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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 8, 2014
Having been a teenager/young adult during this era, this book brought back many emotions. My heart goes out to the men and women who were drafted to fight in this unwinable war.
Right out of high school teenagers were drafted and sent to Vietnam. College was the only way to avoid going and that was only a postponement of a year. Medical deferments were very rare even when they were authentic. My uncle, who had night blindness, was deemed fit for duty. He was put on guard duty one night even though he told them he could not see in the dark. He punched an officer in the face when said officer refused to acknowledge the command, "Halt, who goes there?" My uncle then got a medical deferment. Makes you wonder how many medically challenged soldiers who should not have even been there, died.
Then what they had to come home to was horrible. Why would Americans put their youth in such horrid conditions and then have to "play the game" with those who were just "playing soldier". We have then President Richard Nixon to thank for this debacle. Our soldiers did what they were told. Even when it went against their moral compass. But yet for those brave souls, they carried that war with them the rest of their lives. I for one am proud of every single vet who answered their countries call, albeit was drafted. I worked with many vets and the stories they told were absolutely horrifying. One man even wrote his own book (single for himself only published) trying to eradicate the demons and nightmares of what he saw and went through.
If you want to gain new insights into that dreadful war, I recommend that you read this book. I want to thank the author, Richard Pena, for sharing his "experience" with me, another baby boomer from that same era. You have my utmost respect, sincere gratitude for your service and I gladly recommend your book as a must read.
Right out of high school teenagers were drafted and sent to Vietnam. College was the only way to avoid going and that was only a postponement of a year. Medical deferments were very rare even when they were authentic. My uncle, who had night blindness, was deemed fit for duty. He was put on guard duty one night even though he told them he could not see in the dark. He punched an officer in the face when said officer refused to acknowledge the command, "Halt, who goes there?" My uncle then got a medical deferment. Makes you wonder how many medically challenged soldiers who should not have even been there, died.
Then what they had to come home to was horrible. Why would Americans put their youth in such horrid conditions and then have to "play the game" with those who were just "playing soldier". We have then President Richard Nixon to thank for this debacle. Our soldiers did what they were told. Even when it went against their moral compass. But yet for those brave souls, they carried that war with them the rest of their lives. I for one am proud of every single vet who answered their countries call, albeit was drafted. I worked with many vets and the stories they told were absolutely horrifying. One man even wrote his own book (single for himself only published) trying to eradicate the demons and nightmares of what he saw and went through.
If you want to gain new insights into that dreadful war, I recommend that you read this book. I want to thank the author, Richard Pena, for sharing his "experience" with me, another baby boomer from that same era. You have my utmost respect, sincere gratitude for your service and I gladly recommend your book as a must read.
September 15, 2014
I thought I knew a lot about Vietnam
I learned a lot from this book. I have read many stories and have seen quite a few movies about Vietnam. These are all about the early days or the middle of the war. I knew nothing about the end of the war and what it was like for the last Americans to leave. At my last job before I retired, there was a group of women, Vietnamese refugees who I did not understand. They seemed to really hate America and Americans. This book gives some insights into how some Vietnamese felt about the Americans supposedly "helping" them. Other refugees I knew seemed to be glad to be here but I was never sure. If you want to gain new insights into that dreadful war, I recommend that you read this book.
I learned a lot from this book. I have read many stories and have seen quite a few movies about Vietnam. These are all about the early days or the middle of the war. I knew nothing about the end of the war and what it was like for the last Americans to leave. At my last job before I retired, there was a group of women, Vietnamese refugees who I did not understand. They seemed to really hate America and Americans. This book gives some insights into how some Vietnamese felt about the Americans supposedly "helping" them. Other refugees I knew seemed to be glad to be here but I was never sure. If you want to gain new insights into that dreadful war, I recommend that you read this book.
January 5, 2018
John Hagan gives the background of what was going on at home about the war both politically and in the country. How staying as long as we did stay did not make a difference and lost too many lives.
Richard Pena kept a running journal of what he saw the eleven months he spent in Saigon. He was an OR tech who saw many of the injured before they were sent home. He was on the last plane out of Saigon, which he explains how that came about and how he felt leaving.
The book gives you a look from two sides of the times and makes you stop and think about where you were and what you were aware of at the time.
Richard Pena kept a running journal of what he saw the eleven months he spent in Saigon. He was an OR tech who saw many of the injured before they were sent home. He was on the last plane out of Saigon, which he explains how that came about and how he felt leaving.
The book gives you a look from two sides of the times and makes you stop and think about where you were and what you were aware of at the time.
May 26, 2017
Last Days Of The Vietnam War
The author,who served during the Vietnam War,focuses on the end of that war and the lessons which, sadly, politicians have not heed.
The author,who served during the Vietnam War,focuses on the end of that war and the lessons which, sadly, politicians have not heed.
December 15, 2017
[Note: This book was provided free of charge by Books Go Social/Net Gallery. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]
The author's claim to fame is being among the last Americans to leave South Vietnam during 1973. Unfortunately, his being photographed by a Viet Cong photographer led to the photograph being put in a Saigon museum dedicated to the Vietnam War and, when the author himself saw it, for his manuscript to come out of mothballs and be inflicted upon the rest of the world. There are definitely people who will like this book, but I am not one of them, and the reason for that is mainly the whiny leftist perspective of the author. If you are the kind of person who protests against wars and cheers on traitors and deserters, by all means, you will almost certainly appreciate this book. As someone who thinks these people should be subjected to the business end of a noose, I found this author's perspective impossible to enjoy and that in turn made this book impossible to appreciate, even for someone who has some tolerance for pacifists [1].
This book is divided into five parts and has a beat about it. In the first section of every part, a leftist historian provides some bogus historical context about the diary entries of the author, which sets up the whiny fake deep reflections of the author about how unfair it is that he should be here and how mean and cruel the United States is and all that. The author and historian together team up to promote a whole batch of leftists from John Kerry to various bands and Woodstock to the hack job Born On The Fourth Of July. Included is some truly terrible revisionist history, from the belief that America as a whole was tired with Nixon regarding the Vietnam War before the Watergate Scandal and even that the Domino theory was a failure--when it was actually one of the better verified theories of the era when one considers the fall of Laos and Cambodia into Communism and the socialism that still infects North and Northeastern Thailand to the detriment of that longsuffering nation to this day. Unfortunately, the truth has never gotten in the way of traitors like the author and historian, who blithely ignore most of the evils of the Viet Cong and pin most of the blame on Americans.
The author served as a medic in a MASH unit in Vietnam and his account ranges from petty whining about being among the last soldiers drafted to discussions of his rap game with coworkers to his open support of deserters and a demand that there be a full amnesty for all of the traitors that were given less than honorable discharges for various treasonous behavior. Unfortunately, the author and historian of this work and others of their ilk are cancers in our body politic that deserve to be excised if and when it is feasible to do so without causing greater harm to the United States and its interests. Suffice it to say that whether or not you appreciate this book and its approach will depend almost entirely on the worldview you have. Those who are left of the center will think it a wonderful testament to a reluctant draftee who served his time and got to be a witness to one of the more disgraceful incidents in American history. Those who are not will likely not be as impressed, and will think it fitting that such a disgraceful moment should be inhabited by such a disgraceful human being as this.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
The author's claim to fame is being among the last Americans to leave South Vietnam during 1973. Unfortunately, his being photographed by a Viet Cong photographer led to the photograph being put in a Saigon museum dedicated to the Vietnam War and, when the author himself saw it, for his manuscript to come out of mothballs and be inflicted upon the rest of the world. There are definitely people who will like this book, but I am not one of them, and the reason for that is mainly the whiny leftist perspective of the author. If you are the kind of person who protests against wars and cheers on traitors and deserters, by all means, you will almost certainly appreciate this book. As someone who thinks these people should be subjected to the business end of a noose, I found this author's perspective impossible to enjoy and that in turn made this book impossible to appreciate, even for someone who has some tolerance for pacifists [1].
This book is divided into five parts and has a beat about it. In the first section of every part, a leftist historian provides some bogus historical context about the diary entries of the author, which sets up the whiny fake deep reflections of the author about how unfair it is that he should be here and how mean and cruel the United States is and all that. The author and historian together team up to promote a whole batch of leftists from John Kerry to various bands and Woodstock to the hack job Born On The Fourth Of July. Included is some truly terrible revisionist history, from the belief that America as a whole was tired with Nixon regarding the Vietnam War before the Watergate Scandal and even that the Domino theory was a failure--when it was actually one of the better verified theories of the era when one considers the fall of Laos and Cambodia into Communism and the socialism that still infects North and Northeastern Thailand to the detriment of that longsuffering nation to this day. Unfortunately, the truth has never gotten in the way of traitors like the author and historian, who blithely ignore most of the evils of the Viet Cong and pin most of the blame on Americans.
The author served as a medic in a MASH unit in Vietnam and his account ranges from petty whining about being among the last soldiers drafted to discussions of his rap game with coworkers to his open support of deserters and a demand that there be a full amnesty for all of the traitors that were given less than honorable discharges for various treasonous behavior. Unfortunately, the author and historian of this work and others of their ilk are cancers in our body politic that deserve to be excised if and when it is feasible to do so without causing greater harm to the United States and its interests. Suffice it to say that whether or not you appreciate this book and its approach will depend almost entirely on the worldview you have. Those who are left of the center will think it a wonderful testament to a reluctant draftee who served his time and got to be a witness to one of the more disgraceful incidents in American history. Those who are not will likely not be as impressed, and will think it fitting that such a disgraceful moment should be inhabited by such a disgraceful human being as this.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
April 30, 2019
This book weaves together the historical context of what was happening in the "outer world" along with memoirs written while Richard Pena was in Vietnam.
Other than the horrors that Richard brings out vividly in his journals, that would be experienced by Vietnam vets everyday, the sense that survival is all that matters and idealism is a luxury that one can't afford, there is the message against wars of indeterminable time, undefinable goals, invasions of other countries in order to support American goals regardless of the thoughts or inconvenient dangers to the populace.
Other than the horrors that Richard brings out vividly in his journals, that would be experienced by Vietnam vets everyday, the sense that survival is all that matters and idealism is a luxury that one can't afford, there is the message against wars of indeterminable time, undefinable goals, invasions of other countries in order to support American goals regardless of the thoughts or inconvenient dangers to the populace.
June 22, 2015
Thank you
This is my first book on Vietnam in many years, so I want to start my review with a Thank you to all that served. I found this very moving. One man's struggle with a sense of right and wrong, Vietnam was an unwinable war with many lives lost to death or mental well being just to satisfy a political chess game. A must read.
This is my first book on Vietnam in many years, so I want to start my review with a Thank you to all that served. I found this very moving. One man's struggle with a sense of right and wrong, Vietnam was an unwinable war with many lives lost to death or mental well being just to satisfy a political chess game. A must read.
October 12, 2014
Different view
I look at the death of so many young in a war that was so mis managed as deplorable and any one that's served knows the way of the military is not always effective. I however am not as disenchanted with all the rest
I look at the death of so many young in a war that was so mis managed as deplorable and any one that's served knows the way of the military is not always effective. I however am not as disenchanted with all the rest
January 1, 2015
This book was a good read but could have been better.
I thought the book was kind of a repeater. Some of the pages were repeated more then once, which I think should not happen that often. It was a good book otherwise.
I thought the book was kind of a repeater. Some of the pages were repeated more then once, which I think should not happen that often. It was a good book otherwise.
November 13, 2016
Worth Five Stars
This is the story of a Vietnam draftee and his experiences working in the operating room under adverse conditions. A very compelling perspective on the war/conflict.
This is the story of a Vietnam draftee and his experiences working in the operating room under adverse conditions. A very compelling perspective on the war/conflict.
September 26, 2014
Gives quite a feel of sentiments as the US prepared for and made an ignominiously forced retreat from southeast Asia
September 29, 2014
A short account of war in Vietnam. This is not a combat story, more of a story about the emotion and politics of the war. It's good, quick read.
December 21, 2014
Last Plane Out of Saigon
I enjoy reading books based on true events. Also being I grew up during that era made it even more interesting to me.
I enjoy reading books based on true events. Also being I grew up during that era made it even more interesting to me.
October 12, 2014
Good book. I was quite young at the end of the Vietnam War and this book filled in some gaps.
February 2, 2018
This is a one man view of the war in Vietnam, there are many stories that will never be told
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews