Summary of Christopher Robbins's The Ravens

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The secret war was a game designed by an enterprising officer to teach new pilots about the Vietnam War. It was modeled after Monopoly, with the first moves covering such dull stuff as aircraft maintenance, radio procedures, and the Rules of Engagement. The briefing officer took the players through the gradual process of developing into an old head instead of acquiring houses or hotels.
#2 The comic-strip flyboy, Steve Canyon, was created in 1947. He was a Gary Cooper type with a shock of slicked-back blond hair and a pipe clamped in his jutting jaw. He dressed in flying coveralls, always carried a. 45 automatic in a shoulder holster, and traveled the world undertaking any assignment as long as it’s perilous, exciting, and decent.
#3 The young pilots who went to Vietnam to fly as forward air controllers arrived pumped up and ready for action. They had a wide range of training behind them and were convinced of their status as an elite.
#4 The dream of young romantics who were going to be fighter pilots was to duel with a Russian MiG, one on one, up in the wild blue yonder over North Vietnam. But it is the fate of romantics to be disillusioned, and most would-be pilots were eventually forced to accept that being given a fighter was little more than a dream.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Military
• Vietnam War
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669398332
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Christopher Robbins's The Ravens
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11 Insights from Chapter 12 Insights from Chapter 13 Insights from Chapter 14 Insights from Chapter 15
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The secret war was a game designed by an enterprising officer to teach new pilots about the Vietnam War. It was modeled after Monopoly, with the first moves covering such dull stuff as aircraft maintenance, radio procedures, and the Rules of Engagement. The briefing officer took the players through the gradual process of developing into an old head instead of acquiring houses or hotels.

#2

The comic-strip flyboy, Steve Canyon, was created in 1947. He was a Gary Cooper type with a shock of slicked-back blond hair and a pipe clamped in his jutting jaw. He dressed in flying coveralls, always carried a. 45 automatic in a shoulder holster, and traveled the world undertaking any assignment as long as it’s perilous, exciting, and decent.

#3

The young pilots who went to Vietnam to fly as forward air controllers arrived pumped up and ready for action. They had a wide range of training behind them and were convinced of their status as an elite.

#4

The dream of young romantics who were going to be fighter pilots was to duel with a Russian MiG, one on one, up in the wild blue yonder over North Vietnam. But it is the fate of romantics to be disillusioned, and most would-be pilots were eventually forced to accept that being given a fighter was little more than a dream.

#5

The FAC was essential to the Vietnam War. He was in charge of finding the target, ordering up fighter-bombers from a circling airborne command and control center or ground-based direct air support center, marking the target accurately with white phosphorus smoke rockets, and controlling the operation throughout the time the planes were on station.

#6

The Army had insisted that any FAC working fighters near troops be fighter-qualified, believing that such a pilot would be safer and more competent. The Air Force took the young FACs and gave them 80 hours of flying time in a fighter, training them in fighter-weapons delivery.

#7

In Vietnam, the final step before being allowed to join the war was to check out in person at FAC-U in Phan Rang, headquarters of the 14th Air Commando Wing. The FAC would be given a set of military grid coordinates, and then fly to the area and mark the target with smoke.

#8

The moral question became very simple - either you did it, or you didn’t do it. It was not a job that permitted fence-sitting, and no one who had struggled so hard to get to the point of combat respectability was going to quit.

#9

The first six months of a FAC’s tour were spent coping with the realities of the battlefield. Death was a taboo subject, and the arithmetical risk was reduced by flying only fifteen days a month.

#10

The Rules of Engagement were the most complicated and confusing set of rules that a FAC had to deal with. They were constantly changing, and every pilot had to take a multi-question written exam for each political area they worked in.

#11

The rules governing forward air control missions were extremely strict, and the Air Force demanded that a FAC fly at a minimum altitude of fifteen hundred feet, which put him out of the range of small-arms fire.

#12

The Romeos, on the other hand, were constantly breaking the rules. They were required to fly over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and could see nothing but undercast for hours at a time. They were required to fly at ten thousand feet, one hand on the stick and the other holding binoculars, but they would often fly at lower altitudes to avoid enemy fire.

#13

The American army was burdened with rear-echelon personnel, who vastly outnumbered the men in combat units. The longer the war continued, the stronger their influence became. The enemy had a different approach, with a smaller ratio of men in the field to support troops.

#14

The more REMFs and combat personnel came into contact, the worse the atmosphere of mutual suspicion and incomprehension became. They lived in different worlds, used different vocabularies, and measured the progress of the war in different ways.

#15

The Romeos and the REMFs brought a petty, nagging quality to life in Vietnam. The absurdities of military life in Vietnam tempted many of the men to take the Chance card first heard of in the Monopoly briefing.

#16

The raven is a clever and brave bird that can fly for the sheer delight of its mastery of the air. It is majestic, and its harsh cawing has for centuries been interpreted as the harbinger of death.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The Steve Canyon Program was a secret mission that gave out unique privileges to its volunteers. It was a challenge for anyone to join, and most people had second thoughts.

#2

The Ravens were not allowed to know what they were doing, and were simply told that they were doing a secret mission. They were given shots and blood-chits, and their addresses were left blank so that they could be sent wherever they wanted their bodies shipped.

#3

The next stage in the process was an informal approach by a civilian. The clientele was exotic and somewhat rowdy. Morrison was taken to an Air America club, where he was introduced as the newest Raven. He felt awkward and out of place standing among combat elite.

#4

Morrison was sent to Laos to fly combat missions. He was part of the secret war in Laos, and when he landed he knew exactly where he was. The country was a peaceful backwater, seemingly untouched and untroubled by the ravages of war.

#5

The war in Laos was conducted in the abstract from the American embassy in Vientiane, far from the noise and heat of battle. In Military Regions III and IV, the Laotian panhandle, the Royal Lao Army attempted to keep the conflict to a minimum by avoiding contact with the enemy.

#6

The Ravens were sent to each of the Military Regions, but the posting everyone considered to be the plum was Long Tieng, Gen. Vang Pao’s top-secret base in MR II. The new Raven was taken back to Wattay airport after only a day and a night in Vientiane.
Insights from Chapter 3

#1

The new Raven flew to war over terrain unlike anything he had ever seen before. Mountains erupted out of a sea of green jungle, some shaped like cones with sharp jagged edges, others thin as knife blades. Towers of limestone stood sentinel on the banks of rivers which twisted between them.

#2

The town of Long Tieng, Laos, was a curious mix of ancient and modern. It was a contradictory mixture of dirt streets lined with native huts, built in the style traditional since people had first inhabited these mountains, and sophisticated telecommunications equipment.

#3

In the field, operations were run by the CIA. Most of the war was actually being fought by the Meo, who were under the command of Vang Pao, who was officially under the command of the chief of staff of the Royal Lao Army.