As a linguist with the U.S. Navy Fleet Support Detachment in Da Nang, Herb Shippey was assigned to air reconnaissance during the Vietnam War. Flying with fellow "spooks" over the Gulf of Tonkin and Laos, his duty was to protect American aircraft and ships threatened by MiG 21 fighter jet activity. Shippey's introspective memoir recounts dangerous missions aboard non-combat aircraft (EC-121 Warning Star, P-3 Orion, A-3 Sky Warrior), rocket attacks and typhoons, and the details of his service, some of them classified for forty years.

During his first tour in Vietnam - 1967-68 - Dick Taylor was a well-trained and highly motivated amateur assigned to advise a hard-bitten ARVN infantry battalion working in the mud and streams of IV Corps. He became savvy in a hurry and found that he was both brave and resourceful. He barely survived Tet 1968, then served on an advisory team staff. For the next two years, Taylor earned a Ranger tab, served on a division staff, and schooled on. He met a woman, and married her days before he returned to Vietnam. Taylor's second tour- 1970-71 - was altogether different. He immediately assumed command of Bravo Company, 1/7 Cav, and excelled as a commander and a leader. He was aggressive in the field, confident in his command, and assertive with his superiors. He fought a good war, a successful war, and when he was forced to take a staff job it was as his battalion's intelligence officer. But the war was winding down, its purpose lost. Taylor's spirit's flagged, but not his fidelity. This well-written combat memoir is heartfelt, earnest, honest, and just a little melancholy. About the Author Colonel Richard Taylor was an original member of the first modern Ranger battalion. He also commanded an infantry training battalion, served with the 82nd Airborne, directed an academic department at the Army's staff college and provided military advice to NATO during the break up of the Warsaw Pact.