The true story of fighting in the Vietnam war, from the recollections of a young USAF fighter-bomber pilot.
From the military history and aviation perspectives, this is a very good read. The F4 Phantom aircraft, the weapon systems and the training, were described in detail. I enjoyed the technical aspects of the book. The F4 is one of my favourite all-time aircraft and it was immensely fascinating to understand what it was like to fly and fight the Phantom in such terrifying combat conditions.
Being a military pilot inevitably means losing close friends, both in training accidents as well as in combat operations. Understandably, the author does not unnecessarily dwell too much on this emotional subject.
With the benefit of hindsight, we can see the futility and political pointlessness of the campaign. At the time it was seen as fighting the potential domino effect of global Communism. Sadly many lives were needlessly lost on both sides. Every person involved in the Vietnam conflict has their own story. This book definitely fills in some of the missing gaps.

My father was an F-4 hydraulic mechanic during the Vietnam conflict until the F-4 was retired. I grew up with love for the F-4. When other guys were all about the F-14 due to Top Gun, I still loved the F-4. I was excited to read this book. Peck did a great job relaying personal stories regarding his flying of the F-4 during the early Vietnam period.

Peck was a USAF pilot rather than Navy, so I was a little disappointed in that as a Navy brat. Peck still relayed the strength of the jet during this period and its versatile use. He also clearly shows from the stories how poorly the Vietnam conflict was executed by the US leadership.

I recommend this book to anyone with interest in the history of the Vietnam conflict or air warfare.