Pre-Owned Taking Fire: The True Story of a Decorated Chopper Pilot (Hardcover) 0312269846 9780312269845

Ron Alexander is 5 foot, 3 inches tall and weighs 110 pounds, making him the shortest American pilot to fly in the Vietnam War. He is also one of the most highly decorated chopper pilots to come out of that war. In this action-driven account, readers will be taken into the heart of the war as they never have before, following Colonel Alexander as he learns the ropes then goes above and beyond the call of duty. With the call sign of "MINI-MAN", Alexander became a living legend, piloting Huey slicks and gunships into red hot LZs, inserting Blue Teams into infantry battle, rescuing fellow soldiers from areas bursting with machine gun fire, and buzzing tree tops in a deadly "shark and bait" game in which one pilot served as bait to lure enemy fire while a second waited with machine guns and rockets at the ready.From one hot zone to the next, readers will take off in the cockpit with Alexander as bullets smash though the airframe plexiglass, chin bubbles burst and instrument panels erupt in smoke and sparks. This is a barn-burner of a memoir that spares no details and moves with rapid-fire pace.AUTHORBIO: Ron Alexander and his wife, Sandy, have been married for 34 years and live in Bixby, Oklahoma. Ron retired after 28 years of active and reserve duty in the U.S. Army in 1986 as a Lt. Colonel. He teaches high school in Tulsa.Charles W. Sasser is a combat veteran with time in Vietnam and Central America as a war correspondent. He has been a full-time freelance writer/journalist since 1979 and has over 30 published books to his name. He lives in Oklahoma.