{"id":28115,"date":"2024-10-23T00:01:40","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T07:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=28115"},"modified":"2024-10-29T08:22:45","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T15:22:45","slug":"exnotes-review-the-600-m-o-l-black-helicopter-pilots-in-vietnam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/10\/23\/exnotes-review-the-600-m-o-l-black-helicopter-pilots-in-vietnam\/","title":{"rendered":"ExNotes Review:  The 600 m.o.l. Black Helicopter Pilots in Vietnam"},"content":{"rendered":"<h6>By Joe Berk<\/h6>\n<p>This is the first of several book reviews to follow in the next few weeks.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/600-m-l-Helicopter-Tuskegee\/dp\/1958890596\/ref=nosim?tag=exhaustnotes-20\">The 600 m.o.l. Black Helicopter Pilots in Vietnam<\/a> is the true story of the second wave of Tuskegee Airmen.\u00a0 The first wave included the Black aviators who flew combat missions in World War II.\u00a0 There have been movies made about those men and their accomplishments are well known.\u00a0 The second wave refers to Tuskegee airmen trained to be helicopter pilots by the famed Alfred Anderson, who trained the first wave for World War II.\u00a0 Their exploits and the paths they blazed are not nearly as well known.<\/p>\n<p>I happened on to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/600-m-l-Helicopter-Tuskegee\/dp\/1958890596\/ref=nosim?tag=exhaustnotes-20\">The 600 m.o.l. Black Helicopter Pilots in Vietnam<\/a> as a result of visiting one of the pilots featured in the book, a man who was my first boss when I was in the Army in Korea.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/600-m-l-Helicopter-Tuskegee\/dp\/1958890596\/ref=nosim?tag=exhaustnotes-20\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-28118 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/61SiGJsOs0L._SL1360_-500-194x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"194\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/61SiGJsOs0L._SL1360_-500-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/61SiGJsOs0L._SL1360_-500.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 194px) 85vw, 194px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The story is fascinating on many levels, not the least of which is the story of the author, Dr. Joe Ponds.\u00a0 He was one of the more or less (that&#8217;s where the &#8220;m.o.l.&#8221; comes from) 600 Black helicopter pilots in Vietnam who flew Huey and Cobra gunships during that war.\u00a0 The book begins with the author&#8217;s end in sight:\u00a0 A cancer diagnosis with only a few months left to live.<\/p>\n<p>What do you do with what is essentially a death sentence diagnosis?\u00a0\u00a0Dr. Joe Ponds decided to tell the story of the Black helicopter pilots who flew in Vietnam.\u00a0 Theirs was not an easy path.\u00a0 They faced institutionalized racism and discrimination in both civilian and Army life.\u00a0 These men managed to overcome limits imposed by others and they became U.S. Army aviators.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/600-m-l-Helicopter-Tuskegee\/dp\/1958890596\/ref=nosim?tag=exhaustnotes-20\">The 600 m.o.l. Black Helicopter Pilots in Vietnam<\/a> covers seven major topics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>A brief history of discrimination in America and efforts to overcome it.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Pond&#8217;s experiences in gaining a officer&#8217;s commission in the US Army, and then becoming a helicopter pilot.<\/li>\n<li>A discussion of the different types of helicopters flown in Vietnam.<\/li>\n<li>A review of the kinds of helicopter missions in Vietnam.<\/li>\n<li>Stories from several Black aviators featured in the book.\u00a0 All were interesting, especially the ones who flew medevac helicopters.\u00a0 Those helicopters flew with no armament whatsoever, and they were literally sitting (or hovering) ducks when they flew in to retrieve wounded soldiers.<\/li>\n<li>A list of the approximately 600 Black aviators who served in Vietnam.<\/li>\n<li>A chapter describing how Dr. Ponds&#8217; cancer went into remission and his subsequent activities on several fronts, including mentoring young people, counseling, helping first responders cope with post-traumatic stress syndrome, motivational speaking, and more.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/600-m-l-Helicopter-Tuskegee\/dp\/1958890596\/ref=nosim?tag=exhaustnotes-20\">The 600 m.o.l. Black Helicopter Pilots in Vietnam<\/a> was a great read.\u00a0 I know you&#8217;ll enjoy it.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Never miss an ExNotes blog:<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<style>\r\n        .wpedon-container .wpedon-select,\r\n        .wpedon-container .wpedon-input {\r\n            width: 171px;\r\n            min-width: 171px;\r\n            max-width: 171px;\r\n        }\r\n    <\/style><div class='wpedon-container wpedon-align-center'><form target='_blank' action='https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/cgi-bin\/webscr' method='post' class='wpedon-form'><input type='hidden' name='cmd' value='_donations' \/><input type='hidden' name='business' value='ExNotes@ExhaustNotes.us' \/><input type='hidden' name='currency_code' value='USD' \/><input type='hidden' name='notify_url' value='https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-post.php?action=add_wpedon_button_ipn'><input type='hidden' name='lc' value='en_US'><input type='hidden' name='bn' value='WPPlugin_SP'><input type='hidden' name='return' value='' \/><input type='hidden' name='cancel_return' value='' \/><input class='wpedon_paypalbuttonimage' type='image' src='https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/en_US\/i\/btn\/btn_donateCC_LG.gif' border='0' name='submit' alt='Make your payments with PayPal. It is free, secure, effective.' style='border: none;'><img alt='' border='0' style='border:none;display:none;' src='https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/en_US\/i\/scr\/pixel.gif' width='1' height='1'><input type='hidden' name='amount' id='amount_63aeec9698af10b434fcc37775fbdfa2' value='' \/><input type='hidden' name='price' id='price_63aeec9698af10b434fcc37775fbdfa2' value='' \/><input type='hidden' name='item_number' value='' \/><input type='hidden' name='item_name' value='' \/><input type='hidden' name='name' value='' \/><input type='hidden' name='custom' value='23447'><input type='hidden' name='no_shipping' value='1'><input type='hidden' name='no_note' value='0'><input type='hidden' name='currency_code' value='USD'><\/form><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Join our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/528366535451405\">Facebook ExNotes page<\/a>!<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Don&#8217;t forget: Visit our advertisers!<\/span><\/h3>\n<hr \/>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britishmotorcyclegear.com\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-23940 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BritishMotorcycleGear400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BritishMotorcycleGear400.jpg 400w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BritishMotorcycleGear400-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BritishMotorcycleGear400-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 85vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vikingbags.com\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-28404 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Viking.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Viking.jpg 500w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Viking-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 85vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Check out these offerings from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vikingbags.com\/\">Viking Bags<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vikingbags.com\/pages\/motorcycle-saddlebags\">Motorcycle Saddlebags<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vikingbags.com\/pages\/motorcycle-harley-davidson-saddlebags\">Harley Davidson Saddlebags<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vikingbags.com\/pages\/motorcycle-luggage-bags\">Motorcycle Luggage Bags<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vikingbags.com\/collections\/motorcycle-sissy-bar-bags\">Motorcycle Sissy Bar Bags<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vikingbags.com\/pages\/motorcycle-sissy-bars\">Motorcycle Sissy Bars<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vikingbags.com\/collections\/motorcycle-backpacks\">Motorcycle Backpacks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Joe Berk This is the first of several book reviews to follow in the next few weeks.\u00a0 The 600 m.o.l. Black Helicopter Pilots in Vietnam is the true story of the second wave of Tuskegee Airmen.\u00a0 The first wave included the Black aviators who flew combat missions in World War II.\u00a0 There have been &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/10\/23\/exnotes-review-the-600-m-o-l-black-helicopter-pilots-in-vietnam\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;ExNotes Review:  The 600 m.o.l. Black Helicopter Pilots in Vietnam&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[392,96],"tags":[4351,4352,3333,2249,2049],"class_list":["post-28115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-back-in-the-day","category-feel-good-stuff","tag-black-aviators","tag-cobra-helicopter","tag-huey-helicopter","tag-vietnam","tag-vietnam-war"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/61SiGJsOs0L._SL1360_.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28115"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28408,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28115\/revisions\/28408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}