[.ca] Seawolves: First Choice (ISBN 0804117675)

The realism takes me back to my time as a Seawolf doorgunner:
I thought that this book by Dan Kelly was about as close to real as could be told. I was a doorgunner with the Seawolves at the same time as Dan, however, at a different detachment. His experiences, although different, brought back similar experieces that I had gone through. The baptism of fire in earning Combat Aircrew wings was similar throughout each Seawolf detachment. The spirit that embodied the Navy Seawolves was living thing no matter in what detachment you served. Our one mission, as far as the pilots and gunners were concerned was to not leave any comrads on the ground or in trouble. Our history, as detailed in Dan's book, bears this action out. As I read it, I got goose bumps and very emotional just thinking about the past. A very good read.

Ok, but.....:
More Navy propoganda! While everyone who saw them will agree that the seawolves were good, they were only playing Cavalry. Just as we always considered the SEALs to be tall ARVNs, we in the AIR Cavalry always considered the Seawolves part of the ARVN air force. They were a defensive/reative force, we in the Army air cavaly were the offensive force. Book doesn't mention that because the seawolves had to operate off of boats, they couldn't carry our ammo load and therefore couldn't stay in the fighting as long as army gunships. If you didn't have to trot along side your gunship on takeoff because it was overweight with ammo, you couldn't expect to stay in the fighting very long. OK, book for those who know nothing about gunships but not so great for those of us who were on them.

Major Disappointment:
This book isn't very good. The author tends to exaggerate the situations he encounters. His emphasis that he is there because of his choice gets tiresome really quick. His believe that God was helping him kill the enemy is the same type of thinking terrorists use to justify their murders. There are many other better books on helicopter combat in Vietnam such as Dustoff or Low Level Hell. Stay away from this one it is only good as kindling.

Al Server?:
Boat? What boat -- I find Kelly's accounts 1% inflated and 99% accurate -- Having flown for several tours as a door gunner in HAL(3) - AND having FIRST HAND knowledge of the air cav - I can only guess that "Al Server" must be the younger brother of a REAL AIR CAV gunner/crewchief and took every one of his older brothers war stories and ran them through his non-combatant imagination -- If the reason to write a book and put it on the open market is to then SELL the book --then Kelly has hit the mark with his cutting edge wit and his honest portrayal of HIS experiences -- The market for a dry tale of dusty wet drudgery interupted by moments of sheer terror and war time humor is much better in its truth than your poor attempt at reviewing something it seems you know nothing about -- a certain author of a casual tale - Rogue Warrior - would be interested in your view point about SEALS and Seawolves-- why don't you tell him in your review of HIS book that he is just a "TALL ARVN" -- Kellys book is an excellent example of OUR expiernces -I applaud him --- "Stretch" -Det 7 1967'68'69 --

A great book:
I loved this book! It was interesting exiting and funny. I could not put it down. I was very interesting to learn about Veitnam witch is a very complicated subject but Kelly makes it easy to understand.