You're listening to Software Radio, Special Operations Military Nails, and straight talk with the guys in the community.

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Software Radio, Software Radio on Time on Target. I am your host this afternoon, Steve Balschury.

We have a very special guest with us, Colin Kahun. He's an author of former Army helicopter pilot. He's the author of three books, and we're going to be talking about his latest book, which is titled Mended Wings.

The Vietnam War experience is through the eyes of ten American purple helicopter pilots at folks. I'm going to just preface this right off the bat. This is one of those page turners that you can't put down, and I was speaking offline with Colin before we started.

I was very disappointed in the book that there wasn't a chapter 11, so with that said, we're going to welcome him to the podcast, Colin. Thanks for taking the time with us this afternoon. We really appreciate it.

Thank you, Steve. It's my honor to be here. I appreciate you having me.

It's our honor. Trust me. Before we get started in the book, tell us a little listeners, a little bit about yourself, your background, and then we'll get into the book itself.

Sure. I was commissioned in the Army of Regular Army Commission in 1983 after I graduated from college at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico. From there, they didn't have an aviation branch at the time, so I had to get a carrier branch.

I went to Air Defense Artillery Officer Basic Course in Fort Bliss, and I went to flight school at what we refer to as Mother Rucker, if you're a pilot for Rucker Alabama, I graduated in 84.

Then I was assigned to the 7th Infantry Division at Fort Ord, California. I flew in the 307th Attack Helicopter Battalion, where I was an aerial scout platoon leader.

I flew primarily at OH-58s as a scout, and then towards the end of that assignment, I was assigned to a VIP unit where I flew white-top queues, flying generals and congressmen around.

Then I got out, I did a year in the guard while I was in law school, but eventually graduated from law school and went on to have a career as a patent lawyer before I retired and started writing books.

That's where I am. I'm now a full-time author.

Yeah, you said Mother Rucker. I went to the Warren Officer Candidate Course down there, because that's where guys who were going to the warrant branch for Special Forces, they sent us all down there, and they put us in with all the aviation students.

You know, you had a bunch of young kids, they were just out of high school, high school to fight school guys, and then there was a half a dozen Special Forces guys, and one or two other MOSs, one guy was like a nuclear weapons tech, and everyone was liaried of him because they were wondering if he had brought any with him.

Yeah, it wasn't a fun time down there in Fort Rucker, so the best, I guess the less we say about that the best it is, but yeah, as I told you, you got all the bad part and didn't have the fun.

Yeah, one of the guys I served with in Special Forces, he was going through the aviation school while we were there.

He had left a couple of months ahead, so he was already flying when I got there, and I got to talk to him every afternoon in the chow hall, and he was very excited, and I was pretty miserable during that time, so.

But again, that was the decision we chose, so we had to live with it.

But yeah, hats off to the helicopter pilots, that's all I'll say.

But getting to the book, how did you come about, you know, the idea that you were going to write this?

Yeah, so when I was in flight school back in 1984, the civilian flight instructors who did most of the primary and the basic part of the course,

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