Ratpack Airlines

Book excerpt: RatPack Airlines was an Air Force gunship during the Vietnam War. Its crew was made up of a group of men that bonded together to became a very proficient team. Their motto became When it hurts enough to where you want the very best, call the RatPack. Jack Roberts, a member of that crew and call sign MadRat, uses his outdoor skills learned from having lived on a cattle ranch in northwestern Nebraska to help his RatPack Airlines crewmates through survival school, getting accustomed to coping with the hardships of the primitive living conditions and coping with the everyday violent missions they would experience in Vietnam. Jack and his crewmates fly a variety of missions in South Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and North Vietnam. These vary from defensive support missions for Agent Orange spray aircraft, to assisting in retrieving downed aircrews, to offensive missions taking out enemy targets, supply cashes, and command centers. On one mission they are shot down and crash-landed in a rice paddy in the Mekong Delta. The survivors must fight off the attacking enemy until Army Special Forces and Navy rescue can offer assistance. The RatPacks final mission is to destroy an enemy command center at An Son, North Vietnam. After completing the mission, Jack, his dog, and three crewmates must bail out of their damaged aircraft and evade the enemy while walking back 265 miles to South Vietnam. There are many hardships encountered during the five-week journey. Finding food and water was always a priority. Not all the RatPackers made it back.