Alpha strike Vietnam: The Navy's air war, 1964 to 1973

by Jeffrey L. Levinson and Levinson

Book Overview

According to Publishers Weekly, Levinson . . . has captured the salty lingo, devil-may-care attitude and special flair for combat characterizing the Vietnam-era naval aviator . . . . Readers will... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0891413383
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Presidio
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Pilots give better story of war than historians do

Alpha Strike Vietnam was a great collection of stories from pilots who were living the Vietnam War from 1964-1975. The book is fairly technical but if you use the attached definitions of acrynyms and pilots vernacular it makes it a bit easier. You certainly have a different idea of the Vietnam War after reading the book no matter what ideology you carried before you read the book. Understanding the feelings, thoughts and actions of people who experienced the war first hand gives you insight to their frustrations regarding a limited war managed by politicians. You also get a feel for why the politicians and military brass so valued the statistics collected from the War.

Pilots give a better perspective than historians

Alpha Strike Vietnam is a great technical book about pilots living in combat. The stories are frank flashbacks of pilots while flying and dying in combat or in prison. The verbage is military technical and can get burdensome at times. However, as you read through the book you become accustomed to the vernacular and eventually fell comfortable with it. The book gives you a different perspective on the Vietnam War from guys who did not have the luxury of caring about the politics of the war. They were simply there to fulfill their duty or get their time in. It is also apparent that given an all out green to wage full scale war on the North Vietnamese, the war would have been shorter and the US would have subdued the NVA and Kong. That of couse is if China and Russia would have let that happen or would they have escalated into full scale global war. Still, you can feel the frustrations of the limitations on the war apparatus from both the military and executive sides as they both navigate the hottest parts of the war from 64 to 75. Very interesting and informative.