{"product_id":"super-slick-life-and-death-in-a-huey-helicopter-in-vietnam-9780811775663","title":"Super Slick: Life and Death in a Huey Helicopter in Vietnam","description":"\u003cp\u003e100% of author royalties are being donated to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHelicopters loom large in how we picture the Vietnam War. Kilgore's birds coming in hot (and Wagnerian) out of the rising sun in \u003ci\u003eApocalypse Now\u003c\/i\u003e. The infantry\/helicopter assault at Ia Drang in the climax of \u003ci\u003eWe Were Soldiers\u003c\/i\u003e. A chopper flying over green rice paddies, with a teenaged door gunner manning a .50-cal. A slick dropping into an LZ whirling with purple smoke. We can only imagine it. Tom Feigel lived it, as a twenty-year-old crew chief in a Huey. \u003ci\u003eSuper Slick\u003c\/i\u003e is the story of his year in Vietnam. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTom Feigel grew up a typical post-World War II kid who wrestled in high school, had a steady girl, and loved working on cars--and then everything changed. Less than a year out of high school, he was drafted into the army and assigned to aviation, ultimately to helicopters. In Vietnam in 1970, he first worked as a \"hangar rat,\" part of the ground crew responsible for maintaining the company's thirty Hueys--the Warriors and Thunderbirds--of the 336th Assault Helicopter Company, which operated in southern South Vietnam, in the Mekong Delta and U Minh Forest. In short order, Feigel volunteered for a flight mission to replace the rotors of a damaged chopper--which led to his becoming a crew chief on a transport slick called \u003ci\u003eWarrior 21\u003c\/i\u003e. Before long, he and \u003ci\u003e21's \u003c\/i\u003ecrew asked the company commander for permission to re-outfit their ship for thicker, more dangerous missions--and they ended up flying an up-gunned helicopter call sign \u003ci\u003eSuper Slick\u003c\/i\u003e, tasked with similar missions but into more dangerous zones.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFeigel's memoir recounts the thick and thin of helicopter combat in Vietnam. Heart-pumping missions into hot landing zones (sometimes inserting and extracting Navy SEALs). Adrenaline-fueled flights into enemy-infested jungles and free-fire zones. Low-level reconnaissance. \"Hash and trash\" runs to deliver supplies to far-flung units. Terrifying nighttime operations where trees posed nearly as much danger as the enemy. Razor-thin margins between life and death. It was dangerous; it was thrilling. The crews loved it; the crews hated it. They were proud of it. And they never wanted to do it again. \u003ci\u003eSuper Slick\u003c\/i\u003e is as close as you can get to being inside a Huey--to hearing the radio chatter, feeling the thrum of the rotors, the pounding of the door guns.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTom Feigel\u003c\/b\u003e is a native of Rochester, New York, where he returned after the war and worked for Xerox for forty years. His service in Vietnam earned him a Purple Heart, the Air Medal, and four Army Commendation Medals. He now lives in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLarry Weill\u003c\/b\u003e is a retired U.S. Navy Reserve captain who later earned promotion to Rear Admiral and served as Commander of the New York Naval Militia. A former ranger in the Adirondacks, he is the author of a handful of books on the Adirondack Mountains of New York, including \u003ci\u003eExcuse Me, Sir . . . Your Socks Are on Fire: The Life and Times of a Wilderness Park Ranger in the Adirondack Mountains\u003c\/i\u003e. He lives near Rochester, New York.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Stackpole Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50697681600786,"sku":"9780811775663","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_a3101c3c-62b6-4e1e-a7d5-cd8dd3c48e68.jpg?v=1734306405","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/super-slick-life-and-death-in-a-huey-helicopter-in-vietnam-9780811775663","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}