A Backseat View from the Phantom: A Memoir of a Marine Radar Intercept Officer in Vietnam

As a 26-year old Marine radar intercept officer (RIO), Fleet Lentz flew 131 combat missions in the back seat of the supersonic F-4 B Phantom II during the wind-down of the Vietnam War. Overcoming military regulations, he and his fellow Marines at The Rose Garden (Royal Thai Air Base Nam Phong) kept sorely needed supplies moving in while moving combat troops out of Southeast Asia. His personal and accessible memoir describes how pilots and RIOs executed dangerous air-to-ground bombing missions in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos--quite different from the air-to-air warfare for which they had trained--and kept themselves mission-capable (and human) while surviving harsh circumstances.

Table of Contents:
Table of Contents Acknowledgments Preface Prologue: What Did You Really Do in the War, Dad? Section One: My New World  1. Going Down  2. The Base  3. Rules of the Road  4. Liberty  5. Housekeeping  6. Staying Human  7. Task Force Delta? Section Two: Hops  8. The Phantom, in Brief  9. First Hop 10. Bringing Back the Hose 11. Silence from the Back Seat 12. An ­Award-Winning Hop 13. Watch Dog and Beer 14. Night Tanking 15. Flying in Laos 16. The Cubi Special Missile Shoot 17. The MiG Mystique 18. The Bunker 19. Frags 20. One Wild Ride 21. The ­Ten-Degree Run 22. Angkor Wat /Ankle What 23. Drop the Hook 24. Upside Down and Embarrassed Section Three: Special Times, Special People 25. Gracie L. Zoobreath 26. Me and Mr. Tones 27. Clipper Wins 28. Christmas 29. The Chapel 30. The Brig 31. The Shadow Next Door 32. Salts Section Four: Things Changed 33. Squadron to Group 34. Operation Sunset Section Five: Takeaways 35. Takeaways Epilogue: Going Back Appendix A. Map of Vietnam and Neighboring Countries Appendix B. Glossary of Terms Appendix C. Marine Corps Ranks Appendix D. Brief Timeline of the Vietnam War Appendix E. Brief History of ­VMFA-115 Appendix F. The Rose Garden’s Legacy of Leadership Appendix G. Suggested Reading and Viewing Appendix H. Brief Career Overview Index

About the Author :
Fleet S. Lentz, Jr., Col, USMCR (Ret) was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in 1969 and received his wings as a Naval Flight Officer in 1971. Assigned to the Western Pacific, he served in the Vietnam conflict in 1972-1973. After the war, he served as executive officer VMFA-112 and commanding officer of Headquarters and Maintenance Squadron/Marine Aviation Logistics 41, both based at Navy Dallas. Lentz retired from the Marine Corps in 2000 with thirty-one years of affiliated time and 1500+ hours in the F-4. He also worked for thirty-two years in civilian commercial aviation at the management and executive levels, including twenty years as North American Vice President of Volvo Aero, headquartered in Bromma, Sweden. He lives in Centennial, Colorado.

Review :
“[The] writing is superb and brings the reader…right into the SEA air war.” —Marine Corps Aviation Quarterly “A stellar description of how it was: the boredom, odors, fear, exhilaration, and camaraderie experienced by those of us who were there.”—Colonel Joseph E Rice, Junior, United States Marine Corps, Retired “In the masterful prose of a true insider, Lentz spins a compulsively readable tale leavened with equal measures profundity, compassion, and industrial-strength Marine humor!”—Sarah Bird, author of Yokota Officers Club, Above the East China Sea and Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen “The author describes his environment at the end of the Vietnam War in Thailand, an expeditionary base called the "Rose Garden" in intricate detail. This is the kind of book that you don't want to put down because you want to know more about it. It captures the attention of a military history buff as well as the novice because it is kept understandable while winding through the tactical level, the camaraderie and loyalty under combat conditions and the tactics, techniques and procedures in combat air operations. … [Lentz] writes in a style that brings you into the cockpit with the Pilot and Radar Interdiction Officer (RIO). After reading and understanding better about the trusted relationships that developed between the Squadron Aviators, one gets a clearer view of how these life and death relationships endure.”—Daniel Schlimgen, Col. US Army, Retired