Robin Olds (1922–2007)

Robin Olds was a larger-than-life hero with a towering personality. A graduate of West Point and an inductee in the National College Football Hall of Fame for his All-American performance for Army, Olds was one of the toughest college football players at the time. In WWII, Olds quickly became a top fighter pilot and squadron commander by the age of 22—and an ace with 12 aerial victories.
But it was in Vietnam where the man became a legend. He arrived in 1966 to find a dejected group of pilots and motivated them by placing himself on the flight schedule under officers junior to himself, then challenging them to train him properly because he would soon be leading them. Proving he wasn't a WWII retread, he led the wing with aggressiveness, scoring another four confirmed kills, becoming a rare triple ace.
Olds, who retired a brigadier general and died in 2007, was a unique individual whose personal story presents one of the most eagerly anticipated military books in recent memory.… (mehr)

I was in Thailand at Udorn shortly after Col. Olds' tour ended at Ubon. Even a couple of years after and at a different installation, his reputation and zeal as a "balls out" fighter pilot and leader were the standard against which everyone else was measured, both individuals and units.

For those reasons and my own life-long passion for all things that fly and the Air Force, I have been waiting to read his biography. While it is a good read and there are many details and stories that will be of interest to readers I found it a bit too self-serving in tone. It is his story so he was certainly allowed to tell it as he saw it, I just found it a little too much so.

That said, it is a good read (listen in my case). Written in a conversational and colloquial language it expresses the hard-nosed fighter pilot image for which he was so well known alongside the daily routine and occasional surprise of military life. For those unfamiliar it will be a good presentation of the nomadic military life. For those who have had the experience it will ring true and bring to mind one's own experiences.

I especially enjoyed learning of his early childhood, West Point and WWII experiences. These are parts of his life that precede the legend and enable us to understand the confidence and context of later years. But I strongly suspect there is an untold tale as well. One of personal demons and battles.

Like everything else he did, married life was lived in the fast lane...and not always within the lane markers. His wife had her own issues and I suppose the fact that they made it as long as they did as a couple is testament to their commitment and love for each other and their children. But this part of life was not kind to the good General. I suspect reality is that he shared a bit more of the responsibility for that than the book admits to, but that is purely my hunch.

All of which proves that he was merely human after all, despite the glory ascribed to him by fact and legend. I enjoyed this book immensely and would rate it higher if I didn't have this nagging feeling that it isn't as honest as it could have been.… (mehr)