Customer Reviews

The Offering

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I was a member of ABU 1/327 during 1967-68 serving as an enlisted man and started by carring ammunition for an M-60 machine gun in the 2nd platoon. The book is as the title says a soldiers own view. Just as 5 people involved in a single car wreck will have 5 stories about what happen, it is an individual account of one who was there. Carhart recieved two purple hearts while in Viet Nam and was in part responsible for the Viet Nam Memorial becoming a reality for all Viet Nam veterans. He also was responsible for seeing that Mr. Flipper ( the first black graduate of West Point ) recieved a pardon from the President 100 years after an injustice. This book relates to Tom Carharts experiances as a platoon leader and his time in Viet Nam. I believe them to be accuate from what I remember while he served with ABU. Many good men gave a lot and some all during 67-68. Far too many from the 101st. There again the 1st Battalion and later the whole 101st Divison came to fight and we inflicted far more than we recieved. This is a book written by a man on the ground who saw what he saw. Protected those he served with out any indifferce as we were all Airborne and " Above the Rest". I recieved my book from Tom at a reunion in San Mateo in 1988 as did all who attended the reunion. It was praised by those in attendance. San Mateo is where one of the fallen is buried. It was the only city to adopt a unit during the war... that is another story.

Tom Carhart's THE OFFERING superbly records the demands of being a combat platoon leader in Vietnam. His candid and honest portrayl of himself reveals the oftentimes conflict of the mission vs. the welfare of the men. Carhart accurately documents his units engagements with the enemy and brings home to the reader the managed chaos of jungle firefights. Most importantly, Carhart recognizes the courage and determination of the american paratrooper and the varied racial backrounds of what we were.

Steve Patterson A company 1st/327th Infantry 101st Airborne Div 1968

Tom Carhart brings you to the jungles of Vietnam
with his words. You feel as if you are next to him in
battle, watching his friends die. It moved me to
tears several times. Tom comes from a powerful
family and has written a powerful narrative
of his experiences in Vietnam.

This book is one of the best I have read on the War. It shows all the pain, grief, tears and empty stomachs that combat brings. It shows how fruitless the war was. Now we have Ford and GM plants running in the old combat zone and only some of us still feel the pain of an American blood soaked land where countless were wounded in body and in mind. But we can count the ones gone, all their names are listed on the wall. Many of us will always remember them, but our profiteers will only count the dollars earned not the men lost. I highly recommend this book.

Tom Carhart left A Company shortly before I got to it in March of 1968, so we never have met, but guys who knew him spoke highly of this young officer. The story he tells is one told by someone who was on the ground and dealing with the Vietnamese, friend and foe alike. Not only did it broaden by undestanding of the war, but it was exciting and a good read.

Alex "Doc Ollie" Yaron

The enlisted men fought the war and Mr. Carhart fails to devliver that message in his book. I served with the 1/327(6/67-6/68) and remember the courage, care, concern for each other and resourcefulness of the soldiers. To read this book you will never know the closeness the soldiers in the front line felt for one another. This book fails to detail the many heroic moments the different combat platoons had in saving one another from one fight to another. Some of the hardest battles were fought in 67-68 and this book does not do justice to the men who fought the battles nor to some of the fine officers we had to lead us . The book attempts to put down African American soldiers and does not adequately address the many contributions of African American officers and NCO's in the 1/327. I disliked the book for the falsehoods and innuendos Mr. Carhart used and the lack of respect he pays my fallen comrades.