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Then A Soldier is two stories and two histories that are intertwined. On one level, it is a realistic, understated, un-romanticized description of close combat in Vietnam, and a serious analysis of three firefights in which the author was engaged.
On the second level, it portrays the social, historical, and cultural pressures that led a Jewish boy from the Bronx of the early 1960s to become a career Army officer, and, when his country was at war, to seek out a combat assignment. It is the story of a young man setting out to prove that Jews could be good soldiers as he simultaneously embarks on an uncommon assimilation strategy to enter the WASP establishment.
Then A Soldier describes the growth of the author from a boy, to a student, to a ROTC cadet, to a peace-time soldier and finally as a junior officer in combat in Vietnam. It is the story of a young man testing himself and finding a new dimension of his makeup.
Review
A fine, honest account of close combat in Vietnam. This is a clearly-written, tough-minded memoir of the grunt’s war, the brutal, exhausting and morally challenging long patrols and lightning-quick collisions with death at the muddy, bloody bottom of the chain of command, strategy and politics. Every veteran of the era, as well as today’s soldiers and civilian readers, will find each moment spent with this book worthwhile.
Ralph Peters, Retired U.S. Army officer, Fox News strategic analyst, Author of Endless War
