Customer Reviews

Masters of the Art: A Fighting Marine's Memoir of Vietnam

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I was very impressed with the frankness and honesty in this book. It held me captive from beginning to end. The parallels to the war in Iraq provided a startling inside view on today's issues. This book is an incredible tribute to America's veterans, both modern day and from the Vietnam era.

Masters of the Art is a superbly crafted memoir of one man's journey through a Marine Corps enlistment in the late 1960s, at the height of the Vietnam War. The account describes scenes and events that every former Marine reading this book will be able to relate to. This is one of the book's many attributes, one that sets it apart from other war stories. The author is an accomplished writer with something to say in each of the book's 26 chapters. His writing style grabs your attention in the opening paragraphs of each, and does not let go until the message is clear. The process then re-cycles on another theme or topic, in the next chapter. From the turmoil of family relationships, to enlistment, through boot camp, ITR, and aerial combat as a door gunner on a CH-46 Sea Knight, the author takes you on an excursion through the various stages of his life. While the events he describes are often humorous, they can be somber or melancholy. They are always insightful and provide the reader with a snippet of the events the author deems important to the forming of his character. As one might expect from a story involving warfare, death and dying are also touched upon. Most often the author's perspective is dependent upon whether the process is being inflicted upon the enemy or a close friend. In a style all his own, the author puts into perspective the weight of events that transpire on the battlefield to forge the bonds that will forever hold together marines who have fought together. Of significance here, and reiterated in several places in the book, the author learns what he terms "emotional compartmentalization", a defense mechanism he attributes to having allowed him to function effectively within the chaos of the battlefield environment where emotional attachment is often veiled to preserve sanity.

If you are a veteran Marine, this book will spark memories that can either warm your heart or bring you to sadness, often within sentences of one another. I do not believe that anyone will walk away from this book unaffected. For me, it brought with it a new found respect for the Marines who fly to support the Grunts, for theirs is truly a dangerous mission.

Finally, in the book's epilogue, the author looks back and puts the Vietnam experience into a much wider historical perspective. It is the author's contention that the stance the United States military took against communist aggression in South Vietnam provided surrounding nations in Southeast Asia with the time needed to prepare their militaries and their economies, thus making it more difficult for communism to turn them. In this sense, Vietnam was not fought in vain. On the other hand, under pressure from war protesters, our government's decision to withdraw support from Vietnam directly lead to the fall of South to the North. The peoples of our country and others, turned their backs on the peoples of South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in the years following Saigon's fall, permitting the loss of millions of lives to atrocities committed by the North Vietnamese, the Khmer Rouge and the Pathet Lao. These events could have been prevented, had action been taken, leaving us with the clear message that every action following the decision to engage has ramifications that must be carefully considered thereafter. The world will continue to raise up predators to whom naïve and peace-loving peoples will be viewed prey. Our country is presently deeply engaged in combating what has been termed "global terrorism". Although the enemy differs significantly in his character, the consequences of withdrawal from this war may be similar to those following Vietnam. The protesters marching in our streets naively believing that if the US withdrawals troops from Iraq, all hostilities will stop and the world will be at peace. One would think that we would have learned by now that this shortsided, self-centered thinking, would be recognized as both flawed in concept and practice. But no. Having read this book and reliving the events of the 60's and 70's through the author's memories and perspective, I must state "Thank God for men like Ron Winter and his fellow Marines!"

Having never been in military, war is a foreign concept to most of us. This book sheds light on a very sensitive issue.It brings a sense of understanding to the average person. Highly recommended!

Recommended reading for anyone who cares about our nation's international involvements, as well of students of military and aviation history.

Relates to Iraq in ways that many in Washington at completely missing.

When I picked up Masters of the Art, I thought I was about to read a kind of Chickenhawk book but from a door-gunner's perspective. It turned out to be much more than that. The door-gunner's perspective is there, but that experience is nicely bracketed by Winter's experiences and personal development prior to and after his tour in Vietnam. He aptly conveys what it meant to him to be a Marine; and by so doing, he conveys what it must have meant to other Marines. One senses a timelessness in this conveyance: it must have meant the same to Marines on Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima, at Chosin, and at Khe Sanh and mean the same today to those serving in Iraq. It is an esprit that many without military experience may find difficult to fathom. For anyone familiar with Marine history, it is an esprit that can lead to the accomplishment of near impossible missions! An excellent tribute.

The narrative is presented in chronological order: from Winter's high school graduation, through Paris Island bootcamp, helicopter training, the tour in Vietnam and the years following his discharge. In Vietnam choppers were the life-line to the grunts on the ground and the life-takers of the enemy that got in their way. Often they made the difference in turning the course of a battle. Grunts relied on them with an awesome sense of faith: they'd bring the ammunition when you were running out, they'd take out the wounded even under the most harrowing circumstances. As a door gunner on these choppers, Winter displays (as few others have done) the dedication that made them such a welcome sight to the grunts on the ground.

I found Part III, dealing with the years following Winter's return from Vietnam, to be some of the best chapters in the book. They deal with the reception (or non-reception) he got when he got home, and while not unique to him, he articulates his thoughts and frustrations in a way that many other returning vets could identify with: the rejection, the almost personal denial of the Vietnam experience, the coming to grips with it and the attendant moving on.

Fortunately, Winter did move on. This masterful book is undoubtedly a result of it. It is a tribute to him, to the Marine Corp and to the American military.

This chronicles what the helicopter doop gunner's job entailed.It's consice and very accurate.

Being a retired Marine and having served in the same squadron and having the same MOS as Ron, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I recognized several names, even though I was stationed in HMM-161 in the early '70s. I would definately recommend this book to any person interested in Marine Aviation and its real world attributes.

I am a VietNam Vet having served two tours. It's as if Ron Winter had come into my brain and written my memories. I was involved in some of the events he relates. Other stories are so real that it was as if I were telling them myself. In fact my family will attest to the fact that I have told some of these stories in almost the same words. This book made me smile and it made me cry and it made me remember. If you want to really know what it felt like to be there; if you want to get some idea of what went on inside our head - then read this book. I have given it a permanent spot on my bookshelf.

This is an excellent book. It is an enlisted Marine's account of boot camp,advanced training,ground duty in Vietnam, and many flights as a helicopter gunner. The author strongly argues that the USMC builds lifelong values, loyalty, and mindset. He makes it clear that remarkable, but unremarked upon, Marines like Sgt. Starbuck and the pilots, air crew, and ground support staff of HMM161 were and should be remembered as "heroic figures." (my words, not the authors')

The book describes a different Marine/Vietnam experience than James Webb, Robert Roth, and William Turner Huggens, whose infantry perspectives are remarkably different. The author risked injury or death from the enemy and the risks inherent in helicopter flight every time he flew. But the infantry described by authors like Webb lived every day knowing that injury, serious injury, or death was, for them, a virtual certainty.

The author's angry but very eloquent epilogue is,alone, well worth reading- especially as we enter our eighth year of war.

I highly recommend this book.

On Memorial Day Monday, I was flying back to JFK from a West Coast trip and was looking forward to finishing up a book I'd been reading. The Author, Ron Winter, is a member of the USMC Combat Helicopter Association, of which I have been the webmaster since around 1997. Ron sent me the book a while back and it was added to my stack of books I wanted to read. "Masters of the Art: A Fighting Marine's Memoir of Vietnam" was well worth the wait and anticipation.

Ron opens the book with his detailed stories of Marine Corps Boot Camp at Parris Island, S.C. and Sgt. Starbuck, one on his drill instructors who would change Ron's life forever. Now anyone who has ever been to Marine Corps boot camp and survived would be taken back as they read the various stories of training, Marine Corps Style!

Ron's talent for writing is realized immediately. His descriptions of the bases, ships, and squadrons he was assigned to simply bring the book to life! From MCAS New River to Quang Tri and Marble Mountain, Ron recalls the challenges, the motivations, and the fun of it all. His recollections as an avionics technician and of flying as a gunner in the CH-46 with HMM-161 make it seem like it was last month's SITREP you were reading.

The title "Masters of the Art" refers to survival. Survival in war by those fighting in it and also those affected by it; working and sacrificing to survive life's hardships.

As I turned to the final page of Ron's book, he wrote "I tell my children that for a brief time in my life, I walked with heroes and giants, was privileged to be included in their company, and to be called "Marine," using the highest definition of the word."

Ron has written a very powerful, honest, and moving book and I highly recommend all who read this to consider adding it to your own reading lists.

Gen. (ret.) Al Gray, former Commandant, USMC, said that "Masters of the Art" was superb! I agree!

Masters of the Art: A Fighting Marine's Memoir of Vietnam

Ronald Winter Books

Well done Marine!

~Cpl. Beddoe