Captain Richard Lawrence Greene is a retired combat Army pilot. After graduating from University of Massachusetts in 1965, he entered the Army ROTC program and from there started flight school in 1966. That same year, he was sent off to Vietnam for the tour of duty described in this book. The view from his small helicopter offered up-close views of field troop locations, B-52 strikes, enemy works and,in one case, an enemy passenger. Greene worked with Special Forces and Army Intelligence. He saw plans that went horribly wrong and saw some examples of professionalism that inspired awe. Also during that time, he was awarded the Air Medal with 23 Oakleaf Clusters for 975 hours operating in the combat zone, as well as the Distinguished Flying Cross for saving the life of a commanding officer (see Chapter 4). Somewhere in between, he took an R & R flight to Hawaii and married his wife Mary. After returning to the United States in 1967, he was promoted to Captain. Thereafter, he left Army service, earned a Master’s Degree in History from the University of Lowell, had a family of three children (two of whom have helped him with this book), and has since become an antique dealer in the New England area.