Col. Ray L'Heureux

What a wonderful book, on a subject I had never particularly thought much about. Except that for when I was to take my first helicopter flight and was scared witless, I kept telling myself that if Nancy Reagan could fly in one, so could I!

I could envision a young boy being obsessed with flying...airplanes...and it was airplanes that L'Heureux was obsessed with. So much so that he joined the Marines in order to learn to fly. Learn to fly he did, but when push came to shove, in other words, when he had to decide where he wanted to serve, he chose helicopters. Sometimes that is how life turns out. We make unforeseen choices and our life is set on a trajectory not thought of ever before.

This was a great look inside the workings of the Marines, and inside the presidency of George W. Bush, 43.… (meer)

Col. Ray "Frenchy" L'Heureux is a really cool person. Not that I know him personally but I feel like I did get to know him in this book. I would want to hang out with him. This book gave the right mixture of the past with Col. Ray’s childhood and how he joined the military with the present and his job as a helicopter pilot for Marine One.

While Col. Ray does a good job of not getting into politics and where he stands, which I can only imagine would be tricky to maneuver around when you have a different boss every four years. I did notice clear differences in the Bush’s and Clinton, and Obama. The Bush’s seemed really friend…people person. Like when George W. Bush was at Camp David and he played volley ball with the staff or took Col. Ray on a long mountain bike ride. He seemed like just a regular person. Whereas, I did not get this feeling when I read about Clinton or Obama. They seemed to be more above the people. Also, I think some of this had to do with the fact they did not have any military experience so they did not know how to show respect. I liked getting this inside look into Marine One.… (meer)

More of a memoir than an autobiography, Colonel L'Heureux tells of his ascendency to the helm of the elite MHX-1 group responsible for the coordination of transportation for the President of the United States in Marine Helicopter One and his special relationship with former President George W. Bush. Written in a "gee whiz" manner with the utmost respect for his responsibilities and command, L'Heureux typifies the mission objectives of the Marine Corps. I was expecting from the title, perhaps, for a bit more detail on what makes the Marine One helicopter special, but came away with the sense that it is the staff, not the machine.

This was received as a pre-publication copy from the publisher in Kindle format in exchange for an honest review.… (meer)