Blood on the Risers: An Airborne Soldier's Thirty-five Months in Vietnam [Paperback]

In three straight years he was a paratropper, and army seaman, and a LRRP—and he lived to tell about it. 

As an FNG paratrooper in the 173d Airborne, John Leppelman made that unit's only combat jump in Vietnam. Then he spent months in fruitless search of the enemy, watching as his buddies died because of poor leadership and lousy weapons. Often it seemed the only way out of the carnage in the Central highlands was in a body bag. 

But Leppelman did get out, transferring first to the army's riverboats and then the all-volunteer Rangers, one of the ballsiest units in the war. In three tours of duty, that ended only when malaria forced him back to the States, Leppelman saw the war as few others did, a Vietnam that many American boys didn't live to tell about, but whose valor and sacrifice survive on these pages.John Leppelman was a paratrooper in the 173rd Airborne, serving three tours of duty in Vietnam. He then wrote about his military service and experiences in Blood on the Risers: An Airborne Soldier’s Thirty-Five Months in Vietnam.CHAPTER ONE
 
 
Vietnam/173d Airborne Brigade
 
Feb. 1967
 
The jet came to a halt at the Ton Son Nhut airfield, and we all very quietly listened for the sounds of mortars or artillery. There was nothing but silence, and I was relieved. It was hot inside the aircraft as we waited. When the doors in front of the plane were finally opened we started standing up. Almost immediately a young black air force NCO stepped on board and yelled “Yo’ll set down.”
 
We did as ordered, and he asked officers and senior NCOs to step forward. They did and were directed down the steps leading to the tarmac. Then we were ordered out, row by row. As I was ilÃk