Customer Reviews

Orders to Vietnam: A Novel of Helicopter Warfare

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War: a state of hostility, killing... evil. Nineteen-year-old Bill Byrnes is about to realize this. He is drafted into the army, as a helicopter pilot, with orders to Vietnam. Bill is your average drafted soldier: fight for your years of service and leave. He is not following his father's footsteps. His first arrival in Vietnam isn't too bad, he meets his commanding officer, and he shows how good a shot he is with his unauthorized .45, and it gets authorized. His Commanding officer, Major Kramer, has a good sense of humor. That's good for now, as long as Bill doesn't have to confront his father. But after a couple days of combat, Bill realizes that he is afraid of war after all. This book is a novel on helicopter warfare in Vietnam. It describes the life of an average soldier in war very well, and is recommended to readers who enjoy realistic modern-day stories of intense combat.

A reason why this novel is highly recommended is because of how it describes everything in vivid detail. It describes the war in Vietnam in a way that you can't learn from textbooks. It involves the reader in every detail that Bill goes through: his feelings, his thoughts, and his entire point of view. Such as when he flies the helicopter, his cold hands shake as machine gunfire bursts all around of the landing zone, the largest target in the middle of a dense forest as the infantrymen jump off the chopper and hurdle toward the trees.

Another reason this novel is good is because of how the story plot flows evenly. It begins with Bill's orders to Vietnam, then he begins his encampment and meets his CO, he goes to his first combat, he fights another battle, and he settles down as he prepares to leave. His first battle shows his first realization of what war really is, his second battle brings death to one of his buddies, just when Bill thought he had experienced enough.

A third reason why this story is so excellent is because of the intensity of the battles. As Bill begins to land a helicopter on a LZ, the barrel of a Viet Cong Machine Gun points toward the chopper and fires. As the infantrymen jump out in different directions, the machine gun begins to bring some of them down. The helicopter's own machine gun fires as they pull up, and are out of the intense scene. In another battle, Bill mans the gun while they fly above a bridge of Viet Cong trucks and tanks. Before they reached the line of fire, he is ordered to begin firing, before he even knew at what he was supposed to be firing. Sweat ran down his neck and every limb, as shots of tanks and cannon fire flew through the air at him.

This novel is excellent. It puts the reader in the situation of a soldier, though it is only a glimpse of what war truly is. Loss of friend, killing for your belief (or for your county's belief.) This book brings the Vietnam War into full perspective of an average soldier. One can only imagine what it must be like to be the one doing the killing. This story sets a new standard on books of warfare.

I.Leung (Vinn)