Chickenhawk

Rating:
Summary: Realistic!
Review: I bought this book 9 years ago and been reading through it for more than 20 times!. What catched up my eyes at the first place was a comment on the back cover saying " A stunning book about the right stuff in the wrong war". Honestly, it really is. Bob demonstrates everything in there, starting the first day he dreamed to fly to the last day he suffered from the flying. The story is well arranged and realistic. I could say I knew all basics of how to fly a chopper from this book. It even includes the HU-1 General Arrangement diagram and Instrument Panel diagram in there. The only frustration is that only at the end, leaving the reader just curious what went wrong with him after he was sentenced by a charge with smuggling. Anyway, it later continued in the Chickenhawk: Back to the world.

Rating:
Summary: A Helicopter Pilot in Vietnam
Review: Robert Mason, from the time he was a small child, wanted to fly helicopters. He got his chance, but ended up in Vietnam, ferrying live soldiers, dead ones, and parts of dead ones. He relates the horrors he saw dispassionately. For all the death and destruction, he never seemed to hate the enemy. He relates the appalling stupidity and incompetence he saw, and how it led to disaster after disaster. Not surprisingly, when he came home he was not totally sane (he wasn't totally sane in Vietnam--he relates a hallucination he had where his saw his electic razor blow up), and was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. His story, unfortunately, is all too common.

Rating:
Summary: What can I say?
Review: My mother bought me this book for my birthday once, unfortunately I put it on my bookshelf and forgot about it. Some time later I picked it up whilst looking for something to read. When I finished the book that night I realised that this had been one of the best books that I have ever read. Indeed I have re-read it half a dozen times since.

This book is Masons personal account of flying helicopters in Vietnam. Mason is a brilliant writer. Reading this book I was transported into Masons world. Very few book ever do that to me. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading Chickenhawk.

I not only recommend, I insist that you read this book. It is easily the equal of All Quiet on the Western Front.

Cheers

Rating:
Summary: more than you might expect
Review: Robert Mason uses a clear, conversational, fast-paced narrative to describe his experiences as an army helicopter pilot from 1965-1967, including a tour of Vietnam.

Mason always wanted to fly. Leaving college early, joining the army and becoming a helicopter pilot seemed like the way to do it. After successfully graduating from flight school, he comes to learn that the army has devised a new way to use helicopters in warfare -- and Mason is drawn into the army air cavalry.

Mason describes enough of how to fly a huey so you feel that you are right there with him. You experience the fatigue of war. You read as well, the senselessness and brutality of it -- his gunner kills "human shields" in order to get a VC machine gunner, a platoon murders 12 prisoners as revenge for the torture and death of their comrades, a pilot is shot through the helmet yet miraculously survives, a fully laden huey lands in a minefield, and everywhere bodies are piling up faster than the army can take care of.

Mason also describes his post-traumatic stress disorder, his panic attacks that start to haunt him towards the end of his tour, and his bouts with alcoholism.

There is much in Mason and his fellow soldiers that is admirable. Mason's narrative presents a convincing portrait of the Vietnam war from a soldier's point of view -- a war Mason and many of his fellow soldiers didn't entirely believe in, a war that didn't match the descriptions in the press, or the pronouncements from the generals and the President.

Rating:
Summary: Chickenhawk
Review: I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed this book until I read it again with my 13 year old son.
Mason's experiences place you into a world unknown to all but those who were there. His vivid recollections of war, flying, fear, and the balance needed to survive the daily routines and extream personalities left me with a deep respect for the veteran soldier. I'm happy to say that my son enjoyed "Chickenhawk" also, and has most of his 8th grade friends reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, read & reread
Review: An excellent private account of this mans experience in Vietnam.
Not just for helicopter fans, for everybody. An inspiration if you think your having a hard time!! I have read it at four times over the past few years.

Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading for all high school students
Review: Mason explanation of the preparation he undertook to improve his chances of success at helicopter training provide an excellent example of how to be successful at any endeavor.

A great read. Worthy of purchase in hardcover and a treasured spot on your bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: An ABSOLUTE Must Read!
Review: At first, the flight training section grabs you because you feel like you are in the cockpit with Rob.

Then, the story becomes an honest and personal account of Rob's experience in Vietnam. I just couldn't put it down.

I read this while in colleg, and must have re-read it a couple of times since then.

Rating:
Summary: Increases Your Understanding of Vietnam as a Whole
Review: This is a book written by a very brave man. Not because he flew over 1,000 missions during the Vietnam war. Not because he could have bought the farm on any one of those missions. Not because he almost did buy the farm on some of those missions. No, this guy is extremely brave because he wrote about all the prostitutes he banged while overseas, and then had to face his wife about the matter. That is bravery.

Just a joke there, but I was looking for a new way to look at it. Besides, based on the author's narrative style, I think he wouldn't have a problem with it. This is a book that covers the true account of a helicopter pilot's tour of duty during the war. It begins with how he learned how to fly, joined the army, was shipped overseas, and did his tour of duty. And yes, he banged a lot of girls along the way.

What makes the book so good is how it gives a no-holds-barred look at the life of a soldier during the war. While it covers the serious topics, which I'll get to below, it also covers the everyday lives of those there. We get to see that going without a shower for months was par for the course. We see how many minor regulations (and some major ones) tend to get overlooked when you're dealing with people who might not be alive next week. And we get to see that when there are now ladies around to cavort with, one has to resort to self-pleasure, risking the ridicule of one's companions who are probably doing the same things themselves. It's these attempts not to sugar-coat that add realism to the story.

But on the serious side, it also covers many of the dark issues that surround the whole experience. You experience the gradual realization that, despite seemingly successful missions, the "good guys" don't seem to be winning. You see the love/hate relationship with the local people, who are caught in the middle of something they didn't choose, but also could be part of the enemy. Also covered during the conflict are "friendly fire", atrocities committed on both sides, and the fact that no protection for the crew was available to those unfortunate enough to drop Agent Orange on the jungles.

And then there is coming home. One of the darkest periods of American behavior was the hostility conveyed to soldiers returning home. I read about it in the fictional "The Lords of Discipline", but this time we see the astonishment of the soldiers who are glad to get home, only to see that they are regarded as murderers.

Finally, there is the personal adjustment of the author. While most of that is covered in the sequel to this book, we see that it was a very rough time for many years for the author. There are the nightmares, sleeplessness, and bad nerves that go on for years and years, eventually resulting in his being permanently grounded, and for the most part, deprived of his livlihood. While one can see on his web page that he seems to have eventually worked it out, one has to think that without his wife, appropriately named Patience, that he would have long ago been dead.

I am eager to further explore the life of Robert Mason based on this book.

Rating:
Summary: A well written diary of a pilots experience in Vietnam
Review: I don't finish alot of books I get board quickly. This story is so well told I could not put it down. The detail of the situations encountered are what kept me reading. This one is a keeper. I will read it agian. There is so much in this book I know I missed some things.