Once you start this book, it will be hard to do anything else until you finish. Gripping, moving account of the Thud airstrikes over NVN. Newbies to the Vietnam war will feel admiration for the pilots, and anger toward the war leadership that put politics over lives.

Although Harrison develops his charactors carefully, the reader is pulled rapidly through the unfolding story with its tragedies and triumphs and - surprises.

If you can find the book, get it. But make sure you have a clear couple of days to get through it.

I have read this book several times and I can't get enough of it. The action is non-stop. And the air battles are as real as my flight-sim. This book is right up there with such authors as Dale Brown, Joe Weber, and Leonard B. Scott. I score it a 10. I just wish he would write more.

This is a superb novel based on the Republic F-105 Thunderchief (THUD) pilots in Vietnam. Astounding level of accuracy

Outstanding first person narrative seats readers in the cockpit of Vietnam era reconnaissance aircraft involved in combat. Absolutely one of the five best books I've ever read. Harrison opens Chapter 1 by emersing the reader into the radio chatter of an aircraft fire mission. His flowing and economical style enable the reader to actually place themselves into the scenario. From there the book continues to ride like a modern day Clancy novel. From directing fire missions deep within North Vietnam and Laos to dropping commando teams by parachute behind enemy lines in light aircraft only designed for a pilot and observer. Harrison spins his tales as if he's sitting comfortably in your living room tracing flight manuevers through the air with his hands. A fabulous book that, unfortunately, read too quickly. May slow down some readers who are not famililar with aviation technical terms or slang.

This has to be one of the best books on combat aviation in Viet Nam. I've read a lot of book about this subject, but Harrison's ability to describe the life of a Forward Air Controller left me wishing that he had put more in print. There is almost a kinship that develops during the book - you share the sweat and I have seen no one else write about aerial manuevers as vividly. His style sems to assume that the reader has a basic understanding of aviation; he gives vivid descriptions of flight without excessive digression to explain the manuevers.

I won't loan this book to anyone.

Buy it.

I cannot count how many times I've read this book. A very well written account of the making of a forward air controller (FAC) and his tour of duty in Vietnam. This book is filled with non-stop aerial combat interspersed with wit and humor. I swear you can hear the engines, the explosions, the radio chatter and the myriad sounds of aerial combat. This is the definitive book on the FAC. Harrison's vividly writes about the inter-service rivalries, fighter pilot and elite unit culture. Vietnam had them all, from the ticket punchers to the true professionals, the "conscientious objectors" to the patriots, balls-out young men and know it alls, politicians and name dropers, clowns and cowboys, the scared and all too brave. Harrison's seen and flown with all of them. You will not put this book down once you start reading it. Harrison will hold you in suspense screaming, laughing and dying over and over. You will read it again and again in between browsing the web about the FAC and that "war" fought on the other side of the fence in Laos. How good is this book? I have seen precious copies churned out of copier machines circulating with pilots of the Philippine Air Force, 15th Strike Wing, one of the few users of the OV-10 Bronco in combat in the 21st century. This book should be made into a movie.

For 16 authors (programmers??) to make so many typos, mistakes, ommissions, is unacceptable. I even sent email to the authors who cared to provide addresses and none responded.

The authors must have been confused or took so much for granted. The problems I found with the book are too many. For example: Code snippets fail, poor steps (making the book a very tidious read.). The steps are embedded in lengthy theories, making them impossible to follow. Focus is lost and references are poor. For example, on page 88, they write "you can find this function [global_service_lib.asp] in the include directory". Wrong because, the global_service_lib.asp resides in the siteroot/service/include directory. These are minute errors that can frustrate many readers in the middle of the night.

Some diligence should be put into books that involve program codes. I generally do not tolerate such errors from programmers. We should be people akin to details!!

normally, the book should be rated with maximum stars, because it is the the one and only book which steps in detail into the commerce server 2000 dungeons. BUT, the codes and files downloadable from wrox site are full of errors and missing files. so, it is difficult to follow the authors in their expearince. also, you see from chapter to chapter there are different writes, having CS2K setups/retail installation. so, steping over the chapters, you have to take a look on your up to this retail solution done previously. also, some errors in the code samples inside the book (which are not part of the download) have some mistakes. but, at least. i think it is a good entry point for CS2K developer...

After waiting 6 months for a decent book on Commerce Server 2000, I finally got it! This book does a great job giving an overall view of the product before diving into the nitty gritty information. Unlike any other book currently on the market, this one gives a great architectural layout of each part of CS2K (user profiling, campaigning, catalogs, etc...) and then gives code examples. Great job WROX!