Criss Hinson

Medic Criss Hinson had been in Vietnam for only four days when unauthorized, he joined a flight in need of a medic to help transport wounded back to Da Nang. The plane was hit by machine gun rounds and forced to land in nearby rice paddies. Its passengers included four Green Berets, who along with Criss and the other men aboard had to fight a deadly battle with a Viet Cong patrol to reach a Marine outpost. Because of his varied skills and performance under pressure, for the rest of his tour in Vietnam, Criss was part of many dangerous missions, some outside the military’s standard rules and regulations, and eventually he became a go-to medic for the legendary Air America. With wit, brash humor, vivid expression, and richly expressed feeling, Unauthorized Acts takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of missions, rescues, field duties, hospital assignments, and sudden shocking horror juxtaposed against the ordinary or ridiculous. Hinson recreates the war from a fresh and unusual perspective that is revealed to the reader in a sometimes unsettling, hilarious, or often profoundly moving way.