Rating: 
Summary: Almost Makes the Movie Unnecessary
Review: This book is a stunning accomplishment written by the on scene American commander of the first major combat engagement in VietNam in late 1965 at the Ia Drang Valley. It threads the line masterfully between human interest story and gripping actual war story. It is quick to read, but also remarkably detailed. It is not a "literary" masterpiece, but it is in no way a "dumbed down" book. This 560 page paperback tells the story of the formation and first time use of what would become a standard image of the war in VietNam, Air Assault by helicopter. The book opens with a number of pages telling how portions of the 1st Cavalry Division were being converted by technology and need from old style mobile ground infantry into highly mobile, helicopter-bourne shock troops for use in the hostile territory and hostile terrain of the growing conflict in South East Asia. We follow many of the participants from their training in the United States over to deployment "on the cheap" in South VietNam. Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore was the battalion commander and Joe Galloway was the UPI reporter who found themselves dropped right into a massive hornet's nest of eager for battle North Vietnamese Army regulars massively outnumbering the Americans at Landing Zone X-Ray. The details of the battle from BOTH SIDES are described in vivid detail giving the reader a harrowing image of the horror that combat actually is. The main battle rages on day and night for a couple days as every bit of the new training and tactics taught to the battalion are put to desperate use. New tactics are developed on the spot as American soldiers frantically fight to save themselves and their buddies. The history of the embattled unit (the 7th Cavalry of General Custer's last stand at Little Big Horn) weighs heavily on the Americans as they fight to prevent being overrun again nearly 90 years later half-way around the world. The value of Hal Moore's excellent leadership during the X-Ray battle is vividly illustrated later when poor leadership gets the unit's sister battalion decimated nearby at Landing Zone Albany. This book is well worth reading even to the casual reader. It is not a "flag-waver" or an anti-war book. It simply tells the true story of relatively ordinary humans who find themselves mixed up in "a new kind of war" that seems destined to get all of them killed brutally. "We Were Soldiers" is expertly presented and researched. Many of the American survivors of the battle meet each year in remembrance and the authors have used these gatherings to make sure they got the details and full stories right. The authors also met the North Vietnamese commander of the battle at length when writing this book who gave them fine insight into the perspective from the "other side". You can smell the sweat, and the fear, everywhere. This book is not to be missed by any human being who wants to understand (and hopefully avoid) what war is like. It is sobering and very much worth your effort.
Rating:
Summary: The way it really is
Review: This book is an excellent account of what happened at X-ray and Albany. I read the book and watched the movie, in that order, and feel the movie doesn't really do the book justice (nor did it depict the chaos near LZ Albany). The movie is quite entertaining, but if you want a full helping of up-front, this-is-how-it-is military history, dig in to the book. I found it just as captivating as any book I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Takes you right into battle
Review: There is a part of this book that takes it from being a very good war story to an exceptional account of human behavior. It is near the halfway point, when the author takes time to cover the human side of the enemy. It would seem that the enemy, were actually people. They wrote poetry, kept detailed diaries, and looked at pictures of their loved ones between battles. Kind of takes the edge off the illiterate ... peasant impression we are often left with when dealing with the commies. The book's main focus is on a few days of intense battle during the Vietnam war. It seems like a lot longer, as an incredible amount of carnage happens in this short time. The intensity of the battle scenes is as descriptive as I've ever read, actually getting scary for quite a bit of the story. There was a time reading this book when I thought it would be lacking in writing pace. That is, way too much action without a breather. That would have been a minor flaw in an otherwise exceptional book. But even that is a not a problem, as the book winds up appropriately. It begins with a brief history of Vietnam, and pulls no punches by stating that maybe we should have not stuck our noses in there in the first place, given the incredible cost in human life. But a soldier follows orders, even when it means walking through grass so tall you don't see people coming your way until they are a few feet from you. Having to decide whether that person is friend or foe in the split second you have must have been a terrifying experience. And so it goes for battle after battle. While it may not be of interest to have the names of many killed listed to the reader, hey, these guys paid the ultimate price and deserve recognition. The book also wisely winds down at the end, giving the stories of what happened to the few who survived the carnage. Some of these stories are happy, some sad, but that's the point. These were ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations, and their return to "normal" life would never look the same again. This book should be required reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing story dried by field report style
Review: An amazing tale that was hard to put down. It gave me a better
understanding of what went right in Viet Nam, and how things
could have started to go wrong. However, the monotone narrative
and "field summary" style coupled with heavy use of quotes
from written reports made it very dry. It made me think a lot
about what our troops might face in Baghdad--both from the
enemy and from the pentagon.
Rating:
Summary: 10 stars
Review: What can you say about one of the finest works of non-fiction on the shelf. I own the hard back copy and hopefully it will last long enough for my great grand children to read. Once I was finished I passed it along to a few people at work including my boss and then over to my father. Everyone loved it. It really should be a must read in high school. Actually, every American should read this book. It is a testiment to what our soldiers experienced in Vietnam. There are too many people who take our freedoms for granted. I admit that I do too sometimes. But books like this one bring us back down to earth and make us feel thankful were American.
Rating:
Summary: In the Crucible
Review: Easily the best Vietnam War book written. Probably the most personal account of battle from the perspective of the individual soldier. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway avoid the temptation to add to the politics of this war and simply write a stunning, frightening, inspiring story of common men fighting for each other and their own survival. Beyond the striking descriptions of close battle, this book provides an interesting perspective of how the Army adopted the use of helicopters as air cavalry and air mobile operations. I'm a career military officer and avid military history reader and haven't found another book like it - I routinely recommend this book to anyone who wants to feel battle in all its elements. In my top 5 all time best military history books. If you like this book, read "With the Old Breed" about the Marines in WWII Pacific.
Rating:
Summary: No one ever told us the truth.
Review: I was 15 at the time this action took place.We were told that we were fighting for democracy in South Vietnam.As it turns out that was an ideal that only the men that brought the war to the NVA really embraced.Like most young boys of my generation we were brought up on such films as Iwo Jima,Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo,The Flying Tigers ect. ect.It seemed to be the right of passage that each generation was defined by the conflict that they fought in. In a way I couldn't wait to take my turn.Through this book and many others somewhat like it the courage and heroism shown by many of those sent to Vietnam many of them exactly my age in 68 when things really went from bad to disgraceful the year I registered for the draft.The reports I was getting from friends and others just back from thier own private hell in Vietnam somewhat dimmed my enthusiasum for fufilling my right of passage and passing on college and signing up and shouldering a rifle and standing a post.One only needs to read the Lost Battalion by Charles A. Krohn to see that by 68 things were headed,if you can exuse the expresson,south and at twice double time.The first time I read this book I found myself daydreaming that if there was a time an place I would have liked to put my... on the line it would have been with Col. Moore and his men.I know thats patently absurd who in there right mind would ever say that if they had to hop into a meatgrinder a particular one was much more suitable than another.Remember I was brought up on Audie Murphy and John Wayne they never died or made it look damn good when they did.What this book pounded into my thick scull was that there is no glory in war.Only death gore and the memories of the friends that were killed and the manner of thier death for the ones who survived.I know this doesn't make much sense.Yet does taking a helo ride into hell sound like sound advice? What I don't get when the 2nd Battalion renforced the 1st on the third day and had the NVA in full retreat why in the hell didn't they go an finish the job.And whoever ordered those men to march to LZ Albany I would imagine that the spirit of those troopers slaughtered there haunted him the rest of his life.Or at least I hoped they did my god what a trajedy.I am more than humbled by the narative and the stone cold way it is dilivered.God bless those 79 men who never made it home.I echo many who have written here this should be mandatory reading for high school civics students.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: I don't think I can fully explain, what this book has done for me in the sense of how it has awaikened me to what war is and how our men died, when called to fight. What a message, one that all americans need to know. The way they fought and suffered. I felt there pain after reading the book and watching the movie. A must read, it fills in the details the movie could not contain.
Rating:
Summary: Best Combat Book Ever Written
Review: I first saw the movie, was moved, then read the book. This book is FANTASTIC -- best book on small-unit combat tactics I have ever read. It deals with two battles: one at Landing Zone (LZ) X-Ray and another a day later at LZ Albany, a few miles from LZ X-Ray. The battle at LZ X-Ray lasted several days under the direction of Lt. Col. Hal Moore. Moore, the American battalion commander, and Joe Galloway (a UPI photographer present throughout the battle) wrote the book. This battle was a testament to the military leadership and skill of Moore and his company commanders, as well as the spirit of his men, along with the chopper pilots and artillery units that supported them. The second part of the book deals with the battle at LZ Albany a few days later and illustrates what harm a poor commander can do to his men. The Americans were slaughtered. This is a book on tactics and on leadership. But it reads like a novel and will have you riveted to your seat!!! (Moore has quotes from many of his men and the tales they recount make you want to cheer and then cry.) After reading this book (in one night -- I couldn't put it down! -- I recalled the line by Frederick March after William Holden's death in the movie, "Bridges at Toko-Ri". March asked himself, "Where do we get such men? Where do we get such men?" This is a GREAT book. Get it!!
Rating:
Summary: One of The Best Combat Books
Review: I must say that I saw this movie before I read the book. I was concerned that the first 20 - 30% of the book would be similar to the movie with a review of the soldiers family lives, life on the base, the creation of the unit, and the training. Not that this information is not interesting, but this book was held out as one of the better books on Vietnam combat, not base life descriptions. I turned out to be pleased with the book in that it started out with action and never stopped. I have read a number of books about combat and this one was one of the best I have read - ranking up there with Back Hawk Down. From page 1 to the end there are no slow spots in the book, it is full speed the whole way. The book tells the story of two different, but related battles that took place in 1965. They were the first major battles of the American effort in the war and they were some of the hardest fought. The author interviewed what seams like almost everybody that made it out for the book, and he lets the soldiers use their own words so that you get a full picture of each section of the battle. It is interesting to see how two or three different people in different locations viewed / remembered the same situations. The one draw back to this form of story telling is that there is not a consistent author's style. This is a minor point because Harold Moore did a wonderful job in telling the story and placing the other solders statements in the text. Overall it is a great book that anyone interested in combat or the Vietnam War will need to read.
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