Vietnam above the Treetops: A Forward Air Controller Reports [Hardcover]

John F. Flanagan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 1992 | ISBN-10: 0275937380 | ISBN-13: 978-0275937386 | Edition: Stated First Edition

It is 1966, the war is escalating, and a young Air Force Academy graduate's assignment is to patrol unfriendly territory with six-man hunter-killer teams. As a Forward Air Controller, flying single engine spotter planes, Flanagan is the link between fighter-bomber pilots and ground forces. This autobiographical account recreates the period when Flanagan, assigned to Project Delta, was plunged into major operations in key combat areas. Spectacular airstrikes, team rescues, lost men, thwarted attempts to save comrades--all are recounted here with raw honesty. A factual combat history from one man's perspective, this is also a thoughtful look at the warrior values of bravery, honesty, and integrity. Flanagan examines the influences that help build these values--educational institutions, the military training system (including the service academies), and religion--and reflects on the high cost of abandoning them. In Vietnam Above the Treetops, Flanagan traces his life from adolescence through the training period, combat missions of all kinds, and re-entry into the everyday world. His war tales take us to key regions: from the Demilitarized Zone, south through the Central highlands, and into War Zone C near Cambodia. Flanagan tells the absolute truth of his experience in Vietnam-- call signs, bomb loads, and target coordinates are all historically accurate. He offers observations on the Vietnamese and Korean forces he worked with, comparing Eastern and Western cultures, and he vents his frustrations with the U.S. command structure. Determined to reconstruct the past, Flanagan re-read old letters from Vietnam, examined maps, deciphered pocket diaries, interviewed former comrades, and let his own long-buried memories surface. Flanagan did not find this book easy to write, but he wanted to pay tribute to his fellow warriors, especially those still missing in action; he wanted to exorcise his war nightmares and further understand his experience. Even more important, he needed to communicate the values he and his comrades lived by, in distant jungles where they faced some of the toughest circumstances known to human beings.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of this outstanding military memoir describes his experiences in Vietnam as a forward air-controller in 1966, piloting slow-moving, low-flying spotter planes, orchestrating spectacular air strikes ("saturation ordnance") and shepherding the long-range reconnaissance teams of Project Delta, an autonomous Special Forces outfit staffed by Americans and Vietnamese. A strong writer with an eye for telling detail, Flanagan vividly conveys what it was like flying hazardous missions in monsoon weather, bending rules and regulations for the sake of the task at hand, enjoying the camaraderie of fellow warriors and waging war despite critical shortages and malfunctions. Flanagan notes that he became something of a burnout case near the end of his tour, flying carelessly and with a false sense of immortality. He was, he reports, "tired of fighting incompetency and educating the stupid." The most dramatic section of the book tells a two-part story of the loss of a Project Delta team in an ambush and the night 16 years later when a voice on the phone said "My name is Eleanor Bott Gregory. Do you know what happened to my brother?" Photos. Military Book Club dual main selection.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

An Air Force officer's vigorous account of the Vietnam War. Flanagan always dreamed of being a flier, and attending the Air Force Academy in Colorado was everything he had hoped. It was strict, the training was superb, and particularly appealing was the honor code, whereby candidates were obliged always to tell the truth. The honor code served Flanagan well in Vietnam, which he volunteered for in 1966. Flanagan's memoir is not like Robert Mason's in Chickenhawk (1983), where the naive young officer is transformed into an embittered veteran questioning all wars. Flanagan is a straight arrow to the end; he stayed in the Air Guard after the war and eventually became a general. His job in Vietnam was to fly close in with small aircraft, to report and coordinate what he saw; sometimes, too, he had to don infantry gear and head into the jungle. Many of his blow-by-blow accounts of battles are drawn from notes, such as ``Team 10 located a VC work party...the Phantom 31 flight of three F-4s dropped 11 cans of 750-pound napalm right on them.'' His tale of a combat helicopter assault into a hot landing zone is harrowing indeed: scared pilots lifting up too quickly, grunts dropping from several feet in the air, a helicopter breaking apart. His descriptions of South Korean troops-- essentially mercenaries hired by the US, but fierce soldiers--are unique among American firsthand accounts. Flanagan's reportage is marred only by the sanitized speech of the soldiers: see James Jones, or Larry Heinemann. Much later, Flanagan became involved in the MIA cause, and yet he is never angry, only sorrowful. This is the perspective of a veteran who feels we failed because of a lack of resolve, that the news media distorted events or couldn't understand them, that the antiwar movement meant well but was wrong. Splendid tales of combat, but don't look here for what it all meant. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Publishers; Stated First Edition edition (February 28, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275937380
• ISBN-13: 978-0275937386
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,804,565 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 A look at Project Delta, March 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Vietnam Above the Treetops: A Forward Air Controller Reports (Mass Market Paperback)

It brought back all the fear, sadness and frustration of that december day in 1966. I was a 19 year old doorgunner on one of those gunships that day with the 281st ahc in Khe Sanh. I am 51 now and to this day it still haunts me.I was fortunate to be on several mission with Flanagan and the guy always came through.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Typical view of a FAC-cockiness ringed with truth, May 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Vietnam Above the Treetops: A Forward Air Controller Reports (Mass Market Paperback)

The author's view of the role of a FAC is very similiar to those held by the FACs of today (ALOs and ETACs). It is a very insightful look into the beginnings of the Close Air Support role-from the ground observers point of view. Few books even mention the CAS role in Vietnam.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read, June 3, 2009

By 

Mr. Timothy Davenport - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vietnam above the Treetops: A Forward Air Controller Reports (Paperback)

Having been there and done that I can vouch for the authenticity of the writing. Even if you're a civilian you should be able to develop an appreciation for what another little known group of pilots did for their country.