Taking Fire, Memoir of an Aerial Scout in Vietnam

摘要

David Porter's new book Taking Fire, Memoir of an Aerial Scout in Vietnam, includes a comment that the aerial recon mission was called, "Dancing with the Devil," or just "the Dance." Kris Kristofferson (an Army Aviator) wrote a song called To Beat the Devil and it includes the lyric, "You've been reading my mail." Reading Taking Fire reminded me of that lyric. As an Air Cavalry Scout platoon leader for two tours in Viet Nam, David's book was a walk down memory lane. When I arrived in January 1969, I wanted to fly scouts for the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. I wound up in the 4th Cavalry of the Big Red One in the same AO as Blackhorse. The Air Cavalry Troop was the most unique and flexible aviation unit in Viet Nam. A mixture or Scouts, Guns, Slicks and our wonderful Aero Rifle Platoon gave us all the ability to cover recon, direct action, downed aircraft rescue, ground operations and economy of force. Taking Fire has all that and more. The Cambodian Border area and Thunder Road were their responsibility, and it was a rough AO.