Chickenhawk by Robert Mason Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Chickenhawk
Book Review: Whop, whop, whop and other stories...
Summary: 5 Stars
Bob Mason has written a stunning book about ordinary people caught up in the eternal madness of War. It could be any war, but Bob's war was Vietnam.
Chickenhawk puts you right there in the cockpit of a Huey Slick (the Slicks were the troop carriers, rather than having a Gunship or Medevac/Dustoff role) as Bob takes you into endless near-impossible hot LZ operations to deploy, extract and supply/re-supply the kids who were in the front lines of a war that should never have happened.
His technical descriptions of the extreme combat flying techniques that he had to employ in order to survive under heavy fire, are exceptional. Yet the heart of the book lies not in his haunting yet beautifully described combat scenarios, but in his humanity and ruthless honesty and soul searching, as he tries to come to terms with what the war did to him as a human being.
Bob is a living testimony to the truth that PTSD is a normal reaction to an insane situation, and the fact the Nam Vets who suffer from PTSD are not the ones who are crazy. The dishonest war mongers whose machinations denied Ho Chi Minh his chance to rule a united Vietnam via free elections, are the ones who are insane, and the ones who should single-handedly carry the Guilt that the war generated among so many who were caught up in it.
Welcome home, soldier.
Book Review: Woes of a wobbly-one.
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently gave away my copy of this marvelous book to my son. It wasn't too long before I went into withdrawal and bought myself another copy. Bob Mason is a truly honest man, which is not to say that he never lied, cheated, or stole, but that he is one of those rare individuals who can look at himself in the mirror and see himself as he really is, warts and all. That takes an admirable form of courage that most of us don't have. I couldn't do a memoir the way he did. I had to resort to an alter-ego in my own book. I won't claim more warts than Bob, but the ones I have I don't like.
Like Bob, I got into the Army Warrant Officer Helicopter Flight Program after high school in 1967. I was a typical wobbly-one, long on enthusiasm for flying, short on brains, experience, maturity, character, morals, and wisdom. Hey, I was only nineteen! But I sure liked to fly, especially choppers, especially Bell Helicopter's masterpiece, the UH-1 `Huey.' Bob was just coming home from Vietnam the year before I enlisted. He was one of the pioneers of the airmobile concept, assigned to the 1st Cav and traveling to Vietnam by boat with the unit's choppers lashed to the deck. I was appalled at the initial treatment he and the other warrant officers received once they arrived in country. They had to dig their own bunkers. Warrant officers are `supposed' to be officers, rating the respect and privileges of commissioned officers. Actually the commissioned officers used to joke that a warrant officer was just a spec-four with a club card. Still I had to admit that when a unit is freshly arrived in a combat zone, getting shelter up quickly is essential, and I would hate to have been killed in a mortar attack that night because I was too proud to fill sand bags that day.
The real appeal of the book is the white-knuckle flying action scenes. They were often times hair-raising nightmares, and the crews were scared to death, but some how they got the job done anyway--hence, the name of the book, `Chickenhawk.' Warrant officers were funny that way--no mission was impossible. Commissioned pilots tended to fall back on the regulations when things got rough. They had college degrees and were smarter than we were. They tended to live longer too. There were exceptions in both cases, but what I said was generally true in Army aviation.
I was saddened by the fall from grace that Bob experienced when he returned stateside. He had spent a year comporting himself bravely, and now he was haunted by that same bravery. I bought and read his second book, curious I guess, at just how far his downward spiral would take him. And he sank pretty far before he finally autorotated his life to a safe landing. I finally concluded that he was one of those guys who should have stayed in combat, extending his tour 12 months at a time, taking a month off in between to visit his wife in Honolulu. That was where he was at his best--impossible missions, tracers flying everywhere, too dark to see, too dangerous to turn on the lights, breaking every flight safety regulation imaginable, and then getting chewed out by the old man while he was pinning another air medal on his chest. Of course if Bob had done that, we probably wouldn't be reading his fine books today.
--Ejner Fulsang, author of "A Knavish Piece of Work," www.AarhusPublishing.com
Book Review: one of the best
Summary: 5 Stars
As a vet of this war, and someone who has read several dozen books on the subject, this is my personal favorite. Just bought this copy for a nephew who has become interested in the history of this conflict. HIghly recommended.Book Review: should have been a movie
Summary: 5 Stars
I was in the same pre-flight class at Ft. Wolters with Mr. Mason and his description of that month was right on.The rest of the book was outstanding and brought back memories of Vietnam. This book combined with his second book would have made an outstanding movie with the right screenplay and cast, in fact two movies.