Customer Reviews
OUTSTANDING!!! - By: Sirwalter, 22 Apr 2008 
Another masterpiece from Donahue! These books are brimming with action - these books tick all the boxesin the Vietnam War genre, stealth, tactics, setting booby traps, intense firefights, as these guys went out on company sized operations they would clover leaf into platoon sized recon patrols or indeed patrolin parallel but if they detected a possible camp they could form up into a company sized outfit to attack.
they often stirred up a bees nests especially as they were patrollingin the VC's "backyard" if they found a suspected VC stonghold they wouldnt mark the on a map & callin artillery, they'd enter it first to make sure & shoot 'em up! & if outnumbered they would retreat & be hunted ruthlessly, except they had men skilledin laying booby traps on their back trail, yes! have some of your own medicine Mr Charles!
Excellent Book - By: D. Hart, 06 Mar 2008 Donahue has writen an excellent account of his time with a joint American/Cambodian special forces unit, engagedin seeking out & engaging Viet Cong unitsin an area dominated by the enemy & called 'he Forbidden Zone'.
The author's style is gripping once it gets going & his admiration, respect & affection for his Cambodian fellow soldiers is a million miles away from the stereo-typical image of American forces fightingin Viet Nam.
His description of tactics & the results of contacts with the enemy are as engrossing as they are detailed.
A very good book.
Among the best in its class - By: Nigel Collier, 17 Jul 2007 This is the first of Donahue's books that I've read, but not the first he's written, & that shows. The book reminded me a little of 'SOG' by John Plasterin its subject matter & quality: very evocative & highly impressive accounts of US special forces leading indigenous patrolsin enemy territory within Vietnam & beyond its borders. The book 'SOG' outlined MACV-SOG's potted history & then described a number of specific accounts of recon & larger hatchet force operations throughout the entire Vietnam war. Blackjack 33 concentrates on a single 14-day long operation with the Mobile Guerilla Force into the Viet Cong 'Forbidden Zone' - an area just east of Highway 1A between Phuoc-Vinh & Dong-Xoai. Because of this differencein scope, & Donahue's very accomplished writing style, Blackjack 33 isin some ways even better than 'SOG', which itself is a book that stands way outin front of the plethora of similar accounts I've read (and I've read a few!).
Similar to SOG's hatchet forces, the Mobile Guerilla Force was, I think, a company sized operation designed to take the fight into the enemy's 'secret zones' & to locate base camps & concentrations of units or materiel & to wreak havoc & sew doubt among them. They basically inserted into the enemy's back yard & patrolled for a fortnight, fighting dozens of engagements, raiding enemy strongholds, bringing to bear the 'great equaliser' of US air power & then making themselves scarce before they could be fixed & overrun by the numerically superior main force NVA or local VC. The 'mobile'in their name was very much the key to their survival.
So far so typical of many other similar books on the market you might be thinking. And you'd be right: there's certainly no shortage of LRRP, SEAL, Recondo & other US special forces titles from the Vietnam period available (not to mention other countries & other wars...'The Jungle is Neutral', 'Devil's Guard', 'SAS: The Jungle Frontier'). Of those accounts, SOG & its precursors such as the Mobile Guerilla Force are as fascinating, hair raising & visceral as any. But what makes Blackjack 33 stand out for me, & means I'll be purchasing all of Donahue's other books as soon as I've submitted this review, is his level of detail, his insights & his engaging style.
He brings the slog, terror, sounds, smells, threats & beauty of the jungle & of combat to life as well as anyone I've read. With Blackjack 33 you really do start to see how massively skilled & disciplined the men must be & how animalistic the soldiers' instincts must become to patrol successfully. Donahue describes with great clarity & detail exactly what is happening around him, what he's seeing, hearing & smelling - medical treatment of wounds & illnesses, tracking & counter tracking techniques, booby trapping, kit maintenance, entire radio conversations rendered as if you're a bystander - you are a witness on the spot to all of his & other peoples' actions - & at the same time he is explaining the reasoning & thought process behind every procedure & every decision he must make as team leader. This level of intimacy really draws youin & involves you & helps establish a very familiar rhythm to the daily patrol. Excellent stuff.
A Good Read - By: A. Cresswell, 12 Sep 2006 
A Good Read. For me this means a well written Vietnam Experience story. Easy to get through, nicely atmospheric & enjoyable.
The author doesn't try to get into too much fine detail nor doies he over extend the descriptions.
This isn't a book I'd rave endlessly about but it was a book I felt was value for money, & passed the time on a couple of flightsin a pleasant manner.
Brilliant - By: , 19 Oct 2004 This, & its companion Blackjack 34, are certainly among the best war books ever written from the soldier's point of view. He writes with humour, compassion, & intelligence, really getting to the core of that bond which forms between men at war.
