Customer Reviews

Da Nang Diary: A Forward Air Controller's Gunsight View of Combat in Vietnam

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am the Air Force Nurse that flew with Tom-I can personally say-he is one heck of a pilot-and was totally focused on the job at hand-the book allowed me to read -in detail- about the missions I only vaguely knew about then-the flying- the hanging it all out-these were people I would see daily but their 'jobs' went unspoken of-Thank you Tom for the ride-If you want truth- read his book-Sherdeane Kinney

in my opinion these true stories of the vietnam airwar are the most gripping and entertaining i have ever read. i was so impressed by this book that i honestly wanted to travel wherever to met this man and shake his hand. i have worn out my paperback copy of this book. i can't imagine any aviation buff not thoroughly enjoying this read.

A rare combination a true warrior, who survived some of the most dangerous flying of the Vietnam War and a highly literate author. One wonders where our nation finds the quiet Paladins of the 20'Th century.

At one level a warrior's story of near hand to hand combat from the air with a fully committed enemy. The evolution of the author's transition from a member of the Air Force to his very close identification with the Special Forces who operated under his wing adds to the story. Live at the Muff Divers Club also brings color to the tale. As a war story it has the same ring of aggressive sacrifice of other great warriors.

As a psychological study it is a great story of the magnetism / repulsion of war and the warrior culture.

Finally, it is a story of flying on the very edge. As a pilot what is so stunning is the difficulty of the conditions under which they operated. Operating under ceilings a fraction of that required for civilian pilots while performing a difficult mission and finally trying to stay alive stretches the reader's ability to understand. Most non pilots will take for granted the brief description of descending into cloud covered valleys, far from navigation facilities as another day at the office. Far from it, some of the most dangerous and challenging things a pilot can be called upon to do. But that's just for starters; those of us in civilian life almost always have the ability to climb back though the clouds to sunshine when we are overloaded. However, it must be a totally different experience to be flying against a dedicated enemy while trapped under the overcast. The equivalent of fighting on the edge of a cliff.

.The reader is fortunate that the author brings a great story and the skill to tell the story. Even more of a gift is that the author lived to tell the story of those who did not return.

This book is a must read for anyone interested in the black operations of special forces and the dedicated pilots who supported them. The stories of heroism and sacrifice in this book need to be heard. The author has a gift for making the reader feel they are in the cockpit experiencing the challenge and excitement of life and death combat. This is a keeper.

Agree with the analysis of this book and also of "A Lonley Kind of War" but the trilogy is not complete without Mike Jackson's Naked In Da Nang. Naked is a great complement to these two, offering a slightly more personalized and funny perspective. All three books give you tremendous respect for these guys and you start to understand what a disservice the media did to our boys by portraying them as drugged out losers. Nothing could have been further from the truth. These guys were and are heroes.

I agree with the other reviewer, this book and "A Lonely Kind of War" are two of my alltime favorites. Yarborough really makes you feel like you're in the middle of the action, I found myself unable to put this book down !

Really great read, a real page turner, funny. About a newby covey pilot who turns into the old man. His crew chief cringes every time he takes off because he brings back more ruined planes than anyone. One of the best FAC books out there.

Tom Yarborough (TY)has written an exelent book about his time as a FAC with the 20 TASS in Da Nang during the vienam war.
It is well written, very exiting and I had a hard time putting it down, the author dos a great job putting the reader in the backseat and you can almost taste the adrenelin and smell the sweat.
Go buy this book, you cannot miss out
Bo Hermansen

This book has personal significance for me. My sweetheart flew with this group and knows the author, so we will read it together and re-live history with a very intensely personal appreciation of this well-written, engaging book. I initially looked at a few sections and passages and found it interesting, engaging and not the least bit dry or boring as some historical stories can be. Amazed and thrilled that the author has captured such an important part of our mutual history that touched so many American families. BRAVO!

Colonel Yarborough's work listed no co-author or credited no other person with assistance that I could see, so I must presume that he managed this effort on his own. If that is the case (or even irrespective of that), Colonel Yarborough has done a magnificent job of relating his incredible adventures as a FAC in SEA. The book not only recounts his escapades in an OV-10 over the friendly skies of Laos, Cambodia, and Viet Nam, it paints a pretty good picture of all of the operations (some extremely black, heretofore classified) he was involved in.

If you like war stories and tales of some pretty hairy flying, Tom's book is for you. If you don't, then that sounds like a personal problem, son.