Most of us never get to test ourselves in combat. As a UH-1 Helicopter pilot flying in the jungle highlands of South Vietnam, Warrant Officer Jim Crigler and the men he flew with were tested daily. Coming of age in the late 1960s and early 1970s was challenging for most young men of that era. Throw in drugs, free love, draft notices, the Vietnam War and a country deeply divided, and you have one of the most important books of this genre. This true story is a raw, bold, introspective autobiography where the author openly wrestles with his personal moral dilemma to find meaning and purpose in his life. He calls it his "Mission of Honor."

Moving through the jungle near the Cambodian border on May 18, 1967, a company of American infantry observed three North Vietnamese Army regulars, AK-47s slung over their shoulders, walking down a well-worn trail in the rugged Central Highlands. Startled by shouts of ""Lai day, lai day"" (""Come here, come here""), the three men dropped their packs and fled. The company commander, a young lieutenant, sent a platoon down the trail to investigate. Those few men soon found themselves outnumbered, surrounded, and fighting for their lives. Their first desperate moments marked the beginning of a series of bloody battles that lasted more than a week, one that survivors would later call ""the nine days in May border battles."" Nine Days in May is the first full account of these bitterly contested battles. Part of Operation Francis Marion, they took place in the Ia Tchar Valley and the remote jungle west of Pleiku. Fought between three American battalions and two North Vietnamese Army regiments, this prolonged, deadly encounter was one of the largest, most savage actions seen by elements of the storied 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam. Drawing on interviews with the participants, Warren K. Wilkins recreates the vicious fighting in gripping detail. This is a story of extraordinary courage and sacrifice displayed in a series of battles that were fought and won within the context of a broader, intractable strategic stalemate. When the guns finally fell silent, an unheralded American brigade received a Presidential Unit Citation and earned three of the twelve Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam.

Memories of personal experiences incountry Vietnam between 1965 and 1971. Some are risque but written so as not to offend. Enjoy how the real war was fought in episodes of the Brown Water Navy.

Two hundred and fifty-five men earned the nation's highest award, the Medal of Honor, during Vietnam; fourteen Airmen, fifty-seven Marines, fifteen Sailors, and one hundred and seventy Soldiers. The author is donating all profits he receives equally to the American Legion, the Disabled America Veterans, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Brian D. Blodgett, a professor of History and Military History at the American Public University System (American Military University and American Public University). He is a native of Ohio and a retired U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer who served two tours in the Republic of South Korea. Both tours were with the 2nd Infantry Division, 1989-1990 as an Infantryman and 2003-2004 as an Intelligence Analyst. He resides in Maryland.