Customer Reviews

Blood on the Risers: An Airborne Soldier's Thirty-five Months in Vietnam

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a must read for anybody who was airborne and enlisted. I must have read 40 books on Nam and this is right up there with the best. A great read that gives you a gut-wrenching feeling on how the infantry warriors truly suffered. It is a wonder John survived his first tour. The value of the book is the first hand account of an ordinary American boy turned warrior in three totally different venues: airborne infantry, brown water swabbie, and airborne ranger. I'd love to buy him a beer if he ever shows up at the 82nd Airborne Assn. or USMC Force Recon Assn. reunions. Airborne John, all the way!

You would expect this book to be filled with stories from an airborne soldier's 35 month tour in Vietnam, but it is much more.
What makes this book exceptional is that it begins with the author beginning his tour in Vietnam as an airborne soilder in the 'herd' where he learns the reality of being cannon fodder at the direction of officers and NCO's who have not a clue or concern for anything other than their own ego's and careers. Lepp escapes certain death by poor leadership by extending his tour with a transfer to a riverboat, where he again finds the ego's and ticket punchers. Lepp again extends to find a new home, only to land in warrior heaven, where finding and killing the enemy comes before salutes and sandbags.
This isn't the tale to feed the author's ego nor does it imply he was a hero. Simply a man who found himself to have a true warrior spirit and how difficult the Army made it for him and men like him to fight a war. In the end you get a good example of just how effective the warriors that the regular army calls 'trouble makers' can be when they are put together as a Ranger unit and allowed to operate as they should. Plenty of action from a front line view.
This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in how the Army really functioned in Vietnam!
Great Book Lepp!! Glad you survived to write it!

John, wrote a very down to earth story about his experiences in Vietnam. The story that he tells is the story that the Brass tried talking him out of writting. Why, you ask? Because John tells the bloody truth. The truth about some of the battles that the Brass rewrote, showing a more favorable reflection on them. John shared with me, some stories about his writting of this book and of the attemps to get him not to write it the way he did. He felt it was time that some truths were finely told. John was and is a grunt. A member of the Airborne Soldier community. A member of the only true airborne unit in Vietnam. The 173rd Airborne Bridge (Sep.) The title of the book comes from the song from Jump School. The song is played every morning in jump week to wake you up.

On August 2nd, 1969 - The Walther's family was informed that Frank was missing in action. This went on for six (6) grueling weeks. Your book was the only factual account of the events that led to Frank's death. I was known as "the Polack", grew-up with Frank, burried him and served with the 101st Airborne (Vietnam 67-68). John - thank you for writing this book.

After being told by a drill sergant in basic training he wouldn't "make it" in Vietnam because of his attitude, John Leppleman proceededs to prove him wrong. Originally with the paratroops, the author participates in the only mass combat drop during the vietnam war. After living through a friendly fire incident with American artillery, Leppleman puts in for a transfer -one that comes with an additional year of combat duty- riverine patrol. After a time in the "brown water navy," our hero joins up with the Airborne Rangers and spends a third year in theatre fighting the war like the enemy, guerrilla style. A good book that describes one man's method of surviving a bad situation. Well written and engrossing, this book will interest anyone who enjoys a good war story

The book is a fairly good read. I was with the 173d during Junction City and all of the hill battles. I only have a question really, did you make the combat jump? I know you said you did but in the Official Jump Manifest for that combat jump, your name is NOT on the manifest. What's up with that???

I just finished reading John's book and I am totally awestruck over what I just read. John's experiences as a Ranger will keep you glued to the book. I simply can't imagine living through the kinds of firefights these men engaged themselves in. It's truly sad that heroes such as these men were had to return home to a world where they were often looked down on. The first thing I did after finishing John's book was to sit down and write him a letter personally thanking him and telling him how proud I would have been to have served with, or been a friend of, a man such as him. What a heroic story! I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to educate themselves on just about every facet of what it was like to serve in Vietnam - from a grunt to the elite Rangers - very well written!

This book is one of the most intriguing books that I have read yet. With a vast array of knowledge from Vietnam, this book rates up there near the top. It takes you through the airborne, the only combat jump in Vietnam, the horrible officers involved, and the paratrooper's view of Vietnam. With vivid descriptions of the small dtails this book gives a great picture of what happened "over there." I would recommend this book to any Vietnam enthusiast, or for that matter, anyone. Too bad there wasn't a sequel out.

John Leppelman gives an unvarnished, first hand account of an Airborne soldier in 3 tours of Vietnam. The battle descriptions are very detailed and description of life there very lucid. The book is well written and moves quickly. The totality of the book's battles and struggles hits you like a sledgehammer. Definitely a read if you want to understand the Vietnam War or soldier.

This is a must for people of all ages. This book tells how it really was in the war without sugar coating it like some books. I've now read the book 3 times and i just can't put it down. This book makes you want to meet a true hero. Thanks john