Customer Reviews

The Other Casualty Of War

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When were you in Viet Nam, just last night. After 38 years of leaving Viet Nam behind,that just last night comment made by the author hit home. For me that holds very true as I expect it does for many others. So many things in this book have brought back memories, things that I had forgotten and re enforced others that I thought were just my fading memorie at age 58 now

The Vietnam War. It is a subject that inspires strong, yet vastly differing opinions in almost everyone. And the soldiers who lived through this time are no exception. Paul Bylin's The Other Casualty of War is an honest account not only of his experiences in Vietnam, but also of his experiences trying to recover from this event. He gives the reader a sense, not only of who he is, but also of the emotions and trials that he experienced. So often, this war is held up as an example of the negative effects of war. Bylin's no-nonsense account puts a personal face on the war, and makes it impossible to consider that these boys who were sent to war were ever anything more than boys who did as they were told, and who, in many ways, never came home.

Author Paul Bylin doesn't try to portray himself as some sort of innocent angel who is lead off into war in the 1960's nor does he claim to be any kind of a hero. He does however; show us in his gripping book, "The Other Causality Of War," the human failings of a young high school drop-out from the inner city, trying to come to grips with the life and death reality of the Vietnam War! To Paul it became a lifelong battle between inner rage, guilt and at times, sanity and sobriety.

Most of us veteran advocates knew little of the man, Paul Bylin, who in the 1990's did so much to call public attention and awareness to the MIA/POW cause. All most of us knew about Paul was that he was emotionally charged with getting the facts out about those missing men in Vietnam. But there is so much more about this man that you will learn when you read his brief memoir. He really hangs it all out there and exposes himself to the reader and to the public at large. His personal and emotional confessions show courage and at times, some very hard learned wisdom that his experiences have gifted him to understand.

He battled back from drugs and booze and depression to share his personal tale. I think many veterans will be able to relate to his words and what he has gone through. More than half of the book deals with his time on his two "tours of duty" in Nam but the most moving stuff comes when he returns state-side again and has to face the rest of his life.

This book is not suitable for all readers but it is highly recommended for families, friends and the veterans themselves who are dealing with PTSD issues. There may be a message and some life lessons to be learned within these pages.