Customer Reviews

A Vietnam Experience: Ten Years of Reflection (HOOVER INST PRESS PUBLICATION)

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I read Vice Admiral Stockdale's obituary and became interested in his writing, given what I learned about him in the outline of his career. It was truly tragic that his moment in the national spotlight made him seem a confused old man, as anyone reading any of his writing will quickly discern.

This book could well serve as a 150 page handbook on the true meaning of manhood and ways of attaining it. Stockdale had a classical education and put it to excellent use during a long public career and an unbelievably difficult eight year period as a prisoner of war. He has important things to say about character and courage and leadership and adversity and history. The breadth of sources from which he draws his observations is breathtaking.

It is an honor to review this book. Vice admiral Stockdale reflects on his personal experience as senior officer in a POW camp in Vietnam during 8 years. This is one of the most remarkable example of human fortitude I have ever heard of told by a man of supreme intelligence and culture.

These are the reflections of a well-educated leader for any age, yet an experienced Navy pilot in his post-captive years as a POW during the Vietnam War.Jim Stockdale makes clear throughout this book the differences between enlightened leadership and the business ethos permeating the Pentagon after Eisenhower.He even reveals early censorship and manipulation of "facts" by TV and print media decades ago. Throughout this philosophical lecture-filled book, this decorated Vice Admiral sprinkles historical naval decisions to underline his points.This is recommended for those who believe in the careful study of history and the wisdom of those who pass them down.

"A Vietnam Experience" by Medal of Honor recipient Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale (USN) isn't your average book. It is mostly a collection of articles and speeches made over the course of ten years. It stands out in another way though.

The nearly 150 pages contain a lot of reflections and words of wisdom that are applicable to almost any life situation. VADM Stockdale contrasts his Naval Academy and POW experience with modern-day business ethics, social and political relativism, buzzwords, as well as how all of these things impacted the United States Military in the post-Vietnam era. On numerous occasions he mentions that many people he ran into after his homecoming would be inquisitive in regards to how he survived the ordeal without compromising his integrity or letting down his subordinates. As a reader I took VADM Stockdale's message to be that his actions actually weren't extraordinary for his time; that it was merely an adherence to "old fashioned values" like a sense of honor, duty, and responsibility which sustained him through his eight years in captivity. The later chapters seem to reveal his fear that there is a flight of these values in American society today.

I also found VADM Stockdale's analysis of POW resistance techniques to be very unique. He mentions that during the Korean War, a group of psychologists met and one determined that the most effective POW resister was an archetype of a Southern-raised Marine who responds with "B.S." to everything the captor says. VADM Stockdale's resistance techniques differ in that they were grounded in his intellectual strengths - notably, the way he adopted Greek stoicism into the code of conduct he invented on his own and disseminated to his fellow prisoners. He argues that culture is a thin veneer that will easily shatter under pressure and that moral clarity is the most important of all qualities.

Above all, VADM Stockdale's greatest contribution is the one he made to the identity of the POW/MIA cause. We err if we see the POW/MIA flag, waving under the American one, as a symbol intended to evoke feelings of shame among our fellow countrymen about Vietnam, about the disenfranchisement and disrespect of returning veterans, or about war in general. Rather, the public dissemination of the POW experience as VADM Stockdale has done in "A Vietnam Experience" informs us that the POW/MIA symbol is one that shows how strong the American spirit can be under the most difficult of all circumstances. No matter our political views on Vietnam, the experiences and devotion to duty that VADM Stockdale and his fellow prisoners exhibited are moments of that conflict we can and should all be proud of.

This is most certainly one book that will never leave my shelves.

Jason Zaki

We all need a moral compass in life. VADM Stockdale is such an example, worthy of emulation. A collection of speeches and papers he wrote about character, moral courage, physical courage and ethical choices. I read it almost each year just to try and keep my own moral compass in calibration.

Being interested in history, military history, and philosophy, I bought this book some twenty years ago. Suitably dog-eared, highlighted, and underlined, it found a place in my library. A few days ago, (and older now) I took it up again and found it even better than I had remembered. Admiral Stockdale shows the true value of a classical education and timeless values in a world that denies the possibility of truth or virtue.



"It makes me want to stand up and cheer."

I reviewed another of Stockdales writings and then found this and while its not for everyone, it is outstanding. Great perspective from an incredible warrior for our country.

It is written as a compilation of essays, has a little redundancy because of that but I read it in one setting. We can learn a great deal about the war and about how one human being approached captivity.

Great work.