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Cover image for A life in a year : the American infantryman in Vietnam, 1965-1972
Format:
Book
Title:
A life in a year : the American infantryman in Vietnam, 1965-1972
ISBN:
9780891415008

9780891418290
Publication Information:
Novato, CA : Presidio Press, ©1993.
Physical Description:
xiv, 406 pages, 10 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Contents:
Introduction -- Basic training -- Advanced individual training -- Going -- Arrival and processing -- Being new -- First combat -- Humping the bush -- Hazards of the field -- Change and coping -- Offensive operations -- The bitter angles of our nature -- Civilians? -- "Short!" -- Eating the toad.
Summary:
"Finally, a book that focuses exclusively on the life of the 'grunt' (infantry soldier) in Vietnam. The voices of more than sixty army and marine infantrymen speak with restrained elegance of their experiences from induction to the jungles and rice paddies of 'Indian country' to their return to 'The World.' From I Corps in the north to IV Corps in the south, and from the early days of 1965 to the American withdrawal in 1972, A Life in a Year offers a unique look at the grunt's war in Vietnam - as seen through the eyes of the soldiers themselves. The insights of these combat veterans are woven into the narrative, giving the reader a sense of what it was like to serve in an infantry unit fighting Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese regulars. Veterans can compare their own experiences to those of infantrymen who served in different time periods during the Vietnam era and in different parts of the country. Civilians and veterans who did not experience life in the 'boonies' will appreciate the author's candid explanations of the war in terms that will help them to better understand the individual soldier's experience."--Jacket.

Personal narratives from "more than sixty army and marine infantrymen ..."
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