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Vietnam: No Regrets
“In the 30+ years since its conclusion, countless volumes have been crafted regarding the Vietnam War – not to mention movies, television specials, and documentaries. Most of the written and visual media have done a commendable job of exploring the logistical blunders and other revealing aspects of the war itself; however, very few of them have givenVietnam the same empathic human touch as “Saving Private Ryan” so famously did for World War II.Throughout the pages of No Regrets, author and Vietnam veteran J. Richard Watkins steps directly in the gap and fills that void in standout fashion. A heart-wrenching memoir recounted in an unfiltered, no-holds-barred manner, No Regrets takes the reader straight into the heart of one of the most controversial extended episodes in our nation’s history, painting the gruesome conflict in a graphic, vivid light – undeniably real and raw.Kendra Carroll, Apex Reviews_______________________________________This is your opportunity to share this once in a lifetime adventure. Are you ready to walk by my side, as my tour of duty in Vietnam unfolds? If so, then pick up your weapon and grab your gear, for we’re getting ready to move out in search of the enemy and I promise you this will be one year you will never forget.Great, now let’s move out!! J. Richard Watkins
244 pages, Paperback
First published July 31, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 18, 2010
Written by Bernie Weisz/Historian Pembroke Pines, Florida February 27, 2010 e mail:BernWei1@aol.com
I have studied the Vietnam War in high school, and more intensively in college, but what I learned in academia as opposed to the multiple memoirs of the actual participants are 2 different accounts altogether. J. Richard Watkins shoots from the hips in this catharsis, with this memoir being penned 25 years after the fact. Official accounts of the ground war, our relationship with our allies, the South Vietnamese, the conduct of the way the North Vietnamese fought us, and especially the version of the 1970 Cambodian Incursion do not jive with what Watkins saw threw his 22 year old eyes and related on the pages of "Vietnam: No Regrets".
When the reader finishes the last page of this amazing memoir, using Watkins observations, he or she will realize that all U.S. battles with the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were "anti-climatic." Watkins wrote throughout "No Regrets" that there were no big battles when expected, especially in Cambodia. The majority of U.S. aggression was motivated by retaliation for a grunt's wounding by enemy sniping, primitive booby traps or ambushes. Our foe was a sneaky, elusive enemy who disappeared under the multiple underground caves the Communists built to avoid confrontation. Watkins writes of exciting small unit actions and ambushes in the sweltering jungle. The reason Watkins wrote about "one big need for revenge" was because of the way the N.V.A fought us. "Charlie" as the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were called, only showed himself in force when he thought the situation was favorable. After Watkins' unit, the U.S. 27 nth Infantry Division also known as the "Wolfhounds" took casualties, they undertook an avenging battle of setting up deadly ambushes in the sweltering, insect infested jungles of Vietnam.
Mr. Watkins recalled the painful task of "The Wolfhounds" vengefully pursuing the elusive enemy and attempting to ferret them out of their secretive redoubts, who for the most part frustratingly evaded capture and withdrew over and over. They disappeared in hidden, underground sanctuaries, or even more frustratingly, mingled with the local people and were bypassed by the Wolfhounds, who in turn were attacked by them from the rear at night. Watkins also wrote of a special, elite unit that pursued this insidious enemy, known as the "Tunnel Rats", who with great tenacity and braveness pursued this subterranean foe. The stories I read in Watkins' "No Regrets" made it easy for me to understand how a "My Lai Massacre" incident could occur, and even more lingering, how a Veteran could leave Vietnam with torturous P.T.S.D., based on the incidents Watkins described in this book.
Mr. Watkins does not talk much about his early life in "No Regrets". This memoir starts with the author's surprise at finding out that instead of being flown from Northern California to Vietnam via a military plane, he was transported with 160 other soldiers he had never met before aboard a United Airlines 707 Jetliner. Watkins' observations of landing in Vietnam, after a 14 hour journey that included stops in Hawaii and Guam, are noteworthy. Watkins wrote: "On our final approach for landing at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, we came in very low and very slow. From the windows of the plane we could see all the shell holes around the airport;they looked like craters on the moon, except they were a very bright green wet surface. Flying in, we could also see the small shacks that the local people called home, alongside the gun emplacements of our troops. GI's waved to us or gave us the finger as our plane flew over their positions." Watkins' last impressions as he left this "war chariot" were as follows: "As the back door of the plane opened and the outside air permeated the interior of the plane, we immediately felt the heat and humidity and the smell of Vietnam. As I looked at the sober faces of the men aboard our flight just in from the States and then looked at the stewardesses saying goodbye to us, I know that these girls might be the last American girl I ever saw. Some of the guys they were saying goodbye to would never board a flight again-alive, that is".
No history book will ever tell you the following, e.g. as new "cannon fodder" disembarked from the jet liner, the GI's that survived their 365 day tour boarded the very same plane. Watkins immediately noticed a look that all these veterans had, which other memoirs described as the "1000 yard stare". In that regard, Watkins wrote when he looked at the soldiers boarding the "freedom bird" to go back to "the world" in the following manner: "They looked older then we did, even though you knew they weren't. They had that shallow-eyed look, the look you get when you work for days and days without enough sleep. That faraway look, that nothing seems to matter look. They had a blank stare that was to become all too familiar to me in the coming months. I was glad for them, nevertheless. These guys had beaten the odds, they had served their country, and now they were going home to their families and loved ones, and I for one was very happy for them."
J. R. Watkins did not get drafted. He wanted a test of manhood, and got it: a combat assignment. On November 20, 1969, Watkins was sent to join the 27nth division, 1/27 Wolfhounds at Cu Chi, Vietnam. Attracted to their motto, "No fear on Earth", Watkins wrote: " This test of manhood, which I felt I had to go through in order to prove myself to myself-as well as to my brothers, friends and relatives who had gone off to war before me-had truly begun after all. My feelings at the time was that if I didn't go to Vietnam I would never truly know if I had the right stuff or if I could hack it in combat". His description of Vietnam was classic: "Vietnam was such a strange and foreign place. Some words that come to mind are lush, tropical and very green, as do hot and humid. The air contained a red clay dust that you could never seem to wash off, no matter how hard you tried. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but that's what Vietnam was, on many levels a contradiction. I think this fact alone was responsible for many deaths; if you were not on your highest alert at all times the land itself would find a way to take your life". Also not in any history book is Watkins' impressions of our allies, the South Vietnamese: "The people were so much smaller then we were, and, not to be mean, not very good looking either. What struck me the most, were all the young teenage boys we saw along the way. I thought, "If we are here to help these people fight for their freedom from their enemy, and we had come 12,000 miles to do so, then why aren't these guys in uniform fighting for their own country?"
Initially assigned to "Firebase Chamberlain" near the Cambodian border, Watkins wrote how he was shunned as the new guy ("F.N.G."). To that, he wrote: "One of the unwritten rules of the war in Vietnam was "Don't get too close to the new guys, as the odds were very good over there that if you were going to get killed it would happen in the first 30 days or so". Watkins job was to be an "R.T.O' (radio telephone operator). He was given the man's rucksack and radio of whom he was replacing. When he noticed that his equipment was caked and matted with dried blood, he wrote remembering this: "That was the reason I was here: the last guy that carried this stuff had been wounded and flown out the day before. Soldiers carrying radios were always the enemy's first target, because they were the ones who had communications link with the outside, and it was best to eliminate them right from the beginning of any firefight".
The reader wonders if Watkins was intentionally pointing out why the U.S. war effort failed, or rather being sarcastic in his recollections in this memoir. Nevertheless, Watkins leaves no doubt in the reader's mind of the futility of the American war effort not to be found in any college textbook. On one of his early "S & D" (search and destroy) reconnaissance missions, he wrote of tipping off the enemy, ruining the element of any chance of surprise, simply because of loud troop movement. Watkins asserted: "We moved slowly through the thick underbrush and high grass trying hard not to make too much noise, but with all the gear we were carrying (80 lbs. of equipment, multiple canteens of water and an M-16 assault rifle) that was pretty much impossible".
Mr. Watkins describes various ambushes, battles, carnage, and acts of bravery and humility throughout his tour in this book. However, he summed up his frustration , despite accusations after the war of inflated "body counts" of the enemy as follows: "As we continued our search for the enemy it was beginning to feel like a dance: they would go one way, and we would follow; we would go another, and they would follow. We felt they were close, real close. The fact that they didn't want to expose themselves was frustrating. We were dancing, dancing with the enemy, as a moth will dance with a flame, taking care not to get too close. And so would the enemy dance with us throughout my tour. We knew that unless they had us outnumbered by 4 to 1 they would be crazy to engage us, because with our artillery and helicopter support only a call away, they would be annihilated if they did. It is estimated that the kill ratio was 30 to 1 in our favor during any engagement with the enemy during the Vietnam War". In regards to "body counts" Watkins wrote that it was a way for a captain to look good for his superiors, and troops would be rewarded with extra "R & R" time, or less time in the field. It was a lot more appealing, both safer and more comfortable for a grunt to sleep at a "Fire Support Base" instead of on the jungle floor. Watkins recalled: " A large body count meant something to everyone. Even so, it kind of rubbed me the wrong way that someone had to die for someone else to look good. I was new in-country and it would take a while for that feeling to leave my head-but leave it it would. The body count was all-important for many reasons, not the least of which was that there would be less of the enemy to contend with. Less of the enemy? That was a joke; they would just keep on coming, no matter what the body count was." The educated reader of this book will compare this statement of Mr. Watkins with General William C. Westmoreland's theory of "enemy attrition" and scoff. Ultimately, Mr. Watkins was correct. Just ask the survivors of the siege at "Khe Sanh", the battles at fire bases "Ripcord, Lang Vei and Mary Ann" who endured enemy "human wave" attacks.
Moreover, Mr. Watkins wrote about the resiliency of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. In terms of eating in the field C rations and not leaving leftovers, Watkins mused: "For the year I was in country I think I lived on fruit cocktail and hot chocolate and pound cake for my entire tour. Whatever was left over would be destroyed. Everything came in cans, and we didn't want to leave anything for the enemy to use against us. The enemy would pack those cans with explosives and use them as booby traps against us. It was just a shame that all this food had to go to waste. The little kids we would see in the villages we would go through during the day looked so thin and malnourished that they could have used that food. But this was war, and we were under orders." As I have already mentioned, many American ambushes of the enemy were motivated by a soldier being wounded by a sniper or maiming booby trap. Watkins wrote: "When a fellow soldier went down, it would hurt-and hurt a lot. It would be something that you would never completely forget. Just when you thought the memory was fading into the past it would come and visit you during the night, more vivid than ever, and would never completely release it's ugly grasp on you". J. R. Watkins was referring to "P.S.T.D. that even today still affects untold Vietnam Veteran "walking wounded".
There is a very poignant part in this memoir. Consequently, after a member in Watkins' unit was wounded, Watkins and other members of the Wolfhounds "Alpha Unit" went out to do a little "payback" of their own. A traumatizing, unforgettable incident occurred. Watkins recalled: "The VC were springing ambushes on us every chance they got, either by shooting us outright or by setting up booby traps that were designed to maim us or worse. All we were trying to do was beat them at their own game, and whatever worked was fine with us. This wasn't Kansas, Toto-this was the real deal, and we were going to stay alive for 365 days and go home and try to forget all about the things we had done in order to survive". Watkins group set up an ambush, and unbeknownst to them, a little girl and her grandparents mistakenly wandered into this free fire "kill zone". It was over quick. Watkins shamefully recalled: "We hadn't ambushed the enemy at all. What we had done was cut to pieces 2 old farmers and a little girl". J. R. Watkins and his fellow soldiers were severely traumatized by their wanton murder of innocents.
A mini "My Lai" had occurred. How did Watkins rationalize this? He sadly wrote in an attempt to justify and make sense of what happened: " We said to ourselves that it just wasn't our fault; after all, we didn't ask to be over here. South Vietnam had asked us to be here to help them fight communism. Furthermore, we just wanted to survive ourselves and get the hell out of here in one piece. And go home to our girlfriends, wives, children, and loved ones to our cars and beer, not necessarily in that order. These were the things we missed the most, and these were the things we were fighting for-not the South Vietnamese government, but our way of life. We didn't want to be here anyway, the results of that ambush was not our fault. How were we to know who was walking down that trail in the darkness anyway? Those farmers should have known better than to be out that time of night. Didn't they know that after dark that in a "Free Fire zone" we would shoot anything that moved? It was plain wasn't our fault and that was all there was to it, period!"
There is much to this memoir then I could possibly cover in this review. J. R. Watkins related the pain he experienced when his girlfriend, who promised to wait until he returned from Vietnam to marry him, sent Watkins a "Dear John" breakup letter. This callously announced that she had married another man, painfully crushing Watkins. It also interestingly served as a motivation for him to come home alive, survive the war, and confront this woman. This ultimately happened. Watkins also related the difficulty he had adjusting to the climate and insects in Vietnam, the salt pills, the leeches, the constant wetness of the "monsoon season", and his addiction to the enticing action and excitement of "combat adrenaline". Watkins reviewed the weapons of this war, the fear and awesome devastation of "B-52" air strikes, and the inferno of pain, destruction and fire that napalm caused (Watkins said this was invented by the "devil himself") He also recalled with chilling details his near brush with capture, being thrown from a helicopter from 15 feet up in the middle of a field swarming with the N.V.A. However, I would like to end this review with a quote from Mr. Watkins, whose theme was an undercurrent throughout the book that I named this review as such.
Mr. Watkins, who I believe spoke for the majority of current Vietnam Veterans, lamented about the Vietnam War in retrospect as follows: "we would always be looking for "payback"-the more, the better. The feelings of the men that actually fought the "Vietnam War" was that the more of the enemy we could kill, the less of them there would be to kill. I know that thinking sounds kind of weird now, but at the time it made complete sense to us." The concluding comment of this review should put things in perspective. Mr. Watkins asserted about his experiences as a "Wolfhound", the 60,000 names of the dead on "The Wall" in the nation's capital and the way the conflict ended as follows: "As I look back on it now, my feelings aren't any different today than they were then. It wasn't worth it one bit, I thought it had stunk then and I still do today. But once the fighting began and the adrenaline started to flow and the willingness to kill and the desire to live kicked in, all bets were off. We took our chances for our country in one way or another and prayed for the best. As my time in-country dragged on and I became more hardened and experienced, I would tune out the possibility that I too could be wounded or killed. After a while one doesn't really believe he will be making it home anyway. We tried to survive day to day and not worry about what tomorrow may bring-tomorrow was out of our control and was going to take care of itself on way or another. We were all at fate's mercy and there wasn't much we could do about it. For in Vietnam, tomorrow was promised to no one". J. Richard Watkins' "Vietnam: No Regrets" is an essential read and an important, intelligently written memoir that will bring nuances and innuendo about this tragic slice of American history to life in a rare, unforgettable and vibrant way!
I have studied the Vietnam War in high school, and more intensively in college, but what I learned in academia as opposed to the multiple memoirs of the actual participants are 2 different accounts altogether. J. Richard Watkins shoots from the hips in this catharsis, with this memoir being penned 25 years after the fact. Official accounts of the ground war, our relationship with our allies, the South Vietnamese, the conduct of the way the North Vietnamese fought us, and especially the version of the 1970 Cambodian Incursion do not jive with what Watkins saw threw his 22 year old eyes and related on the pages of "Vietnam: No Regrets".
When the reader finishes the last page of this amazing memoir, using Watkins observations, he or she will realize that all U.S. battles with the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were "anti-climatic." Watkins wrote throughout "No Regrets" that there were no big battles when expected, especially in Cambodia. The majority of U.S. aggression was motivated by retaliation for a grunt's wounding by enemy sniping, primitive booby traps or ambushes. Our foe was a sneaky, elusive enemy who disappeared under the multiple underground caves the Communists built to avoid confrontation. Watkins writes of exciting small unit actions and ambushes in the sweltering jungle. The reason Watkins wrote about "one big need for revenge" was because of the way the N.V.A fought us. "Charlie" as the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were called, only showed himself in force when he thought the situation was favorable. After Watkins' unit, the U.S. 27 nth Infantry Division also known as the "Wolfhounds" took casualties, they undertook an avenging battle of setting up deadly ambushes in the sweltering, insect infested jungles of Vietnam.
Mr. Watkins recalled the painful task of "The Wolfhounds" vengefully pursuing the elusive enemy and attempting to ferret them out of their secretive redoubts, who for the most part frustratingly evaded capture and withdrew over and over. They disappeared in hidden, underground sanctuaries, or even more frustratingly, mingled with the local people and were bypassed by the Wolfhounds, who in turn were attacked by them from the rear at night. Watkins also wrote of a special, elite unit that pursued this insidious enemy, known as the "Tunnel Rats", who with great tenacity and braveness pursued this subterranean foe. The stories I read in Watkins' "No Regrets" made it easy for me to understand how a "My Lai Massacre" incident could occur, and even more lingering, how a Veteran could leave Vietnam with torturous P.T.S.D., based on the incidents Watkins described in this book.
Mr. Watkins does not talk much about his early life in "No Regrets". This memoir starts with the author's surprise at finding out that instead of being flown from Northern California to Vietnam via a military plane, he was transported with 160 other soldiers he had never met before aboard a United Airlines 707 Jetliner. Watkins' observations of landing in Vietnam, after a 14 hour journey that included stops in Hawaii and Guam, are noteworthy. Watkins wrote: "On our final approach for landing at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, we came in very low and very slow. From the windows of the plane we could see all the shell holes around the airport;they looked like craters on the moon, except they were a very bright green wet surface. Flying in, we could also see the small shacks that the local people called home, alongside the gun emplacements of our troops. GI's waved to us or gave us the finger as our plane flew over their positions." Watkins' last impressions as he left this "war chariot" were as follows: "As the back door of the plane opened and the outside air permeated the interior of the plane, we immediately felt the heat and humidity and the smell of Vietnam. As I looked at the sober faces of the men aboard our flight just in from the States and then looked at the stewardesses saying goodbye to us, I know that these girls might be the last American girl I ever saw. Some of the guys they were saying goodbye to would never board a flight again-alive, that is".
No history book will ever tell you the following, e.g. as new "cannon fodder" disembarked from the jet liner, the GI's that survived their 365 day tour boarded the very same plane. Watkins immediately noticed a look that all these veterans had, which other memoirs described as the "1000 yard stare". In that regard, Watkins wrote when he looked at the soldiers boarding the "freedom bird" to go back to "the world" in the following manner: "They looked older then we did, even though you knew they weren't. They had that shallow-eyed look, the look you get when you work for days and days without enough sleep. That faraway look, that nothing seems to matter look. They had a blank stare that was to become all too familiar to me in the coming months. I was glad for them, nevertheless. These guys had beaten the odds, they had served their country, and now they were going home to their families and loved ones, and I for one was very happy for them."
J. R. Watkins did not get drafted. He wanted a test of manhood, and got it: a combat assignment. On November 20, 1969, Watkins was sent to join the 27nth division, 1/27 Wolfhounds at Cu Chi, Vietnam. Attracted to their motto, "No fear on Earth", Watkins wrote: " This test of manhood, which I felt I had to go through in order to prove myself to myself-as well as to my brothers, friends and relatives who had gone off to war before me-had truly begun after all. My feelings at the time was that if I didn't go to Vietnam I would never truly know if I had the right stuff or if I could hack it in combat". His description of Vietnam was classic: "Vietnam was such a strange and foreign place. Some words that come to mind are lush, tropical and very green, as do hot and humid. The air contained a red clay dust that you could never seem to wash off, no matter how hard you tried. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but that's what Vietnam was, on many levels a contradiction. I think this fact alone was responsible for many deaths; if you were not on your highest alert at all times the land itself would find a way to take your life". Also not in any history book is Watkins' impressions of our allies, the South Vietnamese: "The people were so much smaller then we were, and, not to be mean, not very good looking either. What struck me the most, were all the young teenage boys we saw along the way. I thought, "If we are here to help these people fight for their freedom from their enemy, and we had come 12,000 miles to do so, then why aren't these guys in uniform fighting for their own country?"
Initially assigned to "Firebase Chamberlain" near the Cambodian border, Watkins wrote how he was shunned as the new guy ("F.N.G."). To that, he wrote: "One of the unwritten rules of the war in Vietnam was "Don't get too close to the new guys, as the odds were very good over there that if you were going to get killed it would happen in the first 30 days or so". Watkins job was to be an "R.T.O' (radio telephone operator). He was given the man's rucksack and radio of whom he was replacing. When he noticed that his equipment was caked and matted with dried blood, he wrote remembering this: "That was the reason I was here: the last guy that carried this stuff had been wounded and flown out the day before. Soldiers carrying radios were always the enemy's first target, because they were the ones who had communications link with the outside, and it was best to eliminate them right from the beginning of any firefight".
The reader wonders if Watkins was intentionally pointing out why the U.S. war effort failed, or rather being sarcastic in his recollections in this memoir. Nevertheless, Watkins leaves no doubt in the reader's mind of the futility of the American war effort not to be found in any college textbook. On one of his early "S & D" (search and destroy) reconnaissance missions, he wrote of tipping off the enemy, ruining the element of any chance of surprise, simply because of loud troop movement. Watkins asserted: "We moved slowly through the thick underbrush and high grass trying hard not to make too much noise, but with all the gear we were carrying (80 lbs. of equipment, multiple canteens of water and an M-16 assault rifle) that was pretty much impossible".
Mr. Watkins describes various ambushes, battles, carnage, and acts of bravery and humility throughout his tour in this book. However, he summed up his frustration , despite accusations after the war of inflated "body counts" of the enemy as follows: "As we continued our search for the enemy it was beginning to feel like a dance: they would go one way, and we would follow; we would go another, and they would follow. We felt they were close, real close. The fact that they didn't want to expose themselves was frustrating. We were dancing, dancing with the enemy, as a moth will dance with a flame, taking care not to get too close. And so would the enemy dance with us throughout my tour. We knew that unless they had us outnumbered by 4 to 1 they would be crazy to engage us, because with our artillery and helicopter support only a call away, they would be annihilated if they did. It is estimated that the kill ratio was 30 to 1 in our favor during any engagement with the enemy during the Vietnam War". In regards to "body counts" Watkins wrote that it was a way for a captain to look good for his superiors, and troops would be rewarded with extra "R & R" time, or less time in the field. It was a lot more appealing, both safer and more comfortable for a grunt to sleep at a "Fire Support Base" instead of on the jungle floor. Watkins recalled: " A large body count meant something to everyone. Even so, it kind of rubbed me the wrong way that someone had to die for someone else to look good. I was new in-country and it would take a while for that feeling to leave my head-but leave it it would. The body count was all-important for many reasons, not the least of which was that there would be less of the enemy to contend with. Less of the enemy? That was a joke; they would just keep on coming, no matter what the body count was." The educated reader of this book will compare this statement of Mr. Watkins with General William C. Westmoreland's theory of "enemy attrition" and scoff. Ultimately, Mr. Watkins was correct. Just ask the survivors of the siege at "Khe Sanh", the battles at fire bases "Ripcord, Lang Vei and Mary Ann" who endured enemy "human wave" attacks.
Moreover, Mr. Watkins wrote about the resiliency of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. In terms of eating in the field C rations and not leaving leftovers, Watkins mused: "For the year I was in country I think I lived on fruit cocktail and hot chocolate and pound cake for my entire tour. Whatever was left over would be destroyed. Everything came in cans, and we didn't want to leave anything for the enemy to use against us. The enemy would pack those cans with explosives and use them as booby traps against us. It was just a shame that all this food had to go to waste. The little kids we would see in the villages we would go through during the day looked so thin and malnourished that they could have used that food. But this was war, and we were under orders." As I have already mentioned, many American ambushes of the enemy were motivated by a soldier being wounded by a sniper or maiming booby trap. Watkins wrote: "When a fellow soldier went down, it would hurt-and hurt a lot. It would be something that you would never completely forget. Just when you thought the memory was fading into the past it would come and visit you during the night, more vivid than ever, and would never completely release it's ugly grasp on you". J. R. Watkins was referring to "P.S.T.D. that even today still affects untold Vietnam Veteran "walking wounded".
There is a very poignant part in this memoir. Consequently, after a member in Watkins' unit was wounded, Watkins and other members of the Wolfhounds "Alpha Unit" went out to do a little "payback" of their own. A traumatizing, unforgettable incident occurred. Watkins recalled: "The VC were springing ambushes on us every chance they got, either by shooting us outright or by setting up booby traps that were designed to maim us or worse. All we were trying to do was beat them at their own game, and whatever worked was fine with us. This wasn't Kansas, Toto-this was the real deal, and we were going to stay alive for 365 days and go home and try to forget all about the things we had done in order to survive". Watkins group set up an ambush, and unbeknownst to them, a little girl and her grandparents mistakenly wandered into this free fire "kill zone". It was over quick. Watkins shamefully recalled: "We hadn't ambushed the enemy at all. What we had done was cut to pieces 2 old farmers and a little girl". J. R. Watkins and his fellow soldiers were severely traumatized by their wanton murder of innocents.
A mini "My Lai" had occurred. How did Watkins rationalize this? He sadly wrote in an attempt to justify and make sense of what happened: " We said to ourselves that it just wasn't our fault; after all, we didn't ask to be over here. South Vietnam had asked us to be here to help them fight communism. Furthermore, we just wanted to survive ourselves and get the hell out of here in one piece. And go home to our girlfriends, wives, children, and loved ones to our cars and beer, not necessarily in that order. These were the things we missed the most, and these were the things we were fighting for-not the South Vietnamese government, but our way of life. We didn't want to be here anyway, the results of that ambush was not our fault. How were we to know who was walking down that trail in the darkness anyway? Those farmers should have known better than to be out that time of night. Didn't they know that after dark that in a "Free Fire zone" we would shoot anything that moved? It was plain wasn't our fault and that was all there was to it, period!"
There is much to this memoir then I could possibly cover in this review. J. R. Watkins related the pain he experienced when his girlfriend, who promised to wait until he returned from Vietnam to marry him, sent Watkins a "Dear John" breakup letter. This callously announced that she had married another man, painfully crushing Watkins. It also interestingly served as a motivation for him to come home alive, survive the war, and confront this woman. This ultimately happened. Watkins also related the difficulty he had adjusting to the climate and insects in Vietnam, the salt pills, the leeches, the constant wetness of the "monsoon season", and his addiction to the enticing action and excitement of "combat adrenaline". Watkins reviewed the weapons of this war, the fear and awesome devastation of "B-52" air strikes, and the inferno of pain, destruction and fire that napalm caused (Watkins said this was invented by the "devil himself") He also recalled with chilling details his near brush with capture, being thrown from a helicopter from 15 feet up in the middle of a field swarming with the N.V.A. However, I would like to end this review with a quote from Mr. Watkins, whose theme was an undercurrent throughout the book that I named this review as such.
Mr. Watkins, who I believe spoke for the majority of current Vietnam Veterans, lamented about the Vietnam War in retrospect as follows: "we would always be looking for "payback"-the more, the better. The feelings of the men that actually fought the "Vietnam War" was that the more of the enemy we could kill, the less of them there would be to kill. I know that thinking sounds kind of weird now, but at the time it made complete sense to us." The concluding comment of this review should put things in perspective. Mr. Watkins asserted about his experiences as a "Wolfhound", the 60,000 names of the dead on "The Wall" in the nation's capital and the way the conflict ended as follows: "As I look back on it now, my feelings aren't any different today than they were then. It wasn't worth it one bit, I thought it had stunk then and I still do today. But once the fighting began and the adrenaline started to flow and the willingness to kill and the desire to live kicked in, all bets were off. We took our chances for our country in one way or another and prayed for the best. As my time in-country dragged on and I became more hardened and experienced, I would tune out the possibility that I too could be wounded or killed. After a while one doesn't really believe he will be making it home anyway. We tried to survive day to day and not worry about what tomorrow may bring-tomorrow was out of our control and was going to take care of itself on way or another. We were all at fate's mercy and there wasn't much we could do about it. For in Vietnam, tomorrow was promised to no one". J. Richard Watkins' "Vietnam: No Regrets" is an essential read and an important, intelligently written memoir that will bring nuances and innuendo about this tragic slice of American history to life in a rare, unforgettable and vibrant way!
November 2, 2008
Vietnam: No Regrets
One Soldier’s Tour of Duty
By J. Richard Watkins
Aventine Press
ISBN: 1593303033
193 Pages
Goo-oood Morning Vietnam! In an almost journalistic, diary style, J. Richard Watkins presents his own story in Vietnam: No Regrets – One Soldier’s Tour of Duty.
When a boy becomes a man in Vietnam, we cry with him. We feel his fear. We hear his prayers. And we rejoice when, after it is over, it is to his mother’s arms he first goes. For by now, his greatest fear is whether or not the unconditional love will still be there for him. Or will his parents be able to see right away how he has changed, what he has done? And will they turn away in disgust from this man that is still their son? As I read the Epilogue of the most comprehensive coverage I have thus far read from a soldier’s viewpoint, only then did my tears run. For after all that he’d been through, this soldier’s greatest fear was indeed whether he would or could go back within the warmth and comfort of his family and friends without their seeing, somehow, what he had done. There¾in the jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia.
For the majority of time, Watkins was a radio transmission operator whose duty was to communicate with the artillery batteries to call for artillery support when needed. That meant that he was always with the commander of the unit…and he was always right at the front! Watkins’ non-fiction narrative is packed with memories, fresh in his mind, though he left Vietnam in 1970. If I were reading it without knowing the date of its being published, I would have thought he was there, writing for a newspaper, or in a journal. His message is frank, open, and honest. His views are his own, but he’s willing to share them. These are the facts, as he knows them, and he’s willing to state them loudly and clearly!
For the average person back in the States, I never knew, for instance, that the Infantry was the man on the line. “The army’s rule of thumb was that out of every ten soldiers in-country, nine of the ten would be giving support to the ones that were actually in a real combat situation.” (p.69) What that means in actual numbers was that it was only about 40-50,000 men who actually fought on the front lines—it was “the Infantry and then there was everyone else.” Those are the men who trudged through the jungles hunting the enemy. They are the men who stood duty during the monsoon rains through which they could not see the man next to them. They were the men who risked their lives—the “same” men moving from place to place. Now there was a turnover within the Infantry. Most had tours of three months. Watkins, for an unknown reason, was there six months before he got his first R&R. He had gone over his immediate superior’s head to ensure he was able to leave.
It was not the first time I had learned that many men died in this war due to actions by their superiors. One of the most incredible stories shared by Watkins was when a new officer volunteered for them to immediately leave on a rescue mission to try to save a group of Green Berets, even though they had just returned from an extensive patrol. Once there and in the midst of battle, the reality of this officer’s decision became apparent even to him as they ran out of water, food and other necessities and he had to send for emergency support. The new officer had acted without regard to the safety and needs of his own men! And everybody knew it long before he did!
A major contribution toward the value of Vietnam: No Regrets is inclusion of pictures. Additionally, his almost-journalistic approach to reporting on the beauty of Vietnam from the air, as well as actually riding in the helicopters, and in his openness on sharing his times away from base—both in the jungles and out, make for a more informative reading. I think I enjoyed most his quick decision to “find” his way to see his best friend who was in the Marines and how he hopped rides to get there and back. I could almost envision the look of surprise, shock and pleasure when they stood looking at each other once Watkins had found him! Finally, his open inclusion of the heartache caused by a “Dear John” letter should make any woman who ever considered writing one to a serviceman immediately change her mind!
Watkins shares that he quickly learned “tomorrow was promised to no one.” (p. 79) He shares that when you are in the midst of battle, you want to be gone; but once you are out, you miss the adrenaline and want to be back. It works for the time period in which you do battle. But his greatest advice, received almost as soon as he was there, was to be sure to leave everything behind when he left. Watkins remembered that advice, and as his tour ended, he worked hard to ensure that he was able to do that!
Perhaps this book illustrates that those men will never be able to truly forget their time in Vietnam. Vietnam: No Regrets is graphic in its violence, the need to seek out and destroy the enemy while ensuring that their own men were not hurt. It includes mistakes made, but it includes prayers lifted up in both supplication and gratefulness. Watkins made it through Vietnam and has shared a major part of his life as a member of Alpha Company 1/27 Wolfhounds, Twenty-fifth Infantry Division. Thank you!
It seems to me that young men leaving for the service, going into war, would benefit from this book. But would it be preparation? According to Watkins, probably not, because what was experienced in battle must be experienced to understand it! Still, Watkins presents an effective balance in his book and, in my opinion, has presented a major contribution to the story of Vietnam. For those who are searching for answers about a war that many will not even talk about, this is a Must-Read.
G. A. Bixler
for IP Book Reviews
One Soldier’s Tour of Duty
By J. Richard Watkins
Aventine Press
ISBN: 1593303033
193 Pages
Goo-oood Morning Vietnam! In an almost journalistic, diary style, J. Richard Watkins presents his own story in Vietnam: No Regrets – One Soldier’s Tour of Duty.
When a boy becomes a man in Vietnam, we cry with him. We feel his fear. We hear his prayers. And we rejoice when, after it is over, it is to his mother’s arms he first goes. For by now, his greatest fear is whether or not the unconditional love will still be there for him. Or will his parents be able to see right away how he has changed, what he has done? And will they turn away in disgust from this man that is still their son? As I read the Epilogue of the most comprehensive coverage I have thus far read from a soldier’s viewpoint, only then did my tears run. For after all that he’d been through, this soldier’s greatest fear was indeed whether he would or could go back within the warmth and comfort of his family and friends without their seeing, somehow, what he had done. There¾in the jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia.
For the majority of time, Watkins was a radio transmission operator whose duty was to communicate with the artillery batteries to call for artillery support when needed. That meant that he was always with the commander of the unit…and he was always right at the front! Watkins’ non-fiction narrative is packed with memories, fresh in his mind, though he left Vietnam in 1970. If I were reading it without knowing the date of its being published, I would have thought he was there, writing for a newspaper, or in a journal. His message is frank, open, and honest. His views are his own, but he’s willing to share them. These are the facts, as he knows them, and he’s willing to state them loudly and clearly!
For the average person back in the States, I never knew, for instance, that the Infantry was the man on the line. “The army’s rule of thumb was that out of every ten soldiers in-country, nine of the ten would be giving support to the ones that were actually in a real combat situation.” (p.69) What that means in actual numbers was that it was only about 40-50,000 men who actually fought on the front lines—it was “the Infantry and then there was everyone else.” Those are the men who trudged through the jungles hunting the enemy. They are the men who stood duty during the monsoon rains through which they could not see the man next to them. They were the men who risked their lives—the “same” men moving from place to place. Now there was a turnover within the Infantry. Most had tours of three months. Watkins, for an unknown reason, was there six months before he got his first R&R. He had gone over his immediate superior’s head to ensure he was able to leave.
It was not the first time I had learned that many men died in this war due to actions by their superiors. One of the most incredible stories shared by Watkins was when a new officer volunteered for them to immediately leave on a rescue mission to try to save a group of Green Berets, even though they had just returned from an extensive patrol. Once there and in the midst of battle, the reality of this officer’s decision became apparent even to him as they ran out of water, food and other necessities and he had to send for emergency support. The new officer had acted without regard to the safety and needs of his own men! And everybody knew it long before he did!
A major contribution toward the value of Vietnam: No Regrets is inclusion of pictures. Additionally, his almost-journalistic approach to reporting on the beauty of Vietnam from the air, as well as actually riding in the helicopters, and in his openness on sharing his times away from base—both in the jungles and out, make for a more informative reading. I think I enjoyed most his quick decision to “find” his way to see his best friend who was in the Marines and how he hopped rides to get there and back. I could almost envision the look of surprise, shock and pleasure when they stood looking at each other once Watkins had found him! Finally, his open inclusion of the heartache caused by a “Dear John” letter should make any woman who ever considered writing one to a serviceman immediately change her mind!
Watkins shares that he quickly learned “tomorrow was promised to no one.” (p. 79) He shares that when you are in the midst of battle, you want to be gone; but once you are out, you miss the adrenaline and want to be back. It works for the time period in which you do battle. But his greatest advice, received almost as soon as he was there, was to be sure to leave everything behind when he left. Watkins remembered that advice, and as his tour ended, he worked hard to ensure that he was able to do that!
Perhaps this book illustrates that those men will never be able to truly forget their time in Vietnam. Vietnam: No Regrets is graphic in its violence, the need to seek out and destroy the enemy while ensuring that their own men were not hurt. It includes mistakes made, but it includes prayers lifted up in both supplication and gratefulness. Watkins made it through Vietnam and has shared a major part of his life as a member of Alpha Company 1/27 Wolfhounds, Twenty-fifth Infantry Division. Thank you!
It seems to me that young men leaving for the service, going into war, would benefit from this book. But would it be preparation? According to Watkins, probably not, because what was experienced in battle must be experienced to understand it! Still, Watkins presents an effective balance in his book and, in my opinion, has presented a major contribution to the story of Vietnam. For those who are searching for answers about a war that many will not even talk about, this is a Must-Read.
G. A. Bixler
for IP Book Reviews
October 17, 2011
Thank you, Mr. J. Richard Watkins, for writing this book. Thank you for setting up a table alongside the parade route in Plymouth MA last Thanksgiving-time from which you sold copies of that book.
You were dressed in your soldier fatigues; a soft-spoken gentleman that was in no way "pushing" his merchandise. I admired that. I also knew I had never read a book about the Vietnam War nor was I in any way interested in it. Something in my gut said maybe it was time to change that. My sister and I had walked past you and almost immediately I swung around and asked you if I could buy one.
You autographed my copy, shook my hand and we continued on our way. I will always remember that brief visit with you in November 2010. You were a total stranger to me but you wouldn't be for long.
It was a while before I got to it (slow reader here) but I finished reading your book today. I wish I could go back to that day in Plymouth knowing you as the man who just brought the Vietnam War right up to my doorstep! I would make sure that I thanked you - because I'm certain that I didn't that day. I didn't even know that it would have been the right thing to do.
Your book had me right there with you, feeling the heaviness of your gear, hearing all the sounds of the jungle and seeing the heaven and hell that surrounded you day after day. You words came right at me as if I was marching alongside of you and it was my job to keep up. It was real. It was wide-open. It was remarkable.
Every page I turned reminded me of that soldier I'd met that day... the one who made it home... the one who shook my hand and thanked me for my purchase.
No, thank YOU, Richard. Thank you SO MUCH!
You were dressed in your soldier fatigues; a soft-spoken gentleman that was in no way "pushing" his merchandise. I admired that. I also knew I had never read a book about the Vietnam War nor was I in any way interested in it. Something in my gut said maybe it was time to change that. My sister and I had walked past you and almost immediately I swung around and asked you if I could buy one.
You autographed my copy, shook my hand and we continued on our way. I will always remember that brief visit with you in November 2010. You were a total stranger to me but you wouldn't be for long.
It was a while before I got to it (slow reader here) but I finished reading your book today. I wish I could go back to that day in Plymouth knowing you as the man who just brought the Vietnam War right up to my doorstep! I would make sure that I thanked you - because I'm certain that I didn't that day. I didn't even know that it would have been the right thing to do.
Your book had me right there with you, feeling the heaviness of your gear, hearing all the sounds of the jungle and seeing the heaven and hell that surrounded you day after day. You words came right at me as if I was marching alongside of you and it was my job to keep up. It was real. It was wide-open. It was remarkable.
Every page I turned reminded me of that soldier I'd met that day... the one who made it home... the one who shook my hand and thanked me for my purchase.
No, thank YOU, Richard. Thank you SO MUCH!
December 22, 2012
A well written and descriptive memoir of J. Richard Watkins year as a radio operator with the infantry in Vietnam through late 1969 to 1970. It's interesting to read Watkins account because he served during a pivotal change in how the war was fought and how it would be. He was trapped between the experienced veterans of the 1960s war and the inexperienced incoming troops and commanders. Of course bombs, bullets, civilian and military deaths continued without regard to the social, political and philosophical construction being determined by all concerned. Watkins writes purely from a subjective point of view, he keeps his political and military feelings simple which are, 'survive to go home at all costs' and no matter what you do during your tour leave it behind when you leave because if you don't it will follow you home. He writes in an extremely calm and somewhat sanitised manner but I do not say that to insult Watkins' narrative more so because it provides him with the ability to share his experiences at a meaningful level. His year in Vietnam was intense, dangerous but he also speaks extremely candidly about his desire to be a combat soldier, his desire to fight and make contact with the enemy. He accepts the madness and strain of his soldierly life but truly embraces and appreciates his experiences as a fighting soldier. He even speaks of a friend who chose not to go to Vietnam and in the following years since his return Watkins' other friends who had served in Vietnam formed strong social bonds that Watkins felt excluded this friend who had spoken to him of his longing to have been a veteran. Watkins was a soldier during the war but was not a career soldier, he was discharged within days of coming home from Vietnam.
September 26, 2013
What's most interesting about a Vietnam veteran's memoirs of having fought in the conflict is the shared experience that all veterans have no matter where one served. However, what separates one memoir from the next one are the veteran's personal observations and "window" if you will on one's tour of duty.
That's what you get and more with J. Richard Watkins' memoirs, Vietnam, No Regrets. As a radio operator with the 1/27 Wolfhounds, one of the most feared US Army units in the conflict, he takes us on nightly ambushes and air assaults during his tour of duty from late 1969 to 1970. It's the Vietnam War up close and personal like you never have experienced in other memoirs. He pulls no punches when it comes to describing his feelings about the conflict or serving with officers who were only looking to make a name for themselves without a care for their troops. And he describes the pain and agony of what it was like for a soldier to get a "Dear John" letter, which is something a lot of veterans can relate to.
Inasmuch as this is an excellent account of serving with the Wolfhounds and being part of the invasion force into Cambodia in 1970, the book suffers from poor editing. Many times the author repeats the same information or forgets that the reader already knows what an LZ or an RTO is. If you can overlook these mistakes and excuse the author for reminding you again and again his much his radio weighed or how many canteens of water he carried, you won't be disappointed with this memoir of the Vietnam War.
That's what you get and more with J. Richard Watkins' memoirs, Vietnam, No Regrets. As a radio operator with the 1/27 Wolfhounds, one of the most feared US Army units in the conflict, he takes us on nightly ambushes and air assaults during his tour of duty from late 1969 to 1970. It's the Vietnam War up close and personal like you never have experienced in other memoirs. He pulls no punches when it comes to describing his feelings about the conflict or serving with officers who were only looking to make a name for themselves without a care for their troops. And he describes the pain and agony of what it was like for a soldier to get a "Dear John" letter, which is something a lot of veterans can relate to.
Inasmuch as this is an excellent account of serving with the Wolfhounds and being part of the invasion force into Cambodia in 1970, the book suffers from poor editing. Many times the author repeats the same information or forgets that the reader already knows what an LZ or an RTO is. If you can overlook these mistakes and excuse the author for reminding you again and again his much his radio weighed or how many canteens of water he carried, you won't be disappointed with this memoir of the Vietnam War.
March 31, 2008
this book was so good! it was a very easy read. really gave you a good idea of what these men went though! god bless ALL the troops!
November 30, 2010
It was really a great book. He really brought you to the war.
August 16, 2014
Good read.
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