On Day 2 in Vietnam, Captain Joe Bonpensiero is handed the responsibility of the
315th TAW (Tactical Airlift Wing’s) Aircraft Maintenance Unit, as all assigned officers depart taking a permanent holiday back to the ZI-(Zone of the Interior) USA.
Faced with security breaches, incompetent record keeping and a bungled aircraft mechanical repair operation, Bonpensiero must cajole the unit into shape—or suffer the consequences—potentially ending his military career.
He soon learns that bizarre humor, unorthodox methods and a home cooked meal is what keeps the human spirit pumping.
Dinner in Happy Valley tackles the irrationality of war from a young officer’s perspective in the face of incompetent leaders and possible drugged-out pilot hellions. With a nod to Korea’s MASH and WWII’s Catch 22, “Bomb-Dispenser’s memoir is a wild and wacky tribute to his comrades-in-arms who carried on in the face of foolish bureaucratic demands, often resulting in dangerous SNAFU’S. He tells it like he lived it– the insanity of war with some of the finest enlisted and NCO’s around, while some wacko officers attempt to lead the charge.
315th TAW (Tactical Airlift Wing’s) Aircraft Maintenance Unit, as all assigned officers depart taking a permanent holiday back to the ZI-(Zone of the Interior) USA.
Faced with security breaches, incompetent record keeping and a bungled aircraft mechanical repair operation, Bonpensiero must cajole the unit into shape—or suffer the consequences—potentially ending his military career.
He soon learns that bizarre humor, unorthodox methods and a home cooked meal is what keeps the human spirit pumping.
Dinner in Happy Valley tackles the irrationality of war from a young officer’s perspective in the face of incompetent leaders and possible drugged-out pilot hellions. With a nod to Korea’s MASH and WWII’s Catch 22, “Bomb-Dispenser’s memoir is a wild and wacky tribute to his comrades-in-arms who carried on in the face of foolish bureaucratic demands, often resulting in dangerous SNAFU’S. He tells it like he lived it– the insanity of war with some of the finest enlisted and NCO’s around, while some wacko officers attempt to lead the charge.
