Seawolf28: Branded a Maverick as a Junior Officer this is a true account of naval aviation as seen through the eyes of one of the most decorated Navy pilots of the Vietnam era Review

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(More customer reviews)A Navy Maverick With True Grit!
Seldom do I ever read a military aviation book where I come away thinking that I would have really loved to have flown with the author of that memoir. Author Al Billings is a veteran's veteran! He is a man among men. It was men like Al that made flying in Hueys the heroic aviation adventure it was. His book "Seawolf 28" explodes with energy and action and much more. His personality certainly comes shinning through and shows him for whom he was.
Billings was awarded over 40 medals and citations including the Silver Star and The Distinguished Flying Cross. He was a member of the Navy's most decorated helicopter attack squadron in the Vietnam War. I have met several members of the Seawolfs when filming the documentary film "In the Shadow of the Blade." You could not find any better group of honorable men for sure. It is not surprising to read how well they did in combat. This book not only honors the role of the author but also adds to the almost myth like tales of those fine young men.
The book is well written and is a great read. I admit that the last chapters in the book were not the way I would have liked to see it end for the author, but Billings is true to himself all the way to the end and shows a lot of class. When you finish reading his book you will be left with many emotions about the war, the men, leadership in the military and what it means to stand up and be counted when someone has to be accountable and honest. Al Billings is a true leader in the real sense. I think most veterans will agree that he would be the guy that you would like to have had in the pilot's seat on your flight!
This is a must read book and receives the MWSA's HIGHEST RATING - FIVE STARS!


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Seawolf 28 SummaryAn exciting action filled novel of one of the top decorated naval aviators of the Vietnam era brings the reader a dramatic story of a twenty-two year career of a Navy helicopter pilot.By the end of the Vietnam War he was a four tour veteran with well over 600 missions and the recipient of more than thirty-nine citations, including the Silver Star and Distinguished Flying Cross.Throughout his career he qualified in over 20 different types of aircraft and rose from the enlisted ranks to squadron Commanding Officer.This is not just another Vietnam combat action story.Seawolf 28 is a timeless, powerful, honest and uncompromising first hand account of a man that knew no limits when it came to standing up for his men and what he believed in.What makes this novel stand out is the unparalleled successes they enjoyed while others stood by and watched to see if they would fail. They took on every challenge including the military bureaucracy and could not be defeated.Driven as a young man to find the person he truly was, he risked everything to complete that journey. Even though it took years, he learned to honor himself for what he accomplished in an environment where he was overmatched and out of his league when it came to politics and manipulation.Through it all he was able to maintain his integrity, and loyalty to his men.These actual accounts are a testament of the determination of one individual to meet life head-on and challenge those intrusions and aggression of others.He was labeled a Maverick by the Navy because he would not compromise his beliefs or the men he served with.Even with his directness and at times boldness they were unable to stop him as long as he had the support of his men.The story spans the gamut from a young cadet full of exuberance and high ideals to nine engine failures and dozens of life threatening incidents and hair raising combat stories, to his biggest battles challenging senior officers to do the right thing, at the risk of his own career. As his distinguished career comes to the end he finds himself battling the crippling results of medical mismanagement from the doctors at Balboa Naval Hospital.Even then he refuses to accept the inevitable and fights back to restore his dignity and physical well-being.The story ends with the Naval Hospital doing everything they can to cover up their incompetence and total disregard for the men who served.Through his internal strength and undefeatable character he never loses faith in the Navy and the men who served so gallantly.Out of shear determination and on his own he was able to overcome the debilitating affects at the hands of the Navy doctors.It is a compelling story that will cause young people to think about what lies ahead and let them see the sacrifices that are needed to serve their country and bring back the memories both good and bad for those who were there.

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We Were Soldiers Once...and Young: Ia Drang - the Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam Review

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(More customer reviews)First, let's look at what this book is not: It is not beautifully written, it is not the story of one person's experience and it is not dedicated to character building. If you are looking for those things, then look elsewhere.
Now if you are looking for the smell, the horror, the courage and the sacrifice of the battlefield, then you will find it in this work. Moore and Galloway have written a book that will serve as a textbook for generations of people who want to know what war is really like in a very objective manner - the heroism, the great leadership, poor leadership, mistakes, and occasional cowardice. It pulls no punches and takes people and organizations to task where appropriate. It is truly an amazing work and one that should be read by anyone when a debate on going to war is raging.
The book is in three distinctive parts: The fight on Landing Zone X-Ray; The Fight on Landing Zone Albany; and the aftermath of the battles, for both the US involvement in Viet Nam and some of the families affected by it. Moore was the Battalion Commander at X-Ray and gives a very good view of the decisions he made and why he made them. He is able to walk us through the battle and describe the critical actions by both the North Vietnamese and the US forces that turned the tide of this battle and allowed Moore's force to win a victory. There are many first person accounts of different aspects of the battle given by the US soldiers that fought there and also by some of the key North Vietnam leaders.
The second part of the book was about the relief battalion's retrograde back from LZ X-Ray to LZ Albany. Moore was not here so all of the reporting was done thru interviews after the fact. He is pretty scathing in some of his assesments of the decisions being made - although if you do not have military experience you might not find the writing scathing enough for what happened. He describes the complecency by some of the leadership on the movement back, the failure to set out decent security and the indecisiveness in the early moments of the battle. He also points out the slow flow of information from Albany to the higher levels of the US Forces. Albany was fought to a draw with horrendous losses on both sides after a North Vietnamese battalion and the 2/7 Cav had a meeting engagement (which means they ran into eachother in the woods). One lead company was almost completely slaughtered, save a few people that had to do an E&E (Escape and Evasion) in order to get to safety. The book contains three accounts of men that did that.
The final part of the book looked at the political decisions made in the aftermath of the war using declassified top secret memos written by Sec McNamara to illustrate that he knew very early in the war that it could prove to be unwinnable, putting the odds at a US victory at no better than 1 in 2. Also, there are personal accounts from the widows and the children of some of the men that died in the battles. Since I am in Iraq right now with the Army, and I have a two year old daughter, I found these passages particularily moving.
My only gripe with this book, is that your understaning of it is assisted greatly if you have been in the military. Since I am, it is no problem, but for someone walking in with no experience, a lot of the terminology used and the prose itself will make following the story a little more difficult. It reads almost exactly like an After Action Review, which probably is the proper voice for this piece, but some readers will have problems with it - as evidenced by some of the earlier reviews.
The bottom line - very honest, interesting, work. It will help the reader understand battle, and perhaps understand it a little more than they would like to. Highly recommend.


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Each year, the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps selects one book that he believes is both relevant and timeless for reading by all Marines. The Commandant's choice for 1993 was We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young. In November 1965, some 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together, these actions at the landing zones X-Ray and Albany constituted one of the most savage and significant battles of the Vietnam War. How these men persevered--sacrificed themselves for their comrades and never gave up--makes a vivid portrait of war at its most inspiring and devastating. General Moore and Joseph Galloway, the only journalist on the ground throughout the fighting, have interviewed hundreds of men who fought there, including the North Vietnamese commanders. This devastating account rises above the specific ordeal it chronicles to present a picture of men facing the ultimate challenge, dealing with it in ways they would have found unimaginable only a few hours earlier. It reveals to us, as rarely before, man's most heroic and horrendous endeavor.From the Hardcover edition.

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Friendly Fire: The Accidental Shootdown of U.S. Black Hawks over Northern Iraq Review

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(More customer reviews)In this book, Scott A. Snook, Ph.D. provides a thoughtful and readable account of how things can go tragically wrong in normal, healthy organizations. The author creatively applies several key theories in organizational structure and change to develop an understanding of (1) the tragic shootdown of two Army helicopters by U.S. Air Force jet fighters, which occurred in northern Iraq in 1994, and (2) "friendly-fire" events in general and broadly-defined --- or how it is that bad things can happen to good organizations, and there really is no one to blame. The book begins with an impressive, detailed examination of the data surrounding the 1994 Blackhawk shootdown. This includes thousands of hours of transcribed testimony gathered in hearings and court martial proceedings. In addition to official reports, Snook personally interviewed many of the key players in the Blackhawk friendly-fire incident. Using a "grounded-theory" approach, the author allows the data to shape and guide his reconstruction of the event itself, and his subsequent theoretical formulations to explain what happened. His resultant theory of "practical drift" spans multiple levels-of-analysis, from the individual to the cultural, providing dramatic insight into how such seemingly impossible events can be expected to occur in complex organizations. This book sheds the kind of light which both clarifies and disturbs. It should prove of real value not only to military leaders interested in reducing friendly-fire incidents, but also to leaders in non-military organizations who wish to understand, and perhaps avoid, normal disasters.

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Winged Sabers: The Air Cavalry in Vietnam 1965-1973 Review

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(More customer reviews)This is the best reference book that can be found on the Air Cavalry in the Vietnam Era. It has the official history, (activations, deactivations, etc) of ALL Vietnam Era Air Cav units of any size. It has a color print of the OFFICIAL unit crest of every Air Cav Regiment. I served in the 7/17th Air Cav under the author's father, LTC Lawrence H. Johnson, Jr., who nicknamed the 7/17 as the "Ruthless Riders" and designed the pocket patch. I had NEVER seen a 17th Cavalry crest until I saw it in this book. book.

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The Air Cavalry Troops who served in Vietnam were an unusually courageous and resourceful lot. Constantly facing death, they developed a bravado and camaraderie that made them a force to be reckoned with. Winged Sabers is a comprehensive, multi-faceted volume on the men, the machines, and the missions that shaped this unique group. Author Lawrence H. Johnson traces the development of the Air Cavalry concept from its tenuous beginnings to its present-day status as an accepted member of the combined arms team. Available in paperback for the first time, Winged Sabers should remain an indispensable resource for years to come.

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