Kathy, Mason's "Chickenhawk" is a pretty good read about one guy's tour. (But that's what all of them are, really.) You need to take some of what he says with a grain of salt, is all. I know guys who know Mason, and most of them like him ... but they say to me, "...take him with a grain of salt." He was 3 years before us, in many of the same areas. You will, at least, get most of the standard helicopter tales out of the way in one pass...

"Firebirds," by Chuck Carlock, gives one of the honest pictures of what we did. Totally on the level, best I can tell.

"We Were Soldiers Once... and Young" by Hal Moore and Joe Galloway is the most horrifying, and most honest of the early books, but I warn you, very hard for anyone who lost a friend or relative in Vietnam to endure. The movie is due out in the next 6 or 9 months, and it looks to be a really good one.

And Larry Gwin's "Baptism" is the book that helps put things into perspective after the above. I hope.

All else, the stuff we did, follows the above.

Best,
Bob K--