62 VIETNAM
The Rakkasans
By Andrew Robbins
In a frank memoir,
the author recalls his
22 months in
Vietnam with the 3rd
Battalion, 187th
Infantry Regiment,
nicknamed the
“Rakkasans,” of the
101st Airborne
Division—with stories
of jungle combat,
time in Long Binh
Jail and brushes with
those conducting
covert operations.
The book also covers
his postwar years,
including the
challenges of post-
traumatic stress. KEYSTONE/GETTY^ IMAGES;^ INSET:^ COURTESY^NEIL^ HANSEN“a motley crew of aviators in Southeast Asia.”
During Hansen’s 11 years in Southeast
Asia, there were “no typical days.” Each
flight had its special problems and deadly
KPITTMVOM[I[\PM[MXQTW\[NIKMLMVMUaÅZM
J]ZMI]KZI\QKQVKWUXM\MVKMWЅKQIT¹VWVZMK-
ognition” if a secret mission “went south,”
miserable—often deadly—weather and their
own personal demons as they provided criti-
cal air supply services to CIA operations.
Hansen’s luck ran out on Dec. 6, 1972,
when his C-123 transport aircraft was blasted
out of the Laotian sky by North Vietnamese
IV\Q̆IQZKZIN\IZ\QTTMZaÅZM0MZMUIQVMLI\\PM
controls until his crew bailed out, then barely
parachuted to safety. The rescue helicopter
that picked him up crashed in the nearby
jungle. A second rescue chopper ran out of
fuel and crash-landed. Finally, the third one
plucked him to safety.
Three years later, Hansen piloted the last,
LM[XMZI\MÆQOP\W]\WN+IUJWLQIJMNWZM\PM
murderous Khmer Rouge took over. He subse-
quently made it to Alaska with his Vietnam-
ese wife.
Flight also recounts Hansen’s “descent,” as
he struggled to return to “normalcy” in the
States. He couldn’t cope with the sudden lack
WNILIQTaILZMVITQVMÅ`¹1LQLV¼\TMIZVIJW]\
the idea of adrenaline addiction until much
later, when the damage had already been
LWVMº0IV[MV\MTT[ZMILMZ[¹1\Q[IVM`XTI-
VI\QWVVW\IVM`K][MNWZUaC[]J[MY]MV\Ebad decisions.”
Hansen tried various legitimate jobs, in-
cluding Alaskan bush pilot, but to feed his
VMMLNWZQVKWUMIVLM`KQ\MUMV\PMJMOIV
ÆaQVOQTTMOITLZ]O[QV\W\PM;\I\M[IVLTIVLML
in a federal prison. Although sentenced to 38
years, Hansen served just four before his pa-
role. He attributes his “redemption” to two
UIRWZQVÆ]MVKM["*]LLPQ[U#IVL\PM]VÆIO-
ging support of refugees from Laos’ Hmong
mountain tribes who settled near his Mich-
igan home.
“The peacefulness of the Buddhism teach-
ings I had attempted to incorporate years ago
CQV;W]\PMI[\)[QIEPI^MJMKWUMUa6WZ\P
Star,” Hansen writes. He credits the Hmong
community for recognizing “the depth of my
despair” and saving his life.
FlightQ[I_WVLMZN]T[TQKM̆WN̆TQNMJWWSÅTTML
with dark humor that allows us to psychologi-
cally endure bad things that happen, mundane
and boring bits we put up with, and the mo-
ments of stark terror that confront us. Some
240 Air America pilots and crew died in the
secret war in Indochina. Hansen’s memoir is
a tribute to all of those civilians who fought on
the war’s “spook side” in now-forgotten places
our government prefers to ignore.
—Jerry D. MorelockThunderchief
By Dennis R. Jenkins
This heavily
illustrated study
combines archival
U.S. Air Force
documentation with
Republic Aviation
factory information
and photos to tell the
complete story of this
legendary Mach-2
ÅOP\MZ̆JWUJMZ
which was developed
in the 1950s and
served as one of the
primary attack
aircraft during the
Vietnam War. F-105s
ÆM_VMIZTa
combat missions in
Southeast Asia and
were eventually
retired in 1984.Neil Hansen, whose CIA-issued ID is shown below, frequently flew into deadly
skies as a pilot on secret missions for Air America, whose work included
transporting war refugees, such as these near Khe Sanh, South Vietnam.