CW2 [Hardcover]

Layne Heath (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although Vietnam was a helicopter war, in fiction the men who flew the Army's choppers have been overshadowed by grunts and fixed-wing pilots. Heath redresses the balance with his first novel. In his initial tour in 1969 Army Warrant Officer (CW2) Billy Roark flew slicks--transport helicopters--around the DMZ and the ill-omened A Shau Valley. In 1971 he returns as a scout pilot in the air cavalry to meet a destiny as uncanny as it is appropriate. Heath, a veteran of the fighting he describes, tells the story of Roark and his buddies in a series of loosely connected vignettes, blending the real and surreal in compelling images of a form of war that was new but not unique. Like the airmen of WW II, helicopter pilots in Vietnam staked their lives in machines that offered a thousand ugly ways to die and few chances to escape when things went wrong. Roark's evolution as a "hunter" parallels the development of the earlier war's fighter aces; his story can claim a place alongside such memoirs as Billy Bishop's Winged Warfare and Ira Jones's Tiger Squadron. Major ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

After completing his first tour of duty and finding himself unable to focus on anything but his Vietnam experience, chopper pilot Billy Roark applies for reassignment as a scout. Previously flying a large Huey helicopter used for inserting troops and carrying ammo, Roark now pilots a smaller, faster scout ship, searching the jungle for Viet Cong troops. First novelist Heath's skillful use of dense technical description--the flight and battle sequences are superb--boosts a mediocre story with familiar themes of waste and disillusionment. With appeal to both fans of Vietnam fiction and technothrillers, Heath may rival giants like Dale Brown ( Day of the Cheetah, LJ 6/15/89), and, due to the authenticity of his technical and historical data, be taken more seriously. Military Book Club main selection; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/90..
- Mark Annichiarico, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 370 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow and Company, Inc.; 1St Edition edition (June 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688052657
• ISBN-13: 978-0688052652
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,280,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Serious Stuff, August 22, 2006

By 

C. Rogers (Phoenix, Az.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: CW2 (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of the most honest and enlightening stories I have read from the 'Nam era. It's also highly readable and enjoyable. If you read this book and do not want to scrape the money together to become rotary-winged qualified, then your hormonal glands must have atrophied.

First-rate flying sequences mixed with brief and terrifying combat images make this a "can't put it down" book. Billy Roark is one of us, and during the course of reading this story we become like him. The author does an outstanding job of putting you into the skin of this young man who is learning aspects of life & death that most of us will never have to face. The ending is almost a foregone conclusion, and after reading this book for the third time I realize viscerally exactly how Billy Roark felt, and understand completely the course of action he took. It's scary how easy it is to empathize insanity.

I believe this book is the single most over-looked and under-appreciated story in modern conflict fiction.

I cannot recommend it too highly.

5.0 out of 5 stars CW2, December 21, 2011

By 

Blaster1977 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: CW2 (Mass Market Paperback)

This is such a great book. I've read it several times over the years and lost my copy... Luckily, I looked here at amazon and found it. Hoping this book goes back in print and that it gets a kindle version. This is one of the finest books on helicopter warfare that you'll ever read and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

5.0 out of 5 stars CW2 some fiction but all truth, August 22, 2011

By 

Micheal P. Cooper (Jacksonville, Florida USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: CW2 (Hardcover)

I was in the Navy at sea when I read this book. The book was given me by a shipmate after he had read it. I never even noticed the author's name. But went the book started with the description of Billy Rourkes home familiar pictures began to fill my mind and when he spoke of the hang out at the end of main street I knew he was talking about Grapevine Texas, my home of 1203 people that I had left in late 1963. I then saw who the author was and realized this was the kid from the class just behind me. The kid that I am pretty sure one of my sisters used to go out with. I was hooked.
The more I read the more I knew this man had been there and knew what he was speaking of. To me it was as engrossing as reading a Tom Clancy novel. All the equipment was there and it was being used correctly. When I was reading the book there was none of the thought of "There is no way that could happen", there was none of the frustration that those that have been there and done that feel when they read about things that have happened in their lives and it is all wrong.
Once I was into the book I found it very hard to put down. No matter where I was at in the process of reading the book I was always wanting to know what was going to happen next.
I loved the way that Layne went from his first tour in the slicks and transitioned into his second tour flying the scouts. That is the way it happened for many so again there was none of that shaking one's head and saying no way. The second got into the nitty-gritty of how the nativity that was there on the first tour was gone. There was no more of the John Wayne, I am the good guy attitude. Mr. Heath made it clear that he now knew that war was hell and that ones primary function besides destroying the enemies will and ability to wage war, was to stay alive and do what you could to keep your buddies alive.
The book was entertaining, the book was real, and the book was all but impossible to put down once you started reading it. The book was OUTSTANDING.

I read Layne's next book The Deep Blue and was just as taken with it as I was with the first. I have since looked for more books from Mr. Heath but have not found any. I have checked with my hometown resources to attempt to discover what happened to him and can find no information. I even ask my mother and if she does not know, then there is nothing to know.
MP Cooper AMHC (AW) USN Retired 1963-1988
100% service connected Disabled Veteran