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| Book Thread - 10/28/18 | |
| 2018-10-28 | |
What It Was Really Like To Fly Combat Helicopters In Vietnam Mark Garrison Garrison, 2015 I was in the middle of a personal accounting of events kick when I came across a taped interview with Mr. Garrison. He was telling a story about a mission being a bit too exciting. Something about how he told the story grabbed my attention, so I decided to check out his book. He of course begins at the beginning. Page 6 Now, please understand that I didn’t want to do any of this crap. None of these choices were mine. Like kids across the nation I was caught in circumstances beyond my control, and I felt that my choices were bad, worse, and worst. I was just a twenty-year-old kid from a small town in southern Illinois. Just a few years before, I had been playing Pony League baseball. My biggest problem was that I couldn’t afford to buy a decent baseball glove. Needless to say, my problems had now escalated by about six order of magnitude. Mr. Garrison shares 68 different short stories, from basic to his flight home. The stories are connected in a timeline, but stand on their own, making this book excellent for a quick 5 minute read or to read the entire book in an afternoon. These are adult stories, with adult language and antics. The language is clean, just adult in topic. Page 120 With a scotch on the rocks in one hand, I took the other and knocked on the flimsy wall next to the olive drab blanket that hung over the door. I thought someone had to be in there as loud as the Led Zeppelin music was blaring. There was a short wait before a hand appeared that grabbed the door blanket and moved it aside. Again, being a personal account book it is difficult to share passages without giving away the story. I enjoyed reading the stories; I would suggest the paperback at just under $15 unless you are into Kindle or, like me, go for Hardcover which at about $26, well, it is a quality bound book but for one read, a bit steep. | |
| Posted by:swksvolFF |
| #2 The village by bing west. |
| Posted by: Bman 2018-10-28 21:26 |
| #1 Every so often I binge read about Vietnam, partly out of a sense of obligation to those who served there, and partly out of a there-but-for-the-grace-of-God-go-I sentiment. I haven't read the Garrison book yet, but here are two I thought were awesome. In the non-fiction category, Crouching Beast by Frank Boccia, which is the story of "Hamburger Hill" as told from the perspective of a young airborne lieutenant. This is a recollection rather than a formal history, and the author is in part the hero of the story, so I might discount some of the details, but even so it's a hell of a book. $9.99 on Kindle, but you're going to need a map or two close at hand. As for fiction --and I'm assuming most folks here have already stayed up all night reading Jim Webb's Fields of Fire -- Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes is grimly inspiring. I suspect Mr. Marlantes and I would disagree on some political issues, but it's tough to argue with his Navy Cross, and this is basically a fictionalized version of what he did to merit that honor. (If you want pure fiction, watch the first episode of the Ken Burns series, which is as much as I could take without putting my TV in serious peril.) $9.63 on Kindle. |
| Posted by: Matt 2018-10-28 11:30 |