The best "non F-ing" image of GIs in Vietnam
595089
I grew up watching 1960's war shows but when this came out I avoided it.  I was an army staff sergeant and didn't want to watch it and pick it apart.  I bought it sight unseen and I am very impressed.  Because I didn't see it as 1st run I have no problems with the music changes.  I think that the overuse of period music sometimes mare some VN movies, ie "Air America."

I had some problems with the first couple of episodes but after that I was very impressed with the writing and dialog.  I liked that they made believable stories without everyone yelling "F-ing this" and "M-F that." I've read a lot about the Vietnam War and they did a good job of covering the diverse elements of the war.  What I like most was that the images of soldiers looked like the TV news scenes that I saw during the war, while movies like "Platoon" and "Apocolpse Now" appear as a funhouse mirror version of the war.

I know that shows like "Combat" and "Hogan's Heroes" were shown in Germany, I wonder if the "liberators" of South Vietnam allow this series to be shown?
119851
Most academics write of war from high above; diplomatic and political thrusts and parries, troop movements, logistical campaigns, body counts and damage assessments.  In Crucible Vietnam, Albert "Bert" Lawrence combines academic analysis with a trip into the foxhole, and it isn't pretty - but it's true.

Mr. Lawrence's description of his survival as an infantry soldier in the jungles of the central highlands of Vietnam in 1967-68, is gritty, graphic, personal, even intimate, and - to a person who was not there - seems true.  Bert was there, and you are there.  You see, hear, and smell the steaming jungles, a shelter half your only porous protection from the endless mud and rain, the constant fear of the sudden and random arrival of death.  He shares what was going on inside his head while bullets whizzed by ("like the crack of a whip") and respected adversaries were doing their best to out-think and kill him with bullet or bayonet, pungi stick or mortar shell.

But his other purpose is to expose the facts.  This book is replete with facts, the number of deaths and injuries, bombs dropped, North Vietnamese Regulars involved in the battles and campaigns.  Mr. Lawrence also produces a surprising, and entertaining, number of pieces of trivia, such as the truth about dogtags, or the fact that "tigers normally give a warning growl and allow the intruder to back off."

Mr. Lawrence offers insights into the Vietnamese, who were both allies and adversaries; a country and a people continuously at war for decades, while the American soldier visited just long enough to kill and be killed.  Their mission was to determine the future of their country, while our soldier's goal was simply to survive.

He compares Vietnam with other wars and conflicts: World Wars I and II, Korea, the Revolutionary War and War of 1812, the Civil War, Iraq and the current war in Afganistan, all the wars our country has faced.  He also points out that, as it is in all wars, most of the U. S. military in Vietnam were not involved in an ongoing direct face-to-face fight for survival with "the enemy."  Bert presents a frontline soldier's perspective on the troops and the command structure at the rear.  When he is finally withdrawn from the active war zone, he finds that in some strange, perverted way, he prefers the simple, pure camaraderie of the infantry company in battle.

I think that Bert's ultimate purpose is to describe the personal crucible that Vietnam was for himself, and many others like him.  Was he a hero?  While I think that he would say "No," read the book and judge for yourself.  Are they all heroes, or are they just victims of the politicians, who are always too ready to place our service members in harm's way?  Did we, the families and friends, war protester or war supporter, treat them right when they returned, if they returned?

Crucible Vietnam is both readible and informative.  I found myself taken up with the author's personal story from beginning to end.  From his upbringing in the suburbs of America to his building a good life after surviving at the tip of the spear, the story is worth telling, and is told well.
345344
Get on your feet soldier! It's 1968 and what are you doing? You still playing hide and go seek in the sour kraut fields? This isn't 1942 boy! It's the 60's and there's a new war to be waged! The battlefield is now staged in the dense jungles, destroyed cities, and the twisting rivers of Vietnam. 14 brand new maps send you straight into the deltas, hills, fields, and streets of the Indochina Vietnam Conflict. You'll be fighting the North Vietnam Army in a tense struggle to take back the fallen city of Hue. Hang onto your lunch as you swiftly glide down the Mekong Delta on a PT Boat in Operation Game Warden. And don't forget to look out for the Vietcong's booby traps as you run through the jungles during a secret invasion of Cambodia. Yes soldier, I believe you just might make it out here in Vietnam. But there's lots more than just your common infantry to watch out for! Enemy helicopters patrol the skies while F4 Phantoms litter the ground with napalm, clearing the way for troops. Don't forget about those Vespa Scooters my friend, Charlie just might slip on by without you knowing! So soldier, I think your ready to take on Nam. Fight for the North,South,or even the good old US, your bound to have a great time in the jungle. Just keep an eye out for the M60 machine guns, they'll send you home in a box if you don't watch it!
3483810
An Idea, and Bullets:  A Rice Roots Exploration of Why No French, American, or South Vietnamese General Could Ever Have Brought Victory in Vietnam, by William Haponski  delivered answers to questions which haunted me since my government thought it necessary to order me to serve in the far away land of South Vietnam in 1968 and 1969 with the First Cavalry Division, the Air Cavalry.  The answers however, do not necessarily offer comfort, other than the satisfaction derived from learning the truth about what really happened. Instead of the varnished memoirs written by American leaders more interested in making themselves and their decisions look good, or not losing Vietnam on my watch, the book levels well aimed, perfectly placed, thoughtful, reasoned criticism acknowledging the mistakes and blunders.  Leaders from the American experience in Vietnam failed.  American leaders like Westmoreland, Johnson, Nixon continually justified their failures throughout the course of the war, while simultaneously deluding themselves, and other Americans concerning the successes of bombing, search and destroy, the light at the end of the tunnel, pacification and Vietnamization.

Bill Haponski possesses a unique skill set - a combination of education; West Point, Armor commission, Ivy League graduate degrees from Cornell, Masters and Doctorate, Armed Forces career schools, War College, Command and Staff, and experience.  His career path earned the rank of Lieutenant Colonel for his service with 11th Armored Cavalry, where he served as Staff Officer, and Executive Officer, followed by Commanding Officer for Quarter Cav (1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry) First Infantry Division, the Big Red One.  He also served as a professor, scholar, and author.  Bill commanded about a thousand men during that six month period in early 1969. He is a clear, compelling writer.

In this book, Haponski presents a unique combination of viewpoints (researcher, historian, staff officer, commanding officer, soldier, family man, brother-in-arms) to explain American involvement in Vietnam.  The story is multi-layered.  Researched history explains Vietnam in the 1940s, when Japan occupied Vietnam.  Then, at the end of WW2, the re-emergence of the French to reclaim colonial French Indochina.  Conflict between different groups of Nationalists who resisted the French erupted.  Ho Chi Minh took ownership of the Vietnamese Nationalist movement by gaining confidence from different groups, building alliances, playing with fire of the Communist giants -China and USSR.  The defeat of the French, first in the North, the sham of national elections, the US fear of Communism and the Domino Theory, the defeat of the French at Dienbenphu.  Haponski traced American involvement.

Next, Bill reported on his own service, first with 11th Armored Cavalry Division, then his Command assignment with Quarter Cav.  Bill told his own story as an individual soldier and reported his feelings from the first time, up close and personal, knowing he killed an enemy.  His reaction connected him to the feelings endured by young soldiers, draftees and first term enlistees, who also agonized over killing, up close and personal.  Haponski kept a journal and personal letters recording his thoughts and responses, questions and concerns.  References to both appear frequently.  The highly personal writing shares intimacy with the reader.  Haponski honestly critiqued American leadership.  Concurrently, he praises and reveres the courage and devotion exhibited by the young men in his charge.

I read more than 500 books about the American involvement in Vietnam.  Haponski references many of the best books as well as the history and personal stories.  In my opinion, anyone looking for the real stories, must add An Idea, and Bullets to your reading.  This work is meticulously researched and will provide reference to the Big Picture, in the voice of one of the good guys.  Put An Idea, and Bullets at the top of your list.
2700304
To the point with very nice images and explanations. A must have for GIs.
1401513
Yes, there's many a belly-laugh in Ed Mooney's account of Easy Company's adventures in the European theater, but don't be fooled by that name.  These GIs worked hard, sacrificed much, and were in danger more often than the book's title might suggest.  From one chapter to the next, you'll find yourself moved to tears, chilled to the bone, and breathless.  The overall experience is heartwarming and moving.  Congratulations to Mr. Mooney on recreating this very convincing slice of GI life!
783956
Here is another good book by Osprey Publishing, "Tunnel Rat in Vietnam". During the Vietnam War our government never anticipated that tunnel warfare would be so prominent or important in waging ground combat. Prior to U.S. involvement in Vietnam, we had little interest in the French Indo-China War with Ho Chi Minh and knew little about the Viet Minh tunnels at Dien Bien Phu. Our faith in superior technology and firepower also caused us to underestimate the use of tunnels overall. In the course of the war, the Viet Cong created extensive underground complexes. These tunnel systems initially at the time of U.S. involvement contained some 50 square miles of tunnels which included space for barracks, command centers, class rooms, hospitals, caches, food and weapons stores, you name it and Viet Cong had the equivalent underground. However this book does not predominantly focus on the physical infrastructure of these tunnel systems. This has already covered in the sister Osprey title, "<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Viet-Cong-and-NVA-Tunnels-and-Fortifications-of-the-Vietnam-War/dp/184603003X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Viet Cong and NVA Tunnels and Fortifications of the Vietnam War</a>". This title is focused on the warriors fighting in the holes, the elite Tunnel Rats from the U.S. Army. There is no coverage on U.S. Marine tunnelers or Australian Tunnel Rats. These elite warriors were specially trained to exploit these subterranean networks equipped with the "Tunnel-Exploration Kit" which included weapons and tools designed and/or modified for tunnel warfare. This book covers that equipment in detail to include; communications, protective mask (gas mask), various pistols as rifles were too cumbersome in tight quarters of the tunnels; knife/bayonets, flashlights, smoke machines, smoke grenades, suppressors/silencers used due to over pressure and intense muzzle blast effecting vision. The training of Tunnel Rats is also covered from basic training (boot camp), advance individual training as infantrymen or engineers, followed by tunnel warfare selection and training in demolitions, boobytrap awareness, chemical employment, counter-mine warfare and tunnel exploitation. All so of interest is the section on appearance; tunnel rats were generally, but not exclusively, men of smaller stature in order to fit in the narrow tunnels. Overall this a excellent primer on tactics, techniques and procedures of this little know form of irregular warfare that has seen revitalization of tunnel warfare in our current conflict in Afghanistan, were todays tunnel fighter carry on the linage of their Vietnam tunnel rat brethren's.
4630396
I traveled to Vietnam as well and I don't think that Hunt's book is a very accurate depiction of the people or the country. Good thing he's not a good writer or else he would have been the first "Jayson Blair."
2032748
Having spent nine months in Vietnam researching aspects of the war,I am thoroughly impressed with the honesty and accuracy of this documentary. The Zippo village patrol system saw villages burnt to the ground on a whim, and Holocaust shows that. The sheer barbarity of the Free Fire Zones, the brutal interrogation of prisoners or suspects, the murderous Phoenix program and corruption in the South are only a few issues covered. If you buy one DVD of the Vietnam War, make it this one. If you can afford two, add The Most Dangerous Man in America. Bravo, Mr Claiborne
1037507
When the 7th Cavalry battled North Vietnamese regulars on Nov. 14-15-16, 1965, I was in Vietnam, too. The 1st Infantry Division was my outfit -- I was not involved in the battle or anywhere in the area. But I remember hearing about it at the time. So I could not wait to view this film.

I was not disappointed. Mel Gibson, in his pre-"The Passion of the Christ" days, when he fell afoul of the Jewish establishment in Hollywood, did a superb job in this war movie which shows us not only what the men on the front lines experience and suffer, but also depicts the anguish their wives and families face, back home, waiting, hoping, and dreading, what they will hear about their loved ones in combat. Gibson stars as Lt. Col. Hal Moore, commander of the companies which become involved in the fierce battle.

The Ia Drang Valley was the first major clash between main-line U.S. troops and North Vietnamese army regulars in the Vietnam War, and it is shown here in all its convincing, bloody awfulness. A friend of mine said she watched this movie before I did, and that she broke down crying before the battle scenes even started, because she was thinking, "This one's gonna die; that one's gonna die ..." That's pretty much the way it is. War is like that; it takes the good, the bad and the indifferent. Bullets and artillery shells play no favorites.

And the deaths of U.S. soldiers reverbate back in the U.S., where a stream of taxicab-delivered telegrams from the Army inform wives and children that their men have paid the ultimate sacrifice. The scenes of the young wives of the young men of the 7th Cavalry, first receiving the tragic news, are heart-rending, and are extremely well played.

The final stage of the battle -- when the elements of the 7th Cavalry, overwhelmed and trapped by superior numbers of Vietnamese, radio a "Broken Arrow" plea to headquarters -- meaning, "We are in desperate straits; send all available combat aircraft at once" -- may be a little too much for those with tender sensibilities. American fighters, bombers and helicopters hem-stitch whole rows of attacking North Vietnamese soldiers with bombs, machine-gun fire and napalm, wiping out hundreds with each new attack. The screams and the sight of very realistic depictions of men on fire and burning to death would shake anyone. In a couple of places, the blood from fatal wounds of men near the camera actually splatters onto the lens itself -- "cinema verite" which may not have been planned, but which the director chose to leave in. And plenty of American combat deaths are depicted, too. A young Japanese-American soldier has just finished proudly telling an American reporter on the scene that his son was born that day, when he is hit and burned horribly by napalm.

After the fighting is over, Gibson as Moore tells another officer that he feels "so ashamed of myself" because he survived the battle and so many of his men didn't. It's that kind of war movie. It shows how close men can become when they have "each other's backs" in armed combat. The survivors can actually feel ashamed, embarrassed, that their buddies died, and they didn't.

This is an excellent war movie. The fact that it includes significant material about the wives and children back home, puts it a notch or two above many others. I highly recommend it.
4233632
Michel provides a solid, nuanced coverage of the December 1972 Lineback II air campaign against North Vietnam.  Accessing extensive US Air Force operational files, previously unpublished North Vietnamese Air Defense histories and files, and numerous live and email interviews with air crews, planners and North Vietnamese air defense officers, Michel provides the best "both sides" perspective of not just this air campaign, but any air campaign that I have read.
Items I found interesting, of note:
-- After the Pentagon argued for years that it need to go "all the way" to take the war to Hanoi, when President Nixon asked for an all out air campaign on North Vietnam, the Joint Chiefs of Staff voted in secret against the campaign, the SecDef opposed it, as did Strategic Air Command (SAC).
-- The first three nights of the campaign were planned (if that is the appropriate word) at the HQ of SAC in Nebraska, primarily by officers who had never been in the skys of North Vietnam.  This was despite the fact that the USAF had been flying missions "downtown" since 1965.  The advice and feed back of the B-52 crews in Guam and Thailand was ignored, as were inputs from the 7th Air Force in Saigon.  Michel explains the former as a result of the top down decision making culture at SAC instigated by General Curtis LeMay.  He explains the later as SAC arrogance that they had anything to learn from Tactical Air Command (TAC)
-- Despite being the primary strategic weapons for penetrated Soviet air space in the event of a US-USSR nuclear war, SAC had never flown the B-52 against captured SA-2 surface-to-air missile radars.  The SA-2 was one of the primary elements of the Soviet Air Defense network, and the back bone of the NVA air defense.  But SAC had never tested the radar signature of the B-52 with its bomb-bay doors open or in different flight profiles.
-- Between the first and third night of raids, the technical and tactical staff of the Vietnamese air defense forces effectively out thought,out innovated the tactics of the SAC planners and the USAF.  On night 3 the NVA downed or severely damaged 6 B-52s over Hanoi.
-- The officer who ultimately challenged SAC's tactics, and who was most responsible for the change in tactics beginning on night 4, General Sullivan -- who commanded the B-52 wing flying out of Thailand -- was passed over soon after for promotion by SAC and asked retire.
-- The commander of the three engaged B-52 wings who showed the most tactical inflexibility and flew missions on only 3 of the raids north was one of only two officers awarded the Air Force Cross (the highest USAF award for valor) during the campaign.  In contrast, the other recipient successfully recovered heavily damaged B-52s twice and on a third missions flew his crippled aircraft across the Thai border, enabling all his crew to successfully bailout prior to it crashing.  The wing commander with the Air Force Cross was promoted to General, served much longer in SAC than General Sullivan, and later wrote the "SACimized," official whitewash USAF version of the campaign.
Impressive. Highly encourage any serious amateur or professional historian of air combat, the Vietnam war, or combat decision making to pick it up.
972386
Ho wanted one united Vietnam.  At any cost.  He traveled the world looking for answers and support of an undivided Vietnam, free of the influence of other countries - especially the French.  The French in France were nothing like the French colonizing Vietnam.  The French taught Vietnamese about corruption and lost over 200,000 soldiers over its colonial years fighting in Vietnam.  Ho tried to get help from numerous world leaders to include the United States.  In the end he got the support that ruined Vietnam from China, Russia, and the United States.  Be careful what you ask for.  Another great book from Halberstam; required reading like Karnow's History of Vietnam that serves as a primer to understanding the Vietnam Conflict.<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Vietnam-A-History/dp/0140265473/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Vietnam: A History</a><a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Best-and-the-Brightest/dp/0449908704/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Best and the Brightest</a>
4182359
Baton Rouge Sunday Advocate, Feb 16, 1969. Review by Kent Goldsmith
Vietnam: Our Beloved Land by Nguyen Cao Dam and Tran Cao Linh. (Charles E. Tuttle, $3.50 paperback)
 With the spate of books that have poured forth from a wide variety of sources on the subject of
Vietnam, it should be refreshing to find one that is not totally war-oriented. Somehow, it is not.
 Vietnam, Our Beloved Land is a book of photographs which purports to portray the images of Vietnam  that the people keep in their hearts. Such a picture does represent a welcome change from the over-reported, excessively opinionated news to which the mass media have subjected the defenseless reader and viewer. For this reason alone, the book is probably worth obtaining.
 Technically, the photography is a study in extremes. There are no mediocre photos here; on very good ones and very bad ones. Since the pictures are shared about equally between the two authors, it would be nice if you could say that one is the better photographer and just let it go at that. Unfortunately, the bad shots are also about equally shared.
 The book is divided into subject sections, such as plains, highlands, the sea, the sand, etc. By far the best executed section is the one entitled Sand Dunes. Here the composition and contrast is skillfully played  the result is an instant feeling of being there, of seeing what the photo portrays. The worst sections are those centering Vietnamese women and the Vietnamese soldier. Undoubtedly, the poorness of the Soldier section is due to over-exposure (the viewer, not the film). The failure of Women is more difficult to explain.  Bad poses, pour illumination, no contrast, just about everything that can be done badly has been done just that way.
 Of course, if the book were as poorly done as all that, it would hardly be necessary to say so much about it. There is the fear that perhaps the reviewer is prejudiced. Anyone who has seen the plains and meadows by the light of a million candle-power flare; or has the death than can issue without warning from the dunes, the sea, the highlands; such a person will find it difficult these printed photographs of the idyllic land with the realities of today.
 Like most photographic works (and most written ones for that matter) the readers must decide the intrinsic value of the work for themselves.
4091269
I visited the village of Binh Ky (Ky La) in mid 1969 while escorting a road sweep with members of Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. I was about to leave country, having served 18 months on an  extended tour with the Navy Hospital at the Marble Mountains, NSA Station  Hospital. I am very familiar with this area.
Though I don't doubt that  Hayslip may be from Binh Ky (I have been back and seen her family tomb in  the dirt poor hamlet), I do know that a good deal of what she tells in this  book is pure fiction.
1. Da Nang City was off limits to U. S. personnel  from mid-1966 until the U. S. pulled out. There were no clubs to go to, no  strip joints. All clubs were on bases. No one walked on the streets or  lived in apartments in Da Nang. Those who worked there were transported  there from their bases. All her stories about working in strip clubs  frequented by Americans in Da Nang or meeting GIs prowling the streets are  lies.
  2. There were no U. S. personnel working at the civilian hospital  in downtown Da Nang, as she claimed her lover Red did. I know, as I went to  that hospital numerous times carrying wounded or sick Vietnamese civilians  in our ambulances, and I toured the hospital several times. It was mostly  open bay buildings with two or three to a bed, the families moving in  beside the patients to cook for them while farm animals wandered around the  facilities. Red is a purely fictitious character. As I stated earlier, no  U. S. military personnel lived in apartments in Da Nang. There were some  compounds where Americans lived, but they were guarded by Chinese  mercenaries or other non-Vietnamese troops and you wouldn't just walk up  and knock on the door of one of them. In her later book, Child of War,  Woman of Peace, this facility becomes a Navy hospital in Da Nang. I was at  the only Naval hospital in the entire I Corps, and it was at the Marble  Mountains, not in Da Nang. There were barracks there, not apartments, and  civilians were not allowed to visit them. And there was no Vietnamese guard  at the "front door" or anywhere else on this compound. It was  guarded by American Marines. This whole episode is pure fiction.
3.  Hayslip claims to have traveled from Da Nang to the Marble Mountains twice,  on foot, at night. This is not likely, given that the only way to get there  involves crossing a river, the Song Han. The two bridges across the Han  were guarded by Americans and no civilians crossed at night. There was a  curfew in Da Nang. Boat travel was subject to artillery fire, monitored  from the top of what called the Crow's nest, one of the Marble Mountains  facing Binh Ky.
4. She claims her sister had an apartment at the Marble  Mountains where Americans visited. I have film footage and still shots of  this area and there are no apartments there, let alone one with a common  indoor bathroom as she claims. In fact, the houses were all one story  structures, almost exclusively shacks. This is another pernicious lie in  which she paints an unflattering picture of Americans.
It is not clear  why she has added so much fiction to this account, but my guess is that  otherwise it would be very dull. All of the nonsense she has added is very  disparaging to Americans, which could also be a reason for their addition.
These lies make me wonder how much of the rest of her tale is true. Her  credibility is low for me. I corresponded with her briefly on the internet,  but after I asked her to tell me how she got from Da Nang to the Marble  Mountains by foot she stopped responding.
Nonetheless, it is a great  read, but must be taken with a very healthy grain of salt.
2824937
I am from the generation whose fathers fought, flew, marched, and steamed their ships through the Second World War.  The war was very much a topic of conversation as I grew up (as was Korea) and the many images of those years were everywhere.  While there are many movies whose scenes fill-in the spaces the real pictures used to take, I believe that the images from Hollywood, television, and all other fictions should be kept apart and inferior to the read images.

This book is a wonderful collection of a couple hundred photos with great captions that explain what it is you are looking at.  Bob Duncan has provided just enough text to help us without getting in the way of the images.  The book is grouped in three sections and each has a page of prefatory material.

Some of the images, such as the Frenchman crying at the fall of France, were quite famous at one time.  Others deserve to become prominent.  I don't recall seeing Patton pinning the Silver Star on Private Ernest A. Jenkins before.  It is one that should be front and center in the stories told about Patton to balance out those costly slapping incidents.

The aerial images are stunning and you will do well to have a magnifying glass on hand to see the parachutes and gliders abandoned on the ground.  We see the soldiers and airmen on their way into battle, during the fighting, and after it.  It is a very nice mixture of photos from Italy and from Normandy into Germany.  You should have this on your shelf and go through it with every young person you know.  This is a time that has to be remembered through more than just the fictions some people want to sell us.  It was real and the reality has to be told to others and passed on in order to be remembered.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
2935332
This is an outstanding text and a must have for anyone studying the uniforms and equipment of the Vietnam War.  I have always been interested in the kit of the advisory/early war era (1957-66) and Mr. Miraldi does not disappoint in the least.  What is remarkable is that advisors generally had a good deal of leeway with their kit - usually anything from regulation USGI uniforms, to old items left over from WW2 & Korea, to custom ARVN uniforms (though these were usually bespoke due to the small sizes of Vietnamese soldiers).  There are plenty of color photos using modern models (wearing original kit), good close-ups, and concise explanations of the depictions.  I highly recommend this book for those seeking to learn more about the equipage of that era.
3616595
As a member of a Marine rifle company in Vietnam in 1968-69, I found this book to be dead on, in its portrayal of the day to day life of a grunt. This book, for the most part stays clear of the political messages and other distractions that infect many of the other books about Vietnam. If one was to ask the author why this would be, I would guess that his response would be, that a Marine in the bush does not have time to reflect upon anything other than the mission at hand. I was also glad to see a book about combat in Vietnam,that was written by a black Marine. The year of 1967 was a deadly year for the Marines, especially for those Marines in and around the DMZ. The NVA were determined to kill as many Marines as possible, in order to sway public opinion in the United States. They (NVA)did this knowing that they would probably lose every battle and suffer untold casualities.