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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reminiscence on a Lost War,
By
This review is from: War in Aquarius: Memoir of an American Infantryman in Action Along the Cambodian Border During the Vietnam War (Paperback)
If you've ever wondered why the war in Vietnam was lost, read this book. Dennis Kitchin was a young Philadelphia area draftee with a bachelor's degree from a small Ohio college. He takes the reader through the military induction process, through the demeaning boot camp training, to the Fort Polk, LA jungle training that preceeded the assignment to Vietnam, and on to the Cu Chi area of Vietnam where he served from late 1968 to 1969.At every step along the way Kitchin questions the war and his own relationship to it until he comes to the realization that the Vietnam War was insanity. From the time he stepped into his assignment with the 25th Infantry Division foremost in the author's mind was leaving Vietnam. His focus, as was the focus of all who went to Vietnam, was his DEROS - short for date eligible to return from overseas service. Kitchin writes about the patrols, the ambushes, his buddies (in particular a soldier named Tremaine), the comraderie, his officers, the beautiful country and the Vietnamese people in such a way as to give the reader a genuine feel for what was happening. At every point there is the horror of war and a young soldier's response to it. The book climaxes with Kitchin and Tremaine and others refusing to obey the orders of an officer that no one respected and who had ordered short-timers (those with less than 30 days remaining in Vietnam) out on a combat mission. The 30 thirty day rule, while not written down, stated simply that anyone with thirty days or less was not required to go into combat situations. For soldiers intent upon surviving to their DEROS the rule was of extreme importance. Failure to obey the orders of the Captain led to court martials and reductions in rank for those involved. This book compares favorably to Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried". Given recent extensions to our solidiers tours of duty in Iraq it serves as a guide to what not to do to a soldier's morale. A wonderful book, a great read, and an object lesson to those who callously commit our troops to unwinnable wars.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
There it is,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: War in Aquarius: Memoir of an American Infantryman in Action Along the Cambodian Border During the Vietnam War (Paperback)
As a Vietnam Vet, everyone's story is different depending in part on where you were, what you did, and when you were there. Of all of the books about the Vietnam War I have read, War in Aquarius rings the most true for me. No doubt this is partly true because I was assigned to the same company as Dennis Kitchin, Bravo Co., 2/27 Wolfhounds, about five months after he left. Like Kitchin I was a college graduate draftee. War in Aquarius rings true in so many respects, both the day to day and the dramatic. For example, unlike most personal story Vietnam books, it contains a brief description of Basic Training and AIT, an important experience which attempts to transform unwilling "recruits" into soldiers. My reason for not giving it a five star rating is that I wish the author had explored and shared more of the struggles between his moral and political misgivings about the war and the need on a day to day basis to participate in it.The book has the feeling of simple truth, without exaggeration or bravado. If I had to choose one book to give to my son if he is ever interested in what it was like for me in Vietnam, War in Aquarius would be it.
3.0 out of 5 stars
History or not?,
This review is from: War in Aquarius: Memoir of an American Infantryman in Action Along the Cambodian Border During the Vietnam War (Paperback)
Many books have been written about the Vietnam War. Some are honest, and some are not. Over the years, I have shared this book by Dennis Kitchin with others who served in that war. The book seems accurate, but it has some questionable aspects. It is being republished by Amazon, with a shortened title. Originally, it was War in Aquarius subtitled Memoir of an American Infantryman in Action Along the Cambodian Border During the Vietnam War.Dennis Kitchin details day-by-day operations in the Wolfhounds as if he kept a diary. Serving as battalion executive officer and operations officer, I spent nearly a year in the same unit, Second Battalion, 27th Infantry. Much of my time there overlapped part of the time Kitchin was there. I never met a rifleman who had time to keep a diary in that grim environment. After reading his book, I posed the question to many men who had served as riflemen in our battalion. None had kept a diary or remember anyone who did. It was all they could do to keep a couple of letters and photographs dry, wrapped in plastic. When I got home, I went through all of the letters I had written to my wife, and found far better information in them than in the daily entries I had made in Vietnam in a series of green pocket notebooks where I made notes on a daily basis. I believe the bulk of Kitchin's book is accurate, but I am convinced that parts of it are fictional. I question his use of contrived names for the men in the unit. And I deplore his almost boastful writing about destroying records from files he was entrusted with carrying when he returned to the United States, an act that was criminal at the time. In his book he condemns the act almost immediately after he described it. It is worth noting, however that his book was published long after a statutory limit when he could have been criminally charged with doing it. Most of the leaders in his company and battalion were the subject of negative descriptions. If the names were fictional, what guarantee exists that some of the events described are not fictional as well? Writers cannot have it both ways.
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