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159 of 163 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The real deal, May 5, 2006
This review is from: Fields of Fire (Mass Market Paperback)
A lot has been said about style, etc. that I agree with & won't repeat. Suffice to say James Webb was a platoon commander in Delta Co./1st Battalion/5th Marines: I was a grunt (said with pride) in C/1/5. When I first opened this book back in late '70s and saw the map of the An Hoa basin - the "Arizona territory", Go Noi (No-go) Island, Liberty Bridge, the Phu Locs - the hairs on my neck stiffened, and then I let out an "Alllright!!" (scared a few bookstore patrons, nbd).
When you're reading this you are walking down the same trails, setting up ambushes in the same spots, taking fire from the same tree-lines that Lt. Webb and this young (then)PFC walked & fought from. Hell, it was like goin' home for a visit!
I had the chance to meet James Webb during the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and thank him for writing this personally. He still had the look in the eyes: quiet, deadly calm, with steel-trap analytical processes going on upstairs. At his swearing-in ceremony for Secretary of the Navy (he remembered this grunt from two chance meetings & sent me an invitation!), as soon as he was "official", he stopped the show, called up some of the men who had served with him back in An Hoa, and gave them the medals and commendations he had recommended so many years before but had never been given to them. Outstanding!
Jim has the courage of his convictions that he later resigned rather than acquiesce to a polically-motivated evisceration of the Naval service he was entrusted with. He exemplifies the Marine officer - I know of only one other, a Lieutenant in C co, that I had as much respect for, and sadly he didn't make it out alive. He's the real deal: this old grunt would assault the fire-and-brimstone-beaches of hell if James Webb was commanding!
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82 of 85 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jim Webb and the Arizona Territory, September 17, 2006
This review is from: Fields of Fire (Mass Market Paperback)
Jim Webb served his time in Vietnam during one of my nearly three years in Vietnam. I found this book just after the original publication in 1979. It was as if I was reading a biography of my own service with the grunts in the 1st Marine Division. In the years since I have always admired his work, first as a Platoon and Company Commander in 5th Marines and then as Secretary of the Navy and as an author.
Fields of Fire fully described the green hell that was Vietnam for every Marine infantryman who served there.
If you want to get a feel for what that war was like, read this book. If you think you might want to go fight in a war, read this book.
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75 of 79 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding War Novel, July 1, 2006
This review is from: Fields of Fire (Mass Market Paperback)
I read Jarhead on a whim earlier this past week. Anthony Swofford, the author, is a gifted young writer. But the book left me feeling empty, even angry. There was an attitude about Swofford and many of his Marine Corps buddies that just rubbed me the wrong way. Whiney might be the right word. Furthermore, Swofford through the course of the book seems to have been in a serious, depressive state that probably required professional help. It does not appear that he received that help prior to being discharged from the Marine Corps. Based on several of the Jarhead reviews I read on Amazon, I then read James Webb's Fields of Fire. Granted, it was a novel and it was based on the Vietnam war, not the first Iraq war. But the book was much more satisfying. In fact, it was a terrific read. Webb's description of war, and how Marines of various backgrounds experienced and dealt with it, was unforgettable. Until now, I thought that Anton Myrer's epic Once and Eagle was the best war novel I had ever read. Fields of Fire rivals it. It is not nearly as lengthy as Myrer's novel, and the characters are not developed quite as well, but the prose and the realism are absolutely first rate. So, here's my recommendation. First read Jarhead. Its an easy read, its popular, and you can appreciate a great young writer from whom we will be hearing much in the future. Then read Fields of Fire. Webb, like Swofford, has also been there and done that. Together the books provide two very interesting compares and contrasts of the Marine Corps infantry in wartime situations. My bet is you will be much more satisfied with the latter.
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