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LRRPs Vietnam #6
Chasing After Wind
A short story about life as a soldier in Vietnam.
This is the fourth installment in the series of Vietnam short stories entitled "LRRP Rangers Vietnam". The first three short stories were set in the mountains and jungles of Vietnam's central highlands, but "Chasing After Wind" takes place on the Ranger company grounds in the base camp of An Khe. Yet, this installment is no less bold, dark, and intense (the words of a reviewer) than the earlier stories that recounted missions in the field.
The title is borrowed from the Old Testament, and the short story begins with this
"No one has power over the wind to restrain the wind, or power over the day of death; there is no discharge from the battle ... all is vanity and a chasing after wind."
Ecclesiastes 8:8 & 1:14
"Chasing After Wind" considers twists of fate in the context of a barracks poker game, the uncontrollable wind, and a malevolent joker in the deck.
The author refers to the series as "autobiographical fiction". Each installment is based on a true incident but the stories are told with literary embellishment. During the author's tour of duty, he was twice awarded a bronze star for valor in combat.
Volumes I, II, III have been published and may be purchased here. The opening installment is entitled "Eleven Bravo" and tells the story of a newbie grunt infantryman on a torturous twenty-three day hump through the jungle. "Here Comes Charlie" is the second installment of the series and begins with a helicopter insertion into remote territory and ends with a LRRP team encounter with NVA. "Cat Quiet" is the third installment. With striped face paint and tiger fatigues, four LRRPs creep through the jungle. Cat quiet stealth is their only ally, but with a pair of surprises.
This is the fourth installment in the series of Vietnam short stories entitled "LRRP Rangers Vietnam". The first three short stories were set in the mountains and jungles of Vietnam's central highlands, but "Chasing After Wind" takes place on the Ranger company grounds in the base camp of An Khe. Yet, this installment is no less bold, dark, and intense (the words of a reviewer) than the earlier stories that recounted missions in the field.
The title is borrowed from the Old Testament, and the short story begins with this
"No one has power over the wind to restrain the wind, or power over the day of death; there is no discharge from the battle ... all is vanity and a chasing after wind."
Ecclesiastes 8:8 & 1:14
"Chasing After Wind" considers twists of fate in the context of a barracks poker game, the uncontrollable wind, and a malevolent joker in the deck.
The author refers to the series as "autobiographical fiction". Each installment is based on a true incident but the stories are told with literary embellishment. During the author's tour of duty, he was twice awarded a bronze star for valor in combat.
Volumes I, II, III have been published and may be purchased here. The opening installment is entitled "Eleven Bravo" and tells the story of a newbie grunt infantryman on a torturous twenty-three day hump through the jungle. "Here Comes Charlie" is the second installment of the series and begins with a helicopter insertion into remote territory and ends with a LRRP team encounter with NVA. "Cat Quiet" is the third installment. With striped face paint and tiger fatigues, four LRRPs creep through the jungle. Cat quiet stealth is their only ally, but with a pair of surprises.
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First published May 5, 2011
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About the author
R.W. Holmen
15 books23 followersI’m a descendant of Scandinavian immigrants who eventually found their way to a farming community in Central Minnesota near the end of the 19th century. My paternal great-grandparents settled a few miles north of the town of Upsala, and my maternal great-grandparents settled a few miles south of town. Members of both families remained until my parents married and moved off the farm and into town where Dad became a successful small-town businessman. I was baptized and confirmed in the same Swedish-Lutheran church that nurtured my grandmother and mother.
I experienced a glorious childhood in Upsala in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Bike riding, ball playing, pony riding, and especially fishing and water-skiing on nearby Cedar Lake where G-pa and G-ma Holmen lived in the lakeside retirement home they built. When high school rolled around, I was active in sports, and when I was honored as valedictorian of my forty-two-person graduating class, I was merely following family tradition after three of Dad’s sisters, Mom’s sister, and Mom herself had been valedictorians before me.
In the fall of ’66, I was off to Dartmouth, but within two years, I arrived in Vietnam as Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. On Christmas eve 1970, I was discharged in time to return to Dartmouth for the start of winter term. Following Dartmouth, I endured the paper chase of law school at the University of Minnesota before becoming a trial attorney in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
In the early ‘90s while continuing my law practice, I studied with the Benedictine monks at the nearby St. John’s School of Theology where I discovered a keen interest in the history behind the formation of the Biblical canon. Who were the authors? What were the circumstances that influenced them? For whom were their writings intended?
Years later, my interest in Paul, the principal author of the Christian New Testament, resulted in publication of A Wretched Man, a novel of Paul the Apostle. Readers sang the novel’s praises. “Regardless of your personal religious background, this book is absolutely breathtaking.” “The novel was difficult to put down and brought to life a distant time and place with such humanity and liveliness.” Academic reviewers praised the historical authenticity of the novel’s treatment of the lives and times of the first generation of the Christian church.
My experiences as an army Ranger scouting the jungles of the Central Highlands of Vietnam serve as inspiration for my bold, dark, and intense novella entitled Gonna Stick My Sword in the Golden Sand. One reviewer suggested the book was “not merely a war story but a story of life and choices.”
For years, I followed the struggle of LGBTQ Christians to be fully accepted by their churches, and when my own Lutheran denomination changed their policies during their national convention in Minneapolis in 2009, I was there as a “graceful engagement” volunteer. Queer Clergy, A History of Gay and Lesbian Ministry in American Protestantism, remembers the queer prophets and celebrates the journey toward full inclusion. This non-fiction book was a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award.
More recently, I have returned to early church history and the tumultuous 1st century that saw a Jewish revolt against Roman imperialism.Wormwood and Gall: The Destruction of Jerusalem and the First Gospel remembers the context but fictionalizes the characters behind the “Gospel According to Mark.”
I experienced a glorious childhood in Upsala in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Bike riding, ball playing, pony riding, and especially fishing and water-skiing on nearby Cedar Lake where G-pa and G-ma Holmen lived in the lakeside retirement home they built. When high school rolled around, I was active in sports, and when I was honored as valedictorian of my forty-two-person graduating class, I was merely following family tradition after three of Dad’s sisters, Mom’s sister, and Mom herself had been valedictorians before me.
In the fall of ’66, I was off to Dartmouth, but within two years, I arrived in Vietnam as Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. On Christmas eve 1970, I was discharged in time to return to Dartmouth for the start of winter term. Following Dartmouth, I endured the paper chase of law school at the University of Minnesota before becoming a trial attorney in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
In the early ‘90s while continuing my law practice, I studied with the Benedictine monks at the nearby St. John’s School of Theology where I discovered a keen interest in the history behind the formation of the Biblical canon. Who were the authors? What were the circumstances that influenced them? For whom were their writings intended?
Years later, my interest in Paul, the principal author of the Christian New Testament, resulted in publication of A Wretched Man, a novel of Paul the Apostle. Readers sang the novel’s praises. “Regardless of your personal religious background, this book is absolutely breathtaking.” “The novel was difficult to put down and brought to life a distant time and place with such humanity and liveliness.” Academic reviewers praised the historical authenticity of the novel’s treatment of the lives and times of the first generation of the Christian church.
My experiences as an army Ranger scouting the jungles of the Central Highlands of Vietnam serve as inspiration for my bold, dark, and intense novella entitled Gonna Stick My Sword in the Golden Sand. One reviewer suggested the book was “not merely a war story but a story of life and choices.”
For years, I followed the struggle of LGBTQ Christians to be fully accepted by their churches, and when my own Lutheran denomination changed their policies during their national convention in Minneapolis in 2009, I was there as a “graceful engagement” volunteer. Queer Clergy, A History of Gay and Lesbian Ministry in American Protestantism, remembers the queer prophets and celebrates the journey toward full inclusion. This non-fiction book was a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award.
More recently, I have returned to early church history and the tumultuous 1st century that saw a Jewish revolt against Roman imperialism.Wormwood and Gall: The Destruction of Jerusalem and the First Gospel remembers the context but fictionalizes the characters behind the “Gospel According to Mark.”
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 21, 2011
The reader should be prepared to read about the gloomy, gory reality of Vietnam.
""Chasing After Wind" is the fourth volume of a series entitled LRRP Rangers Vietnam. The LRRPs of Vietnam (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol) were the cavalry scouts of their war, traveling by helicopter rather than mustangs into remote and unfriendly territory. The mountainous jungles of the central highlands were especially inhospitable, filled with snakes and wild animals, and criss crossed with the tributaries of the Ho Chi Minh trail that lay hidden beneath the thick, triple-canopy jungle foliage. It was the job of small teams of LRRPs to penetrate the ridges and valleys of the rainforest to track and identify enemy activity."
The above is taken from Amazon. The novel itself is super short, but no less powerful. The main character "keeps things real" throughout the novel, giving what the reader can only assume to be a true account of his surroundings. The characters are not glorified or portrayed as "heroes"; they are meant to be men performing feats that are expected of them in times of battle. The reader will enjoy the camraderie and the details provided by the author; the plot becomes real. This novel is terrific for young adults and adults alike...as long as they are not expecting an action-packed novel.
I received this novel to review it; this in no way alters my opinion.
""Chasing After Wind" is the fourth volume of a series entitled LRRP Rangers Vietnam. The LRRPs of Vietnam (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol) were the cavalry scouts of their war, traveling by helicopter rather than mustangs into remote and unfriendly territory. The mountainous jungles of the central highlands were especially inhospitable, filled with snakes and wild animals, and criss crossed with the tributaries of the Ho Chi Minh trail that lay hidden beneath the thick, triple-canopy jungle foliage. It was the job of small teams of LRRPs to penetrate the ridges and valleys of the rainforest to track and identify enemy activity."
The above is taken from Amazon. The novel itself is super short, but no less powerful. The main character "keeps things real" throughout the novel, giving what the reader can only assume to be a true account of his surroundings. The characters are not glorified or portrayed as "heroes"; they are meant to be men performing feats that are expected of them in times of battle. The reader will enjoy the camraderie and the details provided by the author; the plot becomes real. This novel is terrific for young adults and adults alike...as long as they are not expecting an action-packed novel.
I received this novel to review it; this in no way alters my opinion.
Displaying 1 of 1 review