Customer Reviews

Six Silent Men, Book Two (101st Lrp/Rangers)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The chronology of events depicted within this book reveal a real life story that I as a member shared and remember as if it were only yesterday. The high lights as discussed in the book were the captain shepard stepping on the mine planted by someone in the company, the fight at the club which I was involved in and other lurps wanting to blow it up. The story about John Quick eating the frog was a reminder because I was the lurp who Quick had asked to fetch the frog and as the story tells killed him by early morning. The story of the two lurp teams toward the end of the book reveal an ending that I have wonder about for the last 34years because just week earlier I was on a mission with Riley Cox and Contreaus. I left Viet Nam 19 November and by the time I got to California the word was out that two lurp teams had met their demise and one team was lead by Contreaus.My nickname for Cox was mule because he was a big guy and he carried my claymore mines for me. We were young and patriotic and we wanted to serve our country. We-----------didn"t lose the war, the politicians lost it. Thank you and god bless.

It's too late now to recommend this book to my student who wanted to write his final term paper a few months ago about the view from inside the Vietnam War. He's written his paper already and graduated from high school, but had he read this book he would have known much more intimately what it was to "be there." Mr. Miller's captivating style would have sufficed to propell him page to page, but the bravery, the humor, and the soul unraveled in the stories themselves are what make the book great. The events and people Mr. Miller depicts would have haunted his memory for years to come (and probably would have helped to pump a bit more inspiration into his term paper).

...

If your curiosity has taken you to this remote corner of Amazon.com, I urge you venture further, deeper into the Vietnam War by way of Kenn Miller's book and it's companion by Rey Martinez.

Having been what combat arms soldiers consider a REMF for the past 14 years, I was totaly in awe of the stories I read in all three books in this series. I have always been a firm supporter of the line units and Ken Miller has managed to bring about a greater understanding, for me, of what the LRRP/Rangers in Vietnam went through. I've always heard that no one, who wasn't there, can truely appreciate what these men went through. I disagree with this line of thought. I don't believe men like Miller, Linderer,Martinez, and Jorgenson appreciate how much they are respected and admired by some of the people who read their books. No, I,m not a wanna-be. In fact, I've spent alot of time staying away from stuff that can get me killed. I do everything I can to support the guys who do the "Real Work" of the Army. I am aware of my own limitations. I just wanted to write this to thank you men for your service to our country, in hopes that you might actually see this someday. You are all heros in my book and I thank you for all of your books that have brought me hours of good reading and education.

There are few books about modern war that cause me to suspend my awareness of present surroundings while reading. This one does the deed. Kenn Miller's book Tiger The Lurp Dog introduced me to his exceptionally refined and gripping style of story telling. With Six Silent Men, Book Two, Miller continues to impress and inspire me. These were men of my generation "just doing a job" that deserves to see the light of day and a place in our memories and hearts. [...] Give this book your attention. It earns it by not being based just on imagination but on brotherhood, blood and guts and brains. A great read.

I read this book and gave 1 star to Ken Miller for serving in Vietnam, but.... Anyone familiar with the "true history of Vietnam" knows that after the Tet 1968 Offensive that the NVA and VC were nearly destroyed. It took a full four to five years for the enemy forces to rebuild. The way Ken Miller and others write there were NVA behind every tree in the bush every time they went out. Phantom NVA troops for phony medals, maybe? I found this book to be a perfect demonstration with jarring clarity that ordinary individuals could be induced to act destructively even in the absence of physical coercion and human need not to innately evil or aberrant to act in ways that are reprehensible and inhumane. Take page 170 of this book. The new company commander (C.O.) takes charge and wants these men to get into military shape and get ready for patrolling. The new C.O. tells these men that they are (and I quote from the book); "He wasted no time letting the Lurps know that he considered them undisciplined, slovenly, unmanly, shirkers, and phonies." This is the very same picture I got from reading this book and their later actions speak for themselves when they planned, organized, and carried out the Toe-Popper incident and blew off Captain Shepard's foot. No statue of limitations of this act, Miller. The story really goes off into the twilight light zone on page 220. The national archive records report that a team found an empty base camp and some weapons - PERIOD. But, Ken Miller creates his deception of what he thought and wrote a 6-man team followed an NVA company on the trail, watch them eat, and then charge into the enemy killing 151 NVA soldiers!!! That's more than the unit had as its official body count (68 total) for the entire time it was in Vietnam, Miller!!! The lies, falsehoods start on page ten and this book is written more for the 14 and 16 year-old males who don't know any better. Shame on this book for it's stretching the bonds of the Ranger Creed and confusing loyalty with disrespect for authority over peer pressure to conform in order to avoid field duty. That could get you killed if you didn't have good leadership. They should have listened to Captain Shepard with his earlier illustrations of what he thought they were; and thus they remained leaderless and bound to failure. It would have been much better for this unit to continue to stay on Kitchen Police and guard duty as it did for the first six months it was in Vietnam.

Kenn Miller is that rarity in writing; the warrior scholar who not only 'has been there and done that' but can probably describe what it was like in several dialects of Chinese with enough sharp wit to boot! This is a good book but it is better when you know that Miller served two and a half years as a LRP/LRRP/RANGER IN THE WAR and that when he writes it is from a thoughtful and well-researched point of view. As a writer myself the only satisfaction I get is knowing that he's shorter than I am. He's one hell of a writer and has helped more than a few of us rise to his level of talent.

The LRRPS did. Time and time again the long-range-reconnaissance-patrols went out to "see" and not be "seen", and sadly, some individuals wouldn't return home.

This is fantastic series of books covering the history and evolution of the LRRPS/LRPS/RANGERS during the Vietnam War.

Rey Martinez, Kenn Miller, and Gary Linderer interviewed a great number of the surviving members of the LRRPS/Rangers to bring their history alive. While some members were able to tap in their memories, others wouldn't touch the pain from long ago. The authors did a terrific job bringing the histories together for a strong narrative.

If anything, I found myself wanting to know more! What were they thinking? What were you feeling? I'm sure much ended up on the "editing room floor".

The "SIX SILENT MEN" books are a very honest account if the units actions. Their packed with adventure and daring. While reading their books, I was filled with tension and dread, other times I had to laugh aloud, and a few times I became misty-eyed. You feel for the teams as they "will" themselves to become invisible while on patrol.

... A great number of books on the Vietnam War are written very honestly, and the publishers do "Fact Checking" before publishing these books. ... If these books were embellished tales, then Vietnam Vets who served in the LRRPS/Rangers wouldn't hesitate to post a review here and let the truths be known. As you see this isn't the case.

I have never met a veteran who has panned these books. Never.

If you enjoyed this series, I would also recommend Jim Morris' WAR STORY, John Plasters' SOG, James Rowe's FIVE YEARS TO FREEDOM, Larry Chambers RECONDO, and Leigh Wade's TAN PHU.

...

Read the books. You won't be disappointed! God Bless and Attack life!

Read a memoir by a general and then read Six Silent Men. You'll see the difference right away. Nobody is holding back here, and nobody is trying to let anybody off the hook. This is volume two of three, a series that covers the entire life of the unit from activation to stand down. There is no self-serving BS anywhere in any of them. The words that come to mind are honor, honesty, and guts. Somebody once said Vietnam was a "war without heroes." They just weren't looking.

This is a great book, Kenn Miller is the LRP with one of the higest number of missions in Vietnam...he know what it was like, he has been there, done that

An exelent read, gives a very accurate account about what happend on the 20 of November 1968 and there by rames a spike in the rubbish that a certain Seattle resident has been whining about, " the army record does not match what is written in several vietnam books, so there for Gary Linderer, Larry Chambers, Kenn Miller, WT Grant and Bill Meacham must be fake and they make all the other veterans not like me, bu-hu huh hu, where is my wife's apron so I can hide"

Miller....you are one of my Hero's

This is another excellent addition to the series of books about the 101st Airborne LRRPs. The raw emotion will have you laughing, crying and enthralled. Just as with Rey Martinez' Book 1, and Gary Linderer's book 3, Kenn Miller interviewed veterans and got their stories. This is an extremely good way of getting an internal view of the emotions and experiences of the men who served in Vietnam. I have to say that I could not find a quote anywhere as stated below, and find the jealousy of some insulting to these authors with merit. I recommend reading the online "Brother against Brother" to find out just what type of BS some people will go to to slander these honorable men!

Highly recommended book, go out and buy a copy today!