Book
details (from Wikipedia):
The book is based on Broughton's tour of duty between September 1966
and June 1967 as Vice Commander of the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing,
based at Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. The narrative is
anecdotal in nature, a commentary of his observations of persons,
aircraft, and events during his tour,
Feb
28, 2014Johnny rated it 4 of 5 stars
Normally, I wouldn’t be open to reading anything from the Vietnam Era.
The Vietnam Conflict was a shameful period in U.S. history and not a
policy that I supported. Yet, in spite of my misgivings about policy, I
realized some years ago when I met Navy pilot and bestselling author
Stephen Coonts that there were many courageous men who fought over
there because they believed they were making the world a safer place.
Thud Ridge is the autobiography of another pilot from another service.
Jack
Brough...more
more or less chronologically, but without dated references. Few
individuals are identified by other than first or nicknames, but
Broughton develops most as characters through descriptions of their
career backgrounds. Broughton's accounts of missions "up north" were
enhanced in both accuracy and verisimilitude by verbatim transcriptions
of radio transmissions he recorded using a small tape recorder mounted
in the cockpit of his aircraft.
In Thud Ridge Broughton is highly critical of the U.S. command
structure directing air operations against North Vietnam. He blames
micromanagement by the highest levels in Washington down to the
Thirteenth Air Force, a command echelon based in the Philippines, for
losses of men and aircraft that he characterizes as "astronomical" and
"worthless". He is particularly critical, however, of the "bomber
mentality" management by generals who came up through the Strategic Air
Command and then occupied key command slots in the war, which was being
fought by pilots of the Tactical Air Command.
The book came about when, at the completion of his tour of duty,
Broughton and two of his pilots were court martialed by the USAF for
allegedly conspiring to violate the rules of engagement regarding U.S.
air operations. Although acquitted of the most serious charges,
Broughton, who had been personally relieved of duty by Pacific Air
Forcescommander Gen. John D. Ryan, was subsequently transferred to an
obscure post in the Pentagon, allegedly as a vendetta because his
punishment was so slight. Required by office protocol to work only two
or three days a month, he used both his extra time and his bitterness
at the Air Force to compose Thud Ridge while he awaited approval of an
application to appeal of his conviction to the Air Force Board for
Correction of Military Records.
After his conviction was overturned and expunged from his record
because of "undue command influence", Broughton retired from the Air
Force in August 1968 and had the memoir published by J.B. Lippincott.
The book appeared soon after as a Bantam paperback, with reprint
editions in 1985, 2002, and 2006.
The Learned Turtle
A whale of a read. Broughton, essentially, refused to throw a couple of his young pilots under the bus and paid the price for his downward display of loyalty.
ReplyDeleteSir H the Comet
Great book!
ReplyDeleteRead it as a young AF officer back in the '70s.
Inspirational. Showed the ugly result of leadership rot and politically driven strategic short-sightedness at the highest levels; and it illustrated the courage, sacrifice, and skill of the crews.
That book had a major impact on later thinking.
Read it many moons ago. Very frustrating to endure, but a hell of a read. -Anymouse
ReplyDelete"Thud Ridge" is the "Red Badge of Courage" of the Viet Nam war. Check out his sequel "Going Downtown". It gets into more detail of air war ops and policies created by the SAC generals who had no concept of tactical air warfare. The Thud was a one way trip plane designed for Euro cold war low level high speed nuke deliveries. Loss of hydraulics turned the Thud into a large lawn dart. Later mods made the F-105 less prone to the effects of gravity after AAA damage. Another good read is Ed Rasimus's "When Thunder Rolled". It's right up there with Col. Broughton's books. The ROEs forced upon them by their leaders made them endure tragic losses. These guys had big Brass Ones. I salute them all.
ReplyDeleteI read this excellent memoir shortly after it was published. It occupies an honored place in my library. It is actually the second copy I purchased. The first suffered some - erm -damages due to the fact that as I would read a chapter (or in some cases a paragraph) I'd get so mad at the idiots running the war I'd hurl the book across the room.
ReplyDelete- One Man Gang