Tail End Charlie: Memoir of a United States Marine in the Vietnam War

Rating:
Summary: Poignant, heartfelt and moving . . .
Review: Recommended reading if you want to know the truth of how it really was in VN. Ron Jensen does a terrific job of bringing his own experiences to life for the reader.

Rating:
Summary: Poignant, heartfelt and moving . . .
Review: Recommended reading if you want to know the truth of how it really was in VN. Ron Jensen does a terrific job of bringing his own experiences to life for the reader.

Rating:
Summary: PUT THIS ON THE TOP OF YOUR LIST
Review: This is a passage to manhood for an American kid in the ultimate test of himself and why he did it. A remembrance of who fights and dies for your way of life. The strength of this book is after 30 years the author takes you back to the thoughts and sensibilities of a peach-faced high school teenager entering the Marine Corps during the Viet Nam Conflict. From growing up in Queens, NY and training to be a Marine, we follow his deployment to Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion 26 Marines, the legendary unit that held Hill 861 in Khe Sahn. This is not a story of Marine Corps Dress Blues or the fiction of Recruiting Posters or Officers strategy and tactics. Here is a truly told 13 month tour of duty "In Country" and return to the World of a "Grunt". L/Cpl Jensen recounts the blood, guts, and fears. The story is a chronology of firefights, C-rations, Navy Ships, helicopter insertion, ambushes, and his buddies' fates. Sprinkled in this chain of senseless chaos are the facts that control Destiny. Hanoi Hanna, Paris Peace Talks, War Protests in the U.S., and Nixon's withdrawal of troops. True to a 19 year old viewpoint these are not examined. They are facts from a world far away form death. Reality in this march through Viet Nam's Valleys of Death is his rifle and buddies who comfort and support him. The tension is broken and paced with human recounts of a "John Dear Letter", encounters with prostitutes, and the illegal requestion of an Officers jeep plus other humorous events from music to mail and more. READ THIS BOOK. Pacifists will find ammunition for outlawing War; Militarist will find reasons to expand budgets; New Recruits may find a guide to survival. You will know why Marine Viet Nam Veterans, now aged men in VFW hats, are called; "The Few, The Proud, The Marines"

Rating:
Summary: PUT THIS ON THE TOP OF YOUR LIST
Review: This is a passage to manhood for an American kid in the ultimate test of himself and why he did it. A remembrance of who fights and dies for your way of life. The strength of this book is after 30 years the author takes you back to the thoughts and sensibilities of a peach-faced high school teenager entering the Marine Corps during the Viet Nam Conflict. From growing up in Queens, NY and training to be a Marine, we follow his deployment to Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion 26 Marines, the legendary unit that held Hill 861 in Khe Sahn. This is not a story of Marine Corps Dress Blues or the fiction of Recruiting Posters or Officers strategy and tactics. Here is a truly told 13 month tour of duty "In Country" and return to the World of a "Grunt". L/Cpl Jensen recounts the blood, guts, and fears. The story is a chronology of firefights, C-rations, Navy Ships, helicopter insertion, ambushes, and his buddies' fates. Sprinkled in this chain of senseless chaos are the facts that control Destiny. Hanoi Hanna, Paris Peace Talks, War Protests in the U.S., and Nixon's withdrawal of troops. True to a 19 year old viewpoint these are not examined. They are facts from a world far away form death. Reality in this march through Viet Nam's Valleys of Death is his rifle and buddies who comfort and support him. The tension is broken and paced with human recounts of a "John Dear Letter", encounters with prostitutes, and the illegal requestion of an Officers jeep plus other humorous events from music to mail and more. READ THIS BOOK. Pacifists will find ammunition for outlawing War; Militarist will find reasons to expand budgets; New Recruits may find a guide to survival. You will know why Marine Viet Nam Veterans, now aged men in VFW hats, are called; "The Few, The Proud, The Marines"