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Price of Exit

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To most Americans, and in most history books, the American effor in the unpopular war in Viet Nam ended in 1970. However, many nineteen and twenty somthing year-old helicopter crews; pilots, crew chiefs, gunners and medics, continued to fly dangerous missions in support of ARVN soldiers and a dwindling number of US troops, well into 1973. In fact, the last US helicopter pilot killed in Southeast Asia gave his life in 1975.

In "The Price of Exit", Tom Marshall gives voice to those of us helicopter pilots and our crew members, living and dead, who served with honor and distinction during a period of time when few Americans knew of, and even fewer cared less, of our efforts. Marshall writes of his own participtation during this difficult time. Even though he could have written a complete book of his own valor, Marshall has elected not to do so. Rather, he writes of the valor of others.

In the spring of 1971, the Army of South Viet Nam (ARVN) embarked upon an ambitious helicopter borne invasion, called Lam Son 719, into the NVA sanctuaries of Laos. Very few Americans knew then or will recall now that the helicopters that undertook this invasion were flown by American crews.

Marshall puts a human face on young men who will never grow beyond the ages of 19, 20 and 21 they had reached that terrible spring of 1971. "The Price of Exit", in part tells of 45 days in March and April 1971 when American helicopter crew flew sortie after sortie into Laos. We are allowed to view incredible valor as these American pilots take off, time and again, only to face huge volumes of anti-aircraft fire.

But it is not just pilots Marshall pays tribute to in this wonderful work. As we are remined many of the aircraft were vrewed by equally young enlisted crew members. In many ways Marshall shows us an even higher livel of valor that was demonstrated by these crew chiefs, gunners, flight engineers, and medics. "The Price of Exit" tells us how, without questioning, these unsung heroes climbed willingly in the rear of helicopters they had no control over and made the harrowing trips into an airborne hell.

We are instructed by Marshall that the US emplowyed 659 helicopters in Lam Son 719. Of these 659 helicopters, 444 were shot down or otherwise damged by hostile fire. We are also instructed that it was the best of American youth in those 659 helicopters. Without these American helicotpers and crews Lam Son 719 could never have been undertaken.

What Marshall has accomplished in "The Price of Exit" is to tell the story of the uncommon valor shown by young helicopter crews at places with names like Ripcord, Khe Sanh, Lolo, Sophia, and Brown. The reader may not be as familiar with these places as one might be with those visted by the World War II generation of airman. However, thanks to Marshall's efforts histroy will now recall a time when young men willingly paid "The Price of Exit" from an unpopular war, not for their country, but for each other.

Tom Marshall has written about his experiences as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam with close attention to detail. His thoughts and feelings are very real about his fallen comrades. This book is an awesome tribute to them and their families. As a Vietnam Veteran, he has professionally told his story, and their stories need to be told and read. They are our best resource to the factual history of the VN war. Thank you Tom Marshall.

One of the battles will forever be a part of me. I was there and flew a huey into Laos many times. This book is most accurate! Black Widow 25

This book describes the final days of the Viet Nam war, from a man who served there from August 1970 through July 1971. Marshall flew Loaches and Hueys, on missions ranging from combat extractions to spotter missions. He also flew in the north and into Laos. This gave him a wider experience base, and broader perspective, than pilots who flew a single helicopter type or in a single unit.

The book gets a poor start - you expect an autobiography, but the author doesn't even mention his experiences until the third chapter. The first two chapters serve as a lead-in, and should have been an extended prologue, or at least given an explanation. Once Marshall arrives in-country and starts flying in combat, he has a compelling story to tell. Not only does he provide an excellent "you are there" perspective on his missions, he gives a full story on what his fellow pilots were doing at the same time, as well as the ground troops they were supporting. You end up with a good idea of how a given firefight started, evolved, and finished. As the war draws down, and the pace in Laos picks up, you also get a feel for just how hard the crews were pushed, with 12+ hours of grueling non-stop flying into intensive enemy fire. And you see that the pilots would do anything, risk anything, to pick up an American on the ground, but grew to despise the ARVNs who threw down their weapons and overloaded the helicopters that came to extract them.

One thing that makes this book unique is the author's accounting of casualties among his flight school classmates. In most first-person accounts, you learn of the toll among others in the author's unit. But you don't know if that unit had it better or worse than similar units, so you can't really tell how representative the story is. Marshall's classmates were given assignments in several types and locations throughout Viet Nam, so as the days go by and yet another dies from enemy fire, you understand just how high-risk a profession helicopter flying truly was in that environment. Also interesting is the author's conflicted emotions about his participation. He was proud to be part of Phoenix, but glad to be transferred out into a safer job. I don't see that as a negative, it accurately reflects the emotional state of many troops at the time.

Where this book falls down badly is in the editing. In parts, it's a fascinating read; in others, things drag. Entire paragraphs consist of sentence fragments, often trivia, like it had been copied verbatim from a diary. Many items get repeated: at one point, the author mentions how long he has until his R&R, where he's going, and how much he's looking forward to it, twice in just three paragraphs. A good editor would have tightened things up, eliminated redundancies, improved the flow, and made this a must-read account of helicopter operations in Viet Nam. It's still worth buying, just don't set your sights too high.

Tom writes it as it was. No holds barred. I had many an experience of the supposedly allies(the arvn) running and leaving the Americans to fight alone. To all the helicopter pilots I take my hat off.If it hadn't been for them many more of our young men would have died over there. Roadrunner6 out

The Phoenix
Just south of the DMZ, 1970

by John Irving
based on Tom Marshalls' wonderful book on flying helicopters in Vietnam, The Price of Exit

Company C
Assault Helicopters
158th Aviation Batallion
101st Airborne Division (Airmobile)

Platoon Leader Al Finn was flying
with a `Wobbly One' beside him.
120 miles an hour just five feet
above the ground was a RUSH.

Crew Chief Dan Felts and Gunner Bill Dodson
loved it. "Awsome!" they'd yell.
NVA gunners heard them coming
"WOP WOP WOP WOP WOP!"

Then fired one burst and cheered.
The Huey nosed into the ground
A flaming mass of chopper and body parts.
"Hair Teeth and Eyeballs, EVERYWHERE!"

That night, as the carved Phoenix
over the bar rose again from its flames
pilots drank their toasts.
in the `O' Club back at Evans.

DEATH, the ultimate enemy
had claimed four more of their brothers.

The combat hardened vets of a hundred battles
looked at the pale newbies, fresh from Rucker
seeking the anwser to THE unspoken question:
"Are you going to come get me, if I go down?"

The new, young pilots
all said it with their eyes,
"I do accept this duty, this honor.
I will keep the faith, no man left behind."

Together they drank and chanted
the time-honored Protective Spells,
"Better him than me!"
"He was a rotten son-of-a-[...], deserved to die!"

There are probably a few "I was there and this is what happened" books I haven't read, but I've read most of them. Certainly most of them published before the year 2000. And that's why I can say, if you only read one book about U.S. Army helicopter pilots in Vietnam, this is the book to read. I can still feel the anger well up inside me when I recall the events Marshall describes around Lam Son 719, the joint U.S. and South Vietnam incursion into Laos in 1971. How do you surprise the enemy when the enemy is on your staff? And how can you ask young men to do what they were asked to do for such an ally? Unbelievable heroism. The crews of these fragile Hueys, Loaches, and Cobras were magnificent. I've read accounts of aviators from WWII, the so called "Greatest Generation," sobbing over the radio when they were in imminent danger. There were no tears among these guys. No parachutes either. As one Cobra pilot said when his tail boom was blown off at 2000 feet by a heat-seeking missile over Laos, "Tell my wife I love her." That's it. Marshall does these men proud. This is a great book that honors an even greater generation.

This is truly one of the most insightful books I have ever read on the very end of the line for the U.S. in their "pull-out" in Vietnam, circa 1970-71. Tom Marshall, formerly of the Phoenix, C Company, 158th Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne vividly describes how more than 30% of his 130 helicopter-school classmates, i.e. pilots, crew chiefs and gunners paid the heavy "price of exit" with their blood. In addition, Marshall puts the reader in the helicopter cockpit for all the action that occurred while flying along the NVA infested DMZ during the "Vietnamization Period" where the U.S. turned over the entire war to our ally-the South Vietnamese Government and it's army to fend for itself as President Richard M. Nixon acquiesced to a war weary public's harsh cry to end the war. Missions of Fire and Mercy: Until Death Do Us Part Marshall skillfully describes combat assaults and "string extractions" (pulling soldiers out of hot combat zones from helicopters via rope and long ladders attached to S.O.G. Units (Special Operations Group SEAL Teams).

Usually these were teams that were inserted behind enemy lines deep in enemy territory that would have been wiped out and overrun without immediate helicopter extraction. The reader of "The Price of Exit can actually hear the AK-47 fire and can feel the exploding mortar shells shot by the communists at U.S. helicopters. Marshall details exactly what happened during Operation "Lam Son 719" between February 8th and March 25, 1971. 1500 feet over Vietnam: A marine helicopter pilot's diary This was an offensive campaign (similar to the 1970 Cambodian Incursion where it was shielded from the American public by the Nixon Administration) which was conducted in the S.E. portion of Laos by the South Vietnamese Army. Marshall carefully describes how the U.S. and in particular, the Phoenix, C Company, 101st airborne provided logistical, aerial and artillery support to the operation while it's ground forces were prohibited from entering Laotian territory.

Marshall also chronicles North Vietnamese Army atrocities, their tactics and ruthlessness, and most stridently how no American wanted to be the last to die in a war America had long given up on and abandoned. Snake Pilot: Flying the Cobra Attack Helicopter in Vietnam Marshall also touches on little discussed subjects such as how the U.S. military initiated "smart bombs" in Vietnam, drug use in the military, racial tension between black and white G.I.'s as well as the general feeling throughout the military of futility, shattered beliefs and abandonment of American virtue. Without Parachutes: How I Survived 1,000 Attack Helicopter Combat Missions In Vietnam Marshall also covers the little known fact that the U.S. military dropped "electronic sensors" via air designed to report troop movement of vehicles and people along the North's major infiltration route into the South, i.e. the infamous "Ho Chi Minh Trail" This is a classic history lesson of the last few years of America's Vietnam debacle in the form of a memoir. Indispensable reading!

This is the worst book on Viet Nam I have read. I didn't even finish it I was so tired of the whinning and crying along with the all for me and to hell with you attitude. Reminded me of a very spoiled baby. I will give him a point for showing up at the party. If you want to read excellant books about helicopters in Viet Nam read the following. All are great. Chicken Hawk by Robert Mason, Sea Wolves and U.S. Navy Seawolves by Daniel Kelly. Taking Fire by Ron Kelly, and Low Level Hell by Mills. I stuck with the helicopters rather than all aircraft types because the list would be too long, but there are many exciting aviation books out there to read without wasting time on a bad one. There is one on the Kingsman Helicopters in action but I can't remember the title but well worth reading. I have over 47 books on Viet Nam and have read many more,so am familiar with most of the styles of writing offered in war books. This one just don't cut it.