If Not Now, When?: Duty and Sacrifice in America's Time of Need [Hardcover]

Colonel Jack Jacobs (Author), Douglas Century (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 7, 2008

A Medal of Honor recipient looks back at his own service—and ahead to America’s future.

Jack Jacobs was acting as an advisor to the South Vietnamese when he and his men came under devastating attack. Severely wounded, 1st Lt. Jacobs took command and withdrew the unit, returning again and again to the site of the attack to rescue more men, saving the lives of a U.S. advisor and thirteen Allied soldiers. Col. Jacobs received the nation’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor.

Here, with candor, humor, and quiet modesty, Col. Jack Jacobs tells his stirring story of heroism, honor, and the personal code by which he has lived his life, and expounds with blunt honesty and insight his views on our contemporary world, and the nature and necessity of sacrifice.

If Not Now, When? is a compelling account of a unique life at both war and peace, and the all-too-often unexamined role of the citizenry in the service and defense of the Republic.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“It’s a privilege to call [Col. Jack Jacobs] a friend and an honor to recommend this remarkable life story.”
—Tom Brokaw

“One warning: the book you are about to read, at its core, is a story about selflessness, sacrifice and service, and it collides loudly and rather violently with much of our current culture. We are presently a nation of 120 million blogs and bloggers. Put differently, 120 million of us are enthused enough with our own stories – convinced enough in our own wisdom and wonderfulness of self – to believe there is great utility in posting our every thought, desire and daily movement on the internet, presumably for the common good, the benefit of all. Jack was handed a weapon and told to use it on foreign soil to defend his brothers and his country. As you read this, ask yourself which of the two actions you find more heroic…I will never view my friend Jack in the same way again. I just didn’t think it was possible to admire him any more than I already did.”
—Brian Williams

“Col. Jack Jacobs (Ret.) received a Medal of Honor for is heroism during the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War, vividly described in his new book,If Not Now, When? Duty and Sacrifice in America’s Time of Need. He offers a mix of no-holds-barred personal history and pointed observations about the demands (or lack thereof) the U.S. makes on its citizens today. Never self-indulgent or preachy, Jacobs takes an honest—and often brutally funny—look back at his own life and forward to the future of the military and the nation.”
—Parade magazine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Jack Jacobs retired from the military as a full colonel in 1987. Today, he is widely regarded as one of the world’s most perceptive—and outspoken—military analysts.

Douglas Century is a New York Times bestselling author. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; First Edition edition (October 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425223590
• ISBN-13: 978-0425223598
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #385,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect Christmas present October 8, 2008

By Perry M. Smith

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is unique. No Medal of Honor recipient has ever written a book that is both powerful and hilarious at the same time. For five years I have been recommending Medal of Honor by Peter Collier as the ideal Christmas present for veterans, young people and students of history. I must add the Jack Jacobs book to my short Christmas list. With not a word of profanity, this book is a great read for children of all ages. What a role model of selfless service.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "THERE IS NO FEAR ON EARTH LIKE THE FEAR OF COMBAT." November 5, 2008

By Rick Shaq Goldstein

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I believe that when you read an autobiography and the author has something in common with you... it adds to the enjoyment of the book. These commonalities can bring the reader happiness... sadness... longing... and it can also bring enlightenment... as it helps solve long unanswered questions... even though some of the questions that are answered... you didn't even realize you still carried within your very soul... more than forty-years later.

The author Jack Jacobs and I are both Jewish... both our Parents were born in Brooklyn... both our Grandparents immigrated/escaped Europe's anti-Semitic scourge... we both spent our early years in Queens... we both loved the Brooklyn Dodgers and the sacred ground of Ebbets Field... we both played stickball and stoop ball... we're both Honorably Discharged Vietnam era veterans.

BUT... Jack is five-feet-four-inches tall and I'm six-feet-two-inches tall... and Jack is a **MEDAL-OF-HONOR-RECIPIENT** **THE NATIONS HIGHEST MILITARY AWARD** Jack is truly a giant among men. It is an honor to read his life story and review his book. Jack's story is as much about the changing of a countries persona as it is about his life. He tells of his Father's military service during World War II and the fact that nineteen-million Americans were on active duty, and as a boy, Jack never even thought of his Father having been a soldier... he thought of him as an electrical engineer because "the ubiquity of military service in a time of peril made it unremarkable. In the forties and fifties, it was rare to encounter an adult who hadn't been in uniform." And that's one of the points that Jack drills home in his no-holds-barred writing, that current day America should have the same spirit of service to country. When I was in the military I was a "first-termer-and-a-short-timer"... that's what a million of us young guys called ourselves. We were honorably serving our country... but we were definitely NOT going to become a "lifer"... which is what Jack became. And that is the part of the book that answered and alleviated so many of my deeply buried questions from my time in the military. Jack openly berates the decision making and logistics of the military then and now. All the degrading comments the "short-timers" mumbled under their breath regarding the oxymoron's of ?military-intelligence? is echoed by Jack... a lifer. Jack hits a homerun that applies to the Vietnam War... today's war... and business life in general... when he says: "IT WAS THEN THAT I LEARNED ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS IN THE USE OF ANY INSTRUMENT OF POWER, INDEED IN ANY HUMAN ENDEAVOR ON OR OFF THE BATTLEFIELD: IT ALWAYS TAKES MORE RESOURCES THAN YOU THINK. ALWAYS! THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MANY RESOURCES, AND ANYONE WHO BELIEVES HE HAS TOO MANY ASSETS HAS CERTAINLY MISCALCULATED AND NEEDS TO CHECK HIS MATH." Another absolute bull's-eye by Jack that was true in Vietnam and sure as hell is true in today's war is "THAT IT ALWAYS TAKES MORE RESOURCES TO HOLD AN OBJECTIVE THAN TO TAKE IT IN THE FIRST PLACE. ALWAYS! THE D-DAY ATTACK ON NORMANDY'S BEACHES TO SEIZE EUROPE FROM THE GRIP OF THE NAZI'S ENTAILED THE USE OF ABOUT NINE DIVISIONS. AT THE END OF THE WAR, THERE WERE 119 DIVISION EQUIVALENTS IN EUROPE. WE DIDN'T START WITH 119 DIVISIONS, ONLY TO WITHDRAW AND LEAVE A SMALL FORCE BEHIND. THE SOLE PURPOSE OF THE FIRST TEN DIVISIONS WAS TO MAKE ROOM FOR THE OTHER 110." As Damon Runyon once said "the race may not always go to the swift or the battle to the strong, but that's the way you should bet."

I will leave the description of Jack's heroic *MEDAL-OF-HONOR-CITATION* for the reader to read... but I want to make clear to the world that Jack wears his HONOR not solely for himself... but for all soldiers before and after... when he says: "SOLDIERS ACT NOT FOR THE ACCOLADE BUT FOR THE LIVES OF THEIR COMRADES, AND EVERY ACTION THAT IS CITED FOR ITS EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM IS MERELY A PROXY FOR ALL THOSE FOREVER LOST IN THE MIST OF THE BATTLEFIELD. MEDALS WORN BY THE LIVING ARE TESTAMENTS TO THE BELOVED FALLEN. SOLDIERS FIGHT FOR EACH OTHER, SAFE IN THE CONVICTION THAT THE LOVE OF COMRADES TRUMPS THE FEAR OF DEATH, THAT THE PAIN OF ONE'S WOUND IS NOTHING COMPARED TO THE UNENDURABLE AGONY OF FAILING ONE'S FRIENDS."

The word and title "HERO" is so overused in today's world... but this book is the story of a true American Hero... and through it all... Jack speaks honestly... and infuses a wry self-effacing humor... such as the time a reporter asked him if he had recurrent flashbacks. He replied that he did... but they were of a girl he had known in high school.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Universal Service December 1, 2008

By Anthony J. DeToto

Format:Hardcover

Jack Jacobs is an extraordinary story teller. He recalls critical facts that help provide context to the reader and lessons learned to those looking for wisdom.

I was privileged to have dinner with Colonel Jacobs twice and both settings were surreal and are worth mentioning.

The first was in a busy, trendy Ian Shrager Hotel with our common friend who is a Purple Heart recipient. I remember afterward feeling sorry for those around us, thinking it was a shame those surrounding us were unaware they were in the presence of a couple of great warriors that had made countless sacrifices for the freedom all Americans enjoy.

The second was earlier this month. I was with an enthusiastic group of veterans in an unlikely setting, the back of a public open air restaurant in one of the 'Left Coasts' more liberal enclaves. I saw the heads turn at the closest tables, seemingly annoyed at first, at the roar of laughter from our crowd - interrupting their dinners; then curious, then envious, as Jack Jacobs entertained and shared valuable lessons.

I would encourage you to see/hear him live. In the interim I would recommend you to buy and read his book; then lend it to others.

He lays out a blueprint for:

* universal service

* who to target if you are courageous enough to mentor

* who should question authority

* why the civilian/military power hierarchy is inherently conflicted