I've met Mr. Cummings, in Washington DC I have invite him to to the Gathering of Nation Pow Wow in Abuqueque NM during April 2002, I grow up during the post vietnam era, and alot of my Navajo mentor were in Nam, they have a hard time talk about it. I am proud of Mr. Cummings for telling his story. Like you wrote in my book, May the creator bless you. With alot respect and honor from the southwest. Thank you for sharing your story. Contact; cgeorge076@aol.com

I also met Mr. Cummings at the Vietnam Vet Wall and purchased his book like many of the other readers listed here. I respect the author for having the courage to sit down and write his experiences, especially after the reception the American people gave these men when they came home from the war. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to read an actual account of the experience of Vietnam. Welcome Home.

I have read several books on Vietnam and some of those have been of personal accounts but, this one is a very moving and interesting read. I recently met the author in Washington DC while visiting the Vietnam Memorial Wall and purchased a signed copy of this book. In signing it he thanked me for my serving my country; it should be me thanking him for serving. After reading this book I feel honored to have met this Marine and fellow Native American.

There are some fine times in Gunning for Ho. My personal favorites are "A Lovely Day..." and the wonderfully mystic and deep "Stonehands..." This gives a glimpse into the author's not wanting to take responsibility for anything too heavy, though he certainly has and will in the future. It's like a fairy tale dream that can't come true. However the story has real merit and is wonderful.

The characters and stories are real and tragic. The Cat in the Cage horrified me. Here the writer actually got in touch with his sensitive more human side and touched me greatly.

However through the book, there is a distance between the author and his characters. As though he doesn't want to get too close. This is so blatant, I found myself not caring very much for them either.

More heart, more soul, more empathy, should be employed in this man's work. It goes without saying he is a superb writer. He simply needs to open himself up to his characters and likewise, he needs to open his characters up as well.

That sort of cutting off of emotions, is part of military training and being in a war, I suppose. But that war is over. A larger focus on the depth of emotion for writer and characters is what is needed.

Despite having been born in the latter years of the Vietnam War, and not having read deeply in the field, I am confident this collection of six short stories and a novella by a former Green Beret, is destined to be a classic of Vietnam War fiction. Destined because they resound with the truth--and aren't really concerned with making any political statement. Barnes's stories tell you about the young men who went off to war in an alien landscape, and how they--and those they left behind--were transformed forever. The first three stories are thematically joined by strong surreal elements that speak to the wider confusion and disorientation felt by many who served. More like Kafka than Conrad. The fourth and fifth stories are more straightforward tales of aftermath and picking up the pieces. I found the novella ("Tunnel Rat") to be somewhat more elusive than the stories, and less forceful. It may take a re-reading or two to really get at it. The final (and title) story is a direct descendant of Heart of Darkness, and succeeds in spite of traveling that well-worn path. As a whole, this collection is a testament to the humanity of the men who went to Vietnam.

H. Lee Barnes' collection of stories, Gunning For Ho, need not be looked at as just "Vietnam stories", rather they are stories of the soul, of man, of morality, and of America, uniquely America. This is a writer who doesn't shy away from wit or horror (often in the same paragraph, the same sentence) when describing the wars we fight with ourselves and the wars we fight with the enemy. A powerful, moving reminder that what matters is often not what is written on the page, but what we as readers take with us, to last a lifetime. Nothing short of brilliant.

This book is fun and well-written. The author is personally engaging and self-effacing. But the book is not so much about Vietnam as it is about the author herself. She discusses her reactions to the people and the people?s reactions to her. The Vietnamese in the story just play a supporting role, allowing her to display her growth and her misplaced sense of guilt she shoulders on behalf of her own country.

This is not to say that there aren?t some interesting observations made about Vietnam. But they are few. If you are interested in learning about one individual?s growth and experience through immersion in a foreign culture, this would be an excellent book for you. But I would not recommend this book as a vehicle for learning about modern Vietnam. (Look instead to Sacred Willow, Shadows and Wind or Understanding Vietnam).

I couldn't put this book down! This is not a common occurrence with me. I quite often don't finish books that I start. The last one that I read until all hours of the night was "The Poisonwood Bible". Aside from Ms. Sach's wonderful writing style, her Prologue pulled me in and the story never me let go. How I wish I could have been there with her.

It has been a long time since I picked up a book and could not put it down, except to eat and sleep, until it was finished. This is a beautifully written courageous memoir,and the story is totally fascinating. The author immerses herself in the life of Vietnam in ways she might not have planned and finds that in profound ways Vietnam enters and remains in her life. This is a remarkable and illuminating book.

I collect and have read hundreds of books about the Marine Corps and have long considered Eugene B. Sledge's WITH THE OLD BREED: at Peleliu and Okinawa as the finest book ever written about Marines in combat in any war.I consider it so because of his realistic no holds barred approach to the subject of which he is writing. The word pictures he chose to use to describe WWII certainly exposed a lot of brains, blood and bone. This realism is what makes his book a classic. PHASE LINE GREEN written by Nicholas Warr is as realistic a description of war as can be written. Warr's description of the brutal fighting in the street's of Hue during the Tet Offensive of 1968 are vivid, vicious and obscene. He recounts his experiences, mincing no words and sparing no pain. Simply and directly, this is how it was in the battle for Hue. He spares few in the telling, including himself. This book is a perfect definition for the word war. Nowhere will you find the courage, tenacity and bravery of Marines, or the unforgetable reality of combat better described. This book, in my opinion, is just as good as the one written by Sledge. Both books should be required reading for Marines or for anyone interested in military history. PHASE LINE GREEN should also be read by Robert McNamara, McGeorge Bundy and the other fools responsible for Vietnam and the rules of engagement that left men like Nicholas Warr so embittered.

I have read more than a hundred books on the Vietnam war. I found this one to be the best. I'm astonished how any one could give less than five stars. I found his honesty refreshing. His integrity as top notch. The book is a must read for anyone who wants the dirty truth of how political correctness can be more important than mens lives. The micromanagement that lead to the the failure of the entire Vietnam war is made plain and clear by Mr Warr. I can understand how Mr Warr received a carthsis effect by writing this book. He does us all an honor by sharing the truth with us. I beleive he deserves a silver star for telling the truth. I shall read this book again and again.

Nicholas Warr has written an extremely powerful account of the fighting in Hue during the Tet offensive. Rather than dealing with the strategic-level accounts of the Vietnam war, Warr presents a worms-eye view of one of the most vicious battles ever fought in Vietnam. Warr sugar-coats nothing - the horror and agony of war, as well as the humorous instances that occur during war, are presented for all to see. Warr's writing style keeps the book moving along quickly, as he has the unique ability to include a lot of detail without bogging the reader down - much like Cornelius Ryan or John Toland. If you have even a remote interest in the Vietnam war, or the United States Marine Corp, you can't miss this.

I served with the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam--the unit which is the subject of Red Thunder, Tropic Lightning. I have read over a hundred books about Vietnam, but was really impressed with this work. Dr. Bergerud and his oral contributors, one of whom was in my squad, tell it the way it was. I've read other books by Eric Bergerud and consider him a meticulous researcher and brilliant historian. I believe the 25th Infantry Division Association, who recently honored Dr. Bergerud with their Stanley R. Larsen Award for his efforts on this book and his portrayal of the "Tropic Lightning" (25th) division, speaks louder than the "reader from VA". I'd highly recommend this book to anyone interested in what it was really like to be an infantryman in Vietnam.

A few years ago I received a letter from Eric Bergerud requesting information regarding my service with the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam. When I saw that Dr. Bergerud was an academic, with a connection to Berkley, I dismissed the request out of hand. Berkley had been the source of some of the most extreme criticism of the war and the soldiers who served therin. I erred in not responding to Dr. Bergerud's information request.

Years fade and conditions change. Change began with one significat event. The Wall went up on the mall in D.C. Its simplicity and haunting design erodes the barriers of time and space. No one who was there can look upon the Wall and fail to see his reflection looking back at him through the names of absent comrades. Now, five years after its initial publication, I have discovered Bergerud's book. Its effect is similar. I cannot recommend this book strongly enough. I know some of the people quoted in it and neither they nor any of the rest of us who served there were made to look as villainous as we have been previously portrayed by the media and academia. My only objection to the book and the only fault I found with it came at the end. I have been present in the field with Field and Company-grade officers, and I have seen General officers on-site.

Perhaps it may have been the early stage of the war, but during my participation in it (I was an RTO) my unit, 4/23 Inf., was constantly involved in Battalion sized operations. The Battalion commander, LCL Bzarcz was continuously in the field. I saw the XO, MAJ Crim take a load of shrapnel in his leg and refuse medical evacuation. I walked, with MAJ Hamlin through the world's scariest minefield. Only later did it occur to me that whatever minefield you're in is the world's scariest.

One evening GEN Weyand landed inside the Bn. perimeter. In another incident, the Bn. lost several helicopters filled with men from Co. A in the Iron Triangle. While preparing for a rescue operation with the Recon Platoon, I saw! Generals from my own Division, the 1st Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Airmobile. To state that these men took no risk, or were somehow imune to it, demeans their integrity and valor. In my experience, such statement is untrue.

The book is powerful and insightful. I believe it is must reading for those of us who served there and all others who would attempt to see the war through grunt's eyes.

This book is right on the mark and describes the experience of the 25th Division infantryman with candor and accuracy. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in the Vietnam War. You can't get any more detailed or closer to the combat experience than Eric Bergerud conveys in this work. The voices you hear are those of our 25th Division veterans telling their experiences as they happened to them. This is a great work destined to remain a major resource for future historians who seek to understand the Vietnam War.

I swapped books with Joe Finch at the 2002 VHPA convention in Las Vegas. We both flew helicopters about the same time in Vietnam. Luckily I flew in the Mekong Delta, and did not have to deal much with the jungles and trees as described in this book. Only once or twice did the Outlaws of the 175th have to go "up-North" and risk the hazards these pilots commonly underwent northwest of Saigon. Lotsa teak trees and agent Orange!
As a result, I feel I have to comment on the amount of contact with tropical vegetation as expressed within this book! We would have lost our aircraft commander orders with the blade strikes this pilot reveals! However, that said, I am glad to see my book, OUTLAWS IN VIETNAM, paired with Joe's book and I hope many readers know more about our Army Aviation experiences in RVN as a result.

As a former Platoon Leader in Vietnam with the 1st Infantry Division, I appreciated Joe Finch's account of his year in country as a Huey pilot. We operated north of the 25th Infantry Division's location but we "grunts" had a kinship with Huey pilots. They were our lifeline to food, water, sodas, and ammunition, medical care and of course mail. His account is interesting, informative and compelling. I recommend it to every American with an interest in the Vietnam War.

Dave Hollar
1st Lt.; 1st Inf. Div.; 1969-1970

Angel's Wing is a primary source for anyone seeking to understand what VietNam was really like. The daily heroism of the young men who flew, and fought, and died cannot be forgotten. Joe Finch's story, 30 years in the writing, is poignant, real and fascinating. I was not in VietNam. I lived in California and in Thailand and watched the guys departing from Travis AFB, or taking a few days of R&R at the beach in Pattaya. Angel's Wing has helped me become more aware of just how much was sacrificed, and determined to make sure that every man or woman who serves in uniform receives the respect and thanks their sacrifices deserve.
Angel's Wing is an easy read and fascinating to children from 5th grade and older. The author has taken great care to tell the truth without straying from a PG rating.

Mac and Casey,I don't see all those mixups happening.First she would have given her address if she was going out with him again. Then even i don't like affairs but i would have understood his story if he had told, she would have too. then to have them keep missing each other. I felt so sorry for them, but i still can't see them maried to two other people still loving each other that is worse then an affair. I liked that he found his real father in the end, but to have her go thur all that pain and hurt and never get him. No i did not like the ending al all. This is the second one i didn't like the ending Serendipity was the other one. so next time have them get together .Alice and Luke should have gotten together.

I really enjoyed this book very much. I saw growth in characters, acceptance of situations as they happened and an overall well written story about those who fought an unpopular war and what happened to them after they returned home. The pain of loosing unknown soldiers along with those they knew was well done. Keep up the good work Fern. I am glad to see the sexual scenes take a back stage to the real drama of the story.

Too many "paperbacks" get my reaction of 'yah, right...' This book felt like it was a real story of two real people who were really in love. Excellent ending. Made me sigh and almost cry for them

The story in this book is too similar to the story in "A Rumor of War". The differences between these two books are "Better Times than These" involves the army and "Rumor of War" involves the marines, and "Better Times than These" is fictional and "A Rumor of War" is non-fictional. If you're going to try out this book I would recommend that you don't but instead try out "A Rumor of War".

It amazes me that some books get published at all. In this case, the story is there: the themes, characters, and the events. I was disappointed in how Groom constructed the tale. At times the text appears to have been written by a high school student.

Better to read Walking Dead by Craig Roberts, or The Only War We Had by Michael Lanning (if you can find it).

This is a very fine novel - one of the best about Vietnam. It has a good, authentic story line, interesting and well developed characters and solid writing. It's easy to read and hard to put down. I think anyone interested in the Vietnam war experience would find it well worth reading.

As each book based on declassified data comes out, the story of Vietnam and the Great American Stumble there becomes more clear.

"The Secret War Against Hanoi" is particularly good in its own way. It elucidates the liberal train of thought as they were starting the war in 1961. On January 28 Kennedy had been president for 8 days. Vietnam was divided, the French were gone, and the Viet Cong were prosecuting a campaign of terrorism in the South in order to destabilize it and absorb it into the North. On that day Kennedy met with his National Security Council and listened to what was (in his view) the bad news on Vietnam: if the current conditions persisted, the South would fall to the Communists.

Why a little underdeveloped country in Asia should have been of such concern to Kennedy is anyone's guess, but what is no longer in doubt is that major American involvement in Vietnam began at that NSC meeting of Jan 28, when Kennedy stated that he wanted "guerillas to operate in the North". All that followed for 13 years was built upon that one simple sentiment expressed by the new president.

He wanted guerillas to operate in the North because, as he expressed it in April of that year, "We are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerillas by night instead of armies by day." Kennedy was intent on fighting back in kind: infiltrating, subverting, and deploying guerillas by night.

Presumably, the CIA would train Vietnamese spies and guerillas and inflict them on the North. But the Bay of Pigs fiasco happened that April, and the Kennedy brothers were convinced the fault for that lay with the CIA. Therefore they gave the job of training and inserting spies and guerillas into North Vietnam to the Pentagon, which had little experience in such operations.

There followed a string of failures, where hundreds of Vietnamese spies and saboteurs were sent up north, and never heard from again. Or North Vietnamese fishermen would be hauled off to an island and treated to an elaborate charade intended to show them that a revolt against the communist government was imminent. Shultz discusses these attempts in a dispassionate tone, but one gets a growing sense of waste and futility from the narrative. Any of the career espionage people at the CIA could have told Kennedy that it was virtually impossible to plant people in a closed totalitarian society like North Vietnam, even if, as in the case of the CIA, that's your business. But to have the Pentagon take a crack at it? Well, you might as well try to get HUD to send a rocket to the moon.

But Kennedy's obsession with and faith in covert action remained unabated till the day of his death. His cabinet, McNamara in particular, shared his enthusiasm. Eventually the Pentagon adopted the attitude that if you want anything done in Vietnam, you have to do it yourself. So covert actions began to include Americans, at the same time the overt effort began ramping up under Johnson.

The efforts were redirected toward more practical targets, such as the Ho Chi Minh Trail (the construction of which began in 1959), but the approach was no more practical. This wasn't a "real war", according to the brightest minds in Washington; it was more of a diplomatic game. Therefore, restrictions had to be placed on the units operating against the trail builders. Special forces could not go beyond 10 kilometers into "neutral" Laos. The North Vietnamese, displaying the practicality and opportunism that became their hallmark, would then route their trail 11 kilometers from the Laos-Vietnam border. Their spies, unlike those of the Pentagon, were quite effective.

It wasn't any secret that cutting off the Ho Chi Minh trail would cut off the stream of men and materiel into the South. Shultz quotes Bui Tin, the NVA officer who accepted the surrender of the South in 1975: "If Johnson had granted General Westmoreland's request to enter Laos and block the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Hanoi could not have won the war."

As simple as that. Straight from the lips of an opposing officer. In retrospect, it seems like the logical thing to do: cut off the enemy's supply line. But from its very beginning on January 28, 1961, the Vietnam War was not conducted logically.

Perhaps the Kennedy-Johnson crowd's truly wacky ambivalence can best be glimpsed on pages 34-35. Shultz relates how President Kennedy was "stunned" by the images of Buddhist monks immolating themselves in protest of the Diem government's repression. Diem's sister-in-law, who seems to have been a cross between Immelda Marcos and Leona Helmsley, referred to the immolations as "barbecues". At the same time, South Vietnamese generals were planning a coup. It was dawning on the government of the US that the government of its ally was corrupt and effete and repressive. So where did the Kennedy Administration choose to direct its energies? Toward Hanoi: "escalation of the covert war against Hanoi became a major agenda item. The decision was made to turn up the pressure on the North."

With policy like this being made by the Best and the Brightest, one can only shudder at what a catastrophe we'd have had if our leaders had been merely average.

Don't read this book expecting 408 pages detailing the adventures of individual SOG soldiers and their missions. There is really only one chapter, "Crossing the Fence" with its details of SOG operations in Laos, that fits that bill. What Shultz details, using unprecedented access to recently declassified Pentagon documents and interviews with many of the participants in SOG operations, is the complete story of the origin, operations, successes, failures, and lessons of the Studies and Observations Group. His prose may not be scintillating, he may repeat himself frequently, and the beginning of the book may bog down occasionally with flow charts of command, but Shultz isn't writing a popular history. He's writing a policy review of SOG's operations for future civilian and military leaders who may turn to covert operations and unconventional warfare to get themselves out of diplomatic binds. The final chapter of the book summarizes these lessons.

Still, this book is worthwhile reading even for ordinary civilians.

Those interested in espionage history will find a fascinating account of SOG's attempts to foster rebellion in North Vietnam and wage psychological warfare. Not only do we learn why the CIA could not start a resistance movement in the "denied" country of North Vietnam, a "counterintelligence state" of extreme paranoia and security, but why the inheritor of the project, SOG, was also doomed to fail and fail spectacularly. Of approximately 500 agents inserted into North Vietnam, all were killed or captured and many turned into double agents.

But SOG officers experienced in espionage turned this disaster into a brilliant operation that convinced North Vietnam a massive underground was operating in their country and loyal North Vietnamese were implicated as traitors. For those wanting to know exactly what is encompassed by the term "psychological warfare", Shultz gives some idea in the chapter "Drive Them Crazy with Psywar". SOG set up a fake resistance movement with accompanying bogus radio traffic, propaganda, and blocks of ice parachuted into the jungle to melt and leave empty chutes and an uneasy feeling amongst the North Vietnamese.

Shultz also tells of the few maritime operations SOG carried out against enemy targets, its sabotage efforts which included tainting caches of the enemy's rice and leaving behind tainted ammo for the VC and NVA soldiers, and its operations against the Ho Chi Minh trail.

But the documentation on SOG was initially classified for a reason. Ultimately, the program was a failure, and Shultz documents how there's plenty of blame to go around. Civilian leadership in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations micromanaged the program, had unrealistic expectations for its speed and efficacy, and held the bizarre belief that covert means should be congruent with overt public policy. Military leadership at the highest levels set up SOG as a sop to civilian leaders whom they thought naively enamored of special warfare. They expected little from it, provided little by way of support, and had no plan to coordinate SOG's efforts into the grand Vietnam strategy. Shultz also points out that special ops was, far from being a glamorous, honored posting, a career stopper for a professional military man.

While Shultz, of course, concentrates on SOG, I also learned a fair amount about the diplomatic, political, and military history of the Vietnam war in general. Prior to this, my only exposure to the war, in book form, had been a biography of Carlos Hathcock, the Marine sniper in Vietnam.

The book is a bit slow at times, but it rewards the reader who completes it.

Had U.S. political and military leaders backed these secret operations with less trepidation, Vietnam might well have been a success story. A revealing look at what unconventional warfare and clandestine operations can really achieve -- IF they are integrated into a cohesive warfighting strategy ...and why they will fail or backfire if prosecuted with only half-hearted support within the highest councils of our government. Richard Shultz unveils a whole new dimension of America's prowess at espionage, sabotage, and special operations in this page-turning history.

Benjamin F. Schemmer Editor-in-Chief Strategic Review

I read this book cover to cover in one evening. I simply could not put the book down. In retrospect, I suppose my main interest when I bought the book was to see if there were any references to some of the places I was at during the Vietnam war having been stationed very near his area of operations.

Indeed, the author did not let me down. I was taken back in this paperback "time machine" to a different world where I once belonged. The author did an excellent job of telling his story. He told us where he came from, his training, and his experiences both during and after his tour of duty. I usually feel a sense of loss when I read any book about Vietnam. This book was different! I actually felt pretty good about my time spent in Tay Ninh Province. The final chapters served as a reminder to never feel badly about being involved in that conflict so many years ago.

The only thing in this book that detracted me was the author's few careless remarks thrown in about the Kennedy administration. The remarks were not needed and were misleading.

If you want to read about one man's journey into the jaws of death and back, read this book. Don't let the political views of the author stop you. This man was a true warrior and he is a man that tells his story in a gut-honest method that will leave you thinking for a long time.

A great eye opener about special forces in Vietnam. And a very close and personal look at the type of person it takes to be in special forces. Not being a man or military, I probably read this book from a totally different perspective than the author intended. He's a tough man, a survivor, with a caring side for his family. All I know is, I couldn't put it down. Read it! You'll like it!

Being female and never having been in the military, this is truly a book I could read and enjoy. I have ever been able to keep up with other military books (I enjoy reading about Vietnam) because I could not keep up with all the "G.I. Jargon". I stayed interested in this book until the last page. I hated to put it down! It made me laugh, cry and feel every emotion in between. My heart, prayers and many thanks, go out to all Vietnam Vets. Thanks to all of you. I hope Steve writes another book.