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LRRPs Vietnam #2
Humping
This is a re-release. Much of the content was previously published under the name, Prowl, but is now offered as the second chapter of Gonna Stick My Sword in the Golden Sand: a Vietnam Soldier's Story.
Humping is about a torturous twenty-three day trek through the jungle as seen through the eyes of a newbie, grunt infantryman, a fresh arrival in Vietnam. By the end of the hump, the young soldier has become a seasoned-veteran who volunteers to be a scout for a Long Range Reconnaissance team.
Golden Sand is a bold, dark, and intense retelling of the Vietnam experience through the eyes of an army scout, the point man of Romeo-18, a camouflaged and face-painted four-man LRRP team inserted by helicopter into remote and unfriendly territory to search for "Charlie," the North Vietnamese soldiers who travelled the mountain gullies of the Ho Chi Minh trail.
Golden Sand is less about patriotism and heroism than about the gut-wrenching reality for the Vietnam combat soldiers who are celebrated for simply doing their best to get by, not as superheroes, but as young men who often acted heroically but sometimes foolishly in circumstances not of their own choosing. One reviewer commented, "the bond and the folly of immortal combat ring loud and clear from the page, and the story's told with all the realism, language and pathos of experience." The mood of Golden Sand is dark and somber rather than triumphalistic: a hauntingly honest and brutally true retelling rather than a glorification of the Vietnam experience.
The author refers to Golden Sand as "autobiographical fiction." True incidents serve as inspiration for the book, but the stories are told with literary embellishment. The author served with K Company, 75th Infantry (Rangers) in the central highlands of Vietnam in 1969-70, and he was twice awarded a bronze star for valor in combat.
Humping is about a torturous twenty-three day trek through the jungle as seen through the eyes of a newbie, grunt infantryman, a fresh arrival in Vietnam. By the end of the hump, the young soldier has become a seasoned-veteran who volunteers to be a scout for a Long Range Reconnaissance team.
Golden Sand is a bold, dark, and intense retelling of the Vietnam experience through the eyes of an army scout, the point man of Romeo-18, a camouflaged and face-painted four-man LRRP team inserted by helicopter into remote and unfriendly territory to search for "Charlie," the North Vietnamese soldiers who travelled the mountain gullies of the Ho Chi Minh trail.
Golden Sand is less about patriotism and heroism than about the gut-wrenching reality for the Vietnam combat soldiers who are celebrated for simply doing their best to get by, not as superheroes, but as young men who often acted heroically but sometimes foolishly in circumstances not of their own choosing. One reviewer commented, "the bond and the folly of immortal combat ring loud and clear from the page, and the story's told with all the realism, language and pathos of experience." The mood of Golden Sand is dark and somber rather than triumphalistic: a hauntingly honest and brutally true retelling rather than a glorification of the Vietnam experience.
The author refers to Golden Sand as "autobiographical fiction." True incidents serve as inspiration for the book, but the stories are told with literary embellishment. The author served with K Company, 75th Infantry (Rangers) in the central highlands of Vietnam in 1969-70, and he was twice awarded a bronze star for valor in combat.
15 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 12, 2014
9 people are currently reading
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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April 8, 2023
Enjoying The Series!
I was initially shocked about how quickly the short stories read. However, each book is like a quick burst of cold bottled citrus green tea on a warm 90 degree summer day. It's refreshing reading about the teamwork of the groups, companies, and perseverance of the volunteers who signed up for the mission.
I was initially shocked about how quickly the short stories read. However, each book is like a quick burst of cold bottled citrus green tea on a warm 90 degree summer day. It's refreshing reading about the teamwork of the groups, companies, and perseverance of the volunteers who signed up for the mission.
Displaying 1 of 1 review