Customer Reviews

Aardvarks and Rangers

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Author Jim Roper is a genuine American hero who has made deep tracks in the military history of America, starting as a Forward Air Controller (FAC) with over 500 combat missions in Vietnam. This book is about his subsequent career flying the much maligned but ultimately superb F-111 fighter/bomber in New Mexico and then becoming the Air Liaison Officer (ALO) to 1st Battalion, 75th Infantry "Rangers." The flying segments of the book make for exciting reading, as Jim takes the reader on many interesting and occasionally dangerous missions, narrating the flights with self-deprecating humor. He also gives the reader significant insights into the machinations of the Air Force personnel system and the intrigue in which he engages to get a follow on flying assignment to the A-10 Warthog. To insure he gets his dream airplane, he has to trade two years of his life as an ALO, a duty that most USAF pilots would kill to avoid. Little does he know that this assignment with the US Army will lead to a combat parachute jump into Grenada and yet another brush with death. The story Jim tells about his indoctrination into the Rangers and the leadership challenges his little group of USAF officers and NCOs face as they become battle hardened members of the elite force is compelling. This book is easy to read, factually correct and is better than almost any novel on similar subjects. The author has "been there, done that" and makes the reader feel comfortable in accompanying him on his unique journey. One of the better features of this chronicle is the author's distain for bureaucracy and bureaucrats...careerists in the military, and his subtle challenges and successes to their intransigence make some of the best reading in this book. This book is highly recommended to anyone with interest in the more contemporary history of the military and who likes a fast paced and exciting story.