Who Shot the Water Buffalo? Is about two young men who train together to be helicopter pilots. They live together, play together, rival each other over just about anything from spelling to women, and ultimately find themselves in Vietnam together . The book follows their adventures during their two year deployment (1960-62). The timing is interesting as this period is before Americans were sent there to fight, at this time, they were considered “advisors”.

The two main characters are Huckelbee , a 5’9” wiry Texan, and from Ohio, Cochran, a 6’2” muscle man who is called Gorilla. This is not a linear story, and it took me some time to adjust to his choppy, episodic writing style. The author relates his stories in a series of stand-alone chapters, each a separate short story that opens with an obviously wounded and in pain Huckelbee talking to a doctor. The reader only finds out in the last chapter how he came to be wounded. Each story tells of bizarre events that can be both entertaining or shocking, sometime both. These guys are flying in and out of danger on a constant basis, delivering ARVN troops and supplies. When they are not flying we are treated to a series of beer-bashes, whore hunting missions and wild R & R breaks. It is when the story is of their actual missions that the reader learns of the white knuckle flying conditions, difficult landing zones, helicopter crashes and daring escapes from the Viet Cong.

Who Shot the Water Buffalo felt like I was on the inside of a soldier’s mind. Disjointed, abrupt, at times both rambling and wildly out of control, it shows how soldiers could be driven to alcohol and drugs to help cope with the difficult conditions they found there. While I would suggest there are novels that tell a better story by the likes of Tim O’Brien and Karl Marlantes, Who Shot the Water Buffalo certainly gives an authentic feeling of “being there“. ( )

As a collection of anecdotes with a shared cast of characters, I enjoyed it. As a novel, the format didn't quite work for me, and the end felt rather abrupt and lacked a satisfactory denouement. But as an illustration of the day-to-day life of Marine helicopter pilots in the Vietnam War, it was a very good read. ( )