Read this excerpt from "not a dove, but no longer a hawk."

i remember distinctly the thrill of climbing aboard a u. s. army helicopter in the cool of the morning and taking off across the rice fields with a south vietnamese battalion for a day’s jousting with the vietcong guerillas. i was proud of the young american pilots sitting at the controls in the cockpit and i was grateful for the opportunity to witness this adventure and to report it. we are fighting now, i used to think, and some day we will triumph and this will be a better country.

based on this excerpt, it can be inferred that
the war provides the author with his first flying experience.
the author once felt pride and optimism about the war.
the us soldiers are trained in hand-to-hand combat.
the author has a begrudging respect for the vietcong.