C Trick: Sort of a Memoir

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Summary: "C Trick: Sort of a Memoir
Review: "C Trick: Sort of a Memoir" is fun, irreverent, filled with colorful characters-a source for some real guffaws. It was hard for me to believe this is non-fiction. I'll pull if off the shelf again and again.

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Summary: Entertaining disdain for authority
Review: Anyone who has ever read a book about life in the military knows the ingredients: young men, alcohol, sex, boredom, and a cynical distaste for the decidedly undemocratic lifestyle of the armed forces. All these are present in abundance in Don Cooper's C Trick: Sort of a Memoir, a collection of anecdotes and incidents involving the men of the Berlin Field Station of the Army Security Agency during the Vietnam era. Some stories are outrageous, some are touching, but anyone who has spent time in uniform will identify with many of the personages and the situations in which they find themselves. Read this book for a vivid glimpse into the experiences of the men who were on the front lines of the "cold" war.

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Summary: Citizen Soldiers in the Cold War
Review: Before the all-volunteer Army there was the draft. This ment that most young American men had to decide how they were going to meet their military obligation. As the cold war dragged on while the Viet Nam war heated up how a person met this obligation assumed critical importance. The choices were stark. If you were in college you were safe. If not you could wait to be drafted with the understanding that you could be sent to Viet Nam as a combat soldier, or you could volunteer for an assignment that offered the chance of avoiding infantry combat in a rice paddy. Volunteering, however, also had a price. You would serve for a longer time, often in a foreign country far away from friends and family. C Trick tells the story of some who volunteered. "C Trick, Sort of a Memior" is a delightful tale that described how a group of young citizen soldiers met their military obligation during the last half of the 1960's. Don Cooper describes what it was like to be a soldier in a special Army unit stationed in what may have been the most important cold war hot spot. Using prose from the era he captures all the humor and frustration experienced by young men coping with the rigors of military life. You will experience the frustration of these men when they were expected to perform difficult technical work in an important national security facility while also dealing with military absurdities. This book captures all the details of how these soldiers worked, played and tried to avoid military life while serving in the Army. It is a very refreshing account of how cold war soldiers spent their time while their lives were on hold. There is a lesson in this book on why the West prevailed in the cold war.

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Summary: The book I cannot write
Review: If I were to write about my 23 years in the military, it would read pretty much like Don's memoir. Unfortunately, my mother is still with us and I have to forego putting these things down on paper. While I was in the Air Force, I was stationed at one time on Crete, so I came into contact with the types that Don is describing in C Trick. I certainly understand them a lot better! The chapter called "Cigarette" should come with a warning. It was so funny, I thought I would bust a gut! I had to put it down several times, I was laughing so hard. It brought tears to my eyes! If you liked Mash, you will love C Trick. I wouldn't steer your wrong.

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Summary: The memories came alive
Review: It is now July, 2004, and in reading this book, I was taken back some 36 and 37 years to my tour as an Army spook, stationed in Alaska.

Don Cooper has given life to so many of my memories of the men, the goofiness of the lifers, the dullness that was broken now and then by really strange things that the Soviets would do, and, most prominently, of the instinct to question authority.

While Mr. Cooper did not delve into the technical details of what he did nor how he did "it", he really didn't need to for those of us who were in the same boat. The entire experience was about the men we worked and lived with and the very strange things that we would do either for entertainment or to screw with the minds of the lifers.

The final chapter in the book was perhaps the most powerful one for me simply because it brought back memories of the dismantling of an institution that flourished despite the management. And, the very same mindset can be applied to my civilian life and retirement from a career of 35 years in the railroad business.

This is a book that I am going to treasure and place in a very safe and secure location for future re-readings.

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Summary: C Trick Rules!
Review: Our secrets are out! The folks back home thought we were fighting communism and keeping the Red Horde from over-running "Freedom's Outpost." Well, we did, sort of. Read this book! It gives all the grisly details of the common soldier's fight against military stupidity and blind devotion to the rules.

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Summary: Barely Finished It!
Review: This was a ridiculous retelling of time spent in the armed services. The Locker Room language and antics were so unfunny. With the photographic memory of what went on with his army buddies and all of the colorful nicknames, why couldn't Mr. Cooper remember some of what actually went on while monitoring the East German transmissions? Nothing interesting happened in all that time?
For me, nothing interesting happened in C Trick, either. It was a college dorm without the classes, books or the music and politics of the sixties. No poignant stories of the friends? Everything was a goof?
Also, the editing of my copy was laughable. Pages were repeated and words missing. I guess anyone can be published in this day and age.

Rating:
Summary: Barely Finished It!
Review: This was a ridiculous retelling of time spent in the armed services. The Locker Room language and antics were so unfunny. With the photographic memory of what went on with his army buddies and all of the colorful nicknames, why couldn't Mr. Cooper remember some of what actually went on while monitoring the East German transmissions? Nothing interesting happened in all that time?
For me, nothing interesting happened in C Trick, either. It was a college dorm without the classes, books or the music and politics of the sixties. No poignant stories of the friends? Everything was a goof?
Also, the editing of my copy was laughable. Pages were repeated and words missing. I guess anyone can be published in this day and age.