I read this book when it first came out around 15 or so years ago. The story really truly touched me and I regret the fact that I did not purchase the book at that time. (Read a library edition)
Since then, I moved to a completely different region of the world, and am anxious to get my new used copy sent to me so I can pour into a story that I've been longing to read again, since I've been trying to procure a copy of it for 10 years now!
If you are considering purchasing this book - don't hesitate. It is THAT good.

I also read this book in high school and it stays with me to this day, 12 years later, as the best book I have ever read. Paul's generosity and the relationships he developed were truly touching. What an amazing story.

I read this book when I was only fifteen years old and, still, ten years later and of all the books I've read since it is the only book that still stands out in my mind. I have searched high and low for it since but have not been able to locate a copy. It's a shame because it is hard to find such writing from the heart these days.

I had met the author about 10 years ago through a family relative. Did not know of his hair raising Viet Nam saga until after several months later. I received a signed copy from him and started reading late one night. I had to pry the book out of my hands at 3 am. I finished the book the next evening. It is the most riveting account I have ever read. A tremendous account of triumph over an impossible situation. By a grateful friend.

As a US Navy SEAL in the post-Viet Nam era, I had heard Dengler's name often mentioned as a pioneer in the development of survival, evasion, resistance and escape (SERE) training. I was fascinated by reading about Dengler's actual experiences; those same events and challenges that were so costly for him personally but that provided a cornerstone in the training of others who may one day face similar trials.

Having already heard this account of the horrors encountered by Dieter many years ago and once again last spring, the book is just as the author tells it in person, full of viciousness by his tormentors, the amazing trek through the jungle, and the brilliance of this prisoner's mind, despite the odds against him, in having studied his captors' environmental adaptation and using what he learned to enable his own against-all-odds fight to live. This man practised survival under all circumstances during his entire life and possessed an uncanny ability to recognize danger even before it materialized. Through his ingenuity he alone conquered the enemy and the elements and this makes for such a fascinating tale. It is survival at its purest and most admirable. A man and a mission never to be forgotten.

I am currently going to college and I took a course on the Vietnam crisis and war, and Even the Women Must Fight was one of the last books that we read. After reading books that focused mainly or even completely on the American experience in Vietnam, it was extrmely interesting to read about how the Vietnamese saw and dealt with the war. The thousands of civilians who added such strength to the North Vietnamese war effort were people who had been described in all of the sources we read as 'coolie' laborers--people conscripted by the govenment to do necessary work. To read the accounts of women who fought in the war, or risked their lives to maintain the Ho Chi Minh trail simply added a new dimension to my understanding of the Vietnamese side, and indeed of the entire war itself.

As a college student studying the America's war with Vietnam, I was struck by the determination and nationalism that the Vietnamese displayed in their battles against foreign occupation. Seeking to further my study and learn more about the perspectives of the Vietnamese I turned to Turner's book Even the Women Must Fight. The information that I found in the book I could not have found anywhere else. Turner's extensive interviews and personal memoirs from women who fought in the Viet Cong opened up a previously unreported accounts of what Vietnamese women accomplished in their war with America. These women's successes are truly amazing and much deserving of a book documenting their vital contributions.

Karen Turner's book is a well researched, interesting and compassionate discussion of women who made up the backbone of Viet Nam's fighting forces. She does not overwhelm the reader with intellectual theory and in doing so she brings us closer to a source of history ignored and overlooked for decades. It's difficult to write about and interview former soldiers who continue to suffer the effects of such enormous violence, but Turner does it with great insight and awareness. This is the perfect book for history students or university faculty who want to hear the voices of Viet Nam's strongest fighters.

Even if you're not interested in Buddhism, this book offers food for our everyday thoughts. Written in a clean, lucid style, Thich Nhat Hahn shares moments from his life during the tubulent period of the 1960's. From the shores of a lake in New Jersey, to the bustling streets of New York City, back again to his beloved homeland of Vietnam, Nhat Hahn's experiences appear to have provided him with valuable insight, strengthing his resolve in matters concerning compassion and love. For those who enjoy memoirs, this book is a must read. His approach to writing is simple, yet poetic, offering sections both humorous and sad. In other words, it's about life in the here and now.

Thich would not need my review of his work. I can no longer wash my hands and not think of rain and mountain streams.

This is an incredible memoir and philosophical discussion. Thich uses the memoir as a vehicle to teach his philosophy. But in that you can still sense the pain of loss, the pain and frustration of rejection by his country and his abandonment. But it is also a hopeful piece. He does not let the external struggle defeat his soul and his personal peace. He accepts wars and destruction as things he must try to change but must not allow to change him.

The beauty of this book is its honesty. Thich's religion is attractive as a portrait of his individual testimony and light.

There is also a history in the story. A struggle of a simple man and a patriot. A patriot who perhaps lost the war for now.
Also a man who understands that thought and love and peace are separate from the boundaries of politics and culture. He may have lost his war at home, but he certainly won a larger war.

-Mike

I agree with every word of the review written by the Jerusalem reviewer found on this page! This slender volume contains much that could save the world, indeed the profound beauty that emanates from the soul of this revered teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, is such that one is transformed by it fundamentally each time one soaks up its light. These journals, covering especially those periods of his life that manifested for him tremendous human strengths within himself, and from which he has conscientiously built a kind of life-giving ark for the rest of us, are a joy to read, and read again. Everything Nhat Hanh writes is essential. Nothing is wasted, or wastefully passive. Interior action is his watchword, and his own life's example. The milieu of violence and war that so influenced his early adult life he has transformed into a life-giving teaching for humankind. The mark of the poet is everywhere in these pages- slaying the mediocre, lifting up the discarded, transforming the lost. One really cannot praise adequately this unique and gentle volume. If you seek to understand the nature of suffering, its true character, the inevitability of its power to redeem, and are unafraid of confronting the chagrin of your own wastefulness and fearfulness, read this book. It can only leave you freer.

The entire book was based on true story, written as fiction to get around the DOD security regulations. I read it when I was 12- joined SF and sent the next 25 years "freeing the oppressed."

Robin went to Afghanistan where he was the only one let inside the Special Forces bases and operations- his new book, THE HUNT FOR BIN LADEN will be available...

enjoy
de oppresso liber

I read this book while I was at US Army Basic Training, Ft Ord, June 1965. One of my buddies who had enlisted for Special Forces had the book. Little did I know I would be at some of the places in the book, doing the same things. I arrived "In Country" during May 1968 as a member of the 5th Special Forces Group. I learned first hand that Robin knew what he was talking about, and that he had a wonderful way of telling it. Enjoy the book. It is as real as it can get.

I read this book on the recommendation of a dear friend who was a member of the Green Berets in Viet Nam. I was in high school when it was published and like many others I tried my best to pretend the War wasn't happening. The humanism, realism, drama and humor in the book touched my heart. Reading it made the War seem real to me and gave me an even deeper appreciation and admiration for the men who risk thier lives so that the rest of us might be free.

This book was one of the best books I have read on any war. Not only was it written in an easy to read manner, it does something that not many other books do - it teaches several lessons at the end of each chapter. The author shares with his readers the lessons he learned while confronting many of the fears during the Vietnam war. Another refreshing item is his lack of swearing and/or curse words which is so prevalent in war books. I highly recommend this book.

This book has special meaning to me it has helped me realize how good life is. You see I am in a unique position I have had the oppertunity to get to know the author. I have known Mr. Vogel for many years he was my junior high principle and friend. I am now a senior in high school. I have read this book through many times it is a book that can be read over and over it never gets old. Buy this book and pass it on it is the best [money] you wil ever spend. Thanks Mr. Vogel!

This book has special meaning to me as it was authored by my brother. I was 17 when he left for Vietnam and was I totally engrossed in being a teenager in the 70's, not realizing what horrors he was put through. I would read his letters but never once thought he wouldn't come home to tell his stories. Now that I am an adult and a parent, I can fully appreciate what he and my parents must have gone through. I had a hard time putting it down, mainly because of the intensity with which he wrote and the outpouring of sincerity and honesty.

I believe every parent and teen should read this as lessons learned are not only a matter of commone sense but straight from the heart. He talks not only of himself in that horror but I felt he was speaking for thousands more who did not live to speak of the war. It will give you a different perspective of the Vietnam war, and you will come away with a happy heart for his survival and his love of life today.

As an amateur military historian, I found GGIW to be one of the best written books on and about the Corps that I have ever read. While Len Maffioli will serve as the epitome of a Marine Staff NCO, I know, too, that Major "Doc" Norton has done a masterful job of putting Len's life on paper. The amount of research required by Norton was, no doubt, incredible. Students of the Marine Corps, students of WWII; those who are interesetd in the POW experience and the Korean War, and those who want to learn about the War in Vietnam, should add this book to their library. My hat is off to MGySgt. Maffioli for his heroic service to his country, and to Major Norton for having the wonderful talent of making it all seem so real -- from the page to the brain. Whoever said Marines can't write? Well done... Semper Fidleis. A retired Marine fan in South Carolina.

"Grown Gray in War" is the biography of Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant Len Maffioli. Maffioli served in combat on Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima, during World War II; was taken prisoner by the North Koreans during the Korean War, and later escaped from the Chinese Communists after 6 months as a POW; then saw combat again during Tet, in Vietnam, in 1968. --Thus the tiltle of the book. This is Major Bruce H. Norton's 5th book on and about Marines. It was also a winner in the San Diego Book Awards for biographies in 1997. Skillfully researched and well-written, this book should, in my humble opinion, be required reading for Marines in all grades. To accurately describe the event's of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, is a tribute to Major Norton's skill as a Marine historian. A great read!!

THE STORY OF LEN MAFFIOLLI, ONE OF ONLY 18 MARINES TO ESCAPE FROM A CHINESE POW CAMP DURING THE KOREAN WAR, IS WITHOUT QUESTION ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE READ ABOUT THE MARINE CORPS. WELL WRITTEN BY MAJ. B. H. NORTON, THIS STORY DOCUMENTS WWII, KOREA, AND VIETNAM IN REMARKABLE STYLE. HATS OFF TO NORTON AND MAFFIOLI FOR PUTTING TOGETHER A SUPERB STORY. TEN OUT OF TEN!!!

A very well written book, "Counterpart" is an interesting personal memoir of life in Vietnam and the ravaging affects of war. The book ends with his departure and fresh start in the United States. Having worked in the power industry with Kiem Do and Julie Kane for a number of years in New Orleans, I'm glad he has finally published his long awaited memoirs.

As a "young" Vietnamese -American who did not participate in the war, I find the book entertaining and educating. This is a book every family, especially Vietnamese American, should own because it is so well written with a sincere heart and offers an accurate realistic view from an ex Navy commander from South Vietnam. The more I read the more I admire and respect him for sharing all his invaluable experiences to subtly teach the American public as well as Vietnamese- American young generation about the truth of a major period in American history - the Vietnam war. I now clearly understand what our heroic South Vietnamese soldiers went through. Mr. Do Kiem was successful in restoring well -deserved honor to our patriotic South Vietnamese soldiers. It peaks my interest and leaves me wanting more when I finish reading . This is truly an amazing account! Somehow, it brought back to memory a poem, learned many years ago in high school, belonged to our national hero Dang Dung in his noble fight against the Ming dynasty's fiendish invasion in Vietnam in 1400's.

Revenge is not yet fulfilled, my lord! and hair already turned white. Too many times whetted my precious sword, under the shining moon light!

Dong Nhac

Some books about the Vietnam War are basically worthless, filled with "blasting machine gun fire" stories similar to Rambo, etc.

However, this book is refreshingly different. Officer Kiem Do reveals a story unheard by most Americans. Not only did he battle the communists, he constantly fought government corruption and bureaucratic interference from his (our) side.

This is a must read for anyone interested in Naval history.

Tom Smith tells of his personal participation as a Scout Pilot. To those of us who flew in Vietnam, myself a Marine Corps, CH-46 Crew Chief, it is an absolutely true narrative of what was happening at the time. I did not find the book overbearing or boring and found it to be a good read. Some vietnam tales tend to be full of heavy head trips. Not so with this one. Congratulations. Joe Jacobs (jjacob2@ibm.net)Lima, Peru

I GREW UP IN THE VIETNAM ERA AND NEVER THOUGHT IT NECESSARY TO READ A BOOK ABOUT THE VIETNAM CONFLICT BECAUSE I THOUGHT I HAD A CLEAR PICTURE OF THE VIETNAM EXPERIENCE.THROUGH THE EYES OF A SCOUT PILOT I WAS GIVEN A FASCINATING NEW PERSPECTIVE!

Tom Smith's Easy Target is the best book of helicopter memoirs that I have read thus far. Finding direction in life by becoming a helicopter scout pilot in Vietnam, his story takes many interesting and often scary turns. I especially appreciated his description of the manoeuvres and skills aquired as his experience grew. This book played a major part in my decision to get my own pilot's license and begin a career in the civilian market.

It is soo good !! I tried the eggs curry from Indonesia it is so yummy !! Also the have menu suggestions so that was real helpfull since I do a lot of parties !!!

This book is incredible. First, the photography is excellent, beautifully portraying most of the recipes. The book begins with a complete listing of all of the ingredients used. It is about 6 pages of pertinent information, including pictures for some of the most obscure ingredients. The recipes cover a thorough range of the basic recipes that you may be looking for. I am Indian and am thrilled with the list. Just about every recipe is critical, they appear back-to-back and have several pictures. I will probably cook every recipe in the Indian section. That section alone makes it worth the purchase. However, it covers seven other asian cuisines in a very similar manner. It also offers enticing "melting pot" menus, mixing the cuisines. You will get the recipes you want, that you can make, with a little commentary and exquisite pictures. This is one of the best cook books I have ever seen.

All recipes are well described and illustrated. Everything is clear and easy to understand.