begins to think about terrain for Team Yankee.
Here Is This Week's New Release!
Along for the Ride is Air Force veteran Hank Zeybel's memoir of his time as a navigator during Vietnam and throughout the Cold War.
It's the last week of National Book Month! Use the code NBM-35 to get 35% off over 150 titles! Click here to browse the full list of eligible books.
Along for the Ride
Navigating Through the Cold War, Vietnam, Laos & More
Henry Zeybel
Air Force veteran and novelist Hank Zeybel takes readers Along for the Ride in this moving memoir. His first tour in Vietnam, he flew 772 C130 sorties as a navigator. He volunteered for a second tour, requesting assignment to B26s so he could "shoot back." When B26s were removed from the inventory, he accepted a Spectre gunship crew slot, flying truck-busting missions over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. He describes the terror of flying through heavy AA fire over the trail, and the heroics of the pilots in bringing their crews through.
Away from the war, he recalls leave back in the U.S., his elderly father bewildered by his war-hardened attitude and black sense of humor. Contextualizing his time with Spectre gunships, he compares his experiences with those of other airmen, like Phil Combies and Robin Olds, and his broader Air Force career – he joined upon graduating university in 1955, and his first operational assignment was as a B47 Stratojet navigator-bomber at Strategic Air Command – trained to drop thermonuclear bombs with precision. From 1957 to 1963, he logged over 2,000 hours as a radar-bombardier in B47 Stratojets and B52 C-models.
In this memoir of Vietnam, his Air Force career, and his second career as a journalist and writer, Zeybel's admiration of the skill and bravery of pilots – many of whom who he depended on for his very survival – shines through his descriptions of combat missions and being Along for the Ride.
More Info
9781636240381, $34.95 USD, Casemate, October 18, 2021
