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Summary: Soldier's Heart Review
Review: "Soldier's Heart" is powerful and vivid account of Sgt. Lee Burkins' (ret.) experiences during the Vietnam War and his battle to regain his humanity after it.
"Soldier's Heart" pulls no punches as Burkins takes his readers from the rotten jungles of South East Asia to the V.A. physiatrist's couch in Hawaii. At times graphic and always intense this book pulls you into the realities of war and doesn't let go.
Burkins does not only addresses the issues of anger, frustration and abandonment that many veterans feel but offers practical and sound advice that applies veterans and anyone looking for ways to overcome mental, emotional, and physical wounds.
This book is a must for all modern warriors.Isaac Kamins
Martial Arts Instructor. San Francisco, Ca.
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Summary: A Tale for Our Times
Review: "SOLDIER'S HEART": A Tale for Our Times
Review by:Frank Allen
In his book,:"Soldier's Heart" Lee Burkins touches on the essence of warefare in a manner which could only be presented by a combat veteran. As his story weaves its way between the tale of a young green beret sergeant, leading his indigenous Montagnard RECON Team back and forth across the Cambodian boarder and a burned out combat veteran seeking assistance from a VA psychologist, it uncovers both the passions and stresses that are pressed upon a young soldier's psyche and the long term emotional traumas that are their result.
As they follow Lee's evolutionary journey, the reader learns of the toll war takes on the young people who wage it and the price paid by the society these young soldiers return to. With his discourse on "The Art of Non-Dualistic Weaponry To Overcome Internal Conflict" Lee moves beyond simply explaining the problem and presents a method of healing, not only for combat veterans, but also for everyone who has ever been emotionally traumatized.
"Soldier's Heart" asks the ultimate question about war. "Is it ever really woth its price in death and pain and physical and emotional destruction?" In this time when a new crop of young green beret sergeants are leading their indigenous Kurdish RECON Teams through the deserts of the middle east, it is a question well worth pondering.
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Summary: "Soldier's Heart" - a personal and significant document
Review: Amid the increasing number of books about Vietnam this book is quite special. It is the personal memoir of a man who spent his time in Vietnam in the Special Forces, and has spent much of his life since recovering from the experience. Thus the narrrative covers his youth and joining up, service in Vietnam including fighting with the Montagnards, returning home, pineapple farming in Hawaii, another stint of military service again in Hawaii, and a lot of hard work fighting for veterans' rights and counseling other vets. What is striking about this narrative, however, is that it does not follow a linear conventional structure. Rather it has a sort of spiraling structure, with each successive section looping back or forward in time and space. But this isn't confusing, it is in fact very effective in conveying that sense of acute dislocation that accompanies post-traumatic stress and is suffered by so many veterans.
It is a tribute too to the author's writing style that the reader is bowled along; I read most of it at a single sitting. The stories too in themselves are gripping, by turns sad, humorous, disturbing (some very disturbing), and inspiring. But the main sense that comes across is immensely life-affirming, a real impression of the author as a man who has faced his demons and is coming out the other side.
Overall, this book is a good read. More than that too, it is one man's intensely personal testament to the post-Vietnam trauma of American society, and thus deserves a significant place in the broader corpus of the literature of war.
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Summary: A Classic Work
Review: Author of NIGHT LETTERS: INSIDE WARTIME AFGHANISTAN, THE HIDDEN WEST, FOOLS GOLD, and BONE GAMES, and war correspondent for Time, CBS, etc. since 1984 SOLDIER'S HEART is a rare book, one that dares tell
the truth about what war really does to people. Anyone
interested in the Vietnam war, the experience of combat,
and the problems facing ex-soldiers should keep a copy
in their library. It should be required reading at West Point,
the War College, Fort Bragg, and in every high school and college
course dealing with the Vietnam era. As a young Special Forces Sergeant in Vietnam, Lee Burkins
led small units of Montagnard tribesmen on recon
missions deep behind enemy lines. Many of his fellow
soldiers, Americans and 'Yards' died before his eyes. He
came home to America angry, alienated, deeply scarred
by what he had experienced on the battlfield, and found himself
fighting another war, on behalf of himself and his fellow Vietnam
vets, against a nation that shunned its own heroes and a Veterans
Administration that refused to recognize the very real psychological traumas that plagued Burkins and hundreds of thousands of his fellow vets. In the end, Burkins won out against his own PTSD, and helped his fellow GIs get the help they needed and deserved, to heal themselves.
I rate SOLDIER'S HEART as one of the half dozen truly great books
on the Vietnam War, up there with with WE WERE SOLDIERS
ONCE, AND YOUNG, DISPATCHES, and Charles Anderson's THE GRUNTS.
Rating: 
Summary: A Well-Written Personal Account
Review: I was captivated by this book, which packs many stories from the author's personal life during and after Vietnam. He jumps around, rather than retelling it all in chronological order. This gives the flashback effect which he actually experienced after returning from the war. It's very well written and easily holds one's interest. My only criticism-- and I mean this as a minor one-- is that it sometimes comes off as being alittle preachy. His explanation of the roots of violence and war may be a bit simplistic. Without presenting evidence to support his statements, it ends up being his personal opinions rather than a workable theory. I have no problem with these opinions, and share quite a few of them. But mainly he gives narrated accounts that open a window into what he experienced. This is enough for the reader to form his/her own opinions.
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Summary: A Personal Window Into War - Before, During, and After
Review: If you ever wondered what it was like to go to war, you should read this book. Lee Burkins went, and he has written a compelling and very accessible account of his experiences - and struggles - before, during, and after. I've casually known Lee Burkins for a half dozen years. I knew of his background as a Green Beret who fought in Vietnam, and I, like many, was curious to know how the gentle man I know could have been so deeply immersed in warfare. Now, having had the privilege of reading his book, I know. And I know so much more. About war. About what it's like to be in a war. About what it's like to return from a war. About what it's like to try to live with what went on during the war, to live with the damage you have caused and have in turn suffered. And about how little people like me, who haven't been there, know and understand. We're fortunate that Lee is a wonderful writer. If he weren't, this book wouldn't work. It is a series of riveting stories - powerful, funny, painful, exhilarating. There is no fat in his writing - it's simple and direct. The stories are those of someone who has lived the story he's writing - not imagined it. He writes clearly from his head, and expressively and honestly from his heart.
Soldier's Heart is a page turner. It reads like a good novel; I didn't want to put it down. I wanted to know what happened next and then next and then next, how things turned out for Lee in the war and after the war, with his effort to regain his humanity. Lee helps you walk a "mile in his shoes" as he struggles to make sense of the war he fought in Vietnam, of the battles he fought at home trying to get psychological help for himself and his fellow veterans, of the conflicts he felt -and still feels - inside himself, and of the phenomenon of war in general.
Lee articulately shares with you his journey. I encourage you to take it with him.
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Summary: Unconventional Excellence!!!
Review: Lee Burkins has produced a remarkable work that will assure a vital education to those genuinely concerned with the true prices of warfare.
Those intelligent enough to purchase his teachings/reflections will acquire a visceral knowledge of a journey that few survive let alone possess the courage and clarity to document.
SOLDIER'S HEART is a masterpiece and parties claiming to be military historians without turning its pages are simply fooling themselves. Please read the following reviews found beneath this writing. You'll get the idea.
De Oppresso Liber, Lee...and God Bless You.
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Summary: Required reading for anyone who wants to support the troops
Review: Of the 40 or 50 books that I have on Vietnam, "Soldier's Heart" is at the top. As a Vietnam veteran I found the book to be as emotional and personal as any work of literature that I have read. I am recomending it to all the pro-peace and pro-war groups out there who say that they support the troops and have never experienced combat. "Soldier's Heart" shows that cheering the troops during war is not enough. War will be with some of the troops the rest of their lives. More importantly maybe it can show some of the pro-war people how costly and insane war is.
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Summary: Soldier's Heart -- An Excellent Book
Review: This book details Lee Burkins' experience in the Vietnam war and its aftermath. Written in a non-linear fashion, the book is a collection of poignant vignettes and memories. This allows for a psychologically realisitc and "big-picture" way of understanding the story of Mr. Burkins' past. Jumping between the mountainous jungles of Vietnam, Hawaiian VA hospitals, and civilian life in the States, the reader gets a simultaneous sense of the past, present, and future. What is most truly impressive, however, is not the story of the war itself, but the story of Lee's path in reckoning with the trauma of war, coming to terms with it, and purifying his heart.
Rating:
Summary: A Well-Written Personal Account
Review: This memoir is not for the faint of heart, but in times like these, when America's leaders seem determined to promote war as a viable solution to conflict, every citizen should be required to read it. War is hell -- a meaningless cliche to most of us. But to Vietnam veteran Lee Burkins it is watching a friend get blown to bits by a hand grenade. It is hacking a dead comrad's body from the wreckage of a downed helicopter so it can be returned to his loved ones. It is watching Napalm rain down on Viet Cong villages, killing old people and children.
In short, war is the painful transformation of an innocent young Army recruit into a hardened, macho combat soldier who ends up a homeless veteran living in the jungles of Hawaii to escape his war-induced mental afflictions.
Burkin's unflinching account of his painful journey toward healing is intense and riveting. I could only read a few pages at a time. The author weaves back and forth between his combat experiences, his visits with counselors, rap group discussions with other veterans, and his continual struggle to return to a society that shuns him.
It is an inspiration to all who battle difficult illnesses like Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and it is a lesson about the true horrors of war and why war should always be the very last resort of a civilized society.
I would have liked to know a little more about the healing aspect of the author's journey, such as the specific steps he took or techniques he pursued, and what his life is like today. Some of the book could have used additional editing.
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