The Green Berets [Unknown Binding]

Robin Moore (Author)

Product Details

• Unknown Binding
• Publisher: Avon Books; Paperback Ed. edition (1966)
• ASIN: B001762LV2
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Accurate and Inspiring - and a Post Script on Larry Thorne, March 4, 2008

By 

John Marke (Pacific, Mo United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Green Berets (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a great book. Very accurate, painfully so in many instances, especially considering the absurd restrictions placed on units operating in the field. Ironically, Moore's account of Special Forces operations in Vietnam is much more accurate than anything you'll ever get from the US government...even 40 years later.

Post Script: In the first Chapter, Moore writes about Capt. Steve Kornie, a larger than life Special Forces officer. Darn near everything Moore wrote was accurate! The officer's real name is Larry Allan Thorne (the "Americanized" version of his Finnish name - Lauri Allan Torni). He was a truly remarkable man by any measure.

Major Thorne was lost on a cross-border mission into Laos on 18 October 1965; but, at that time, and "for the record" he was classified as Missing In Action resulting from a helicopter crash 25 miles south of Da Nang (not even close).

A joint US-Vietnamese team found the wreckage in 1997, excavated the site in 1999, and collected the remains of Maj. Thorne and 3 Vietnamese (two pilots and a door gunner). A decision was made to do a joint internment at Arlington, since what little remained of the bodies was intermingled. Although positive identification, however, was made through Thorne's dental records and parts of the Swedish-K submachine gun that was his personal weapon.

The memorial stone is atypically large for Arlington; and the local Vietnamese community ensures that fresh flowers are maintained at the grave. I have provided additional information should you be in the neighborhood and would like to visit the site. Unless you have very specific information on dates of internment and the correct spelling of the name, you will not be successful in locating the site through the cemetery administration.

[...]

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Been there - Done that!, April 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Green Berets (Mass Market Paperback)

I read this book while I was at US Army Basic Training, Ft Ord, June 1965. One of my buddies who had enlisted for Special Forces had the book. Little did I know I would be at some of the places in the book, doing the same things. I arrived "In Country" during May 1968 as a member of the 5th Special Forces Group. I learned first hand that Robin knew what he was talking about, and that he had a wonderful way of telling it. Enjoy the book. It is as real as it can get.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why do I always disagree!?, April 27, 2004

By 

Chad R. Reihm (Miami Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Green Berets (Mass Market Paperback)

I was blown away that some people did not like this book! I absolutely loved it! Before you begin reading it you must put it in the context of the time it was written. This is a book written before any of our main troops were sent to 'nam and therefore the things we know now are simply hindsite and can not be applied to this book. This book, while called fiction, is the closest you will ever get to truly understanding our most well known and almost mystical special forces group. It details, with fake names due to govt regulations at the time, many Beret missions that were, until lately, highly classified. This book will take you on many missions that seem like they are straight off of a hollywood script...in fact these stories are what created most of those scripts. You will join the berets in battle, deep behind enemy lines and see how they fought before the days when rescue was an artillery shot away. You will love each chapter of this book and it will be a very quick read. Please do yourself the favor, if you have any interest in this subject, of picking up this important book and learning a bit about America's Green Berets!