Living With Dragons: With The Korean Marines in Vietnam

by G Scott Leis

"We lined up in front of tables arranged by MOS (Military Occupation Speciality). I stood in line at the field radio operator table and waited for my turn. I took my turn, and a Lance Corporal seated behind the table picked up one of scores of stamps and stamped my orders. I read my orders and the imprint “SU#1, 1st ANGLICO, FMF, WESTPAC” OK, I knew FMF meant FLEET MARINE FORCE, and WESTPAC meant WESTERN PACIFIC (Vietnam), but I had never seen or heard of SU#1, 1st ANGLICO. I asked the Lance Corporal what ANGLICO was. He looked at my orders and said he had no idea. He tapped the Corporal working beside him, showed him my orders, and asked him where I was going. The Corporal shook his head and said he had never heard of it. The Lance Corporal gave me back my orders, looked into my eyes and said, “You’re going to hell, Private.” That made me a bit anxious. Luckily, one of the guys I went through boot camp with, John Staunton, also had the same orders. So if I was going to hell, I wasn’t going alone." I served 19 months with the Republic of Korea’s 2nd Marine Brigade (BLUE DRAGON BRIGADE). With one other enlisted U.S. Marine, much of that time was at company level. We wore their uniform, ate their food and learned their customs and habits. We learned how to communicate with those we were assigned to serve. It is a rare day that I do not think of that time in my life. I decided to tell the story.

296 pages, Paperback

First published May 4, 2014

Reviews

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking for elegant prose, this is not your book. But, if you are looking for an honest, well told account of what it was like to serve with Korean Marines in Vietnam, this is your book. Scott Leis is a very perceptive and honest observer. He lives, sleeps, eats, parties, fights, and suffers with ROK marines for 18 months in Vietnam. He is very open to their culture and traditions, a willing learner, who learns enough Korean to communicate well with them. He integrates totally with them even to the extent of wearing their uniform. His job is to serve as a ‘wire’ marine (radio operator) and call in American air support when needed — everything from med evacs, to resupply, to gunships, and even Nape (napalm).

His descriptions of air strikes, especially nape, put you there. Although his story is gently told he does not shy away from telling you how ROK Marines sometimes executed pows. He does not make apologies for them, he just tells the story as honestly as he can. And, therein lies Scott Leis’s strength as a writer. He does not get in the way of the story, he does not edit or editorialize, he simply tells the story as it went down.

This book started to fill for me what is a gap. When I was at Tan Son Nhut AB, RVN (1971-2) i sometimes ate with Korean Air Force officers in the chow hall. That was my first interaction with Koreans. I liked them because they were straightforward, honest, and certainly not above “jerking your chain” once they felt comfortable with you. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[ByoungJun Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book. I was a Korean Marine working with US Marines. My former unit was ROK 2nd MARDIV or a.k.a Blue Dragon division. I learned a lot about my unit's legacy in Vietnam from ROK Marines, but I never learned about it from a US Marine's perspective. This book reminded me of Eugene Sledge's "With the Old Breeds" a bit because of Mr. Leis 'Marine-like' straightforward writings. I loved it. One thing I'd like to make a note is that ROK and US alliance was strong and the USMC and ROKMC's camaraderie was even stronger because we did military exercises together as a one team with one goal even 40 years after Vietnam War. With that, thank you all for your service. Semper Fi!

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I write my own coming-of-age novel set in the 1970s, post-Vietnam, I thought I would learn a few things about the war from this book. And I did. However, it was a bit difficult to read due to lack of editing.