Customer Reviews

War Stories of the Green Berets: The Viet Nam Experience

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I grew up during the Viet Nam war, in a military family. I joined the Army immediately after college and was the first woman commissioned at my University, in 1975. While I never served in combat, I knew many who did. I read this book to try and understand what it must have been like for the men who served, without having to read through the filters of the liberal media, or the continuing lies of our government.

Being from a military family, I understand what duty, honor and country means, and to me, the Green Berets are some of last, true defenders of those ideals. This book did not disappoint me.

It is a wonderful book, with all the elements of life, both precious and horrible, woven through it.

My favorite story was of the POV and how his faith in God was restored by a fir tree and some fire-flies. He does work in mysterious ways!

To my brothers-in-arms--my heartfelt thanks for sharing parts of your souls with the rest of us.

To those who are stil! l unaccounted for--forgive us. I, for one, shall never forget you.

As a fellow Green Beret, I found Hans Halbertstadt's book very refreshing. It is free of the bravado and hype found in most books regarding Special Forces. What it shows is the real face of war a told by the unique and courageous men who fought it. You'll laugh out loud after reading one page and cry after reading the next. I highly recommend it!

As a former Special Forces medic in Viet Nam I could not put this book down until I had finished it. I got out of the Army in 1966 and didn't look back, but I could never get Viet Nam and Special Forces out of my blood. It was truely a calling that I failed to hear.

I was surprised to read about many people that I had long forgotten, but there they were again, as big and true to life as if it was yesterday.

There was even a story about the little sleepy camp, Polie Kleng, that I had helped build in 1966 (A-241), and of course there were lots of stories about Dak To, Kontum, Pleiku, Na Trang, Saigon and other places I had been.

I have always wondered what my life would have been like if I had made a career of Special Forces. Now I know. There is a good chance I would have gotten zapped, but it sure would have been an exciting life while it lasted, and I would have had an endless supply of the greatest friends in the world. I have never had those kinds of truely great friends since getting out of Special Forces.

This book tells it all, just as it was. Get ready for a lot of flash backs. Every word of it is true. Even the lies are true!

Have you ever listened to any war stories from a family member, or friend? I have, and I have a few of my own. This book is a collect of war stories from the various members of the Green Berets, in their own words. All of the stories were from the Vietnam war during the 60s and early 70s. Some of these stories were very sad, but at the same time, very heroic. A lot of the stores were scary, especially during some of the patrols these guys had to do. There's also a quite a few funny stories that will make you smile, especially if you were in the service. I really liked the stories that were kind of spooky, there was one story that involved a SF patrol that bed down for the night. During the night, it was so dark an enemy patrol had mistaken the SF patrol for one of their own, and decided to bed down in the same area as the SF patrol! Crazy stuff! This is a book dedicated to the men of the Green Berets.

Hans has captured, through interviews with the men who were there, what it is like to serve our country. No politics, just gut-wrenching and heartwarming stories. And the dedication, second edition, makes our family proud! SSG Paul J. (PJ) Johnson, was my youngest son. Hans wanted to interview him about being an Airborne Ranger, for a new book. Unfortunately, PJ deployed before they could meet, and PJ was KIA 20 Oct 2003 at Fallujah Iraq. For Hans to do the dedication for him, was totally awesome for our whole family!