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Soul Patrol: The Riveting True Story of the First African American LRRP Team in Vietnam
LRRPs had to be the best.
Anything less meant certain death.
When Ed Emanuel was handpicked for the first African American special operations LRRP team in Vietnam, he knew his six-man team couldn’t have asked for a tougher proving ground than Cu Chi in the summer of 196868. Home to the largest Viet cong tunnel complex in Vietnam, Cu Chi was the deadly heart of the enemy’s stronghold in Tay Ninh Province.
Team 2/6 of Company F, 51st Infantry, was quickly dubbed the Soul Patrol, a gimmicky label that belied the true depth of their courage. Stark and compelling, Emanuel’s account provides an unforgettable look at the horror and the heroism that became the daily fare of LRRPs in Vietnam. Every mission was a tightrope walk between life and death as Emanuel’s team penetrated NVA bases, sidestepped lethal booby traps, or found themselves ambushed and forced to fight their way back to the LZ to survive. Emanuel’s gripping memoir is an enduring testament to the valor of all American LRRPs, who courageously risked their lives so that others might be free.
Anything less meant certain death.
When Ed Emanuel was handpicked for the first African American special operations LRRP team in Vietnam, he knew his six-man team couldn’t have asked for a tougher proving ground than Cu Chi in the summer of 196868. Home to the largest Viet cong tunnel complex in Vietnam, Cu Chi was the deadly heart of the enemy’s stronghold in Tay Ninh Province.
Team 2/6 of Company F, 51st Infantry, was quickly dubbed the Soul Patrol, a gimmicky label that belied the true depth of their courage. Stark and compelling, Emanuel’s account provides an unforgettable look at the horror and the heroism that became the daily fare of LRRPs in Vietnam. Every mission was a tightrope walk between life and death as Emanuel’s team penetrated NVA bases, sidestepped lethal booby traps, or found themselves ambushed and forced to fight their way back to the LZ to survive. Emanuel’s gripping memoir is an enduring testament to the valor of all American LRRPs, who courageously risked their lives so that others might be free.
- GenresMilitary Fiction
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 29, 2003
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67 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 9, 2022
The title is about the first all black Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol in Viet Nam. There’s very little talk about race until near the end of the book. This book was totally different from any other book that I’ve read about Viet Nam.
November 16, 2022
Good story about a close knit group of LRRPS
May 26, 2025
Very easy book to read. It was like reading someone’s diary. It gave me great incites to how the war was fought?
December 21, 2016
Title: Soul Patrol
Author: Ed Emanuel
Place of Publication: Unites States
Publisher: The Random House Publishing Group
Date of Publication: 2003
Number of Pages: 285
INTRODUCTION
Ed Emanuel is an African American who enlisted in the Army and fought in the Vietnam War. He volunteered for a Special Forces unit which was a precursor to the present day Special Forces Rangers. The unit was codenamed Lurps but appropriately named LRRP which is short for Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol. With the passage of time he found himself in a patrol team that had only Black troops, this led to the team being called the “Soul Patrol.” Ed Emanuel is currently a film maker in Los Angeles. This book chronicles the various missions, near misses, highs and lows the author experienced not just in his time in the Army but specifically his time spent in Vietnam.
Far be it from me to judge a book by its cover, I don’t do that. I do however judge a book by its first lines, its first chapter, its preface or introduction. The success of a book is hinged on its ability of making the reader eager to turn the page. Soul Patrol got me turning the page with its preface that read, “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares about more than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.” I found this quote to be quite profound. So I turned the pages.
The book is basically the personal diary of the author as he spent his one year tour of duty in the war in Vietnam. It is written in the first person, it is highly descriptive and contains scenes of sex, nudity and violence, LOL. It is easy to read but it does contain a high amount of military jargons. You will encounter acronyms like R&R- Rest and Recreation, E&E- Escape and Evasion, LRP-Long Range Patrol, PX-Postal Exchange, TOC-Tactical Operations Centre, Sitrep- Situation Report, AO- Area of Operations, Chi Com- Chinese Communist, FAC- Forward Air Control, LZ- Landing Zone, BDA- Bomb Damage Assessment, REMF- Rear End Mother Fuckers, Charlie- a nick name which refers to either of two sets of enemy fighters, (Vietcong) Vietnamese Communist militia or (NVA) North Vietnamese Army troops. SOUL PATROL was written by an ex-military man so this is expected.
Chapter one of the book is titled ’what the hell am I doing here?’ And it takes you through the turbulent times of late 60’s America and the events that led to the nineteen year old Ed Emanuel joining the military. Chapter three is titled ‘going home too soon’ and it talks about the death of the author’s first cousin, Ricky Vaughn Riley, who was killed in action while fighting in the same war. Chapter four is aptly titled ‘okay Charlie…. Here I come’ and it deals with how the young soldier dealt with the pain of the loss of his cousin by taking it out on the enemy. There are thirteen chapters in all and all will keep you turning the pages. The author over dosed the book with a lot of out of the war front action such as racism in the military, cultural divisions, drug use, prostitution, black civil rights movement, environmental impact of the war and so many other everyday issues which basically takes away from the reader that pain that should ordinarily be associated with a book chronicling death. It’s an all-round good read. You will enjoy it.
From somewhere out there,
Michael Ombu
Author: Ed Emanuel
Place of Publication: Unites States
Publisher: The Random House Publishing Group
Date of Publication: 2003
Number of Pages: 285
INTRODUCTION
Ed Emanuel is an African American who enlisted in the Army and fought in the Vietnam War. He volunteered for a Special Forces unit which was a precursor to the present day Special Forces Rangers. The unit was codenamed Lurps but appropriately named LRRP which is short for Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol. With the passage of time he found himself in a patrol team that had only Black troops, this led to the team being called the “Soul Patrol.” Ed Emanuel is currently a film maker in Los Angeles. This book chronicles the various missions, near misses, highs and lows the author experienced not just in his time in the Army but specifically his time spent in Vietnam.
Far be it from me to judge a book by its cover, I don’t do that. I do however judge a book by its first lines, its first chapter, its preface or introduction. The success of a book is hinged on its ability of making the reader eager to turn the page. Soul Patrol got me turning the page with its preface that read, “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares about more than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.” I found this quote to be quite profound. So I turned the pages.
The book is basically the personal diary of the author as he spent his one year tour of duty in the war in Vietnam. It is written in the first person, it is highly descriptive and contains scenes of sex, nudity and violence, LOL. It is easy to read but it does contain a high amount of military jargons. You will encounter acronyms like R&R- Rest and Recreation, E&E- Escape and Evasion, LRP-Long Range Patrol, PX-Postal Exchange, TOC-Tactical Operations Centre, Sitrep- Situation Report, AO- Area of Operations, Chi Com- Chinese Communist, FAC- Forward Air Control, LZ- Landing Zone, BDA- Bomb Damage Assessment, REMF- Rear End Mother Fuckers, Charlie- a nick name which refers to either of two sets of enemy fighters, (Vietcong) Vietnamese Communist militia or (NVA) North Vietnamese Army troops. SOUL PATROL was written by an ex-military man so this is expected.
Chapter one of the book is titled ’what the hell am I doing here?’ And it takes you through the turbulent times of late 60’s America and the events that led to the nineteen year old Ed Emanuel joining the military. Chapter three is titled ‘going home too soon’ and it talks about the death of the author’s first cousin, Ricky Vaughn Riley, who was killed in action while fighting in the same war. Chapter four is aptly titled ‘okay Charlie…. Here I come’ and it deals with how the young soldier dealt with the pain of the loss of his cousin by taking it out on the enemy. There are thirteen chapters in all and all will keep you turning the pages. The author over dosed the book with a lot of out of the war front action such as racism in the military, cultural divisions, drug use, prostitution, black civil rights movement, environmental impact of the war and so many other everyday issues which basically takes away from the reader that pain that should ordinarily be associated with a book chronicling death. It’s an all-round good read. You will enjoy it.
From somewhere out there,
Michael Ombu
March 2, 2015
Soul Patrol by Ed Emanuel is a nonfiction story about the authors experience in Vietnam. He was apart of an all black LRRP squadron in the Vietnam war. The book follows his first thoughts upon entering the war and experiencing Vietnam first hand. It even starts right as he leaves the plane and steps foot onto the unknown and very dangerous lands of Vietnam.
As Ed Emanuel gets led into his FOB (Forward Operating Base), he quickly realizes that he’s in way over his head, and he feels like he messed up trying to prove to everybody that he was tough enough to go to Vietnam. “Perhaps my journey was a cry for help, an effort to prove to myself and others, like my father, my self-worth. At the tender age of eighteen and nineteen years old, a teenager’s hormones are overactive. My making a potentially suicidal statement like volunteering to fight in a war was in reality my reaching out and pleading, ‘Please stop me before I kill myself!’” (Emanuel 9). Emanuel shuts himself up and walks to where he will eat, sleep, and prepare for the missions he will go on as an LRRP.
As the book continues on from there, Emanuel goes on his first mission, learns about the war, and tries to survive his way through the hell that was Vietnam. The experiences that he writes are interesting yet very horrific. To see close up what the Vietnam war was truly like. It’s not a pretty sight, that’s for sure. Emanuel explains how it brings out the worst in people. However, as a book, it’s a fantastic read. Even for someone with little military knowledge, it is easy to follow and provides a great true story.
As Ed Emanuel gets led into his FOB (Forward Operating Base), he quickly realizes that he’s in way over his head, and he feels like he messed up trying to prove to everybody that he was tough enough to go to Vietnam. “Perhaps my journey was a cry for help, an effort to prove to myself and others, like my father, my self-worth. At the tender age of eighteen and nineteen years old, a teenager’s hormones are overactive. My making a potentially suicidal statement like volunteering to fight in a war was in reality my reaching out and pleading, ‘Please stop me before I kill myself!’” (Emanuel 9). Emanuel shuts himself up and walks to where he will eat, sleep, and prepare for the missions he will go on as an LRRP.
As the book continues on from there, Emanuel goes on his first mission, learns about the war, and tries to survive his way through the hell that was Vietnam. The experiences that he writes are interesting yet very horrific. To see close up what the Vietnam war was truly like. It’s not a pretty sight, that’s for sure. Emanuel explains how it brings out the worst in people. However, as a book, it’s a fantastic read. Even for someone with little military knowledge, it is easy to follow and provides a great true story.
April 22, 2017
Wow. Where to start. Having an interest in special operations I naturally enjoyed this book. This book is a first hand account of a soldier in Vietnam that finds himself assigned to a LRRP unit. After a few missions and learning the job of a LRRP he gets and takes the opportunity to go to the legendary MACV Recondo school. In Vietnam having the coveted V recondo patch was not just a patch, but an assurance to new soldiers that you have been trained and have demonstrated a level of competence as a LRRP. The author describes his experiences in good detail. This is one if the best books about Special Operations LRRP I have read.
December 15, 2016
good book. minor quibbles are that it focused more on everything else other than the actual missions. But perhaps after so many patrols and the war being so long ago Mr. Emanuel wrote what he remembered most. He also seems to go into hard factual statistics concerning the Black soldier and Vietnam, which i must admit, i didn't care for. but again it's understandable..just wished there was more on the Lrrp patrols he experienced on his tour.
September 29, 2016
I only read this because it was a pick in my book club. It's not something I would normally pick up. It was hard for me to get all the way through. It was dull and it dragged on and on and I didn't think it was ever going to end.
November 23, 2015
Great Story. It keeps you glued to the pages.
October 3, 2016
Great read
Excellent account of the experiences Army Special Forces soldiers in Vietnam. Emmanuel is a detailed story teller. A unique perspective of the war.
Excellent account of the experiences Army Special Forces soldiers in Vietnam. Emmanuel is a detailed story teller. A unique perspective of the war.
February 14, 2025
Interesting memoir with some truly insightful looks into LRRP work and racial dynamics within elite US units.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews