"This is a story about how things were, when I was young and my Country was at war. It is a story about young men for whom acts of heroism became daily routine. It is a story about moral courage, glory, and luck. It is a story about Marines."
*Michael C. Hodgins
By the spring of 1970, politicians had determined the outcome of the war in Vietnam. But for the troops in the field, it was a dangerous time. Morale was low, casualties were mounting, and no one *soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine *wanted to be the last mother's son killed in Vietnam.
In I Corps *northern South Vietnam *the Marines of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Wild Bill Drumright, were assigned to cover the withdrawal of 1st Marine Division. Under Drumright, the Marines of 1st RECON Bn operated in small teams of six or seven men. Heavily armed, often led by a lieutenant, the teams fought a multitude of bitter engagements with a numerically superior and increasingly aggressive enemy to ensure that their fellow Marines could be withdrawn safely.
Michael C. Hodgins served in Company C, 1st RECON Bn (Rein), as a platoon leader during Drumright's reign. In powerful, graphic prose, Hodgins chronicles his experience as a patrol leader in myriad combat situations, both traumatic and poignant, while capturing the essence of tactical decisions and the self-doubt that accompanies them. From hasty ambush to emergency extraction to prisoner snatch to combined-arms ambush, Mike Hodgins takes the reader step-by-step through the troop-leading process and the numerous anxious, at times fearsome, events that process inevitably involves in war. The accomplishments of the teams he led, documented by official Marine Corps records, exemplify small-unit combat leadership as well as the daily heroism that was routine for Marines of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion.
Reluctant Warrior is a searing memoir of a young officer's war. . . with his enemy, his troops, and himself.
*Michael C. Hodgins
By the spring of 1970, politicians had determined the outcome of the war in Vietnam. But for the troops in the field, it was a dangerous time. Morale was low, casualties were mounting, and no one *soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine *wanted to be the last mother's son killed in Vietnam.
In I Corps *northern South Vietnam *the Marines of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Wild Bill Drumright, were assigned to cover the withdrawal of 1st Marine Division. Under Drumright, the Marines of 1st RECON Bn operated in small teams of six or seven men. Heavily armed, often led by a lieutenant, the teams fought a multitude of bitter engagements with a numerically superior and increasingly aggressive enemy to ensure that their fellow Marines could be withdrawn safely.
Michael C. Hodgins served in Company C, 1st RECON Bn (Rein), as a platoon leader during Drumright's reign. In powerful, graphic prose, Hodgins chronicles his experience as a patrol leader in myriad combat situations, both traumatic and poignant, while capturing the essence of tactical decisions and the self-doubt that accompanies them. From hasty ambush to emergency extraction to prisoner snatch to combined-arms ambush, Mike Hodgins takes the reader step-by-step through the troop-leading process and the numerous anxious, at times fearsome, events that process inevitably involves in war. The accomplishments of the teams he led, documented by official Marine Corps records, exemplify small-unit combat leadership as well as the daily heroism that was routine for Marines of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion.
Reluctant Warrior is a searing memoir of a young officer's war. . . with his enemy, his troops, and himself.
