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Year in Nam: A Native American Soldier's Story
In 1968 Leroy TeCube left his home on the Jicarilla Apache reservation to serve as an infantryman in Vietnam. Year in Nam is his story of that long, terrifying, and numbing year of combat, one that profoundly affected the men in TeCube’s platoon and tested the strength of his own Native American heritage. Tecube was a respected point man and leader of his platoon. His memoir provides an intimate glimpse of the daily lives of infantrymen—the monotony of camp, the oppressive heat, the deceptively dull routine of patrols, the brief but furious eruptions of combat, the forging of platoon squads on the crucible of trust, a pervasive sadness and indifference, and a growing acceptance of the imminence of death. Particularly powerful are Tecube’s observations and experiences from the perspective of a Native American soldier. Many aspects of TeCube's cultural heritage—his traditional religious beliefs, the farewell blessing from an Apache medicine man, the memory of special powwow dances held back home for soldiers—were a source of strength to him.
- GenresWarNonfiction
268 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 18, 2022
In his book, Leroy TeCube, a Native American soldier, reminisces about his experiences fighting in South Vietnam during the Vietnam conflict.
TeCube follows the formulaic structure of combat memoirs. He begins with a description of his childhood and youth, which had "many twists and turns." His mother passed away when he was about a year old, so he was raised first by his grandmother, until he was three, and then by other relatives until he entered the Bureau of Indian Affairs dormitory and the local Indian school. During his high school days, he got to spend more time with his aunt and uncle. His uncle took him hunting, and it was on this hunting trips that TeCube acquired his knowledge of the outdoors. He considers his ability to orient himself in the woods by using various terrain features to have been his most valuable asset in the rice paddies, jungles, and mountains of Vietnam.
TeCube did not care or knew much about the Vietnam conflict until his older brother was drafted and started sending letters from Vietnam, explaining the situation. During this time, the Selective Services System was in effect, so all Americans that had reached the age of eighteen could be drafted, but TeCube got a temporary exemption because he was attending Haskell Institute, a higher learning institution for Native Americans in Lawrence, Kansas. He knew that his entrance into military service was just a matter of time, though.
As he narrates, he was leaning toward the air force, but the Marine recruiter who came to recruit him after his physical examination was more persuasive, so TeCube chose the Marine Corps. However, fate intervened – he received his notice for enlistment into the American Army before he could sign up for the Marines and after thinking it through, he decided to follow the enlistment notice because he would have had to serve four years as a Marine, but only two years as a soldier. He was sworn into service in New Mexico and trained at Fort Bliss, Texas. When asked where he wanted to be assigned overseas, he chose Vietnam without hesitation. He was young, full of energy, and curious about what it was like out there, in Southeast Asia. He left for Vietnam in December 1967 to become an infantryman as one in every five guys who served in Vietnam did.
The infantrymen, nicknamed grunts, spent most of their time in the field, trying to locate and destroy the enemy. For their efforts, they received the desired Combat Infantryman's Badge after meeting certain criteria. In TeCube's unit, the Twenty-third Infantry Division, the criteria was to engage the enemy where the unit had received a casualty. The infantrymen usually did not engage the enemy on a daily basis.
As TeCube describes, when he went out in the field, he took everything that he needed to survive for weeks at a time. His main attire was jungle fatigue, which was lighter than a normal fatigue and had a lot of pockets that allowed him to carry more items. Over the fatigue, he wore web gear, a harness attached to the pistol belt that was used for carrying a first aid kit, water kanteens, hand grenades, a pistol, a flashlight etc. The infantrymen also carried large rucksacks with all sorts of items inside – from writing paper, hygiene products, blankets, and ammunition to books, souvenirs, and C rations. Underneath the rucksack, most infantrymen wore heavy flack jackets for extra protection. The combined weight of all those items hindered mobility and was a great inconvenience for them.
However, as the author depicts, nothing could compare to the challenges the Vietnamese climate and terrain threw at the American infantrymen. The weather could soar to as much as 120 degrees Fahrenheit and then, because it sometimes rained for days, dropped low enough for the men to feel uncomfortable. The terrain determined the likelihood of their survival, as they waded through the smoldering hot jungle, then walked in knee-deep mud, then over steep mountains, then on loose sandy soil, in thick vegetation, or in open rice paddies and through rivers. Each of those terrains came with its own special challenges, and the scorching sun was almost always present. Not to mention the insects, ants, poisonous snakes, leeches, wild animals, water buffaloes, thorny plants, and the biggest torment – swarms of mosquitoes that could not be got rid of with mosquito repellent because its distinctive smell could give the Americans' position away to the Viet Cong. Whoever failed to take the required medication or use iodine tablets was exposed to the high risk of contracting malaria, dysentery, or other diseases.
On top of everything, the infantryman had to be on his guard all the time if he did not want to get shot or step on a mine or booby trap. The mental pressure was enormous. As TeCube puts it: "In a sense, as infantrymen, we all died in Nam. Views about ourselves were forever changed in a period of time that was an eternity to us."
The Viet Cong fighters often made a point of not shooting at African American and Native American soldiers because they pitied them for having been oppressed. TeCube does not seem to reciprocate the sympathetic mindset of the Vietnamese. He classifies the enemy into three categories – the Viet Cong, the North Vietnamese Army soldiers, and the Vietnamese people. It is his definition of the third category that exposes him as narrow-minded. Although he is looking in retrospect at the Vietnam conflict and he knows the facts about this unnecessarily costly war, he still does not question his belief that the people of South Vietnam, including the old men, the women, and the children, were enemies waiting for the Americans to let their guard down, not victims of a military conflict that were hoping that it would simply end. The enemy, the author asserts, could be even an innocent looking child. This reminds me of one of the most iconic testimonies of the My Lai trials:
Q: What did you do?
Charlie Company member Paul Meadlo: I held my M-16 on them.
Q: Why?
A: Because they might attack.
Q: They were children and babies?
A: Yes.
Q: And they might attack? Children and babies?
A: They might've had a fully loaded grenade on them. The mothers might have throwed them at us.
Q: Babies?
A: Yes.
Q: Were the babies in their mothers' arms?
A: I guess so.
Q: And the babies moved to attack?
A: I expected at any moment they were about to make a counterbalance.
YEAR IN NAM is just another of many combat memoirs. I believe that the subtitle, A Native American Soldier's Story, is unnecessary because TeCube's memoir does not make his experiences and his thoughts on the Vietnamese people stand out from those of many other, not Native American soldiers. This book will appeal to those who have not read other memoirs of the Vietnam conflict. It is detailed and engagingly written.
TeCube follows the formulaic structure of combat memoirs. He begins with a description of his childhood and youth, which had "many twists and turns." His mother passed away when he was about a year old, so he was raised first by his grandmother, until he was three, and then by other relatives until he entered the Bureau of Indian Affairs dormitory and the local Indian school. During his high school days, he got to spend more time with his aunt and uncle. His uncle took him hunting, and it was on this hunting trips that TeCube acquired his knowledge of the outdoors. He considers his ability to orient himself in the woods by using various terrain features to have been his most valuable asset in the rice paddies, jungles, and mountains of Vietnam.
TeCube did not care or knew much about the Vietnam conflict until his older brother was drafted and started sending letters from Vietnam, explaining the situation. During this time, the Selective Services System was in effect, so all Americans that had reached the age of eighteen could be drafted, but TeCube got a temporary exemption because he was attending Haskell Institute, a higher learning institution for Native Americans in Lawrence, Kansas. He knew that his entrance into military service was just a matter of time, though.
As he narrates, he was leaning toward the air force, but the Marine recruiter who came to recruit him after his physical examination was more persuasive, so TeCube chose the Marine Corps. However, fate intervened – he received his notice for enlistment into the American Army before he could sign up for the Marines and after thinking it through, he decided to follow the enlistment notice because he would have had to serve four years as a Marine, but only two years as a soldier. He was sworn into service in New Mexico and trained at Fort Bliss, Texas. When asked where he wanted to be assigned overseas, he chose Vietnam without hesitation. He was young, full of energy, and curious about what it was like out there, in Southeast Asia. He left for Vietnam in December 1967 to become an infantryman as one in every five guys who served in Vietnam did.
The infantrymen, nicknamed grunts, spent most of their time in the field, trying to locate and destroy the enemy. For their efforts, they received the desired Combat Infantryman's Badge after meeting certain criteria. In TeCube's unit, the Twenty-third Infantry Division, the criteria was to engage the enemy where the unit had received a casualty. The infantrymen usually did not engage the enemy on a daily basis.
As TeCube describes, when he went out in the field, he took everything that he needed to survive for weeks at a time. His main attire was jungle fatigue, which was lighter than a normal fatigue and had a lot of pockets that allowed him to carry more items. Over the fatigue, he wore web gear, a harness attached to the pistol belt that was used for carrying a first aid kit, water kanteens, hand grenades, a pistol, a flashlight etc. The infantrymen also carried large rucksacks with all sorts of items inside – from writing paper, hygiene products, blankets, and ammunition to books, souvenirs, and C rations. Underneath the rucksack, most infantrymen wore heavy flack jackets for extra protection. The combined weight of all those items hindered mobility and was a great inconvenience for them.
However, as the author depicts, nothing could compare to the challenges the Vietnamese climate and terrain threw at the American infantrymen. The weather could soar to as much as 120 degrees Fahrenheit and then, because it sometimes rained for days, dropped low enough for the men to feel uncomfortable. The terrain determined the likelihood of their survival, as they waded through the smoldering hot jungle, then walked in knee-deep mud, then over steep mountains, then on loose sandy soil, in thick vegetation, or in open rice paddies and through rivers. Each of those terrains came with its own special challenges, and the scorching sun was almost always present. Not to mention the insects, ants, poisonous snakes, leeches, wild animals, water buffaloes, thorny plants, and the biggest torment – swarms of mosquitoes that could not be got rid of with mosquito repellent because its distinctive smell could give the Americans' position away to the Viet Cong. Whoever failed to take the required medication or use iodine tablets was exposed to the high risk of contracting malaria, dysentery, or other diseases.
On top of everything, the infantryman had to be on his guard all the time if he did not want to get shot or step on a mine or booby trap. The mental pressure was enormous. As TeCube puts it: "In a sense, as infantrymen, we all died in Nam. Views about ourselves were forever changed in a period of time that was an eternity to us."
The Viet Cong fighters often made a point of not shooting at African American and Native American soldiers because they pitied them for having been oppressed. TeCube does not seem to reciprocate the sympathetic mindset of the Vietnamese. He classifies the enemy into three categories – the Viet Cong, the North Vietnamese Army soldiers, and the Vietnamese people. It is his definition of the third category that exposes him as narrow-minded. Although he is looking in retrospect at the Vietnam conflict and he knows the facts about this unnecessarily costly war, he still does not question his belief that the people of South Vietnam, including the old men, the women, and the children, were enemies waiting for the Americans to let their guard down, not victims of a military conflict that were hoping that it would simply end. The enemy, the author asserts, could be even an innocent looking child. This reminds me of one of the most iconic testimonies of the My Lai trials:
Q: What did you do?
Charlie Company member Paul Meadlo: I held my M-16 on them.
Q: Why?
A: Because they might attack.
Q: They were children and babies?
A: Yes.
Q: And they might attack? Children and babies?
A: They might've had a fully loaded grenade on them. The mothers might have throwed them at us.
Q: Babies?
A: Yes.
Q: Were the babies in their mothers' arms?
A: I guess so.
Q: And the babies moved to attack?
A: I expected at any moment they were about to make a counterbalance.
YEAR IN NAM is just another of many combat memoirs. I believe that the subtitle, A Native American Soldier's Story, is unnecessary because TeCube's memoir does not make his experiences and his thoughts on the Vietnamese people stand out from those of many other, not Native American soldiers. This book will appeal to those who have not read other memoirs of the Vietnam conflict. It is detailed and engagingly written.
May 1, 2017
Its about a native american that goes into the Vietnam War for a year. He experienced so much in that year that will change his life forever. He meets the people he went to war with and they all become really close friends in Vietnam and in the states. The whole year he was in Vietnam he carried a gun and was in a really hostile environment to instantly being back in the United States not carrying a gun in civilian population. He had to get used to the United States again because of what he has experienced over in Vietnam.
I liked when he was taken time off and going to see different countries, and when he was in the safe zone. I didn't like that he was in the combat zone about 11 months of his one year of his tour.
People that doesn't like war wouldn't like this. It has a lot of people would died, and the enemy he has killed, and his operations that he has done.
I liked when he was taken time off and going to see different countries, and when he was in the safe zone. I didn't like that he was in the combat zone about 11 months of his one year of his tour.
People that doesn't like war wouldn't like this. It has a lot of people would died, and the enemy he has killed, and his operations that he has done.
February 26, 2021
An absolutely amazing recounting of a Native American soldier's time in Vietnam. In depth, discussing many different aspects of the war effort, and includes harrowing, violent, brutal imagery. All done as a way to retell the story, not to make the reader feel 'one way or the other' about the war -- just the facts. Chilling, haunting, and worthy of a read by everyone interested in wars, military service, etc.
January 23, 2018
A good firsthand account of a Native American's experiences as a soldier in Vietnam. There are some graphic moments, but none that are too vivid to make you set the book down. Rather, it is a fully rounded narrative that tells of the day-to-day life, the combat, and returning home.
February 5, 2017
TeCube served as an infantryman in Vietnam from January 1968-January 1969. His memoir is a straightforward account of that year. It ties together factual, practical information (such as what the GIs wore, what they carried, what they ate and where they slept, how they were supplied, how they made minute-to-minute decisions about where to go and how best to get there) with more philosophical, spiritual observations. TeCube describes his own childhood experiences, and how they guided him in ways both tangible (as he often volunteered to walk point, leading his platoon through the landscape) and less tangible (as he applied his Jicarilla Apache beliefs to various situations). His approach is humane and respectful - I imagine this is partially due to the fact that this memoir was written 25 years after the fact, with the benefit of greater maturity and hindsight, but given the fact of his promotion to a leadership role during his Year in Nam, I'm guessing that he began his service with a measure of maturity and circumspection beyond his 21 or so years.
TeCube doesn't dwell on the dangers or the horrors of the war, although they are there, of course; rather, his account seems to exemplify an attitude that probably went a fair distance toward promoting survival - a thoughtful, common-sense, level-headed consideration of situations, whether related to the terrain, weather, villagers both benign and hostile, movements of the enemy, mental state of the GIs themselves, etc.
TeCube often reflects on the warrior tradition and history of his Jicarilla Apache people, including his feeling of obligation to share his experiences for the benefit of future generations. I am certainly indebted to him for revisiting and recounting his Year in Nam - a task that must have been harrowing and painful at times - not to mention indebted to him for his service, which, although I know I can never fully comprehend, I now understand so much better than I did before.
TeCube doesn't dwell on the dangers or the horrors of the war, although they are there, of course; rather, his account seems to exemplify an attitude that probably went a fair distance toward promoting survival - a thoughtful, common-sense, level-headed consideration of situations, whether related to the terrain, weather, villagers both benign and hostile, movements of the enemy, mental state of the GIs themselves, etc.
TeCube often reflects on the warrior tradition and history of his Jicarilla Apache people, including his feeling of obligation to share his experiences for the benefit of future generations. I am certainly indebted to him for revisiting and recounting his Year in Nam - a task that must have been harrowing and painful at times - not to mention indebted to him for his service, which, although I know I can never fully comprehend, I now understand so much better than I did before.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews