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Summary: An Infantry Classic...
Review: I waited four years before I finally picked up a copy in a used bookstore, by chance, a hard cover first edition. I devoured it over the next week. I didn't want to finish it too quickly. Instead, I wanted to savor it. Even after all this time, the book still resonates with me.
General Moore's book will remain a classic of not only Vietnam, but of infantry warfare. That the book has drawn comparisons to some of the greatest books ever written about warfare and warriors should surprise no one who has read it and it is certainly deserving of them. It's tone is mournful, sad, and the General still is in awe of those heroes who went with him into the Ia Drang. Anyone whoever doubts the fighting ability and dedication of the American soldier (even if it's in a place as morally ambiguous as Vietnam) should read this book and thank God that this country is so blessed to have such young men who make such sacrifices.General Moore, I salute you and the heroes you have lead. God Bless.
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Summary: Best Vietnam book
Review: I have read several hundred books on the subject of the Vietnam war and to me this one is the best relating to the ground war. The account of the heroics and stupidity that combined to make the Ia Drang battle one of the most significant of the war is well documented. Very readable history. As a helo pilot in Vietnam I took part in many insertion operations and the author captured the heart in the throat feeling of being there. For those who fought in Vietnam this book will bring it all back. For those reading about a far away place and a distant time, this is real history, not the hollywood version.
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Summary: I'm a selfish idiot
Review: I've been reading a lot of books featuring stories of combat forces lately: Black Hawk Down, Ghost Soldiers, Flags of Our Fathers, and now this book by Lt. General Moore. I guess what I'm looking for is some sense of what this abstract quality is that causes men (and now women) to place themselves in harm's way and potentially give up their lives and their futures for their country. I'm not sure I've found it yet in these books, but I've seen hints of it. The only thing I know for sure about this quality is that I don't have it and the men in this book do. Lt. Gen. Moore, the author of this book, was the commander of the 450 men of the 1st battalion, 7th cavalry when they engaged in combat in the Ia Drang valley in November, 1965. This was very early in the war and these men were not sure what to expect. This book tells the story of the horrific battle that followed from a very human standpoint. While there was significant carnage, General Moore treats not a single casualty as a statistic. He describes every soldier in the most human of terms, who they were, where they were from, and their actions in this battle. The tactics and flow of the battle are described flawlessly, but mostly this is a human story. One of the closing chapters of the book is given to the families of the men who died, to tell their side of the story of losing their husband, son, or father. I'm not a man often moved to tears...but I was moved to tears. Battle can never be considered casually. The cost is just too high. I don't think I've found the answer to my question yet and probably never will, but this book moved me a step closer. At the very least, I've concluded I'm a selfish idiot with a comfortable life whose biggest concern is whether to order the chicken or the fish. The people who wear the uniform...are heroes.
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Summary: The best I've read
Review: I've read alot of first hand accounts of combat and having been involved in it myself, I've got a good idea of what it's like. This book is an absolute page turner, I had trouble putting it down. Some of the scenes described in it are horrific and all I have to say is I'm glad I wasn't there. Read this book.
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Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Lt Gen Harold G. Moore (Ret.) and Joseph L. Galloway's book "We Were Soldiers Once...and Young" is simply once of the best books on a combat situation that I have ever read! It is informative and very easy to follow. Once I started reading, I found it very hard to set it down.
Unlike many of the stories, movies, and books about the Vietnam veterans which question the abilities, leadership, and bravery of the US fighting man, this one shows then for what they are...simply the best of this country!
I can strongly recommend this book and only hope that you also might have the opportunity that I have had to meet General Moore in person. That experience only brings these stories to life in a matter that no book can do. Don't miss this one!
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Summary: Read it now before the Movie!
Review: This is the best rendition of tactics in Vietnam and a must read for small unit leaders. We Were Soldiers Once...And Young takes us on a journey with then Lieutenant Colonel "Hal" Moore and Joe Galloway, the reporter who climbed on a helicopter heading for a "hot" landing zone, into the Ia Drang Valley. The North Vietnamese baited the 7th Cav into a firefight in order to determine how the U.S. would fight, and they learned quickly in the first major engagement of the war. As the battalion commander of the 1/7 Cav, LTC Moore engages in a battle for the lives of everyone in his unit. The lessons which Mr. Galloway and LTG (Retired) Moore illustrate in the first section of the book will drive home the need for discipline and leadership during combat. The first section makes the book worth the read, all by itself. Fortunately, there are two other sections, equally as dramatic. The second section lets us walk with the 2nd battalion, 7th Cavalry Division into an ambush quickly established by the NVA. This time almost the entire unit is wiped out. Due to poor discipline (not putting out security, letting soldiers smoke and talk on break, etc..) the 2/7 is completely surprised. This book uniquely juxtaposes the difference in success between two similar units, with very different leadership, morale, and discipline. The lessons are stark and vivid. The third section, titled Aftermath, describes life on the homefront - not the protests and demonstrations, but the military families waiting to hear how their soldiers are doing. The description of Western Union hiring taxi drivers to deliver death notices is emotional. Some wives were awakened at 4:00am in the morning and handed a yellow slip with the words, "The Secretary of the Army regrets to inform you that your husband .... was killed in action, etc.." If you don't want to go to bed crying, don't read this powerful account of how coldly the institution cared for families during the Vietnam era. My wife and I have both spent over ten years of service in the Army and found this section to be a powerful motivation for helping to care for military families. As the title of this review indicates, the movie is coming soon. Mel Gibson will play Joe Galloway, and other famous actors will take part. I highly recommend this account of courage, leadership, discipline, success and failure. This book spent several weeks on the New York Times best seller list, and almost every senior leader in the Army recommends it as mandatory reading for leaders at the tactical level. You won't be disappointed!
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Summary: The night was clear and the moon was yellow
Review: I read this book in 1993, right after it first came out. It was the marine commandant's choice for Marines who wished to read in their field of concentration. Joe Galloway, a war correspondent and Col. Hal Moore, the commanding officer in this horrific battle in the Ia Drang valley in Vietnam, co-wrote this superb depiction of one of the first set piece battles of the Vietnamese war. That these men survived this battle at all is mute testimony to their irrepressible fierceness, to their dogged determination, and to the fearless efforts of their air and artillery support. They fought a courageous enemy who was bent on one purpose, the annihilation of their American foe. It's a brilliantly told tale of military heroism and perseverance. The recent death in the WTC bombing of one of the primary participants in the battle, Rick Rescorla, and the articles dedicated to his selfless display of bravery as he made certain that his charges were evacuated from the WTC, caused me to review this book once again. Most Americans are sadly deficient when it comes to any knowledge of military history and its impact on the course of civilization. It seems too often that we are a nation of full stomachs and empty heads. However, the emotional trauma of the recent Taliban attacks on our soil has shaken us loose from our stupor and an interest in affairs military has been thusly ignited. As one who remembers WWII, and whose family is filled with men who went to every war this country has ever fought, my fervent wish is that our citizens will one day wake up to what actually happened in SE Asia in the mid to latter part of the 20th century. My second wish is that people will grow to understand that terrorists are not patriots, and that they are not leaders of their people. Cromwell, Bolivar, George Washington, all of whom refused the crown, they were leaders of their people. Mao, Lenin, Stalin, Ho Chi Minh, Castro, they were and are killers of their people. America fought a cold war, rebuilt Western Europe and Japan, and liberated South Korea from the Communists like the aforementioned. Vietnam was a battle in that Cold War. The Taliban, who have taken many lives to further a fanatical agenda, are merely the latest iteration of terrorists who seek to do what our constitution was written to prevent. This book is a great story about men who fought and died for principles that too many know too little about to understand. Perhaps now that the country is on high alert we'll gain back some ground form the empty heads that have presided over the media and academia in America. Buy this book and read it, you'll be very glad you did.
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Summary: Easy Historical Read
Review: A very good account of the Korean War in an easy-to-read fashion. Not a droning history book, but a fluid interesting book that takes you inside what went on during the war from everyone's perspective.
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Summary: A detailed look at early battles that were precursors.
Review: "We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young" is a story of two of the first battles fought by US soldiers in Viet Nam. Although the soldiers fought well, the military failed to appreciate that the Viet Cong also fought well, and that this was not going to be a walkover. By concentrating on two actions, the authors examine details that would be lost in a larger survey. One of the most chilling is the lieutenant who tells his friends that he is going to win the Medal of Honor. Of course, what he achieves is to get himself and much of his platoon killed in short order. This book is an accurate guide to the tactics used in the early parts of the Viet Nam war. Finally, it shows how the Army expected the war to be won, and thus is a precursor for what would happen for years to come. An essential book to understanding how the war was fought.
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Summary: Hero of Ia Drang also Hero of World Trade Center
Review: This ran in Army Times. In addition to being one of the under-reported stories of 9-11, it seems like a remarkable footnote to a remarkable book. 'The bravest man I ever knew' After a lifetime in which he cheated it many times, death caught up with Rick Rescorla halfway up the south tower of the World Trade Center.
But like a good soldier, he didn't sell his life cheaply. Death took him only after he had cheated it again, helping to save 2,700 lives by relying on the instincts and the preparation that had served him well in battles on two continents. Rescorla was a retired Army Reserve colonel and the head of security for Morgan Stanley's Individual Investor Group at the World Trade Center. But many readers will be more familiar with him as Lt. Rick "Hard Core" Rescorla, one of the heroes of the 1965 battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam. "Rick was the best combat leader I ever saw in Vietnam," said Pat Payne, the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment's reconnaissance platoon leader in Ia Drang. Featured in book Rescorla's role in that battle is recounted in detail in the book "We Were Soldiers Once... And Young," a searing account of the action by retired Lt. Gen. Harold "Hal" Moore and Joe Galloway. In 1965, Moore was a battalion commander in the center of the battle, and Galloway was a UPI reporter who covered the entire engagement. Even those only vaguely familiar with the book have seen Rescorla's image - he is the gaunt soldier on the cover with the 2-day old beard and the bayonet fixed to his M16. When Rescorla showed up for Basic Training at Benning in 1963, he'd already seen more adventure than most soldiers do in a lifetime. Born in Cornwall, England, he joined the British army's Paratroop Regiment as a teen-ager, then became a military intelligence warrant officer. He served in that position in Cyprus during the violence that wracked that island in the 1950s, then left the British Army for a London police job in Scotland Yard's famous "Flying Squad" of detectives. He left England for another military job, this time as a commando in the Rhodesian Colonial security force in Africa. From there he came to seek his fortune in the United States. After breezing through basic training, Rescorla was picked up for Officer Candidate School. Last year he was inducted into the OCS Hall of Fame. He graduated as a second lieutenant in 1965, just in time to ship out to Vietnam with the 1st Air Cavalry Division. In November of that year, still a British citizen, he would draw on all his youthful experience in the battle of the Ia Drang. Headed the 'Hard Corps' Ia Drang was the Army's first major battle in Vietnam, and one of its bloodiest. The battle claimed 305 American lives, soldiers who died in fierce combat with a North Vietnamese regiment that also took heavy losses. Rescorla commanded 1st Platoon, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, and was almost worshipped by his soldiers, who called themselves the "Hard Corps" after his nickname. But his courage and infectious optimism resonated beyond those under his immediate command. Payne remembers Rescorla "leaping off [a] chopper and strutting into our small very beat-up group of survivors" during the night. After placing his men to fill the gaps in Payne's line and pausing to speak quietly to each soldier, he walked toward Payne. "I was so amazed to see him walking around because we had all been crawling on our stomachs for eight hours," Payne said. Speaking in a low, confident voice, Rescorla complimented Payne on establishing good fields of fire. "Then he looked me in the eye and said, 'When the sun comes up we are going to kick some ass.' I will never forget his words or the look in his eye. He said it in a confident, matter-of-fact way. He was not boasting, it was resolve." Rescorla earned a Silver Star for his actions at Ia Drang, and, in Moore's words, "went on to establish himself as a living legend in the 7th Cav in Vietnam." But behind the swagger and the self-confidence, Rescorla hid a keen intellect, according to Dan Hill, a former captain who met Rescorla at basic and remained his best friend. This fine mind served Rescorla well when he left the Army in the late 1960s and put himself through college and law school, before going on to establish himself as a specialist in security for financial firms. His will to live came to the fore again three years ago, when he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer and given six months to live. Against the odds, he beat the disease into remission. As Morgan Stanley's security chief, Rescorla brought his belief in the "seven Ps" - proper prior planning and preparation prevents poor performance - to bear, to the immense good fortune of his co-workers. Morgan Stanley was the largest tenant in the south tower, with about 2,700 employees in 20 floors. But incredibly, only six, including Rescorla and two security folks who worked for him, still are missing. Everyone else made it out alive. Obsessed with preparation Those survivors owe their lives in no small part to Rescorla's quick thinking at a time of crisis, and his obsession with being prepared for every eventuality. "He'd take every possible contingency that could happen, and he'd come up with a plan for it," Hill said. When the first plane hit the north tower, the Port Authority told workers in the south tower to stay put. But Rescorla disagreed and immediately executed an evacuation plan he had made the employees rehearse twice a year. The plan worked, and when the second plane hit the south tower, almost all Morgan Stanley employees were on their way to safety. So was Rescorla, who made it to the ground floor, singing "God Bless America" to calm the nerves of the evacuees. But he insisted on going back upstairs to check for anyone left behind. He was probably still climbing when the building collapsed. His wife, Susan, and his two children likely will remember Rick Rescorla for his generosity of spirit and his dry English wit. But middle-aged veterans of a hellish battle long ago in the sun and the elephant grass are more likely to remember Rick Rescorla as Bill Lund, another second lieutenant in that battle, does: "This was the bravest man I ever knew."
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