By Jr. Arthur Wiknik
A decent travel of the Vietnam warfare from the soldier's eye view . . .
Nam-Sense is the brilliantly written tale of a strive against squad chief within the one hundred and first Airborne department. Arthur Wiknik was once a 19-year-old child from New England whilst he used to be drafted into the U.S. military in 1968. After finishing numerous NCO education courses, he was once promoted to sergeant "without ever environment foot in a wrestle quarter" and despatched to Vietnam in early 1969. almost immediately after his arrival at the a long way facet of the area, Wiknik was once assigned to Camp Evans, a mixed-unit base camp close to the northern village of Phong Dien, in simple terms thirty miles from Laos and North Vietnam. On his first jungle patrol, his squad killed a feminine Viet Cong who grew to become out to were the neighborhood prostitute. It was once the 1st lifeless individual he had ever noticeable.
Wiknik's account of existence and dying in Vietnam contains every little thing from heavy wrestle to faking madness to get a few R & R. He was once the 1st guy in his unit to arrive the head of Hamburger Hill in the course of one of many final offensives introduced by way of U.S. forces, and later chanced on a guns cache that avoided an assault on his strengthen fireplace aid base. among the sporadic episodes of wrestle he mingled with the locals, tricked unwitting U.S. providers into offering his platoon with a yr of not easy to get nutrients, defied an outstanding and was once punished with a perilous undertaking, and struggled with himself and his fellow infantrymen because the anti-war circulation started to impact his skill to salary successful war.
Nam-Sense bargains an ideal mixture of candor, sarcasm, and humor - and it spares not anything and nobody in its try and safely express what relatively transpired for the strive against soldier in this unpopular conflict. Nam-Sense isn't really approximately heroism or glory, psychological breakdowns, haunting flashbacks, or wallowing in self-pity. The GIs Wiknik lived and fought with in the course of his yearlong travel didn't rape, homicide, or burn villages, weren't strung out on medicines, and didn't get pleasure from killing. They have been there to do their responsibility as they have been educated, help their comrades - and get domestic alive. "The squaddies I knew," explains the writer, "demonstrated braveness, precept, kindness, and friendship, the entire components present in different wars americans have proudly fought in."
Wiknik has produced a gripping and whole list of lifestyles and demise in Vietnam, and he has performed so with a mode and aptitude few others will ever achieve.
REVIEWS
"Namsense is a decent and lifelike account of not just the author's travel of accountability however the excursions of different Vietnam squaddies besides. i believe commemorated to have Arthur as an occasional visitor on my radio express and my listeners are the entire larger for it."
Lee Elci WXLM New London, CT
"As a member of Sergeant Wiknik's squad, i discovered Namsense to be an actual and soaking up narrative that resonates with each wrestle GI's tale of survival in Vietnam."
Howard Siner, Staten Island Advance
“…the most sensible, so much exact portrayal of the lifetime of an Infantryman in Vietnam… A friend, female friend, or fiancée of a soldier who went to Vietnam will locate this booklet so much illuminating. For all of the remainder of you, in case you learn just one ebook a few soldier’s existence in Vietnam, learn NamSense!”
Col. Gene Sherron, 11/2/2010
“…provides an unflinching examine a yr within the lifetime of a grunt on Vietnam…”
Military heritage of the West, quantity forty, 2010
Read or Download Nam-sense : surviving Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division PDF
Similar vietnam war books
In lots of respects the main winning, flexible and widely-used wrestle airplane of the post-war period the F-4 Phantom II was once fast followed by way of the USAF after its superb US military creation. It was once loads larger than the other USAF fighter on the time that Air strength generals have been chuffed to conform with the united states government's 'commonality' coverage and buy a naval airplane.
''''''AH-1 Cobra In motion
Dear Dr. Spock: Letters about the Vietnam War to America's Favorite Baby Doctor
On the peak of the Vietnam battle, millions of usa citizens wrote relocating letters to Dr. Benjamin Spock, America’s pediatrician and a high-profile opponent of the battle. own and heartfelt, considerate and risky, those missives from center the US offer an interesting glimpse into the conflicts that came about over the dinner desk as humans wrestled with this divisive conflict and with their consciences.
As a consultant of Southeast Asian background, i'm usually requested to introduce a e-book that may relate the historical past of Vietnam, from its beginnings to the current. As frequently, i'm embarrassed to reply to that there's no such publication written in English. In influence, even though we have now many courses that deal appropriately with specific classes or systematically with various subject matters of its previous, a entire heritage of Vietnam continues to be missing.
- The Hill Fights
- Striving for Air Superiority: The Tactical Air Command in Vietnam (Texas a & M University Military History Series)
- The US Army in the Vietnam War 1965-73
- The Tet Offensive: Politics, War, and Public Opinion (Vietnam: America in the War Years)
- Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War
- Hanoi’s War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam
Additional info for Nam-sense : surviving Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division
Example text
Now they just run around setting up booby traps, hitting us only when it’s to their advantage. ” “Hey,” laughed Smith. ” “Yeah,” said Scoggins, “he’s so stupid. Those tracers sailed right past the bunker line. ” “They were probably sleeping,” added Harrison. ” “Here, Wiknik,” said Scoggins. ” “Stones? ” “To throw at Halveston. He’s always falling asleep during his guard and he snores so loud that he might give away our position. ” The banter continued until my companions settled down for their turn at sleep.
He shook his head, mumbled something about a cherry NCO, and walked outside. ” I wondered. These guys don’t know anything about me and already I’m hated. Maybe that screwball Specialist Doyen at SERTS was right. Maybe being an Instant NCO could be a death wish. Shortly afterward, the truck pulled up and I was on my way. It felt strange to be driven out to the combat zone in the back of a pickup truck because I thought we made an easy target. We drove out the rear gate of Camp Evans past well-tended rice paddies and tea tree gardens.
But now, I was more concerned about my superiors. For my survival, and that of the platoon’s, I’d have to find a way to convince the Grunts that I was on their side. Lieutenant Bruckner gave me command of the second squad. My fire team leaders were Specialists Stanley Alcon and Freddie Shaw. Alcon was a California beach lover who constantly talked about girls, cars, and drag-racing. However, with jet-black hair and brown eyes, he didn’t fit the blond, blue-eyed surfer boy image. Shaw was black and came from the Virginia Bible belt, so he never swore or used foul language.