No comments about Dear Catharine, Dear Taylor: The Civil War Letters of a Union Soldier and His Wife (Modern War Studies).

4 comments about Vietnam Veterans' Homecoming: Crossing the Line.

1. Carey Spearman reaches right for the heart with his poignant vignettes on life in Vietnam and at home. The very cover of his book reveals much about his message: Vietnam's wounds are not just carried by Americans, but by many more; nor are all jungles lush and tropical. The soldier depicted on the cover wears a mix of western and oriental gear. The soldier's shadow is simply a man's--without the trappings of war. The palms trees of Vietnam on the skyline give way to the concrete skyscrapers of urban America. Spearman's year in Vietnam amounted to a lifetime of tending the wounded and maimed of every sort of humanity: man, woman or child carried into the medic's ward. There he began to realize how war wounds not only the soldier, but the family back home, the villager in the jungle, the lover awaiting the letter that never arrives. Like good wine, Spearman's words come from years of reflection and hard work. They reveal a man who has come to terms with his own post traumatic stress and has accepted healing. He sees the world as filled with individuals. War takes it toll one by one. Families of those lost or wounded in Vietam or other conflicts, and anyone who has suffered a significant loss in his or her life will benefit from Spearman's vignettes. If you want to read something charged with deep emotion, yet minus the gore of "war stories," and one that helps to heal inner wounds, Spearman's book: Vietnam Veterans'Homecoming: Crossing the Line will be a wonderful read. For anyone teaching American history, or history buffs, Spearman's book casts a piercing light on the reality of war--its horror and far reaching effects. In language anyone can understand, this book is one I recommend for people who look for wisdom and a sense of peace. They will find both in Carey Spearman's reflections on life as a veteran of a war American wants to forget.



2. HEART TOUCHING, I MEET MR. SPEARMAN AT 2002 VETERANS DAY IN DC. HE TOLD ME THE BOOK HE WROTE HELPED HIM TO GET WELL! IM SO GLAD IT DID GOD BLESS HIM.



3. I met author Carey Spearman when I attended the Tet '68 Reunion in Hampton, VA in 2003. Carey was trained as a combat medic and X-ray technician. He served in Vietnam March 1967 to May 1968. He wrote his book Vietnam Veterans' Homecoming: Crossing the Line as "a straightforward but diverse account of one man's post-war journey toward homecoming and healing." AND it is just that!

   This amazing book has not only helped Carey heal himself from the war but I believe it has helped other Vets who read it already. AND I think it will continue to help others in the future. I'd like to share some of Carey's passages with you so you can get a feel for what his book is like.

   One that grabbed me actually made me think about all the people affected by one individuals life and death. "No one in Nam ever died alone. Someone always hurt for them....You don't know how many people loved him on his way home, or how many people mourned for him before you even knew he was dead. There are a lot more people in that coffin than you know."

   For those Vets who have not yet been able to find a way to make it back to their families in one way or another Carey wrote "we have made ourselves prisoners of Vietnam here and are locked in by an open door." That's a profound statement.

   He had memories of his family while he was in Vietnam and they came into his head at one point. He wrote "when I was small, my grandmother and mother would hold me when I was hurting and scared. It seemed to take the pain away....My grandmother and mother had put me in touch with my female side." Carey tried to do the same thing for his patients in Vietnam but he realized that "my grandmother and mother did not make the pain go away. They absorbed it. By them holding or touching me...I was not alone." While with his patients they "knew they were not alone. We took in so much pain. We hurt so much inside....There wasn't a patient that I touched who was not touched by the both of you [his grandmother and mother]."

   Carey has found a way to express himself and help others as well as him on the road to recovery from the war. He wrote that "vets say, they live for their families....I haven't heard too many vets say they live with their families." So in writing this profound book of statements and thoughts he is hopefully helping other Vets with their own emotions and feelings.

   He knows all too well about PTSD. He wrote, "I just want to live life. So I will stay just a little bit outside of your normal life, so I can have some control."

   He realizes how families too are affected by the war and their loved ones serving. He commented "I want to tell you how much I am hurting but when I start to look into your eyes and see the fear, I don't want to hurt you, but I do want you to know that part of my life. I watch you shy away from me....I feel like I am in a glass bubble....I don't want to remain in here but the only way out for me is to talk about what I went through and let some of the pain out....Stay close to my bubble. As long as I can see you out there, I know there is a way out for me." He knows he can reach out to someone for help as long as he can see them and this works for others as well.

   One of the more important statements Carey made is "We are Missing in America (MIA). Maybe the next time we hug as vets, along with saying, `Welcome home,' we should add, `thanks for what you did then, and what you are trying to do now.' If we don't recognize what we have done over all of these years, no one else will." Isn't it sad that the general public doesn't welcome home Vets the way we welcome home each other?

   In the Prologue was written that Carey' book "delivers an honest treatment of the personal side of a controversial war. It provides people who have no military experience or knowledge with glimpses of military life during wartime, and inside views of the emotional struggles soldiers endure during their post-war lives." That it does and more! AND I too look forward to Volume II.

   This is a book for all to read. Perhaps then everyone can understand what at least one Vet has gone through in his life dealing with his wartime service to our country. This is a must read book and should be in Vet Centers, libraries and bookstores around the country.




4. Carey's first book about Vietnam is profoundly written in such a way that the reader is joined along side the writer on the journey to finding home. The journey has been long and teadous. As well as being full of self-discovery about my own seeking of healing from the War in Vietnam. Like Carey, I too, was a medic. It took a long time for many of those who were caregivers to find the courage to take that first step to coming home. This book will gently ask you questions and you have to go deeper to find the significance for you. Carey's style of writing is unique in that he didn't tell us war stories or even shared the blood and the guts of being a medic. He wrote about loss of innocence, the helplessiness of being alone, to loss, to find ourselves again, to regaining hope, to finding the way home. This book should be read by all Vietnam Vets and their families who suffer from PTSD. Carey, through his writing and his encouragement began my journey home and taught me how to love myself again. I, too, have finally written my story of being a medic in Vietnam. "Poems In The Keys Of Life: Reflections of a combat medic". I can't wait for his second book. Thanks Carey for your friendship to me.
   Kerry "Doc" Pardue

3 comments about Once a Legend: Red Mike Edson of the Marine Raiders.

1. "Red Mike" Edson was one fearless warrior. His frontline exploits on Tarawa, Saipan, and Guadalcanal (where he won the Medal of Honor and probably saved the campaign) are the stuff of legends, but he was also, improbably, a first-class staff officer.
   This unusual talent for organization brought him two stars and a role in the highest echelons of the Corps, but it also took him into the fierce politics of the Pentagon and may have indirectly caused his death.
   The history of this fine Marine is well told in this outstanding biography; with photos, bibliography, and index. Highly readable; essential for Marine Corps readers and of great interest to general military history readers and WWII buffs.

   (The numerical rating above is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings.)




2. If you are really interested in the Marine Corps or WW2 History, this is something worth buying. Instead of just making 'Red Mike' Edson a saintly hero of great virtue and courage, the author describes Edson the man with warts and all.

   My only complaint about the book (it wasn't that big because the rest of the book is excellent) was that book didn't go into as much detail about Bloody Ridge (the pinnacle of Edson's combat leadership and which won him the CMH) which is surprising considering how much detail was spent describing the fight against the Sandinistas between WW1 and WW2.




3. As a Marine Corps veteran, it surprises me how unfamiliar many contemporary Marines are with the extremely noteworthy and noble Mr. Edson. The author, Mr.Hoffman, also a Marine veteran, tells us the story of Mr. Edson's truly eventful life.
   
   To think that in his early career, in the last days of World War I, Red Mike was seriously considering resigning! Yet, despite long periods of stagnation and limited opportunities for advancement, he stayed the course. During his life, Edson, a very humble and kindly man, never realized what a profoundly positive effect his contribution to the Marine Corps would have. This champion of the Marines was highly influential in planting the seeds of many of the U.S.M.C.s major institutions in the modern age. In fact, the thoroughly established status as a separate branch is significantly due to Red Mike's efforts.
   
   -He contributed to the establishment of M.C.I., the Marine Corps Institute. This was his first major post WWI assignment.
   -Being a highly proficient rifleman, he was a frequent member of the Marine Corps' competitive shooting teams. Although advanced marksmanship has always been a Marine Corps characteristic, Edson's influence in that field made it the institution it is today.
   -He served as Vice-President of the National Rifle Association (an organization EVERY Marine should be a member of!).
   -He was an aviator in the inter-war years, a rare qualification amongst his peers.
   -His experience hunting Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua during the "Banana wars" era of the 1920s and 1930s gave him the knowledge to thoroughly revise the U.S.M.C. Small Wars manual. This is a guide to guerilla war and counter-insurgency still highly valid today.
   -He was a founder of the Raiders during World War II. In fact, he was its greatest war-leader.
   -He recieved the Congressional Medal of Honor for his valorous defense of the allied airfield on Guadalcanal, an action that very likely saved the entire allied effort in its most direly critical moment.
   -He bravely and righteously stood up for the U.S.M.C., in the face of an aggressive and malicious campaign by Harry Truman and various army generals ...to disband, and abolish the Marines, ...or assimilate it into the army. Thankfully, common sense prevailed, and the Marines march on!

1 comments about Submarine Admiral: FROM BATTLEWAGONS TO BALLISTIC MISSILES.

1. Admiral Galantin's book tells the story of his personal involvement in the post-war U.S. Navy in a readable and entertaining manner. His accounts of bureaucratic turf wars in the Navy were especially interesting to naval historians like myself. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

No comments about Abraham Lincoln: Great American President (Signature Lives: Civil War Era series) (Signature Lives: Civil War Era).

5 comments about Tempered Steel: The Three Wars of Triple Air Force Cross Winner Jim Kasler.

1. TEMPERED STEEL is a portrait of a time, an inside look at a culture of speed and machines, but most of all it's the life of a man who endured what few ever have. That Jim Kasler survived his time of trial through fire is a testament to his courage and toughness. His biographers, Byler and Luckett, have with meticulous research recreated the life of an authentic American hero.



2. This is not your usual run of the mill biography. This is the story of a warrior.
   There are many types in the military, diplomats, politicians, sycophants, citizen soldiers, patriots, war lovers, otherwise unemmployable, etc. They are all needed, and, with good leadership, most perform well under stress. But, surprising as it may seem, the warriors are marked by their rarity, Jim Kasler is a WARRIOR.
   Having been a POW with Jim and being an aviator (Navy) I can verify that this account is reliable, factual and even handed. It doesn't try to tell any one else's story but Jim's own. It is not a revisionist history. It pulls no punches. It tells it like it is (was). It makes you proud to be an American.
   Thank God Jim Kasler was on our side.



3. Perry Luckett and Charles Byler have opened a new generation's eye's to a period of time that many would rather like to forget. After all the political embarressment and face-saving, it's time to honor the actions of the honorable. The legacy that the pilots left through their deeds is one worth telling. Men such as Col. James Kasler have paid their dues in full by standing to be counted for what they firmly beleive in even when that meant torment and punishment.
   Luckett and Byler have compiled a great account of a very honorable man!



4. An excellent book outlining the life and military career of James Kasler. His patriotism to his country was vividly displayed in the chapters dealing with his prisoner of war years during the Viet Nam war. He endured more pain and torture than most men could bear. Every American should read this book.



5. I was lucky enough to have seen Kasler speak along with his two biographers.
   
   Kasler was also at the same place my late father was during WWII. The book relates how, at Las Cruces on July 16, 1945, Kasler was at the mess hall and saw the atomic blast at the Trinity Site. Since my father was an NCO pilot, he was at the same mess hall at 5:30am as Kasler. I told Kasler how my father was smoking a cigarette outside with a friend when the dark sky lit up. They both thought a B29 had exploded. Whereas that was it for my father, Kasler was a tail-gunner and his job was to fly behing the Enola Gay and take photos of the bomb damage.
   
   During the Korean War Kasler was a jet pilot and would become an ace. What is not in the book as the fact that he may have shot down Mao's son. His two biographers believe that is the case, but did not have enough evidence at the time of book publishing.
   
   Kasler time in Vietnam would be his worst time. He was shot down and taken prisoner. He believes that the one thing that saved him was the fact that a magazine article had just come out with him dewcribed as a "one man air force." He believes that made him a high value target to the North Vietnamese. One thing that all POWs remember is the time a man known as Fidel. When he started to talk about him, Kasler just looked out the window and his voice trailed off. He slowly remarked how that was the worst time in his life. He also explained that he felt he had a high pain tolerance, which meant he could take more than regular people. He stated, though, that with torture you will say whatever they want you to.
   
   Kasler left the military not long after release. He had been badly injured when he bailed out and, with the poor treatment in Vietnam, he is almost crippled in one leg. He was able to fly again, though, but once he got out he never flew again. He had toyed with getting an "experimental," but after his wife found out about the high death rate of these pilots he thought otherwise.
   
   Kasler now spends his time sitting on a bank board as well as running and designing golf courses. This book is well worth the price and quite an interesting read.

2 comments about From the Cockpit: Coming of Age in the Korean War.

1. A damn fine read! It's just like he's sitting by the grill smelling steaks and sipping martini's as he spins his tales of yesteryears!



2. I highly recommend this book to anyone who really wants to know what it was like for someone in the Korean War. It is easy to read and you feel like you are right there with him. Excellent!

1 comments about Civil War Generals: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (American Civil War).

1. A book on Civil War generals that doesn't include Pat Cleburne? John Bell Hood (b.1831-d.1879) said in the book to have died "four years" after the war? An "encyclopedia" on individuals that frequently ommits places and dates of births and deaths? The Civil War Society, author of this book, should be embarrased.

5 comments about Battle Ready (Commander Series).

1. In the summer of 1994, I attended a change-of-command ceremony at Camp Pendleton for the I Marine Expeditionary Force. A new 3-star was about to take command prematurely for someone of his seniority. He hadn't even been a division commander, a 2-star billet. The fast-tracking general was Tony Zinni and the rest of his career continued to rocket. Other reviewers have commented on every aspect of his book, including his lack of support for the invasion of Iraq, so I will focus on two parts that impressed me deeply. I do agree with several others that having Tom Clancy as a co-author was distracting and unnecessary. The alternating first and third-person narratives were uneven at times. Thus the 4-stars. But then again, "Battle Ready" is not a literary selection.
   
   The first part was Zinni's 1967 tour as an adviser (called "co van" for "trusted friend" with the Vietnamese Marine Corps). Many accounts have been published about Marines in Vietnam but only handful has come from advisers; the very best Marine officers were selected for advisory duty. Other "co vans" include Gens. Boomer, Hoar, and Myatt--on the Army side, McCaffrey, Powell and Schwarzkopf. All of these men experienced a different Vietnam War than those who fought in American units.
   
   Why is Zinni's advisory experience relevant now? Marine advisers are mentoring Iraqis, and they could only dream their counterparts fought like the South Vietnamese. There's no hubris in Zinni's observations. He understood the Americans' lack of cultural knowledge, including his own early on: "The advisers' job was not to give the Vietnamese Marines tactical advice (they had more fighting experience than most Americans, and it was their country...American commanders were all in a hurry. They wanted to end the war on their one-year tour of duty. Vietnamese [Marine] commanders realized they would be in it for the duration."
   
   The last chapter, Chapter Eight titled "The Calling," is a classic leadership primer-observations made over the distinguished 40-year career of Zinni, a Marine warrior, scholar and leader. As a former Marine, I found his last paragraph most touching: "I have been all over this globe and exposed to most of the cultures on it. I am fascinated by them. I love the diversity. I want to understand them and embrace them. I could never understand prejudice or rejection or the sense of superiority that drive the hatemongers of the world. I lived through a tumultuous period of our history when our own minorities broke from second-class citizenship into full participation in this wonderful dream we call America. I have been proud of their accomplishments and contributions. They have proven the bigots wrong and made our nation greater. I hope the dream we have struggled to realize can be extended to the rest of the planet."
   
   General, it was my privilege to serve under commanders like you. Semper fi!



2. While 'In to the storm' elaborate detail of one big battle, and 'Shadow warrior' tells many big events, this 'Battle ready' tells us every single experience of General Zinni from O-2, O-3, O-4, everything till retired from O-10. I think I will be bored but with his sense of humor, General Zinni brings all his tought without make this book boring. (e.g. the HANDCON and took a bus in 'Nam).
   I learn how military and diplomat works in peacemaker process.



3. This book, co written with General Tony Zinni, tells of the methods, means, and the reasons for our military. The last part, when General Zinni pulls no punches, about our approach to war, foreign relations, and when to use and how to use the military [with the help of the civilian authority] to fight smarter battles and when to fight, is an excellent assessment of our current problems in the U.S.. His approach to fight in a "smarter" way, reflecting the new realities of war, e.g., terrorism, and an ever changing world, is the way it should be-and not to declare "victory", if that is the objective, on an aircraft carrier as a photo-op [his words], and to support the ideas that are right and to criticize the ideas that are wrong, even if they are "politically" incorrect. A first rate book.



4. Mr Clancy is one of the best military writers and he is typically on his game in this biography of Marine General Tony Zinni who eventually rose to CINC at CENTCOM, the command that has the heart of the middle east at its core. Clancy deftly switches back and forth between a first-person narrative of his subject and his own overviews of the history and background of each period, whether it be Vietnam or Somalia, Turkey or Pakistan. The only issue I have with Tom Clancy is italics. Everything told verbally by General Zinni is presented in italics so that a 440-page narrative probably contains about 220 pages of italics. If only Mr. Clancy would consult the Chicago Manual which states that italics should be used sparingly and never for more than a paragraph! Tom, I get a different voice in my head when I read the italics and I don't necessarily like that voice.



5. 
   I listened to it, rather than turning pages. The first half was more interesting than the
   second half, which is more politics than personal or military history. That is not to deny
   value to the later portion of the book. It was interesting to compare Zinni's adventures in
   Somalia to the account in "Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures -- A True Story From
   Hell On Earth" by Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait, and Andrew Thompson. They can both be true.
   
   Zinni wins my admiration for his patient determination to improve things, a unit or a nation.
   He shows the Somalia warlords as human. It was a disappointment that he took so long to see
   through Yasser Arafat.
   
   Zinni makes much of his "tell it like it is" attitude, and his interest in how to fight effectively.
   I was surprised that he did not mention the statue of John Boyd in the center of the lobby at
   Marine headquarters. Boyd was an Air Force fighter pilot, that taught how to fight effectively,
   and told unpopular truths. Amazon has several books about him.
   
   Zinni did not support the Iraq war. He claims plans for after the battles were won were not done,
   or not done well. Could be. He claims 300,000 troops were needed. I wish he had supplied details
   of that estimate, similar to the detailed plans for the evacuation from Somalia.
   
   This is not one of Clancy's best, but it is still pretty good. I recommend it to those interested
   in military history, whatever their opinions on the current Iraq situation.

1 comments about SHOOT TO KILL (Cassell Military Paperbacks).

1. This extremely well written book recounts the first hand experiences of Michael Asher throughout his time in the British Parachute Regiment, the Special Air Service and the Special Patrol Group in Northern Ireland. The book proceeds at a brisk pace throughout but is replete with enormous detail.

   The brutally honest text grips the reader into a sense of "almost being there". Having completed a regular engagement in the British forces during the same period as that illustrated here, I can confirm the accuracy of many of the matters described, including some of the "less savoury" elements which may upset some readers.

   The reader does not have to agree with the views expressed throughout this book, but needs to understand the realities on the ground which are so commendably portrayed and which form the basis of this work. Not least of these are the realism and humanity of the raw recruits undergoing such harsh physical & military training as well as the raw honesty of the writer.

   The stress and pain endured throughout the many stages of specialist training are almost tangible and the reader can but grimace at times along with the author as he relates pivotal periods of his experience where the reality and atmosphere of occasional brutality & intimidation together with periods of humiliation are so vividly evoked.

   The book is not one to be "enjoyed" as there is little here to lead the reader in that direction. This is a soldier writing about soldiers' experiences and some of the content might be considered "distasteful" to many readers who are not familiar with military life. Be warned.

   The fear and frustration during patrols in Northern Ireland during the "Troubles" are among other realities really brought home to the reader, where every street corner, window, alleyway or shadow might hide a gunman. (The politics of the situation in Northern Ireland are largely avoided apart from reference to the occasional quote from those involved in a number of incidents.) Situations now being experienced by the military in numerous locations Worldwide.

   All in all this is a thoroughly readable and informative study which reveals aspects of the British military and the "soldier on the ground" which might otherwise be largely overlooked. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in military history and experience. Thank you.