A Certain Brotherhood

A Certain Brotherhood

For as long as Mitch McCall could remember, he had wanted to follow in his father's footsteps as an Air Force pilot. In pilot training, Mitch nearly crashes a supersonic T-38 trainer. He walks away from the incident but can’t shake off the resulting phobia about landings.
The Vietnam War escalates, and Mitch volunteers for combat as a forward air controller. FACs fly single-engine Cessnas over enemy territory and look for targets for armed fighter aircraft. Mitch accepts the new dangers in a make-or-break attempt to beat his fears.
In Thailand, he is teamed with Captain James D. (J.D.) Dalton. J.D. is a few years older than Mitch--but many years more experienced in almost everything. As a teenager, J.D. had idolized the ill-fated actor, James Dean. Now, almost a decade later, J.D. still lives by some of the actor's philosophies and flies his small Cessna as if this life were just a step toward whatever comes next.
In Hanoi, famed North Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap is plotting a bold operation. If successful, his armies will overrun the U.S. Marines at Khe Sanh during the upcoming Tet offensive. His plan depends heavily on battle-hardened veteran Colonel Le Van Do. Le commands Battlefield C, North Vietnam’s secret operations to move men and supplies through Laos to the war in South Vietnam. Battlefield C contains much of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and is patrolled from the air almost every day by Mitch and J.D.
In late January 1968, the Communist forces launch a massive offensive during the Tet truce. The fate of thousands of American Marines at Khe Sanh depends on whether Mitch discovers the secret Colonel Le Van Do has concealed beneath the 200-foot tall trees of the Laotian jungles.
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The original publication of A Certain Brotherhood drew many comments from some writer friends and many veterans of the War in Southeast Asia.

"If someone asks me what it was like to have ‘been there--done that,’ all I have to do is hand them this book." -- Charles (Chic) Randow, Nail 68 at NKP

“Jimmie Butler focused on the bond between fighting men during the Vietnam War, and may have said something profound about all warriors, everywhere. This is a damn good book. I highly recommend A Certain Brotherhood. — Stephen Coonts, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Flight of the Intruder

"No one evokes the thrills, excitement, and dangers of flight better than Jimmie Butler! " - Robert Crais. Author of Sunset Express. Voodoo River. Free Fall. and The Monkey's Raincoat.

“I read it (A Certain Brotherhood) straight through the day I received it and sat down and sent you a handwritten personal note. I thought it was great.” — A USAF Four-Star General & Vietnam Veteran

While I was hugging the ground in a few heavy firefights and you FAC folks arrived on station, I was certain you had to be crazy to fly in one of those Buddy Holly specials, let alone play target for even the worst of NVA and Viet Cong gunners. That took guts, and more than that, it took dedication.
Duty honor and country does matter, and when it is expressed in a talented articulate voice, it makes us all stand a little taller.
— Kregg P.J. Jorgenson, Senior Editor, Behind The Lines Magazine, US Army Ranger in Southeast Asia

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Jimmie H. Butler, Colonel, USAF, Retired, combined combat experience flying Cessnas over the jungles of Southeast Asia with months of research in USAF archives. The result is his third novel, A Certain Brotherhood, an exciting insider’s view of the Secret War over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Combat-veteran readers of the two print editions confirm Butler got it right with an authenticity that inseparably blends fact and fiction. More than 20 photographs taken by the author, combat photographers, or photo reconnaissance aircraft help readers better understand the experiences of American combat pilots who risked their lives almost daily in their small, unarmed aircraft.