The author served as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, flying more than 1000 combat missions in 1965-1966. In this memoir he avoids the larger politics of the war, preferring to give readers simply a view of the war as seen through his eyes, from his training as a pilot to his eventual return to the United States. In the end, Mason comes off as disgusted with the wasted (American) lives of the war, but proud of his skill and combat experiences as a pilot flying missions in Happy Valley and other areas of South Vietnam. This is a paperbound reprint of work published in 1983. Annotation 2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
