From Library Journal
This third-person narrative relates the exploits of a pilot of both transport and attack helicopters in Vietnam. Lieutenant Marvicsin's story is told with obvious dedication to the subject and often overwhelming language, but with such dizzying dramatic content that it invites disbelief. There are also some errors and omissions regarding helicopter performance and operations. This work is going to find a critical audience with those who were there, as well as others with an interest in the conflict. For a more sober, accurate, and informative description of the life of the Army pilots who flew the aero rifle platoons into and out of landing zones through heavy enemy fire, see Robert A. Mason's Chickenhawk ( LJ 7/83).

Thirty-one chapters which chronicle the author's two combat tours from about 1965 to 1968. This book is arranged not as a memoir of the war as it is a record of the emotional investment and the personal toll extracted by the war. The sub-title is therefore aptly chosen as a personal war story. For sheer story telling, this book is worth the time it takes to follow all of the characters to the final pages. The most interesting aspect of the book was the author's struggle to come to terms with a God who could allow such good men to die (Ty Hisey), to allow war to ravage innocent civilians, and to have a home populace care so little for what was actually going on. Essentially, the God question must be reserved for later solution when "war" has temporarily ceased. The author adopts a position that war is an honorable part of humanity's condition (stated by Hisey). War always has been so, and always will be so. "War, like life, goes on," he says. The author states that his parents were religious (Catholic/Christian) but he not so. In the end, there is a karmic type of fatalistic resignation, a newer Mithra deity parallel for the old Roman legions, a Hobbesean state where peace is a temporary suspension of war. There are clear satirical sections which ridicule the president and secretary of defense for providing no reasoning or circular reasoning for the wars continued existence. An excellently composed book which highlights the author's flare for dialogue and quick generalization to humorous effect. ( )