FACs (forward air controllers) in Vietnam flew low and slow, searching for signs of an elusive enemy. Often they trolled themselves as bait for the NVA troops to try to shoot down. When a friendly unit made contact, having a FAC overhead made their day because the FACs controlled the bomb-, rocket-, and napalm-laden fast movers, fighter jets and attack aircraft whose ordnance often made the difference between life and death. They were regarded by many of their airforce and naval aviator brethren as insane, suicidal, or both. In addition to the perils of enemy fire which ranged from lucky AK-47 shots to .51 caliber machine guns and SA-7 shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, you had to watch out to keep from being blown up in a B-52 Arc-Light strike or knocked down by friendly artillery. As the title suggests, however, Naked in Da Nang is not an angst ridden account of mortal combat. Following in the footsteps of Richard Hooker's classic M*A*S*H: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, author Jackson has a keen eye for the absurdities that abound in a combat zone. That the humor is often dark only serves to sharpen its comic edge.- These pilots were considered the "Guardian Angels" of the Vietnam ground soldier- Refers to the "unarmed" nature of FAC (Forward Air Controllers) aircraft- Low-tech aircraft that survived combat on pilot skills only

“[An] intimate account of a Forward Air Controller working with the Special Forces on their secret operations in South Vietnam and Laos . . . Don’t miss it!” (John Prados, author of Storm Over Leyte). Originally published in 1991, this classic work has now been revised and updated with additional photos. It is the story of how, in Vietnam, an elite group of Air Force pilots fought a secret air war in Cessna 0-2 and OV-10 Bronco prop planes—flying as low as they could get. The eyes and ears of the fast-moving jets who rained death and destruction down on enemy positions, the forward air controller made an art form out of an air strike—knowing the targets, knowing where friendly troops were, and reacting with split-second, life-and-death decisions as a battle unfolded. The expertise of the low, slow FACs, as well as the hazard attendant to their role, made for a unique bird’s-eye perspective on how the entire war in Vietnam unfolded. For Tom Yarborough, who logged 1,500 hours of combat flying time, the risk was constant, intense, and electrifying. A member of the super-secret “Prairie Fire” unit, Yarborough became one of the most frequently shot-up pilots flying out of Da Nang—engaging in a series of dangerous secret missions in Laos. In this work, the reader flies in the cockpit alongside Yarborough in his adrenaline-pumping chronicle of heroism, danger, and wartime brotherhood. From the rescuing of downed pilots to taking out enemy positions, to the most harrowing extended missions directly overhead of the NVA, here is the dedication, courage and skill of the fliers who took the war into the enemy’s backyard.

Dave Simms is a young black marine stationed at the Da Nang Air Base during the Vietnam War. Working as a supply clerk, he fights not only the Viet Cong but also everyday boredom and the absurdity of military life. In the face of those challenges, his search for personal identity leads him through a drunken and reefer-smoking year of ludicrous encounters. Simms finds himself in perilous surroundings and yet is protected from the worst of events in many waysbut not always. The horrors of war reach even him, leaving a mark that not even alcohol fueled nights can erase. Simms rarely meets the enemy, but his worst fears arise more from what the marines might do to him. The preposterous, bloodthirsty mind-set of the Marine Corps feeds his hatred for them and his determination to leave Vietnam not only alive and in one piece but also in his right minda goal that might prove impossible to achieve. In this military novel, a young marine serving in Vietnam struggles to stay alive and keep his sanity in the face of the brutality of war.

The term "friendly fire" was coined in the 1970s but the theme appears in literature from ancient times to the present. It begins the narrative in Aeschylus's Persians and Larry Heinemann's Paco's Story. It marks the turning point in Homer's Iliad, Virgil's Aeneid, the Chanson de Roland, Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage and Tim O'Brien's Going After Cacciato. It is the subject of transformative disclosure in Jaan Kross's Czar's Madman, Ron Kovic's Born on the Fourth of July, O'Brien's In the Lake of the Woods and A.B. Yehoshua's Friendly Fire. In some stories, events propel the characters into a friendly-fire catastrophe, as in Thomas Taylor's A Piece of this Country and Oliver Stone's 1986 film Platoon. This study examines friendly fire in a broad range of literary contexts.

This gripping narrative explores today's scientific pursuit of immortality, with exclusive visits inside Silicon Valley labs and interviews with the visionaries who believe we will soon crack into the aging process and cure death. We live in an age when billionaires are betting their fortunes on laboratory advances to prove aging unnecessary and death a disease that can be cured. Researchers are delving into the mysteries of stem cells and the human genome, discovering what it means to grow old and how to keep those processes from happening. This isn't science fiction; it's real, it's serious, and it's on track to revolutionize our definitions of life and mortality. In Immortality, Inc., veteran science journalist Chip Walter gains exclusive access to the champions of this radical cause, delivering a book that brings together for the first time the visions of molecular biologist and Apple chairman Arthur Levinson, genomics entrepreneur Craig Venter, futurist Ray Kurzweil, rejuvenation trailblazer Aubrey de Grey, and stem cell expert Robert Hariri. Along the way, Walter weaves in fascinating conversations about life, death, aging, and the future of the human race.

This book presents Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Networks (ICISN 2022), held at Hanoi in Vietnam. It includes peer reviewed high quality articles on Intelligent System and Networks. It brings together professionals and researchers in the area and presents a platform for exchange of ideas and to foster future collaboration. The topics covered in this book include- Foundations of Computer Science; Computational Intelligence Language and speech processing; Software Engineering Software development methods; Wireless Communications Signal Processing for Communications; Electronics track IoT and Sensor Systems Embedded Systems; etc. ​

The experience of American and Soviet participants in Vietnam and Afghanistan respectively is constructed directly from the narratives and the recollection of surviving veterans. In their very intensity and authenticity, these voices pose a challenge to conventional understandings of contemporary warfare. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR