Customer Reviews
probably the best - By: mark king, 02 Nov 2008 
I have read alot of books on the vietnam conflict, but this one has got to be one of the best.The author takes you on a very vivid journey with accurate details & good humour, well worth reading.
Good read, but reservations noted here - By: Mark Furse, 31 Jul 2007 
There is no doubt that this is a good read, although to be really picky, some of the grammar could have done with better editing. As a first-person narrative it is better than some of the existing accounts, but not as good as others. I do have some major reservations though that are not reflectedin other reviews here. First - & here the book shares a problem with most first person accounts of the Vietnam war - the book lacks all perspective. There is hardly any comment on the contextin which the war was fought. Where there is (the author maintains that Tet was a victory for the US, & that a war properly waged against North Vietnam would have brought success) the author is often wrong. Tet was not, as recent work makes clear, a victory. Yes, the US 'won', but the price of victory was unbearable. If the US had gone into North Vietnam, so would the Chinese - Korea all over again. Second the view is very simplistic. The marines are 'God's marines'; Jane Fonda is 'a traitor' etc. Third, & this is my biggest problem, the text presents a very distorted view of lifein the war. It flows as a continuous narrative (ie, each chapter starts where the other one ends, each event follows the one before) yet it very clearly is not. For example there is a discussion of a letter sent about Tet to one of the grunts many chapters before we get to Tet. Events are conflated, timelines changed, compressed, etc. This is fine, if acknowledged, but it is not acknowledged here. The impression given is that the author isin combat almost daily, which would be a very unusual Vietnam experience. The most affecting, & best, part of this book is the catch up piece written at the end. Read this first, then read the book. And for far better perspectives (with their fair share of combat descriptions) try, as others have suggested, 'Dispatches', or the more recent (and I think even better) 'The Cat from Hue'.
Excellent - By: Exmatelote, 07 Mar 2007 This is very well written & has the remarkable ability to make you feel real emotion for what those men went through. The description of combat is real & raw & the sense of loss when comrades are killed is palpable. A fine book to rival Chickenhawk, & that is quite a complement.
only my children break me away from this read.... - By: Mr. Grahame Mcgill, 13 Aug 2006 i have read many books on war,more so vietnam.So far only 'Dispatches,Nam,Hellin a very small place,my lia & Tiger Force'made me stop & think of the utter hell of beingin the unforgivable jungle of vietnam.What these men have been through,only they can know & we will never begin to understand.My greatest respect goes to these men & any 'MAN' who has seen combat.RESPECT.Johnnie Clark gives a vivid & at times emotional account of his & his comrades' timein the war.The life long bonds that these men have made,whether wanted or not,sounds like that of brothers or even man & wife!All is farein love & war'?If you read this you'll be hard pressed to find a more impressive account of a group of marines tours.
Guns Up! - By: , 16 Jan 2006 
Wow! what a read, The author takes you rightin with his excellent writing style,It was almost as if I was standing next to himin the heat & hell of nam!,I've read other vietnam books & seen all the movies & this easily stands up amongst them,in fact my only criticism of the book is that it reads just like a movie,all the stereotype characters are there-the old salt,the boot & the tough-as-nails gunny but this only goes to show that those type of people really do exist!-read this book,you won't be disappointed!
