Full Description
Capturing the chaotic nature of the U.S. Marine experience at war in Vietnam, this memoir recounts the experiences of a young officer in a series of unrelated short pieces. In a narrative as fragmented as the war itself, the only resolution is the same one reached by the Marines who fought--the conclusion of a tour of duty with no happy ending. Each chapter describes a specific event, a story of emotion, or a remarkable person (some are heroes, some are cowards). The reader lives the experience alongside the author, gaining a true sense of the pulse-pounding contact, surrealism, pathos, humor, and beauty that defined one of the low points of the American experience.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
PART I: FORWARD OBSERVER
1. We Never Promised You a Rose Garden
2. Landing at Red Beach
3. Forward Observer
4. Ambush
5. Hearts and Minds
6. Night Vertical Assault
7. Her Majesty
8. Surrounded
9. A Captain of Marines
10. Anger
11. The Lieutenants
PART II: HEROES AND GOATS
12. A Culture Like No Other
13. Okinawa
14. Second Battalion, Ninth Marines Headquarters
15. Cam Ne Burning
16. The Loser
17. Disaster
18. Gooks
19. Meltdown
20. The Disappearance of First Lieutenant James T. Egan, Jr.
21. Twenty Minutes of Terror: Night Sapper Attack
22. Random Chaos
PART III: HOPES AND DREAMS
23. Her
24. Short Timer
25. Irony
26. Residuals: Denial, Anger, and Risk-Taking
27. Mao, Ho, and United States Policy
Glossary
Index
