THE PUCKER FACTOR is a phrase familiar to the military.  Fear, surprise, and the unknown are its major components.  Jointly or one at a time, these components can scare you to death, or you are certain you will die, and then you are afraid you will not die.  The author and THE PUCKER FACTOR  became very close friends during his tour of duty in Vietnam.  As a noncombatant, he earned the Air Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, Crew Member Wings, and the Purple Heart.  THE PUCKER FACTOR details the much easier living and working conditions "Headshed personnel" endured than those of the foot soldier.  Although certainly not a war hero, he earned the respect of his fellow GIs by giving of his time and efforts to make his units better; he made the best of clerical errors to construct a photo lab for the 20th Engineer Brigade at Bien Hoa, he assisted his fellow 164th Aviation Group NCOs in robbing the Army Supply Depot near Saigon to obtain cots and wall lockers his Can Tho company could not obtain through normal channels, and he built the "mother of all barbecues" for the 336th Assault Helicopter Company at Soc Trang.   He had time to fall in love with a beautiful Vietnamese widow just as his stateside marriage was going down the drain, only to lose his new love just as quickly as he found her.  He moves from the "Jungle Eaters" as they clear back the jungle with Rome plows in the Hobo Woods, to fly with the Commanders of the 13th Assault Helicopter Battalion and the 164th Combat Aviation Group on missions in the Delta to rout out and destroy the VC in the U-Mihn Forest, then to prepare operational maps for the 336th Assault Helicopter Company missions.  His work takes him from being Information Sergeant to Unit Photographer to Intelligence Analyst to Intel Sergeant to Perimeter NCO.  An interesting memoir of one soldier's life on and off duty.