This week’s Tango Alpha Lima podcast features a Vietnam War helicopter pilot whose recordings from his combat deployment have been turned into a new book.
Look who’s back in the host seat of this week's Tango Alpha Lima podcast!
It’s American Legion National Judge Advocate Mark Seavey, an original host of The American Legion’s weekly podcast, who filled in for Jeff Daly, who was temporarily unavailable.
In this week’s episode, Seavey and co-host Ashley Gorbulja-Maldonado open the show talking about the upcoming Boston Marathon Ruck. Look for a podcast following the April 16 ruck, which Seavey and others will be doing.
For this week, the show features an earlier recorded interview where Daly and Gorbulja-Maldonado welcome retired Marine Col. John “Ace” Astle. He is currently celebrating 60 years of military and public service with the launch of his book, “Jungle Combat: A Combat Pilot’s Tape Recorded Transcripts from Vietnam 1968-1969.”
Astle’s Marine Corps service includes being a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War and a tour as a Marine One presidential helicopter pilot, 1971-74. Later, he joined the Marine Corps Reserve and served five months active duty during Operation Desert Storm before retiring as a colonel from the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve in 1996.
A member of American Legion Post 7 in Annapolis, Md., Astle recalls that when he went to Vietnam he knew that he was not going to write letters. Instead, he brought a tape recorder to document his thoughts and then mail the tapes home to his mom.
Decades later, the tapes were digitized and landed in the hands of an editor. “She said there is a story here. This is a time capsule, your words 53 years ago. Your words capture the emotion the fear all those aspects of what it is like to be in combat.”
The editor worked with Astle to create the book. (Learn more about the book.) After it was compiled, Astle read an early draft.
“It scratched the scab on some of my memories,” he says with a pause. “And there were times when I had to put it down and walk away cause the emotion was there. I just had to take some time to get it under control.”
This episode is among more than 110 Tango Alpha Lima podcast for veterans, servicemembers and others. All episodes are available in both audio and video formats here. You can also download episodes on iTunes, Stitcher or other major podcast-hosting sites. The video version is available for viewing at the Legion’s YouTube channel.
- Tango Alpha Lima