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Charlie Company: What Vietnam Did To Us
There were no homecoming parades for the million men and women who served in the longest war America ever fought...the only war it has ever lost. This is a book about 65 of those nearly forgotten men who soldiered in the late 1960s in a gook-hunting, dirt-eating, dog-soldiering infantry unit called Charlie Company. They were boys then, 19 or 20 years old on the average. The army snatched them up out of small towns, suited them up as soldiers and sent them off to a place they could not locate on a map to fight a war they did not understand. CHARLIE COMPANY is not a military history. It is not a record of battles or a moral commentary. It is instead a chess game viewed by the pawns. It is a collective memoir of the war and the homecoming, filtered through time and pain, anger and guilt, bitterness and forgetfulness.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 8, 2009
I read the book 12 years ago to try to understand my husband's experience in Vietnam. It's been 40 years and my husband took his own life after his "predator" the war came after him again this many years later. You can't help but question why you didn't see it coming, but just like everyone else I forgot how deep those invisible wounds went. Actually, he probably still had a chance if it were not for the "one pill fits all" mentality of the VA. There's another book written by a veteran of Iraq and he describes the EXACT same medical treatment, the fifteen minute drive- thru which ends with a prescription for anti-depressants. The book was the only honest effort at the time to listen to the "old boys" When you see their faces before and then after, it's a tribute to their own will to live..."Their travail was what Vietnam did to them. Our silence is what it has done to us"...I love you, honey.
July 10, 2019
If I could give this book ten stars I would. It is absolutely the best book I have ever read about Vietnam, even superseding old favorites of mine like BLOODS by Wallace Terry and A RUMOR OF WAR by Philip Caputo.
This book is like BLOODS because it's a series of transcribed interviews with Vietnam veterans. But the structure is different. BLOODS is all about black veterans from every branch of service and every rank. Charlie Company is about all the soldiers in one particular unit, but no other unit in the war. In a way this book has much more scope, even though all these soldiers are infantrymen from one company. Within the company there are so many stories, some soldiers who came from grinding poverty and some who came from relative privilege. Some of the black soldiers are from the ghettos and some are from the rural south. It's hard to overstate how easily this book could have fallen into cliche, with stories of familiar types. ("He was a tough blue collar kid who liked a couple of beers. But when his country called, he was ready.") There is some of that. But every story is unique. There are parents who expect their son to serve, while others frankly offer to help their sons escape to Canada. (Quite a few wives and girlfriends suggest that option too.) But all these men chose to serve. None of their stories are completely happy. Some of them are terribly sad. But every word rings true. All the stories come across as real and important human experience.
I was so completely absorbed in the first half of the book, which details Charlie Company's time in combat, that I was almost disappointed when the whole second half of the book turned out to be about how the soldiers readjusted to civilian life. But after a few pages I found that these stories were just as gripping and sometimes just as terrifying. This was a book I could not put down from beginning to end.
I only came across this book by accident because I substitute teach in an affluent suburban high school with a really amazing library. It told me so much that I never knew before. I wish every kid in America could read this book.
This book is like BLOODS because it's a series of transcribed interviews with Vietnam veterans. But the structure is different. BLOODS is all about black veterans from every branch of service and every rank. Charlie Company is about all the soldiers in one particular unit, but no other unit in the war. In a way this book has much more scope, even though all these soldiers are infantrymen from one company. Within the company there are so many stories, some soldiers who came from grinding poverty and some who came from relative privilege. Some of the black soldiers are from the ghettos and some are from the rural south. It's hard to overstate how easily this book could have fallen into cliche, with stories of familiar types. ("He was a tough blue collar kid who liked a couple of beers. But when his country called, he was ready.") There is some of that. But every story is unique. There are parents who expect their son to serve, while others frankly offer to help their sons escape to Canada. (Quite a few wives and girlfriends suggest that option too.) But all these men chose to serve. None of their stories are completely happy. Some of them are terribly sad. But every word rings true. All the stories come across as real and important human experience.
I was so completely absorbed in the first half of the book, which details Charlie Company's time in combat, that I was almost disappointed when the whole second half of the book turned out to be about how the soldiers readjusted to civilian life. But after a few pages I found that these stories were just as gripping and sometimes just as terrifying. This was a book I could not put down from beginning to end.
I only came across this book by accident because I substitute teach in an affluent suburban high school with a really amazing library. It told me so much that I never knew before. I wish every kid in America could read this book.
August 23, 2010
I made it through. The stories in this book are raw, and the descriptions of in-combat atrocities remain etched in my mind.
A tough read, but worth hearing the testimonies of dozens of Vietnam vets. For someone who has claimed pacifism for a while but didn't know war stories, this book gave me direct perspective from those who served on just how unclear the goals and missions of war are, and the repercussions of haunting memories on life after military service. I thank my Aunt who married a Vietnam vet with PTSD for lending me the book. I now understand a bit more of what she went through, what he went through, and how the Vietnam experience made a meaningful marriage difficult and how war continues to hurt, even ruin relationships and whole societies.
A tough read, but worth hearing the testimonies of dozens of Vietnam vets. For someone who has claimed pacifism for a while but didn't know war stories, this book gave me direct perspective from those who served on just how unclear the goals and missions of war are, and the repercussions of haunting memories on life after military service. I thank my Aunt who married a Vietnam vet with PTSD for lending me the book. I now understand a bit more of what she went through, what he went through, and how the Vietnam experience made a meaningful marriage difficult and how war continues to hurt, even ruin relationships and whole societies.
March 19, 2021
I had heard about this book after reading another book about the Vietnam episode. Being a Vet and I decided to get it. I was able to get through the Leominster Public Library, which I am extremely grateful for. This book is good. Enlightening. Informative. I never realized that the age of the Vietnam
Vets on average 18 to 20. For example I was one month shy of my 19th birthday when I went in and on month shy of my 21st birthday when i got out. WWII and Korean soldiers were much older . If anything...the Vietnam Experience was a metamorphosing enigma that lacerated and marked all soldiers. It forced all of us to shed our innocence and beliefs. The wounds we suffered were physical and psychological. Those of us who were stateside suffered the ignominy of having to tolerate the uselessness of our friends when we would come home and see how infantile they were after what we had had to tolerate. Those of us who went overseas had to see how demeaning and mendacious those in positions of power had used their tools to destroy the fruits of American and Vietnam humanity.
This is a good book. Startling. Also you do shake your head at times because of the verity that it addresses. I found myself scratching my forehead when realizing that our experiences were all encompassing and nerve-wracking. Its a gasping book. Please read it.
Vets on average 18 to 20. For example I was one month shy of my 19th birthday when I went in and on month shy of my 21st birthday when i got out. WWII and Korean soldiers were much older . If anything...the Vietnam Experience was a metamorphosing enigma that lacerated and marked all soldiers. It forced all of us to shed our innocence and beliefs. The wounds we suffered were physical and psychological. Those of us who were stateside suffered the ignominy of having to tolerate the uselessness of our friends when we would come home and see how infantile they were after what we had had to tolerate. Those of us who went overseas had to see how demeaning and mendacious those in positions of power had used their tools to destroy the fruits of American and Vietnam humanity.
This is a good book. Startling. Also you do shake your head at times because of the verity that it addresses. I found myself scratching my forehead when realizing that our experiences were all encompassing and nerve-wracking. Its a gasping book. Please read it.
September 8, 2018
This book follows the lives of a few US soldiers before, during and after their time in the Vietnam War. Some of the book covers the extreme violence that would develop on the battlefields. The book also shows, how after the war, some were resilient while others fell apart mentally. A vivid, and at times, disturbing look into the Vietnam conflict. A very sharp, candid look at the effects of this conflict. I have read this more than twice.
December 30, 2024
3.5. Did some research on Vietnam while reading this book. Why we were there...why we lost etc...I'm glad I read the book and was spurred to learn more.
March 18, 2012
This book covers the Vietnam War and its aftermath from the perspective of the soldiers in one of the companies there, Charlie Company. It deliberately has exactly one focus: it concentrates on the men and their personal experiences there and after, and it completely ignores the geopolitical situation. I suppose that's an entirely different story, but I would have liked to have a little more of it than the book presented (which, as I recall, was only about half a page in the preface).
That said, the book covers that angle well, from a wide variety of individual perspectives. (A book that examines only the human costs, while ignoring any potential benefits in the broader picture, does present a trap to the unthinking reader -- of assuming the war was entirely unjustified and pointless. This is particularly the case in a book that’s likely to tug on heartstrings. But with care by the reader that problem can be avoided.) There are soldiers who considered deserting to Canada rather than be drafted, soldiers who thought it was their duty to country to go and serve, soldiers who believed in the war throughout it, soldiers who never believed, soldiers who believed initially but lost faith over time, and so on.
A few messages shone clearly through the numerous stories and anecdotes. The usual message about the psychological health of soldiers — that some emerge unscathed and some do not — that the strongest ones coming in emerged most unscarred, while those not so emerged with more scars — were predictably present
Most important however was this: the strategy, insofar as what there was could be called a strategy, was nonsensical. Soldiers were to act as a retaining wall, perhaps gaining ground for a moment but quickly relinquishing it, fighting battles without conquest or significant, permanent gain. The enemy we were fighting might retreat from the momentary goal, but it would retreat far enough to remain behind the metaphorical line we had drawn — and we would stop. We both would regroup to fight again (minus our and their casualties, but more important asymptotically less some of our will but a lesser proportion of theirs), and battles would repeat in different locations with little change in strategic advantage. This inability to take the battle to the enemy was apparently a product of the geopolitical situation, and my interpretation is that this, more than anything else, was why we lost the war. Nearly every soldier, pro- or antiwar or apathetic, at one point or another said that he believed if they’d been allowed to fight they could easily have won, and none said otherwise; the same held for commanders.
Thus the message I took most strongly from this book was this. When deciding whether to go to war, consider the objective, but also consider what you're willing to do to achieve it. If you're required not to fight your hardest to take the battle to the enemy, that is a substantial problem for winning a war. Maybe the benefits are there even if you're only willing to fight half-heartedly. But doing so has both short-term and long-term effects. Wars must be entered into carefully, and only after lengthy deliberation.
(This review is adapted from comments I wrote on it a few years ago, in the context of an Appalachian Trail thru-hike during which I read the book.)
That said, the book covers that angle well, from a wide variety of individual perspectives. (A book that examines only the human costs, while ignoring any potential benefits in the broader picture, does present a trap to the unthinking reader -- of assuming the war was entirely unjustified and pointless. This is particularly the case in a book that’s likely to tug on heartstrings. But with care by the reader that problem can be avoided.) There are soldiers who considered deserting to Canada rather than be drafted, soldiers who thought it was their duty to country to go and serve, soldiers who believed in the war throughout it, soldiers who never believed, soldiers who believed initially but lost faith over time, and so on.
A few messages shone clearly through the numerous stories and anecdotes. The usual message about the psychological health of soldiers — that some emerge unscathed and some do not — that the strongest ones coming in emerged most unscarred, while those not so emerged with more scars — were predictably present
Most important however was this: the strategy, insofar as what there was could be called a strategy, was nonsensical. Soldiers were to act as a retaining wall, perhaps gaining ground for a moment but quickly relinquishing it, fighting battles without conquest or significant, permanent gain. The enemy we were fighting might retreat from the momentary goal, but it would retreat far enough to remain behind the metaphorical line we had drawn — and we would stop. We both would regroup to fight again (minus our and their casualties, but more important asymptotically less some of our will but a lesser proportion of theirs), and battles would repeat in different locations with little change in strategic advantage. This inability to take the battle to the enemy was apparently a product of the geopolitical situation, and my interpretation is that this, more than anything else, was why we lost the war. Nearly every soldier, pro- or antiwar or apathetic, at one point or another said that he believed if they’d been allowed to fight they could easily have won, and none said otherwise; the same held for commanders.
Thus the message I took most strongly from this book was this. When deciding whether to go to war, consider the objective, but also consider what you're willing to do to achieve it. If you're required not to fight your hardest to take the battle to the enemy, that is a substantial problem for winning a war. Maybe the benefits are there even if you're only willing to fight half-heartedly. But doing so has both short-term and long-term effects. Wars must be entered into carefully, and only after lengthy deliberation.
(This review is adapted from comments I wrote on it a few years ago, in the context of an Appalachian Trail thru-hike during which I read the book.)
August 12, 2016
I believe that Americans are obligated to learn about and understand wars that our soldiers have fought in. I have read about both World Wars and about our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but I admit I know little about the Korean War and Vietnam. I hoped to change at least half of that with Charlie Company: What Vietnam Did to Us. And while I now have a better understanding of what our soldiers went through in Nam, I still don’t understand what the hell we were doing over there, what kind of war we were supposedly fighting, and why the hell over 50,000 American soldiers had to die defending a country that didn’t want us over there to being with.
This book is basically three sections: Charlie Company in Vietnam in the last years of the American participation, what the men of Charlie Company encountered coming home from the war and what their lives were like for the next 12 years, and finally the Company’s first reunion.
For me, this was a very eye-opening book. I had no idea that we had such stupid rules of engagement in this war. We weren’t allowed to attack Hanoi, which would have been an almost instant victory. Our soldiers went on the offensive during the day, but not at night when it was the North Vietnamese’s turn to be aggressive. We fought over patches of land, won them, then abandoned them for the enemy to retake at their leisure. The only indication of success was the body count of the enemy dead. It all boiled down to pointlessness. The war seemingly had no purpose, and so the only purpose of our soldiers became staying alive for the mandatory year of combat the draft required of them. No wonder so many of them questioned what they were doing over there. By the end of the first section, I had to agree with the soldiers who thought they were only over there to make the rubber and munitions companies rich.
But the hardest part of the book to read for me was the terrible homecoming that these men had. They’d gone away to war as boys, answering the call of their government, doing their duty as patriotic Americans. The war made them men. They watched friends blown to bits, killed the enemy with their bare hands to survive one more day of hell. They were pawns in the indifferent hands of stupid politicians, just doing what they were told. Instead of the respect that American soldiers deserve, they came home to complete indifference or outright contempt. Called murderers, psychos, and baby killers, our Vietnam veterans felt isolated and cut off from their own generation. They were made to feel ashamed of their service and denied the pride and gratitude that should come with serving one’s country. Denied accurate diagnoses and proper health care, many veterans suffered for years from PTSD, nightmares, and other symptoms of combat fatigue. Some turned to drugs and alcohol. Many couldn’t hold a job and watched marriages dissolve when they couldn’t or wouldn’t speak about the war that haunted them. For years, they suffered in silence. Twelve years after the war when Newsweek came to interview them, many were still suffering.
Charlie Company is a valuable, insightful read. While I certainly plan to read more on the subject, I’m glad I started with this book. It’s raw, both in its descriptions of combat and in the voices of the 65 Charlie Company veterans who contributed their stories to it. It gives a powerful and unforgiving look into the effects of war on young men.
http://ggddizzy07.wordpress.com
This book is basically three sections: Charlie Company in Vietnam in the last years of the American participation, what the men of Charlie Company encountered coming home from the war and what their lives were like for the next 12 years, and finally the Company’s first reunion.
For me, this was a very eye-opening book. I had no idea that we had such stupid rules of engagement in this war. We weren’t allowed to attack Hanoi, which would have been an almost instant victory. Our soldiers went on the offensive during the day, but not at night when it was the North Vietnamese’s turn to be aggressive. We fought over patches of land, won them, then abandoned them for the enemy to retake at their leisure. The only indication of success was the body count of the enemy dead. It all boiled down to pointlessness. The war seemingly had no purpose, and so the only purpose of our soldiers became staying alive for the mandatory year of combat the draft required of them. No wonder so many of them questioned what they were doing over there. By the end of the first section, I had to agree with the soldiers who thought they were only over there to make the rubber and munitions companies rich.
But the hardest part of the book to read for me was the terrible homecoming that these men had. They’d gone away to war as boys, answering the call of their government, doing their duty as patriotic Americans. The war made them men. They watched friends blown to bits, killed the enemy with their bare hands to survive one more day of hell. They were pawns in the indifferent hands of stupid politicians, just doing what they were told. Instead of the respect that American soldiers deserve, they came home to complete indifference or outright contempt. Called murderers, psychos, and baby killers, our Vietnam veterans felt isolated and cut off from their own generation. They were made to feel ashamed of their service and denied the pride and gratitude that should come with serving one’s country. Denied accurate diagnoses and proper health care, many veterans suffered for years from PTSD, nightmares, and other symptoms of combat fatigue. Some turned to drugs and alcohol. Many couldn’t hold a job and watched marriages dissolve when they couldn’t or wouldn’t speak about the war that haunted them. For years, they suffered in silence. Twelve years after the war when Newsweek came to interview them, many were still suffering.
Charlie Company is a valuable, insightful read. While I certainly plan to read more on the subject, I’m glad I started with this book. It’s raw, both in its descriptions of combat and in the voices of the 65 Charlie Company veterans who contributed their stories to it. It gives a powerful and unforgiving look into the effects of war on young men.
http://ggddizzy07.wordpress.com
October 7, 2015
As a veteran of the Vietnam war, I found this book painfully hard to read, because it reflects the still elusive truth of 'what that war did to us,' as the subtitle says. Note that it doesn't say, 'what the war did to them.' That war still echoes as a searing memory for those who served in it, but it does so even for those who did not.
'Charlie Company' is personal recollections taken from several members of an infantry unit in Vietnam's 3rd military region, near Lai Ke, not far from Saigon. These men, most of them draftees, were posted to Vietnam at the height of the war. They were immediately subjected to its cruelties, its horror and its purposeless insanity. As Kennish says later on in the book, "people ask me why I went, and what we were doing there, and I don't know."
The message delivered by 'Charlie Company' comes through the pages loud and clear: never go to war without a clear, immediately explicable reason, or the aftermath will haunt you. The men of C company returned to a country that dismissed their efforts in Vietnam, and misread who they'd become. Written in blood, this book should be required reading in all military training sites,and war colleges everywhere. After seeing what happened with Iraq however, I fear it has found a neglected spot on a dusty, forgotten shelf. Five stars.
'Charlie Company' is personal recollections taken from several members of an infantry unit in Vietnam's 3rd military region, near Lai Ke, not far from Saigon. These men, most of them draftees, were posted to Vietnam at the height of the war. They were immediately subjected to its cruelties, its horror and its purposeless insanity. As Kennish says later on in the book, "people ask me why I went, and what we were doing there, and I don't know."
The message delivered by 'Charlie Company' comes through the pages loud and clear: never go to war without a clear, immediately explicable reason, or the aftermath will haunt you. The men of C company returned to a country that dismissed their efforts in Vietnam, and misread who they'd become. Written in blood, this book should be required reading in all military training sites,and war colleges everywhere. After seeing what happened with Iraq however, I fear it has found a neglected spot on a dusty, forgotten shelf. Five stars.
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June 4, 2009Being one of the Charlie Company members I found it necessary to create a blog (so to speak) that contains errata and notations about this book. Trust me...don't believe all that is in that book. It is rife with errors of which some were more than likely intentional on the authors part just to "boost" some of the narrative.
My blog can be found at: http://blklion.blogspot.com/
It's still under construction and will probably go way beyond the book in regard to Charlie Company. Photographs, chronology and map scans are currently being compiled to be put on DVD someday soon. Stay tuned...
I read this book in 1983 but I lived it in 1968 and 1969.
My blog can be found at: http://blklion.blogspot.com/
It's still under construction and will probably go way beyond the book in regard to Charlie Company. Photographs, chronology and map scans are currently being compiled to be put on DVD someday soon. Stay tuned...
I read this book in 1983 but I lived it in 1968 and 1969.
April 11, 2009
The true story of the effects of Vietnam on one company of soldiers. Newsweek went to talk to them, hoping to have enough material to fill a magazine article and went home with enough material to fill a book. It was good, if a tad preachy. I liked it but not enough to keep it. It's at the used book store as I type this.
March 24, 2015
The story of each of the 65 soldiers of Charlie Company during one year in Vietnam - the ones who made it, those who didn't, the commanders, the hated, the beloved, and their life of living on the line every minute of every day. For anyone that lived through Vietnam, this book is a must. It's a reality check and a reminder of all that our troops went through with little or no thanks.
July 2, 2015
I'm not a big fan of military books. My dad asked me to read it since it was one of his favorites. I just felt it confusing between who was talking, but I would recommend it to a person who has a interest in military history.
August 5, 2017
An eye-opener for a kid who wasn't old enough at the time to understand Vietnam or what it did to the people who served.
September 2, 2016
Another must read if you want to understand the personal side of this gawd-awful "conflict." Give the men a pat on the back and a smile -- it is far less than they deserve. Good read.
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March 27, 2017Just one more book showing how the Vietnam War was idiotic.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews