War For the Hell of It: A Fighter Pilot's View of Vietnam

"During the Vietnam War, Ed Cobleigh served two tours of duty, logging 375 combat sorties and over 1,000 hours of combat time in the F-4D Phantom II fighter/bomber. Unlike so many others, he made it back in one piece. And he returned with an experience - and a perspective - that those of us on the ground could not begin to understand." In War for the Hell of It, Cobleigh shares that perspective in an account of a fighter pilot's life in a war filled with moral ambiquity and military contradictions. With prose that takes you right into the cockpit, Cobleigh recounts the unexplainable losss of his wingman, the useless missions that he flew, and the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants instincts that take over in the heat of combat. He discusses the deaths of his colleagues, and the absurdities of the semisecret war fought from Thailand. This is a look into the state of mind of a pilot as he experiences everything from the carnage of a crash to the joy of flying through a star-studded night sky, from illogical political agendas to his own dangerous addiction to risk.