A friend who did his first tour in Vietnam flying for the 48th Assault Helicopter Company and shared a cockpit with the author of "Chickenhawk" on occasions told me his reading of the book convinced him that a lot of the stories were borrowed from those who actually experienced them.
My friend did not care much for the Author as evidenced by his refusal to even acknowledge the Author's presence when they encountered one another.
I was not present during their time together in the Blue Stars so I cannot vouch for the accuracy or reasons for the bad blood between them.
My friend did retire as a CW4 Master Aviator and was always promoted ahead of his Peers so I know him to be an excellent Officer and Aviator.
The other guy....the only opinion I have of him is how his post Army life went for him as he encountered some problems with Law Enforcement on a couple of occasions.
Problems he reports in his book.
There was an old saying...."What is the difference between a War Story and a Fairy Tale? A War Story starts off with "Now this ain't no ****"....and a Fairy Tale starts off with "Once upon a time".
But to give him credit....he tells a good story and it is fairly accurate in the kinds of things he talks about and no matter if it was his own experiences or borrowed experiences.....they ring true.