Pathfinder: First In, Last Out

Informationen zum Autor Richard C. Burns retired from the army as a master sergeant, E-8. He completed two combat tours in Vietnam, serving as a Pathfinder with the 101st Airborne Division and the 1st Air Cavalry Division. He conducted Pathfinder operations for infantry and recon units, supported an element of Special Forces, and was attached to the 1st Vietnamese Airborne Division. After a stint as a recruiter in his native New England, he spent the bulk of his twenty-year military career in Special Forces. His training includes Pathfinder Course, Jumpmaster Course, Vietnam (MACV) Recondo School, and Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC): Light and Heavy Weapons. He has received numerous decorations, including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, two Air Medals, and the Purple Heart. Richard Burns has two children and lives with his wife in Gainesville, Florida. He has written many articles on elite military units and is a columnist and staff writer for Behind the Lines magazine. Klappentext December 1967: Richard Burns had just arrived in Vietnam as part of the fourteen-man 101st Pathfinder Detachment. Within just one month, during a holiday called Tet, the Communists would launch the largest single attack of the war--and he would be right in the thick of it. . . . In Vietnam, Richard Burns operated in live-or-die situations, risking his life so that other men could keep theirs. As a Pathfinder--all too often alone in the middle of a hot LZ--he guided in helicopters disembarking troops, directed medevacs to retrieve the wounded, and organized extractions. As well as parachuting into areas and supervising the clearing of landing zones, Pathfinders acted as air-traffic controllers, keeping call signs, frequencies, and aircraft locations in their heads as they orchestrated takeoffs and landings, often under heavy enemy fire. From Bien Hoa to Song Be to the deadly A Shau Valley, Burns recounts the battles that won him the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and numerous other decorations. This is the first and only book by a Pathfinder in Vietnam . . . or anywhere else.Chapter One The C-119 cargo plane sat on the airstrip at Fort Benning, its engines whining. The smell of the aircraft's exhaust filled my nostrils. It looked like a large rectangular box with curved corners and two long tails protruding toward the rear. Now I understood why it was nicknamed the "flying boxcar." I wondered how the hell something configured in that shape could possibly fly. It was my first parachute jump, and I was mentally rehashing all of the jump procedures that had been taught over the past two weeks. The jumpmaster screamed out, "Roster number sixty-seven!" I responded automatically, "Here, Sergeant!" He pointed his finger at the ground. "This is your position in the stick." I quickly placed myself in line and snapped to attention as best I could while wearing the parachute. "Clear, Sergeant. Airborne!" I couldn't believe my luck. I was positioned as third from last man to jump. What a relief! All weekend I had dreaded being the first man in the door. I was afraid of heights and didn't want to stand in the door and look down at the ground for any length of time. I had flown in a plane only once in my life, and that had scared the hell out of me. After a few moments, my stick boarded the left side of the aircraft and we took our seats. The cabin held forty-two jumpers, so we were packed like sardines. In no time I felt the perspiration building inside the sweatband of my helmet and on my hands. The plane raced down the runway, its engines shrieking. I could barely hear myself speak to the guy sitting next to me. Jolting forward, the aircraft quickly increased speed. The rapid acceleration thrust my upper torso toward the rear. We were airborne in a matter of seconds. Everyone on board was solemn. The plane repeatedly vaulted and swayed, ma...

Autorentext
Richard C. Burns retired from the army as a master sergeant, E-8. He completed two combat tours in Vietnam, serving as a Pathfinder with the 101st Airborne Division and the 1st Air Cavalry Division. He conducted Pathfinder operations for infantry and recon units, supported an element of Special Forces, and was attached to the 1st Vietnamese Airborne Division. After a stint as a recruiter in his native New England, he spent the bulk of his twenty-year military career in Special Forces. His training includes Pathfinder Course, Jumpmaster Course, Vietnam (MACV) Recondo School, and Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC): Light and Heavy Weapons. He has received numerous decorations, including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, two Air Medals, and the Purple Heart.

Richard Burns has two children and lives with his wife in Gainesville, Florida. He has written many articles on elite military units and is a columnist and staff writer for Behind the Lines magazine.

Klappentext
December 1967: Richard Burns had just arrived in Vietnam as part of the fourteen-man 101st Pathfinder Detachment. Within just one month, during a holiday called Tet, the Communists would launch the largest single attack of the war--and he would be right in the thick of it. . . .

In Vietnam, Richard Burns operated in live-or-die situations, risking his life so that other men could keep theirs. As a Pathfinder--all too often alone in the middle of a hot LZ--he guided in helicopters disembarking troops, directed medevacs to retrieve the wounded, and organized extractions. As well as parachuting into areas and supervising the clearing of landing zones, Pathfinders acted as air-traffic controllers, keeping call signs, frequencies, and aircraft locations in their heads as they orchestrated takeoffs and landings, often under heavy enemy fire.

From Bien Hoa to Song Be to the deadly A Shau Valley, Burns recounts the battles that won him the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and numerous other decorations. This is the first and only book by a Pathfinder in Vietnam . . . or anywhere else.

Leseprobe
Chapter One

The C-119 cargo plane sat on the airstrip at Fort Benning, its engines whining. The smell of the aircraft's exhaust filled my nostrils. It looked like a large rectangular box with curved corners and two long tails protruding toward the rear. Now I understood why it was nicknamed the "flying boxcar." I wondered how the hell something configured in that shape could possibly fly. It was my first parachute jump, and I was mentally rehashing all of the jump procedures that had been taught over the past two weeks.

The jumpmaster screamed out, "Roster number sixty-seven!"

I responded automatically, "Here, Sergeant!"

He pointed his finger at the ground. "This is your position in the stick."

I quickly placed myself in line and snapped to attention as best I could while wearing the parachute. "Clear, Sergeant. Airborne!"

I couldn't believe my luck. I was positioned as third from last man to jump. What a relief! All weekend I had dreaded being the first man in the door. I was afraid of heights and didn't want to stand in the door and look down at the ground for any length of time. I had flown in a plane only once in my life, and that had scared the hell out of me.

After a few moments, my stick boarded the left side of the aircraft and we took our seats. The cabin held forty-two jumpers, so we were packed like sardines. In no time I felt the perspiration building inside the sweatband of my helmet and on my hands.

The plane raced down the runway, its engines shrieking. I could barely hear myself speak to the guy sitting next to me. Jolting forward, the aircraft quickly increased speed. The rapid acceleration thrust my upper torso toward the rear. We were airborne in a matter of seconds. Everyone on board was solemn.

The plane repeatedly vaulted and swayed, making the flight to the drop zone especially rough. During…

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