Vigra tears is a delightful story of two men who visit Vietnam 30 years after the war. The author and his brother-in-law, different as night and day, share a most memorable experience in their journey and it gives you a different perspective of the war.
This book is worth reading, very witty and well written. I especially liked the chapter titles and how they related to the text of the book. It is easy reading for those that don't have a lot of time. The events that take place are interesting and informative and give you a sense of the country and people. The author makes you feel like you are right there with them. I didn't want it to end.

I was not alive during the Vietnam War and only know what I read in the history books about it. After read Virga Tears I have a better understanding of what the war was like for soldiers (Nick), the people of Vietnam and those against the war (Jim).
There is great comdey and emotion between the two men in the story who couldn't be any more opposite then they are.
Once I picked up the book I could not put it down. The colorful words painted a vivid picture in my mind.
Great use of analogies. As an educator I would highly recommend it for a high school or college history class.
I laughed and cried reading this GREAT BOOK!!!

It is amazing to think that with the abundance of movies that have been written about the Vietnam War, not one has ever even come close to telling the story told in this book. Virga Tears gave me new insight into the Vietnam War, and an understanding of what so many soldiers must have gone through, emotionally, during the war, and during the thirty years since the war ended. This is a compelling book that you won't be able to put down. I highly recommend it to all.

Nolans Operation Buffalo was a very good book, no doubt about that in my mind. But he could have done more research on events leading up to it.

Prior to Operation Buffalo, there was Operation Hastings and Prairie. I was there! It is very hard for people to appreciate the unique terrain, weather, animals and other issues along the DMZ before the build up in that area. Our Maps were from a travel agency, so incomming could be from anyone and mostly was at the time.

He refers to BLT 1/3's Charlie Company as Chickenshit Charlie on Operation Prairie. If he got that information from Wickwire, I am ashamed and outraged that a U.S. Marine Corps Officer would make that statement. I would like someone to go into the area before the defoliant Agent Orange and the tons and tons of bombs that leveled the terrain and say that again.

Definately worth buying and reading, even worth sending copies to all your friends, but I would like to set the record straight anyway.

In the summer of 1967 the USMC found itself engaged in a battle that caught them by suprise and cost them over 180 soldiers KIA and many more WIA. Vietnam was a war where many restriction were placed on American fighting forces, those restrictions were even stricter in the strange terrain of the DMZ. Like other books by Mr. Nolan (Into Laos and Into Cambodia come to mind) there is rich detail and information woven into a story by a chronological telling of event leading up to and through the battle. While there is a very good and informative sitrep of American (particularly USMC) involvement in Vietnam the strength of this book is it's "put you in the foxhole" eyes view of the fight. I had never read an account of where almost an entire American Company was overrun by large NVA forces, it is not pretty. I have read that ear collecting was something that happened in the war to dead enemy soldiers, the NVA put their own sick twist on this sort of war atrocity by collecting USMC tattoos from fallen grunts. There are graphic descriptions of the early M-16 problems which ended up causing the USA and USMC many casualties. This book contains some things that really suprised me, NVA soldiers equiped with flame-throwers looking for suvivors of the initial ambush, NVA artillery support which was accurate and protected from US airpower hitting American forces with a sustained barrage, NVA use of USMC gear such as flak vests and radios, American tanks being blown away like toys. There are many sad twists, if you are looking for a John Wayne type combat read stick to a novel, this one hurts the heart. I can't say enough about this book, if you are a student of the fighting in Southeast Asia get this book, Mr. Nolan really puts things together in this clear and painfully vivid book.

Operation Buffalo should be made into a Movie as it the best written book I have ever read about what the Marines and Corpsmen of Northern I Corps endured in Viet Nam. Time and again the men of the First Battalion Ninth Marines found themselves fighting against numerically superiour forces with very little support available at critical moments. Mention is made in the book that the First Battalion Ninth Marines was marked by the North Vietnames Army for destruction. I can't say for sure that this was true, but "The Walking Dead" nick-name was was paid for in blood. Keith N. Price Former HM3 Disability Retired Bravo Company, First Battalion Ninth Marines

Absolution is a true story of horror, love, the vulgarity of war, and the nobility of the warrior. Between 1960 and 1975, hundreds of thousands of young men were thrust into the barbarity of an Asian civil war. Inadequately trained for jungle warfare (and initially armed with defective weapons) the men of Charlie Company acquired their "killer skills" by instinct and imagination. Transformed by necessity, these young men became quickly transformed into brutal gladiators. "What's your body count"" commanders asked their soldiers each evening -- as if the war were sport, and if a scorecard named the winner. Exacerbating the soldier's dilemma was a powerful and biased news media which created a myth of the Vietnam-era solider as a misfit, a perverse example of a military machine gone awry, wreaking havoc and destruction upon innocent civilians. Absolution is the true, candid, unflinching story of Charles J. Boyle, a man who commanded a platoon in combat in Vietnam, and at the outbreak of the Tet Offensive, was selected to command Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry. Absolution is an invaluable, eye-witness account and an outstanding contribution to the growing library of Vietnam military history.

I have finished reading Charles J. Boyle's, Absolution: Charlie Company, but I know this book will never be finished with me.

There is a great healing that needs yet to be done is this country; a great open wound that lies on the national soul and in the wounded bodies, minds, hearts and souls of those who we sent there. It does not matter where you stood, or stand, on the conflict called the Vietnam War; what matters now is resolution. That is what Charles Boyle has provided in Absolution. I have read hundreds of thousands of words penned on all sides of this so open wound, but none that I have read before have so touched heart and soul. There were times when I had to put the book down to process what these men, our sons, fathers, husbands endured in that time and place that is still so much with us; times when I felt weak with sharing their pain, awed by being witness to their courage. Boyle has taken us there, absolutely there; step by step, hour by hour, day by day as our young men grew, against all odds, despite betrayals from above, into men of courage, into comrades in arms, in a time and place, in a war often without explanation or understanding. Boyle graces us with witnessing the turbulence of mind and spirit when all that has been learned before is challenged in young lives, in blood, terror, conviction, fortitude, and courage. Be prepared for a great adventure into tears, into outrage, into anguish, into great pride. If you are prepared to face the beginnings of finding resolution, if you read only one book on the conflict called the Vietnam War, read Absolution: Charlie Company. "Falcon Six, this is Charlie Six. We're moving." Do move to read Absolution; it is time for the healing and it can begin here. Welcome home, Charlie Company.

No one has told his heart and the agony of Vietnam as has Charles Boyle in "Absolution". In telling of his time there, he lays bare his soul, what his effort was all about. He tells the how and why of his dedication to America and what Vietnam was all about to the US soldier. A great book -- one that should be required reading for all highschool students --- required reading in colleges.

I enjoyed this book, it brought back memories of when I was in Vietnam. I was in 7/17th Cavalry when Bruce was, only in a different troop. I was in maintenance and repaired the red birds. I have flown in LOH during this time and can relate well to the book. Bruce is very colorful and there is no bad lanquage I would let my wife and daughter read this book. Bruce is very detailed as to the actions of combat. There is some sad parts when people died. But combat involves death. The end of the books deals with some political problems faced by the troops. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Army avaition and avaition in Vietnam.

As a former crew chief with an assult helicopter company,I can relate to the experiences, both physical and mental, of the author.The book shows a lot of insight into the day to day life of a helicopter pilot in the highlands of Viet Nam. Although our personal experiences differ in perspective, he a pilot, and I a crew chief. The view is pretty much the same, fear,doubt, excitement,death and honor. These are things shared by all the flight crews, regardless of what seat you sat in as you flew your missions. It's an excellant read. I highly recommend it. Doug Ward

I usually do not read a lot of fiction, but during an extended stay in the hospital I got introduced to military novels. An ex-military friend of mine recommended I start with a novel about the Air Calvary in Vietnam. It was "Red Bird Down".

Not knowing what to expect I dove in head first into reading "Red Bird Down". After a while I noticed my mind wandering due to the realism of the setting. I had been an Air Calvary pilot and it brought back a lot of memories. At times it was hard for me to remember it was just a novel. It was written in such realism until it was sometimes hard to differentiate between fiction and possibly non-fiction. You can tell that the author not only wrote about the Air Calvary, but he also lived it.

I would highly recommend this book to any reader. I would especially recommend it to military and aviation buffs.

I enjoyed this book rather immensely. It was short but was simultaneously gripping. It one man's story of the Vietnam War as he experienced it serving with a LRRP unit in the 101st. For those interested in seeing and understanding the Vietnam War from all the angles necessary to more completely comprehend the goings on over there, this book is an excellent addition.

Having been in the army, served in a war myself, and now turned helicopter pilot, I can truly recommend his book to everybody. Especially readers who are thinking of joining, people who have served and wifes who are trying to understand. Larry Chambers tells it how it is. It's the "real experience" without the politics and the [] Hollywood drama. I personally enjoyed most how the book showes that in the real world, all that was learned in basic and from the handbook, needs to be "slightly modified" to survive a real battle and keep working. You guys are true heroes to me and I thank you, Larry, for a wonderful book I couldn't put down until I was done at around 3am next morning.

If you want to fully comprehend and sense the rigors of that unforgettable war in Viet Nam, RECONDO is a "must read paperback." Larry Chambers' powerfully written book, accurately documents what has been told to me again and again by every one of my buddies who was there.

Colonel Michel's "The 11 Days of Christmas," is a powerful sequel to his previous work "Clashes: Air Combat over North Vietnam 1965-1972." I found "11 Days" to be almost impossible to put down, finishing the book in two days. If you are interested in the conduct of the air war in Vietnam this book is required reading.

"11 Days" is a no holds barred look at Operation Linebacker II, the December 1972 bombing of North Vietnam, the performance of the B-52s, their crews, and the Strategic Air Command (SAC). It also covers, in a limited way, President Nixon's less than totally successful efforts in getting SAC to execute the operation as he desired. "11 Days" illustrates that while many aspects of Nixon's Presidency can be debated, his assessment regarding the results of massive air strikes into the heart of North Vietnam cannot and the release of 591 American POWs serve as proof of that conviction. "11 Days" also provides a view of the operation as seen by the North Vietnamese, with excellent discussions in each mission on the employment of the SA-2 surface-to-air missile (SAM) and the Fan Song radars and how the North Vietnamese determined exactly when to launch their missiles that resulted in the lost of 15 B-52s.

While SAC might have been the capable of professionally executing a retaliatory nuclear strike against the Soviet Union, "11 Days" aptly demonstrates how ill prepared the organization was in conducting massive conventional bombing strikes against a technologically challenged third world nation. There were a variety of reasons for the near failure of Linebacker II, but the principal one, as shown by Colonel Michel, was that of weak and near fatally flawed leadership at SAC and its staff. Fortunately for the crews of the B-52s and the POWs, the North Vietnamese were not equipped with the Soviet Union's latest SAMs, otherwise even their best efforts would probably not have been sufficient to overcome the shortcomings and shortsightedness within SAC.

My one complaint (far too strong a word) about "11 Days" is that Colonel Michel did not include, as an appendix, the article by Dana Drenkowski's "The Tragedy of Linebacker II."

This book is indeed a worthy sucessor to Michel's "Clashes" which I consider the definitive source on Vietnam counter-air operations.

Marshall Michel scores a "shack" (fighter parlance for hitting the bullseye) with this latest offering. His carefully researched and documented material provides an in-depth insight into Linebacker II operations that are just coming to light 30 year later.

This book is a must read for all Vietnam War fighter and bomber crews plus any other history buffs who want to know the "hows and whys" of the 11 day war."

Any reader with a military background or an interest in military history will appreciate Michel's insight. This is a sobering look at just how close the both sides narrowly averted military disaster. The focus is mainly upon the long-distance micro management by HQ Strategic Air Command of the B-52 raids over Hanoi. Michel (a fighter pilot who was there) explains the dismay of bomber crews ordered to comply with ill-conceived and untested tactics dictated by "staff pukes" at Offutt AFB. This was a complex issue based upon SAC culture. Michel also explores the polar opposite approach to the lousy SAC plans by Commanders at Andersen AFB and U-Tapao AB. The post-war "revisionism" by SAC concerning their plans and tactical flexibility is illuminating. SAC privately acknowledged their shortcomings (destroyed the evidence) and promptly proclaimed their triumphs. Clearly Linebacker II was not SAC's finest moment.

This is no hatchet job, it's a great piece of scholarship. "Eleven Days," clearly leaves for the reader to decide which side was luckier, and which side won America's last battle in Vietnam.

Highly Recommended

If the title alone doesn't intrigue you, the content certainly will. Rowell has captured in Granny and The Eskimo a most extraordinary true story about family, friendship and a behind-the-scenes power that sometimes guides one's life in ways people could never imagine. An easy-to-read page-turner, the book is not a book about the Vietnam conflict, but rather an honest account about one man's emotional journey. That journey may have had its roots in Southeast Asia, but its path wound not just in geographic places like Vietnam and Alaska, but across spiritual areas that leads the reader to truly ponder fate, miracles or some sense of a guiding hand. I think readers will make a personal connection with this book--I know I did.

This book is a must read for everyone - young and old. It gives a great insight into family - discipline, fun, mischief, and love. He has a unique way of getting to the point on all of these. His memory is amazing in giving all the details of his life before, during and after Vietnam. The scenes in Vietnam were written in such a way that it carries the reader directly into the midst of the battles. This is a book that is hard to put down once you get started and I'm looking forward to his next one.

I am a domestic engineer with three children ranging in age from 9 mos. to 12 years. Needless to say, I don't have much spare time for reading, but this book was special. When I began reading, I found it started with a hint of mystery, then humor and finally, bone chilling realizations of the war in Vietnam. I had a hard time putting it down, causing a great loss of sleep, (the only time I could read was after everyone went to bed). I feel enriched by having read this book and would encourage people of all ages to do the same. For those of you whom pictures make the book, this one includes many. I look forward to the next book from Mr. Rowell.

During two combat tours in Vietnam, I was wounded a total of six times. Fortunately, none of those wounds was life threatening. Getting over the initial fear and shock in the aftermath of a wound, I was always somewhat relieved that I would be able to "relax" in an air-conditioned hospital, with hot food and American nurses. Since my return from the war and the commencement of my work in Vietnam veterans advocacy, I have had occasion to bring several nurses to my city to speak at my annual luncheon, most notably Lynda Van Devanter, Rose Sandecki, Mary Stout, and Diane Carlson Evans. Listening to those women, who fought a war without glory and rendered service beyond reward, it finally occurred to me the incredible weight placed on doctors and nurses in Vietnam. When I was "healed" and sent back to the boonies, someone was always there to take my place, to continue the "war" of the medical corps. They fought relentlessly to save lives only to send them back to the fight. What kind of pressure and strain must that have created for "healers?" Glasser's important book, 365 Days, tries to answer that question. Merely by posing it, he does all who served a great favor. By addressing the dichotomy of healing in a war, he creates an immenently readable book.

This is a quick and easy read about the Vietnam War. Focus is on stories related to the the soldier's care in Vietnam and the
critical cases sent to Japan. For those interested in the glamour of war, read this book for the cost of such glamour, crippled men. Since this book was written in 1971, it does not
contain much of the later aspects of the war. Generally it is unsypathetic to the American pursuit of the war.

It's the old men who make wars happen, and cause us younger ones to go to far-off shores to give our lives in the name of ....whatever buzzword they've dreamed up to get the American Public beating the war drums. It wouldn't do the politicos any good to read it,....but, BY GOD, the American Public should...especially those interested in raising a right hand and enlisting. During the war in VietNam, I was a medical service specialist attached to a CONUS 350-bed medical center's Intensive Care Unit and Neuro/Neuro-Surgical Unit taking care of the soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen who'd fallen. From that perspective, Doc Glassen tells it like it is. All that's missing are the smells and sounds...Maybe someday technology will be able to put THAT into a book form. Until then...an intense read. It gives a good perspective on why YOU DON'T want to go to war... Charley Mike

Dwight Birdwell and William Nolan have produced a very good personal account of an armored crewman's 16-month tour in Vietnam. In addition to absorbing combat narratives, Birdwell provides a lot of details and context to help readers understand his story. He gives explicit reasons why his unit's morale and performance deteriorated over his tour, and how the Tet Offensive changed the nature of the war. I highly recommend this book to any student of the military or the Vietnam War. U.S. military officers should read it for examples of how good leadership can inspire a unit, and bad leadership can cost lives. Birdwell highlights the role of good, solid NCOs as the beating heart of a military unit.

This Is a story of truth from the men who were In vietnam.Nolan served in the vietnam war.And from reading this book he takes you there.And tells us the american people what we never knew that happened during this war.An amazing truthful book to read.I would give it ten stars."Truth In justice for all of our vets" They are the back bone of this country.The goverment should know. When our vets came home sick and dying from agent orange.Our goverment denied everything.Even the one who gave the orders to drop It. Killed his own son.When his son died he knew it was from agent orange. He later killed himself because of his guilt.Since he was a high ranking officer he was sworn to silence.Like all the other military officers. Our goverment does not care about the men who not only died for this country.Also the ones they killed and never admitted to.The cost to the goverment would be to great.So deny ,deny, at all cost. As the govement has always lied about our vets.When they came home sick from Vietnam also Saudi Arabia.The goverment denied all of this again.Deformed babies,cancer,of all kinds.The goverment again denied our men came in contact with any chemicals to make them sick.When it has been proven that the air they breathed and the contact with tanks were contaminated from Iraq weapons used on our military soldiers.WHY''

Having read hundreds of books about Vietnam war combat from the perspective of infantry, Rangers, Special Forces, LRRPs, SEALs, and helicopter gunships, I was pleased to find a rare book dealing with American armor combat. With the help fo veteran Vietnam war book author Keith William Nolan, Dwight Birdwell has produced an action packed, easy to read, page turner on his 16 months in Vietnam with a 25th Division armor unit, protecting the main supply route from Saigon to Tay Ninh near the Cambodian border. Arriving Sept. 1967, pre-Tet Birdwell's service as a M48 Patton tank crewman, began with a well lead unit, high moral, and eager for a fight with the Viet Cong. Tet changed all that when Birdwell's unit was dispatched to Saigon where they ran headlong into an enemy regiment which had broke through the wire at Tan Son Nhut Air Base on January 31, 1968. Birdwell's bravery and initiative under intense enemy RPG and gunfire and panic of some fellow troopers won him a Silver Star and a Purple Heart. The narrative of the searing engagement draws one into the action like you are a witness to the blast of tank cannon and the whine of enemy bullets. Birdwell wins a second Silver Star at An Duc in July, 1968, while describing the steady decline of morale and efficiency as troopers realize Washington had no strategy for winning the war. Despite heavy combat, Birdwell manages to preserve his humanity and a measure of idealism, which motivated him to volunteer for Vietnam service, as a teenager. Upon his return to Oklahoma, Birdwell used his G. I. Bill to get an education and eventually earn a law degree and now practices law in Oklahoma City. Of Cherokee heritage, he served for two years as the Chief Justice of the Cherokee Nation. Birdwell's book provides an excellent map to conveniently track ambush and battle site. Also, there are 16 pages of photographs. His epilogue features a "status report" on many officers and troopers he served with and survived the war, including his squadron commander Glenn K. Otis, who went on to be Commander and Chief, U.S Army Europe. Birdwell's book should be on the must read list of every military officer and NCO who might serve in a ground combat unit or support them.

I prefer war novels like "The Triumph and the Glory" to histories because fiction is capable of delivering such profound emotional effects on a reader. But the great history books, like "Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa" are so powerful that they transcend genre or category and proclaim the truth of our past in a truly unforgettable manner. This is one of the best books about men in battle I've ever read.

Utilizing his prodigious research skills, Retired Colonel Joseph Alexander has written what has to be the best all around account of Tarawa. Incorporating new material gleaned from sources as diverse as Col. Shoup's personal papers, translation of the Japanese war history (Senshi Sosho) and recently declassified ULTRA radio intercepts, he presents a superbly crafted telling of the horror and victory at Tarawa.

On the morning of 11/20/43 men of the 2nd Marine Division stormed ashore to face the Imperial Japanese Marines who defended Betio Island in the Tarawa atoll. These rikusentai were considered the best light infantry the Japanese had. In addition to the almost impregnable defensive positions prepared by the Japanese, the island was surrounded by a reef, which, due to tide and fortune, prevented the Higgins boats from crossing to the beaches. The decision to utilize LVTs (tracked amphibious vehicles, or more correctly, landing vehicle tracked) for the first time as troop carriers forever changed the history of amphibious assaults against strongly held enemy positions. Lumbering over the forbidding reef, LVTs carried their cargo of men and supplies where the Higgins boats could not go. This gamble represented a landmark in ship-to-shore movements and to this day amphibious assault vehicles are an essential element of any surface assault.

Mistakes were made and men died because of them. The initial three-hour naval bombardment and bombing and strafing runs by carrier aircraft were far too little. Gaps between the naval and air force shelling allowed the enemy to move reinforcements to the beaches from the southern and eastern areas of the island. Following the bombardments many defensive positions and large guns remained fully functional and they blasted into the oncoming LVTs and the Higgins boats at the reef's edge. Men of later waves were forced to wade ashore as LVTs became destroyed or were unavailable. Hundreds of men died in that surf, wading ashore. One thousand Marines died on each of three days of battle before the island fell.

It's the attention to detail that separates Alexander's work from other, well written histories of Tarawa. From the planning stages, to his telling of the build up of Japanese troops, to the inclusion of brief personal histories of the key personnel, to the epilogue summarizing the lessons learned and the errors made, this is an exceptional book well worth reading. To the serious student, it is the book on Tarawa that must be read.

This is an excellent book of the fighting at Tarawa in WW2. The author has done a great job in presenting the story, it was so well told that I found it hard to put the book down. Ever since I was a kid I have had a fascination for the USMC and after reading this book I remember why. What guts! The author also presents the Japanese defenders as humans, rarely done in many books about combat in the Pacific during the war. The author has researched his story well and has used numerous maps and a number of sobering B&W photos to assist his narrative. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a great story, well done to the author!