the cheap against a larger and better-armed force. The Americans helping the Hmong were a colorful lot. First and foremost was Bill Lair, the quiet, competent agent who organized the Hmong forces. Then, "Pop" Buell a middle aged Indiana farmer who came to Laos as an agricultural advisor making $75 per month and became a key figure in the war. Jerry "Hog" Daniels, a swashbucking Montana smokejumper was Vang Pao's trusted CIA case officer. Many other characters of rare quality dot the pages of this book. Laos in the 1960s and 1970s was a war that appealed to those who didn't fit into the conventional military mold.
"Shooting at the Moon" is the definitive account of the secret war in Laos which ended with the withdrawal of the US -- and some would say the abandonment of the Hmong --in 1975 and the flight of tens of thousands of them to Thailand, and subsequently to the United States. This is one of the essential books on the Indochinese conflict. "Shooting at the Moon" has also been published under the title "Backfire."
Smallchief
This Title Also Known as "Back Fire".......2004-06-04
Roger Warner has published the only comprehensive, unbiased account of the strange but tragic "sideshow" war in Laos, the mountainous, landlocked neighbour of Vietnam that was consumed in the same domino-theory meltdown as the two Vietnams and Cambodia, but which was assiduously kept out of the media's scrutiny for most of the 1960s. The sporadic war between the American-sponsored tribesmen and the communist Pathet Lao was wholly financed, on the American side, through the CIA, with unofficial air support from the USAF (traveling incognito) and private CIA front airline. Warner tells the story from several angles, including the zealous mid-western missionaries who traveled to Laos in the early 1960s to help improve agriculture, the often equally idealistic CIA field operatives who trained the tribesmen and the less saintly backroom boys in Washington who made sure Congress kept giving the money. He reserves special praise for the brave freelance journalists who helped expose the secret bombing, albeit all too late: by the end of the conflict there were parts of the Plain of Jars (a prominent Laotian land feature near the North Vietnamese border) that resembled a lunar surface.
For reasons obscure this title has a different paperback name ("Shooting at the Moon") than hardback ("Back Fire").
Readable.......2002-12-30
Shooting at the Moon details the "alliance" between the American government and the Hmong (Meo) minority people of Laos during the Lao civil wars. Roger Warner writes with a very readable, journalistic style that draws the reader in. The book tracks several main "characters" throughout the war's development and escalation, explores possible motivations for American involvement, and the aftermath of the American betrayal of the Hmong. If you have read "The Ugly American," then you will see many instances of those fictional events happening for real in Shooting at the Moon.
As a university student who read this book to complement a research paper, I was disapppointed. Although very reader-friendly, Warner's style also verges on fiction and it is difficult to separate true fact from his interpretations of events. In such a book, this may be unavoidable, given that he attempts to plop the reader down into Laos of the late 1960's and 1970's. Warner does his job in that sense, but in doing so he blurs the line between fact and fiction. Moreover, I find that he often glosses over events and writes in a very American style, sometimes very dismissive of the Lao and Meo peoples. However, if you are looking for a "real life" wartime Communism vs. Capitalism cliffhanger, then Shooting at the Moon should fulfill that role quite nicely. For more thoroughly researched and more comprehensive books on Lao history, including the Lao Revolution, I would recomend Arthur J. Dommen's Laos: Keystone of Indochina and anything by Martin Stuart-Fox.
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