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Soldier

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I served in col. Herberts batt. while he was our 6.The 2/503rd was not doing much until he arrived.He really shook it up from top to bottom.I read the book when it was first released in 73,or74 and it is very true.The army railroded him. He wouldn't tolerate My Lai type sitituations and was hurt when he stopped them from being apart of his command. He was the best 6 I ever served under.He actually participated in company,platoon and squad size operations while our 6.He gained all of the grunts trust and respect by doing so.A must read for any soldier.

What appears on the surface to be the story of how Lt. Col Anthony Herbert, clearly one of the last true American heroes, was railroaded out of military service is in actuality a textbook look into the inner workings of Machiavellian corporate structure.

Herbert is an old-fashioned, principled American who still believes in integrity and practices what he preaches. In contrast, look no farther than our national response to the antics of our current commander-in-chief (as translated by approval ratings) to see how we as a nation regard our principles in our time of greed. How did we get there? This book sheds many insights on that question.

Spin doctoring is not a new art form. Its just a new phrase. Anyone who has wrongly lost a promotion, or a bid or an account to a lesser individual or firm, or who has been wronged by police, the legal system, false advertising, the government, or the credit bureau should by now undertsand that spin doctoring is the key to power and control.

How we have been lulled into slumberland by media manipulation is the subject of other books, but to see spin doctoring in action on a personal level, you have no better example than "Soldier".

First published in 1973, a paperback copy was given to me by a friend. I am ordering the 1998 hardcover edition as a permanent addition to my library. That it should resurface at this time after 25 years is no surprise. Thank you, Colonel Herbert.

When I was a young Marine I was given a copy of this book by one of the Soldiers who served under Lt. Col. Herbert. He was mother-in-law boyfriend at the time. Well, as a young Marine I did not think much of it at the time, until I was over seas and read it. I could not stop reading it. I must have spent every minute I had free reading it. It was simply an OUTSTANDING book. I know I would have loved to serve in his Army. That's pretty hard to say being a Marine an all.

While I served 20 years in the Marines, and had little respect for the Army, I as did many other Marines in the seventies found that we could believe in this Man and would have followed him through the gates of Hell. LtCol Anthony Herbert stands for the ideals that made America great: Truth, Justice, and the American Way. I served in Vietnam with the Marines north of LtCol Herbert's Area of Operations, in the same area that produced Lt Calley and the My Lai massacre. Knowing how the Americal Div operated (Calley's Div), I have no reason to doubt what Anthony Herbert says, nor should anyone else. Vietnam was a war we should have never been in fighting it the way we did, and it cost us many lives of fine young American boys for the very reasons that this book points out. I personally lost two foster brothers, but I believe the war was right. I understand that the tactics, inefficiencies, and bureaucracy that this fine Officer reveals cost us the war, and tainted the respect of the American people towards it's own fighting men for many years. Had our own Military leaders followed up on his allegations, and removed the corrupt and inept officers he was talking about, things in Vietnam could ahve been a lot different. His asessment of the Leadership in Vietnam is absolutely correct, and if any of our leaders today had courage they would reopen the investigation of the allegations made by LtCol Herbert. Far from hurting the military, I believe that correcting these injustices and stating the truth, for once, will make our military stronger. We can ill afford to allow inept leaders to ever get us involved in another such operation as Vietnam, yet we have ample opportunity to do this: Bosnia, East Timor, Ethiopia, etc.

In a review of this book Brian Carter writes, "part fiction, part farce, part sober truth." I need to set the record straight about any suspicion about Lt. Col. Anthony B. Herbert's story not being factual. The whole truth was finally exposed last summer. Writing in the Los Angeles Times 20 Aug 06, Deborah Nelson and Nick Turse reported in a feature article, "In Vietnam, Army Worked to Discredit Torture Record" that detainee abuses were more extensive than the public knew. An internal inquiry had confirmed Herbert's widely publicized charge that members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade had tortured detainees in Vietnam. But rather than make this information public, the Army compiled a 53-page catalog of alleged discrepancies against Herbert, should he try to expose the torture incidents. Finally, after 33 years, declassified records showed that while the Army was working energetically to discredit Herbert, military investigators were uncovering torture and mistreatment that went well beyond what even Herbert had described. The abuses were not made public, and few of the wrongdoers were punished. The Army internal investigation in 1973 found that military interrogators in the 173rd Airborne repeatedly beat prisoners, tortured them with electricity and forced water down their throats to simulate a drowning sensation.

The accounts of torture and the Army's effort to discredit Herbert emerged from a review of a once-secret Pentagon archive. The collection, about 9,000 pages, was compiled in the early 1970s by an Army task force that monitored war crimes investigations. The files, examined last summer by the Los Angeles Times, included memos, case summaries, investigative reports and sworn witness statements. The Army task force was created after journalist Seymour Hersh exposed the 1968 My Lai massacre, and served to give military brass and the White House early warning about potentially damaging revelations. The war crimes records were declassified in 1994 and moved to the National Archives in College Park, Md., where they went largely unnoticed. The Times examined most of the files before officials removed them from public view, saying they contained personal information that was exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. Other records, taken by Col. Henry H. Tufts, commander of the Army's Criminal Investigation Division in 1973, were donated after his death to the University of Michigan. Retired Brig. Gen. John H. Johns, a Vietnam veteran who served on the task force, said the files provided important lessons for dealing with the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq. He stated, "If we rationalize it as isolated acts, as we did in Vietnam and as we're doing with Abu Ghraib and similar atrocities, we'll never correct the problem."

The public discrediting of Herbert all began on Feb. 4, 1973, when his reputation was dealt a shattering blow when CBS's 60 Minutes aired a segment titled "The Selling of Colonel Herbert." CBS correspondent Mike Wallace and producer Barry Lando challenged his credibility, implying that the book "Soldier" was fictitious and, most surprising of all, that Herbert himself was guilty of war crimes. Considering that the smear efforts of the Pentagon had failed to discredit any of Herbert's statements, this was baffling indeed. Supporting the CBS allegations against Herbert on the show was Herbert's old nemesis, Lt. Col. J. Ross Franklin who had been relieved of his command for throwing a Vietnamese body out of chopper (and later went to prison in 1991 to serve a five-year sentence for his role in a securities scam). During this time CBS was under a lot of heat from the Nixon administration for an earlier broadcast called "The Selling of the Pentagon." CBS president Frank Stanton was under subpoena. Ultimately, a landmark decision by the Supreme Court in Herbert v. Lando (1979) ruled in Herbert's favor, and he won what had come to be called the "state of mind case." By that time Herbert had earned a doctorate in psychology, and become a police and clinical psychologist.

Herbert is one of America's best war heros and this vilifying of his record must be corrected. Of equal dishonor is the fact that the military continues to sanction torture, and anyone who blows the whistle gets vilified. Joe Darby turned in the pictures of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. This time the military could not discredit him as they did Herbert. He had pictures! But as things turned out, the military did nothing to reward or support him, and they let the public vilify him. He was not even able to return to his hometown, Cumberland, MD, so bad was public reaction to his reporting of Abu Ghraib. Cumberland even held a vigil for the accused at Abu Ghraib while Joe Darby received death threats.

You need to read this book! Since Viet Nam the U.S. has allowed a military bureaucracy of pencil pushers to rifle our military heritage with cover-up lies about real heroes and, most disparagingly, to lose wars. Herbert knew how to win, and how to conduct himself in the face of bad superiors. His book should be studied, and re-studied, by West Point students.

I saw Herbert interviewed years ago and always wanted this book. Just found it used. He was a decorated veteran from Korea. He was one of a few survivors from his company in Korea. He felt he deserved to die in 1952 and considered his life after that a bonus.

I read this shortly after its release and was moved by its honest assessment of the war. Lt. Col. Herbert stands in the ranks of Civil War's Col. John S. Mosby (see Ranger Mosby by Virgil Carrington Jones) to understand the correct tactics of guerrilla warfare. But of most importance, Herbert had the guts to tell it like it was at the time. It's time for our Government to tell it like it was and apologize to the Vietnamese people for the atrocities created by poor leadership. It was this leadership that tried to silence Lt. Col. Herbert at a military trial in Georgia. With the new revelations surrounding Sen. Bob Kerry, this book elevates itself to a must read.

The 1973 bestseller "Soldier" reveals a part of our nation's history during the Vietnam War, which should be mandatory reading in our Political Science and History classes today. It is the true account of the rise of a brilliant young soldier, Anthony B. Herbert, who achieved great fame as the most decorated soldier of the Korean War; who later dared to take on the Military Brass and expose the corruption and war atrocities occurring in Vietnam.

"Soldier" is not about a man who was unpatriotic or who sought fame or who had grand delusions of "conspiracy theories." This elite soldier completed Rangers, Special Forces, and over 20 other military schools. He served as an intelligence officer and was selected for outstanding promotion at every rank. He was on the fast track to becoming one of our youngest generals. Yet at the same time that he was cited as the Outstanding Combat Battalion Commander in Vietnam - he was being relieved of his duties.

This was not a soldier who was afraid to fight. Herbert felt that any man, woman, or child who was firing at him was "the enemy." But he drew the line at senseless torture and slaughter based on whims. Ultimately, this second-generation American felt stronger about the ethics and principles that our country was founded on, rather than about his military career. He blew the whistle regarding the atrocities and corruption in Vietnam when no one else had the courage to come forward.

At the time that "Soldier" was written, our government was not telling the American people the facts about so many issues concerning the Vietnam War. Thirty years later, these truths have long been substantiated. America now knows about our less than stellar past in Vietnam primarily due to the efforts and courage of this author. In part, our media now covers the war in Iraq - flaws and all, due to the precedent set by Anthony Herbert.

Each account found in "Soldier" was later substantiated beyond a doubt. Yet no public apologies have ever been made to Lt. Col. Herbert by our government, our media, or the military. In my opinion, this soldier deserved a medal most for exposing the corruption when no one else would come forward. The actions that he dared to take by writing this book have had such a profound influence on how America, our media and our government now view the military and conduct themselves during times of war.

No one wants to go to war and no one wants to trash our military or government. But unless someone takes the initiative to expose corruption, history only repeats itself. War crimes and atrocities only serve to do a great disservice to every veteran who has ever fought bravely for America and the credibility of the United States in the eyes of the world.

We are now fighting a different war over in Iraq. I am glad to know that many of our soldiers will be reading this book. For I can think of no better "manual" to show a new generation of soldiers that ethics and high principles are conducive both in times of war and in times of peace. And I can think of no better instructor than Anthony Herbert. For anyone who truly wants to know what the Vietnam War was about and the unique contribution made by a true hero in the deepest sense, "Soldier" is the book to read. "Soldier" - both the book and the man are truly in a league of their own.

Kudos to Robert M. Perrine and others who helped discredit Brian Carter's "Part Fiction, Part Farce, Part Sober Truth" critical and less than just review of Anthony Herbert's "Soldier". He and his fellow warrior Col David Hackworth (RIP) remain my number one and number one HEROS. I was a draftee and nearly a draft-dodger, wanting no part of the Vietnam war. My dad served in WWII and the Korean war and convinced me to serve my country 'right or wrong' and so I did--reluctantly so. I proudly served.

Read the other reviews as they are excellent and accurate; then if you think you might like this book, READ IT. It will be time well spent. If you are a Vietnam Veteran and haven't read "Stolen Valor" then read that too. Save Hackworth's "About Face" for last. If you are going to lead a platoon, company, or battalion of America's finest in Afghanistan, read Hackworth's "Vietnam Primer" in particular as well as his "Steel My Soldier's Heart" and anything else with his name as author. And don't forget to read Herbert's "Soldier" too. And then be proud that you didn't lose many (or preferably 'any') of those soldiers who put their trust in you.

While we are on the subject; Anthony Herbert, please come out of seclusion and accept the accolades you are due.

"Stay Alert, Stay Alive"
101st Airborne
Camp Eagle '69
LZ Sally '70

Soldier by Anthony Herbert, Lt. Col., Ret. with James T. Wooten, "America's Most Decorated Soldier". The horrifying and true story of Herbert, a model fighting man who had enough guts to become the most decorated enlisted man of the Korean War...and enough humanity to attack the entire U.S. Army in Vietnam.