While you are reading this book, you will be seeing the Vietnam War through the eyes of a 21-year-old helicopter pilot.

No names, dates, or places have been changed.  My journal was written daily and is printed in the same format.

If you were never in Vietnam, I hope this book will be enlightening and help you understand why the "war that America never won" is still not over for many Vietnam Veterans.  Most people are aware that over 58,000 Americans were killed in Vietnam.  A more tragic postscript to the "war" is the distressing fact that over 100,000 Vietnam Veterans have attempted or committed suicide since they returned home following the war.

To you readers who were in Vietnam, there probably won't be anything new in what you will read.  We will have many memories in common.

I hope this book will help heal old wounds and remind us that we should never take life or freedom for granted - Tom Melin - Musket 38