Download or read book Facing the Wall An Infantryman s Post Vietnam Memoir written by Phil Ferrazano and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-03-16 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this tale of courage and redemption, Vietnam veteran Phil Ferrazano battles the VA for the compensation and recognition he deserves, enduring uncaring doctors, inscrutable rules, haphazard medical treatment, and the despair that drove many of his fellow vets to suicide.

Download or read book FACING THE WALL A MISSION written by Mary S. King and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2009-10-09 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trauma be it; accident, abuse or war has happened in all our lives. This story will give you a deeper understanding of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and yes PTSD can be catchy. A candid and true story. Facing The Wall: A Mission - a never-ending journey, is recipient of The Kirkus Star from ~ Kirkus Reviews A star is assigned to books of remarkable merit, as determined by the impartial editors of Kirkus Reviews ~ Best of Indie Books 2010 www.ptsd.va.gov Book Review A Vietnam vet’s wife fights a long battle with her husband’s post-traumatic stress disorder in this poignant memoir. When her husband Jim, a 27-year-old Marine, returned intact from Vietnam in 1969, the author hoped that the couple could resume their lives as before. But although Jim bore no physical scars from his year in combat, his psychic wounds ran deep. Indeed, he hardly seemed to have left the war. He was plagued by nightmares and flashbacks in which he would call for medevac choppers or imagine himself surrounded by enemies. He veered between hypervigilance and catatonic staring, insisted on sitting with his back to a wall so he could survey his perimeter, and was spooked by both loud noises and silence; only the soothing sound of crickets could convince him there was nothing lying in wait. Over the decades, Jim’s illness took a heavy toll; he lost jobs and eventually became unemployable, withdrew emotionally from his wife and sons and endured periodic hospitalizations. (In the author’s telling, the Veterans Administration long ignored the Vietnam-era PTSD epidemic and was more a hindrance than a help in coping with Jim’s problems.) In her clear-eyed memoir, King draws a subtle, layered portrait of her lost soul of a husband. Sometimes he seems unreachable, sunk in memories of Vietnam and of his buddies who didn’t make it back (or in guilt over his own survival) and unable to carry out the simplest project; but he also devotedly serves as a volunteer fireman and pulls himself together to help his wife through crises and grief. It is as much the author’s story as Jim’s, as she struggles to hold the family together and fathom the stranger her husband has become, and to reclaim her own personality from the ravages of “secondary” PTSD. With America’s latest conflicts still generating victims, this is a very timely book: an anguished, unsparing, but ultimately hopeful view of the heartbreak of PTSD. An absorbing firsthand saga of war’s invisible casualties. -Kirkus Discoveries

Download or read book Yesterday s Soldier written by Tom Keating and published by . This book was released on 2019-12-30 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Yesterday's Soldier chronicles my journey as a young man, thrust from the world of religious life in a Massachusetts Roman Catholic seminary to the US Army, training to be an Infantry Officer during the Vietnam War. I entered religious life in the Congregation of Holy Cross in Massachusetts in 1963 with the intent of being ordained a priest. I lived in a strict male religious community very much like a monastery. Upon graduating from college there, Father Superior decided that I had only a "partial vocation," and released me from my vows and further advancement to ordination. This memoir shares my experiences in the US Army, from basic combat training to infantry advanced training to Infantry Officer Candidate school. It was at Officers Candidate School where I faced the hardest decision of my life to make--to become a non-combatant conscientious objector, risking the Army's punishment and imprisonment for that decision. Surviving the Army's systematic punishment ("the Treatment") during the long months of waiting for a decision in my case, I defied the will of my family, the demands of my church, and faced criminal charges by the US Army. Eventually, I was sent to Vietnam as a Conscientious Objector, where I dealt with more Army discrimination, the hazards of war, and connecting with the Vietnamese people.

Download or read book At Hell s Gate written by Claude Anshin Thomas and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2006-01-10 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this raw and moving memoir, Claude Thomas describes his service in Vietnam, his subsequent emotional collapse, and his remarkable journey toward healing. At Hell's Gate is not only a gripping coming-of-age story but a spiritual travelogue from the horrors of combat to the discovery of inner peace—a journey that inspired Thomas to become a Zen monk and peace activist who travels to war-scarred regions around the world. "Everyone has their Vietnam," Thomas writes. "Everyone has their own experience of violence, calamity, or trauma." With simplicity and power, this book offers timeless teachings on how we can all find healing, and it presents practical guidance on how mindfulness and compassion can transform our lives. This expanded edition features: • Discussion questions for reading groups • A new afterword by the author reflecting on how the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are affecting soldiers—and offering advice on how to help returning soldiers to cope with their combat experiences

Download or read book Watchman at the Gates written by George Joulwan and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2021-05-25 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: General George Joulwan played a role in many pivotal world events during his long and exceptional career. Present at both the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall, he served multiple tours in Germany during the Cold War and two tours in Vietnam. By chance, he was recruited as Nixon's White House deputy chief of staff and witnessed the last acts of the Watergate drama first-hand. He went on to lead US Southern Command—fighting insurgencies and the drug war in Latin America—and was Supreme Allied Commander of NATO forces in Europe (SACEUR) during the Rwandan genocide and the Bosnian peacekeeping missions of the 1990s. Joulwan chronicles his career in the upper echelons of the armed forces. He shares his experiences working with major military and political figures, including generals William E. DePuy, Alexander Haig, John Vessey, and Colin Powell, US ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. Beyond the battlefield, Joulwan became an advocate for military and civilian relations during the Vietnam War, deescalating several high-intensity situations while studying at Loyola University as part of the US Army's Option C program. Watchman at the Gates merges memory and lessons in leadership as Joulwan pays tribute to his teachers and colleagues and explains the significance of their influence on his personal approach to command. As a leader of combat troops in Vietnam, he appealed to his subordinates on an individual basis, taking time to build relationships that proved vital to the effectiveness of his commands. He also reveals how similar relationships of mutual understanding were crucial in his peaceful and productive dealings with both allies and enemies. At its heart, this inspiring memoir is a soldier's story—written by a warrior who saw defending his country and the democratic values it stands for as his highest calling. Featuring a foreword by Tom Brokaw, Watchman at the Gates offers incredible insights into world events as well as valuable lessons for a new generation of leaders.

Download or read book Rolling Coffins written by Brian Richard Esher and published by Page Publishing Inc. This book was released on 2015-01-06 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An infantryman’s honest account of his experiences during the controversial Vietnam War, this book chronicles the courage and dedication that the American soldiers demonstrated while away from loved ones, in a foreign land where hanging by a thread was the norm every day. It openly discusses the challenges and sacrifices each man had to make in order to survive and protect the lives of his comrades, and it casts a light on the shortcomings of the US government and of those in authority who could have abated the terrifying number of casualties through proper planning and sound judgment. The author, Brian Richard Esher, had witnessed firsthand the horrors of the war and had many close encounters with death. He was sent to Vietnam in 1968, the worst year in terms of casualties. He served with the 25th Infantry Division, 4th Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Mechanized, and received several medals, including the second-highest military award for valor, the Distinguished Service Cross

Download or read book A Rift in the Earth written by James Reston and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-09-05 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Distinguished and Bestselling Historian and Army Veteran Revisits the Culture War that Raged around the Selection of Maya Lin's Design for the Vietnam Memorial A Rift in the Earth tells the remarkable story of the ferocious “art war” that raged between 1979 and 1984 over what kind of memorial should be built to honor the men and women who died in the Vietnam War. The story intertwines art, politics, historical memory, patriotism, racism, and a fascinating set of characters, from those who fought in the conflict and those who resisted it to politicians at the highest level. At its center are two enduring figures: Maya Lin, a young, Asian-American architecture student at Yale whose abstract design won the international competition but triggered a fierce backlash among powerful figures; and Frederick Hart, an innovative sculptor of humble origins on the cusp of stardom. James Reston, Jr., a veteran who lost a close friend in the war and has written incisively about the conflict's bitter aftermath, explores how the debate reignited passions around Vietnam long after the war’s end and raised questions about how best to honor those who fought and sacrificed in an ill-advised war. Richly illustrated with photographs from the era and design entries from the memorial competition, A Rift in the Earth is timed to appear alongside Ken Burns's eagerly anticipated PBS documentary, The Vietnam War. “The memorial appears as a rift in the earth, a long polished black stone wall, emerging from and receding into the earth."—Maya Lin "I see the wall as a kind of ocean, a sea of sacrifice. . . . I place these figures upon the shore of that sea." —Frederick Hart

Download or read book Facing the Mountain written by Daniel James Brown and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER One of NPR's "Books We Love" of 2021 Longlisted for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography Winner of the Christopher Award “Masterly. An epic story of four Japanese-American families and their sons who volunteered for military service and displayed uncommon heroism… Propulsive and gripping, in part because of Mr. Brown’s ability to make us care deeply about the fates of these individual soldiers...a page-turner.” – Wall Street Journal From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat, a gripping World War II saga of patriotism and resistance, focusing on four Japanese American men and their families, and the contributions and sacrifices that they made for the sake of the nation. In the days and months after Pearl Harbor, the lives of Japanese Americans across the continent and Hawaii were changed forever. In this unforgettable chronicle of war-time America and the battlefields of Europe, Daniel James Brown portrays the journey of Rudy Tokiwa, Fred Shiosaki, and Kats Miho, who volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and were deployed to France, Germany, and Italy, where they were asked to do the near impossible. Brown also tells the story of these soldiers' parents, immigrants who were forced to submit to life in concentration camps on U.S. soil. Woven throughout is the chronicle of Gordon Hirabayashi, one of a cadre of patriotic resisters who stood up against their government in defense of their own rights. Whether fighting on battlefields or in courtrooms, these were Americans under unprecedented strain, doing what Americans do best—striving, resisting, pushing back, rising up, standing on principle, laying down their lives, and enduring.

Download or read book The Enlisted Men s Club written by Gary Reilly and published by Private Palmer. This book was released on 2016-11-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book in the Private Palmer trilogy is based on the late Gary Reilly's experiences in Vietnam. Private Palmer is stationed at San Francisco's army base at The Presidio, awaiting orders. He's trying to find his place in the ranks. And trying to avoid work.

Download or read book Hal Moore written by Mike Guardia and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive biography of Harold G. Moore, hero of the Vietnam War and author of the bestselling memoir of the battle at Ia Drang. Hal Moore, one of the most admired American combat leaders of the last fifty years, has until now been best known to the public for being portrayed by Mel Gibson in the movie We Were Soldiers. In this first-ever, fully illustrated biography, we finally learn the full story of one of America’s true military heroes. A 1945 graduate of West Point, Moore’s first combats occurred during the Korean War, where he fought in the battles of Old Baldy, T-Bone, and Pork Chop Hill. At the beginning of the Vietnam War, Moore commanded the 1st Battalion of the 7th Cavalry in the first full-fledged battle between US and North Vietnamese regulars. Drastically outnumbered and nearly overrun, Moore led from the front, and though losing seventy-nine soldiers, accounted for 1,200 of the enemy before the Communists withdrew. This Battle of Ia Drang pioneered the use of “air mobile infantry”—delivering troops into battle via helicopter—which became the staple of US operations for the remainder of the war. He later wrote of his experiences in the bestselling book We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young. Following his tour in Vietnam, he assumed command of the 7th Infantry Division, forward-stationed in South Korea, and in 1971, he took command of the Army Training Center at Fort Ord, California. In this capacity, he oversaw the US Army’s transition from a conscript-based to an all-volunteer force. He retired as a lieutenant general in 1977. Hal Moore graciously allowed the author interviews and granted full access to his files and collection of letters, documents, and never-before-published photographs.

Download or read book American Warrior written by Gary O'Neal and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2013-05-14 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The epic story of one of America's greatest soldiers, Ranger Hall of Fame member Gary O'Neal, who served his country for forty years Chief Warrant Officer Gary O'Neal is no ordinary soldier. For nearly forty years, he has fought America's enemies, becoming one of the greatest Warriors this nation has ever known. Part Native American, O'Neal was trained in both military combat and the ways of his native people, combining his commitment to freedom with his respect for the enemy, his technical fighting skills with his fierce warrior spirit. From his first tour in Vietnam at seventeen to fighting in both Gulf wars, O'Neal was nothing less than a super soldier. A minefield of aggression bordering on a justice-seeking vigilante, O'Neal kept fighting even when wounded, refusing to surrender in the face of nine serious injuries and being left more than once. O'Neal earned countless military honors as a member of the elite Army Rangers corps, a founding member of the legendary first Department of Defense antiterrorist team, a member of the Golden Knights Parachuting Team, and more, devoting his life to training the next generation of soldiers. His unbelievable true stories are both shocking and moving, a reminder of what it means to be a true American hero. In O'Neal's own words, he "wasn't born a warrior"—life made him one. American Warrior will serve as inspiration for American men and women in uniform today, as well as appeal to the countless veterans who served their country alongside O'Neal.

Download or read book The Shadow of Arms written by Hwang Sok-yong and published by Seven Stories Press. This book was released on 2014-03-04 with total page 575 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A novel of the black markets of the South Vietnamese city of Da Nang during the Vietnam War, based on the author’s experiences as a self-described South Korean mercenary on the side of the South Vietnamese, this is a Vietnam War novel like no other, truly one that sees the war from all sides. Scenes of battle are breathtakingly well told. The plot is thick with intrigue and complex subplots. But ultimately The Shadow of Arms is a novel of the human condition rather than of the exploits and losses of one side or the other in war.

Download or read book Dust Off written by Peter Dorland and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2001-07 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book U S Marines In Vietnam Fighting The North Vietnamese 1967 written by Maj. Gary L. Telfer and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2016-08-09 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the fourth volume in an operational and chronological series covering the U.S. Marine Corps’ participation in the Vietnam War. This volume details the change in focus of the III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF), which fought in South Vietnam’s northernmost corps area, I Corps. This volume, like its predecessors, concentrates on the ground war in I Corps and III MAF’s perspective of the Vietnam War as an entity. It also covers the Marine Corps participation in the advisory effort, the operations of the two Special Landing Forces of the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, and the services of Marines with the staff of the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. There are additional chapters on supporting arms and logistics, and a discussion of the Marine role in Vietnam in relation to the overall American effort.

Download or read book Cherries written by John Podlaski and published by John Podlaski. This book was released on 2010-04-20 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1970, John Kowalski was among the many young, inexperienced soldiers sent to Vietnam to participate in a contentious war. Referred to as “Cherries” by their veteran counterparts, these recruits were plunged into a horrific reality. The on-the-job training was rigorous, yet most of these youths were ill-prepared to handle the severe mental, emotional, and physical demands of combat. Experiencing enemy fire and observing death up close initiates a profound transformation that is irreversible. The author excels at storytelling. Readers affirm feeling immersed alongside the characters, partaking in their struggle for survival, experiencing the fear, awe, drama, and grief, observing acts of courage, and occasionally sharing in their humor. "Cherries" presents an unvarnished account, and upon completion, readers will gain a deeper appreciation for the trials these young men faced over a year. It's a narrative that grips the reader throughout.

Download or read book Guns Up written by Johnnie Clark and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 2002-01-02 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THIS GUT-WRENCHING FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF THE WAR IS A CLASSIC IN THE ANNALS OF VIETNAM LITERATURE. "Guns up!" was the battle cry that sent machine gunners racing forward with their M60s to mow down the enemy, hoping that this wasn't the day they would meet their deaths. Marine Johnnie Clark heard that the life expectancy of a machine gunner in Vietnam was seven to ten seconds after a firefight began. Johnnie was only eighteen when he got there, at the height of the bloody Tet Offensive at Hue, and he quickly realized the grim statistic held a chilling truth. The Marines who fought and bled and died were ordinary men, many still teenagers, but the selfless bravery they showed day after day in a nightmarish jungle war made them true heroes. This new edition of Guns Up!, filled with photographs and updated information about those harrowing battles, also contains the real names of these extraordinary warriors and details of their lives after the war. The book's continuing success is a tribute to the raw courage and sacrifice of the United States Marines.

Download or read book Reflections on the Vietnam War written by Warren Hunt and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-12-08 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ""An important contribution to the literature on the war."" Gary R. Hess, Emeritus Distinguished Research Professor, Bowling Green State University. Author, --"Vietnam: Explaining America's Lost War." In his Reflections on the Vietnam War: A Fifty-Year Journey, Warren E. Hunt chronicles his long struggle to come to grips with the meaning of the Vietnam War and how it affected him before, during and after his tour in Vietnam with the U.S. First Infantry Division. Using a stylistic mix of personal anecdote, historical reflection and essay, the author weaves his experience of the war into a broad context encompassing the course of his life. Starting out as a naive and patriotic teenager drafted at age 19, he traces his path through military training, his impressions of Vietnam and its people, the absurdity of daily basecamp life, and the crucible of enemy fire. Returning to a nation torn apart by the war, he soon realizes that, even though he is no longer in the army, he cannot escape the war''s insane grasp. Catastrophic events in Vietnam and on the home front, along with the dawning awareness of suicides among his fellow veterans, prompt him to seek answers to the questions that haunt his daily life: Why did America go to war in Vietnam? How could we lose? Why did so many people have to suffer in vain? His quest leads him to the unveiling of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., where painful memories and powerful emotions merge to initiate a healing process for the author, his fellow veterans and the country at large.