58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sniper Shniper!, February 24, 2001
This review is from: A Sniper in the Arizona: 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines in the Arizona Territory, 1967 (Mass Market Paperback)
I don't understand the harsh criticism of this book based on its title. John J. Culbertson attended 1st Marine Division Sniper School in Da Nang, and his secondary MOS reflects that fact. Readers who expect stories about lone gunmen perched in tree hides had better look under fiction for such a book.
"A Sniper in the Arizona" is the companion volume to Culbertson's superb "Operation Tuscaloosa," in which he chronicles the tenacity and heroism of a few good men pinned down on a sandbar by relentless enemy fire. In "A Sniper" the author continues his gritty and spare narrative of Hotel Company as they take on the VC/NVA in hostile villages on a piece of deadly real estate west of Da Nang. I almost feel I've bonded with Culbertson, Lafly, Gedzyk, Burns, et al, and I've gone back to re-read "Operation Tuscaloosa."
This book keeps you reading. You hate to put it down. You can't wait to pick it up again. Gunny Mitchell's sniper course, Sgt. Wadley's wise leadership, Burns' obsession and breakdown, Lt. Pindel's love for his men all combine to offer a vivid picture of Marine Corps culture and esprit d'corps as it existed before Tet of 1968, when the media snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and began its campaign to demoralize the warriors in the field.
There is plenty of suspense and tension here, so I don't know how one of the reviewers reported that he was bored. Check it out: "All we heard was [sic] clicking insects and the cries of monkeys high in the jungled canopy. The NVA soldiers would be coming. Moving like army ants up our mountain, higher and higher, until I would blink and one would be standing over me with his bayonet poised at my throat; a smiling North Vietnamese killer that felt no pain, no mercy, no conscience. They were coming, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do but wait."
Pure warrior blood coursed through the veins of Culbertson and the other grunts of 2/5. These are the kind of men you want defending your homeland, your country, your children. Has the warrior spirit been able to survive the past thirty years of the feminization of American society under the self-loathing ideologues of the left? Clinton's attempt at getting homosexuals into the military is just one example of how this country's elite despise those who serve, fight, and sacrifice all for their countrymen.
Read "Operation Tuscaloosa" first. Then sink your teeth into "A Sniper." You'll come face to face with the kind of men and the values that made this country great a long, long time ago.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Time trip, September 9, 2000
This review is from: A Sniper in the Arizona: 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines in the Arizona Territory, 1967 (Mass Market Paperback)
I followed John Culbertsons tour of duty in An Hoa and surrounding area by arriving in July of 67, and being assigned to H 2/5. His account although not known first hand by myself was pretty much substantiated by marines we both had known, and by my own tour as an 0311.Reading his account of daily survival,and running patrols,ambushs,LP's,etc,etc rings pretty true, and it brought me back to the frame of mind we all had then. STAYING ALIVE! His descriptions of your senses being razor sharp,and our battle hardened Marines putting up with conditions that most people can't even imagine while fighting in the Arizona territory, Antenna Valley,and various ville's throughout their TAOR are very accurate. If its wanting to know what combat with the Marines in 67 was like then this is your book.Although this may seem strange,but as I was reading it, it seemed like I had taken a time trip to the past.Thanks John for bringing me back to those days when the thrill, and terror of combat were two sides of the same coin.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good book--Title MISLEADING, July 17, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: A Sniper in the Arizona: 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines in the Arizona Territory, 1967 (Mass Market Paperback)
This is a very good book about the day to day life of a combat Marine in Vietnam, but there was very little information about sniping. I study Snipers and bought the book thinking thats what it would be about, it was not. The reason I only gave it 4 stars is because of the misleading title. If you want a good read on the daily grind and horror of war this is good book to read. Mr.Culbertson tells his story of getting into the Marines and being trained as a Sniper and that is really all he relates that is Sniper connected. The rest of the book is about running patrols in the Arizona Territory and he does a fantastic job of putting that on paper.
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