Rating: 
Summary: Basic Soldier Skills
Review: The most striking lesson to be learned from "We Were Soldiers..." is the importance of first class training. Moore's Battalion was a team. They had trained together in the US, they had lived together in the US, and through shared adversity had gone to Vietnam with a tight bond. Their training was sound and they understood the finer points of being a soldier. The other units involved in the action, and which moved out of X-Ray by foot were not as well trained. There can be not doubt that they were fine individuals and brave soldiers, but Moore's account highlights a deficiency in their training. Soldiers simply halted, sat on their packs, and lit up a smoke. Even NCOs walked down the column without rifles or helmets to see why they had halted. Any well trained soldier knows that during a halt you immediately face out, take up a defensive posture, and watch your arcs. Every well trained officer knows to deploy early warning, achieve mutual support/interlocking arcs, and to stay in a suitable position to command their troops. On both accounts, the soldiers and officers of 2/5 and 2/7 Battalion failed to adhere to these basic principles. This book serves as a lesson about the value of first class training and demonstrates the importance of ensuring that every soldiers basic skills are up to scratch.
Rating: 
Summary: Riveting. Heartbreaking!
Review: Wow! What a story! This is one war story that keep you driving forward until you reach the end ... with no coffee or bathroom breaks. You just have to know what happens. In my opinion, war stories just don't get better than this! (Remember that I am a veteran of the 101st Airborne and hate nothing more than the war stories where people can run through a solid curtain of bullets and never get scratched.)
Rating: 
Summary: A little too dry for me
Review: An interesting book, but I have read many others in the genre that were a better read. I picked this up after watching the movie, and I have to say that it was a good companion read, filling in the missing details from the film. Still, there are better alternatives to this book, unless you are an avid history buff who simply must have all the details.
Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: I thought the book was one of the best books ive ever read. Its a tribute to all of the soldiers who fought in Vietnam. I like how it didnt just focus on the battle but it also focused on the lives of the soldier's relitives in the U.S.
Rating: 
Summary: Battle report that is not for lay person
Review: It pains me tremendously to have to offer up a negative review "We Were Soldiers Once...and Young". Lt. General (then Lt. Colonel) Hal Moore's account of the vicious battle of Ia Drang in 1965 should be a very compelling read, giving great insight to the battle that changed to scope of the Vietnam War. Unfortunately, Moore's narrative is nothing more than series of repetitive statements and descriptions of the action that took place. In a few of the negative (or less than enthusiastic) reviews written about this book, it has been cited that this reads more like a battle 'after-action' report than a literary presentation of the events of that day. I have to agree. Writing accounts of actual battles is a tricky proposition. A good writer or editor can make it happen, though. Neither seemed to have helped with this book. After approximately 50 pages of relatively interesting background material to set the stage for the battle to follow, "We Were Soldiers" just dissolves into 300 pages of non-stop battle sequences. If a proper context is given to the events that are occurring, it can allow the lay person to properly understand and picture what is taking place. Unfortunately, it seems that Moore is intent on telling the stories of every single soldier who fought in that battle, describing their wounds and their determination to fight on. There are far too many names to keep track of and their situations are far too similar to give the reader and distinct sense of who these men were. There is also a very frustrating tendency to jump to different soldiers' points of views without ever giving a proper transition. One minute, the reader may think they are reading the comments of a private who was shot and survived the battle, but the next minute it will be the company captain who is speaking, and there will have been nothing to indicate the switch in speakers.
Although Hal Moore's name is listed as the primary author for this book, he really isn't the primary person at fault for the failure of "We Were Soldiers Once... and Young". Moore is a military man, not a writer. His skills lay in his ability to prepare men for battle and then lead them into battle, have them do their job, and get as many out safely as possible. From all accounts, Moore was superb with this task. The fault lies more with his editors at the publishing house and his co-author, journalist Joseph Galloway. By trade, Galloway is a writer and he should be equipped with strong narrative and story-telling skills. He could have and should have taken the tremendous insights that Moore provided and molded them into a fascinating tale of the men who fought on that day. There are many non-fiction war books that have managed to accomplish this. The editors of this book should also have seen that there was no narrative flow to the story and found ways to improve it before they published it. Alas, they didn't and, as a result, "We Were Soldiers..." is a chore to read.
It is clear that I am in the minority in my opinion here. That is part of why I feel it pains me to give this book a negative review. However, my final decision came down to a set of deciding factors: As a person who reads a lot of military history, but has never been in an actual battle or studied military strategy in-depth, could I still follow what has happening in this story with any degree of clarity. Unfortunately, the answer is 'No'. Therefore the negative review must stand.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning...
Review: If you know someone who simply loves war, and I don't mean being respectful for it and the people who fought in it, but simply love war for the blood, gore, and whatnot, buy them this book. They will never speak of war again. I devoured this book, as I have great respect for the men who fought in Vietnam and little respect for those who sent them there. This book does something that those warmongers of friends that you may have(I do :( ), it teaches them that war is not cool. The sadness in the movies that most of us pick up is masked from them by the explosions of blood that they notice during the sorrow. This story shows no blood, but truly reveals the horrific details of what those men had to do to defeat the hoardes of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers. A must read, whether you are into war stories or not.
Rating:
Summary: Ia Drang Battle of Sweat and Blood
Review: This is one of the excellent book that tells us about a major battle that took place in Vietnam during the large and dangerous WAR. That many people would like to forget about. Col. Moore does a very good job paying tribute to whoever fought under him at the battle of Ia Drang and those men will be heroes forever. Let the people who fought in that hot sweaty jungle for weeks at time be remembered as heroes fighting for the U.S.A. This book represents how no American soldier can ever give up. On October 23 to November 26, 1965 450 U.S. soldiers found themselves surrounded by a force of Veit Cong who fought hard and unscarred of death that would be waiting for them. Both sides went in looking for a battle and came out with the first major battle of The Vietnam WAR. Harold Moore commanded the men of the 1st battalion 7th Cavalry sent his men into the heart of Ia Drang. They didn't know that soon they would be surrounded by 2,000 Vietnam soldiers. Neither side predicted major losses but they both came up wrong. As many men died in the tall grass of that hot landing zone. The only lifeline that the Americans had was there supplies kept coming in from helicopter. These pilots were fearless when bringing in supplies because they knew that if they stopped there fellow soldiers would stop to. So they showed much courage flying into a Bees nest but instead of Bees flying around it was masses of bullets. There are many heroes in this battle, and even happiness in some parts, but this is a story of courage and the unwillingly of Americans to give up and the fearless Vietnam soldiers who were not scared of anything the Americans shoot at them. Many soldier's said "They would come out of nowhere in the hundreds and it was like shooting into a solid wall of soldiers." Or others would say "No matter how many bullets you shot they would still keep coming not just from straight but all sides it was like the bullets did not hurt them." If you are looking for a book of excitement or just plain set on the seat of chair action. This is the book that is right for you. We would probally not have this book right now if it wasn't for the courage of all the men that fought in that jungle of sweat and blood and all the men that never gave up no matter what condition. Also Joseph L. Galloway and his courage brought this story here today.
Rating:
Summary: To Robert McKinney
Review: Hey Robert, The review is about the book, not the war. BTW, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese weren't exactly the freedom-loving, independence minded people you seem to think they were. They also happen to have the unfortunate hobby of locking up and executing their own people who disagree with their rule. We may not be saints, but they're no angels either...
Rating: 
Summary: The brass had their heads up their collective ...
Review: The review title says it all. Johnson-Nixon war drafts the
poor or poorly educated youth from all over America's poverty
stricken lands to venture over into an even more imporverished
region of southeast Asia to punish an Asian people who
more than anything else wanted to be independent (like we
once were in l776). The Vietnamese hated French colonial rule!
Were we so blind? And they hated America's betrayal at the
end of WWII after Ho Chi Minh had fought alongside American
forces to defeat the Japanese Imperial Army, an army that
left 2,000,000 Vietnamese dead from starvation. But that's
another story. The Japanese forced Vietnamese farmers to
plant hemp for the war effort, effectively reducing the rice
harvest to starvation levels (the pig share of the harvest
going to Japan's brave imperial troops). And then we invited
the cowardly French to return to Vietnam and rule once more.
How many Vichy French who had bent over for Hitler came back to
'rule' Vietnam we'll never know, but the U.S. gave these sick
cowards the support they needed to fight the Viet Cong until
'54. And then we began dumping bombs and agent Orange on
the entire population 'to win the hearts and minds' of the
freedom loving people of Vietnam. What a joke. The movie
version stars Mel Gibson, an actor whose father fled with his
family back to Australia in the early l960's just so his sons
(including that grinning clown Mel) could not be drafted into
Johnson's poor man army. How sentimental we are about this
conflict in 2003!! Does anyone remember the deaths of possibly
5,000,000 Vietnamese who died in a senseless ten-year long
struggle for a nation state? If the U.S. had honored its
wartime agreement with Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam would never
seen such a bloody quagmire. And oh, those French, how loyal
they proved since l945. Now they won't join us in our attempts
to start Vietnam II, the Baghdad story. Another Bright, Shining
Lie.
Rating:
Summary: Huh?
Review: Informative and exciting. This is a very good book.
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