Mad Minutes and Vietnam Months: A Soldier's Memoir [Paperback]

Micheal Clodfelter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1988

Former Vietnam sergeant Michael Clodfelter describes his youthful dreams of glory, the harsh conditions and drudgery of his tour of duty, and the physical and emotional injuries for which he received a Purple Heart. Reprint.

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

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Micheal Clodfelter became an active member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War and is the author of several books on military history. A researcher and consultant for the Dupuy Institute of Military History, he lives in Lawrence, Kansas. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 235 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company (April 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899503268
• ISBN-13: 978-0899503264
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,346,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The eloguence of a modern day Edgar Allen Poe in Vietnam, July 21, 2000

By 

Franklin S. Jarlett (Phila, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mad Minutes And Vietnam Months: A Soldier's Memoir (Paperback)

After having read nearly fifteen first person accounts of the particular hell that was Vietnam, Mr. Clodfelter's personal account resonates with a rare combination of humanity and machismo. The author's laconic recountings of the horrors he witnessed, described in a style reminiscent of Poe, mix humor with the raw trauma of soldiers exploded, maimed, while infusing his dire tale with the conscience of one who observes men reduced to the desperate behaviors resulting from post-traumatic stress disorder. Mr. Clodfelter's experience of war is a riveting account of the fears generated by nighttime combat, fusillades of AK-47 automatic weapons fire, the yammering cacaphony of LMGs blistering the air, unseen booby traps made from artillery rounds, and the extreme physical privations of immersion foot, jungle rot, dysentery, dehydration, scorpions, fire ants, spiders, eight inch biting centipedes, rats the size of cats, poisonous snakes, mosquito bites, malaria, leeches, elephant grass, to name but a few of the natural dangers the infantryman faced for thirteen months. Mr. Clodfelter's tale of betrayed ideals proceeds inexorably from the patriotic spirit of his youth to his ultimate disillusionment with the debacle which claimed 58,000 men. His writing style is exciting, weaving powerful metaphors into his tale that resemble an Edgar Allen Poe literary flourish. Mad Minutes And Vietnam Months is one of the most powerful books about the Vietnam War that I have read, and I recommend it with the highest accolade.