Six Silent Men, Book Two (101st Lrp/Rangers) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Kenn Miller (Author) "In the early summer of 1967, shortly after the cadre of the 101st Airborne Division's famed Recondo School returned to Fort Campbell from training cadets..." (more)
Key Phrases: recon zone, abandoned firebase, extraction ship, Teddy Bear, Captain Eklund, Camp Eagle (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
In the summer of 1967, the good old days were ending for the hard-core 1st Brigade LRRPs of the 101st Airborne Division, perhaps the finest maneuver element of its size in the history of the United States Army. It was a bitter pill. After working on their own in Vietnam for more than two years, the Brigade LRRPs were ordered to join forces with the division once again.

But even as these formidable hunters and killers were themselves swallowed up by the Screaming Eagles' Division LRPs to eventually become F Co., 58th Infantry, they continued the deadly, daring LRRP tradition. From saturation patrols along the Laotian border to near-suicide missions and compromised positions in the always dangerous A Shau valley, the F/58th unflinchingly faced death every day and became one of the most highly decorated companies in the history of the 101st.

From the Inside Flap
In the summer of 1967, the good old days were ending for the hard-core 1st Brigade LRRPs of the 101st Airborne Division, perhaps the finest maneuver element of its size in the history of the United States Army. It was a bitter pill. After working on their own in Vietnam for more than two years, the Brigade LRRPs were ordered to join forces with the division once again.

But even as these formidable hunters and killers were themselves swallowed up by the Screaming Eagles' Division LRPs to eventually become F Co., 58th Infantry, they continued the deadly, daring LRRP tradition. From saturation patrols along the Laotian border to near-suicide missions and compromised positions in the always dangerous A Shau valley, the F/58th unflinchingly faced death every day and became one of the most highly decorated companies in the history of the 101st.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Ivy Books (March 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804115648
• ISBN-13: 978-0804115643
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #116,200 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #67 in	Books > History > Asia > Southeast Asia
  #100 in	Books > History > Military > Vietnam War

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars You can fool some of the people some of the time, but..., April 5, 2002

By A Customer

I read this book and gave 1 star to Ken Miller for serving in Vietnam, but.... Anyone familiar with the "true history of Vietnam" knows that after the Tet 1968 Offensive that the NVA and VC were nearly destroyed. It took a full four to five years for the enemy forces to rebuild. The way Ken Miller and others write there were NVA behind every tree in the bush every time they went out. Phantom NVA troops for phony medals, maybe? I found this book to be a perfect demonstration with jarring clarity that ordinary individuals could be induced to act destructively even in the absence of physical coercion and human need not to innately evil or aberrant to act in ways that are reprehensible and inhumane. Take page 170 of this book. The new company commander (C.O.) takes charge and wants these men to get into military shape and get ready for patrolling. The new C.O. tells these men that they are (and I quote from the book); "He wasted no time letting the Lurps know that he considered them undisciplined, slovenly, unmanly, shirkers, and phonies." This is the very same picture I got from reading this book and their later actions speak for themselves when they planned, organized, and carried out the Toe-Popper incident and blew off Captain Shepard's foot. No statue of limitations of this act, Miller. The story really goes off into the twilight light zone on page 220. The national archive records report that a team found an empty base camp and some weapons - PERIOD. But, Ken Miller creates his deception of what he thought and wrote a 6-man team followed an NVA company on the trail, watch them eat, and then charge into the enemy killing 151 NVA soldiers!!! That's more than the unit had as its official body count (68 total) for the entire time it was in Vietnam, Miller!!! The lies, falsehoods start on page ten and this book is written more for the 14 and 16 year-old males who don't know any better. Shame on this book for it's stretching the bonds of the Ranger Creed and confusing loyalty with disrespect for authority over peer pressure to conform in order to avoid field duty. That could get you killed if you didn't have good leadership. They should have listened to Captain Shepard with his earlier illustrations of what he thought they were; and thus they remained leaderless and bound to failure. It would have been much better for this unit to continue to stay on Kitchen Police and guard duty as it did for the first six months it was in Vietnam.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I was a lurp/ranger with this company, March 2, 2001

By	Harold Nealey (Orlando, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

The chronology of events depicted within this book reveal a real life story that I as a member shared and remember as if it were only yesterday. The high lights as discussed in the book were the captain shepard stepping on the mine planted by someone in the company, the fight at the club which I was involved in and other lurps wanting to blow it up. The story about John Quick eating the frog was a reminder because I was the lurp who Quick had asked to fetch the frog and as the story tells killed him by early morning. The story of the two lurp teams toward the end of the book reveal an ending that I have wonder about for the last 34years because just week earlier I was on a mission with Riley Cox and Contreaus. I left Viet Nam 19 November and by the time I got to California the word was out that two lurp teams had met their demise and one team was lead by Contreaus.My nickname for Cox was mule because he was a big guy and he carried my claymore mines for me. We were young and patriotic and we wanted to serve our country. We-----------didn"t lose the war, the politicians lost it. Thank you and god bless.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Wish I Read It Sooner!, July 19, 2002

By	David Berkley (Dorchester, MA United States) - See all my reviews

It's too late now to recommend this book to my student who wanted to write his final term paper a few months ago about the view from inside the Vietnam War. He's written his paper already and graduated from high school, but had he read this book he would have known much more intimately what it was to "be there." Mr. Miller's captivating style would have sufficed to propell him page to page, but the bravery, the humor, and the soul unraveled in the stories themselves are what make the book great. The events and people Mr. Miller depicts would have haunted his memory for years to come (and probably would have helped to pump a bit more inspiration into his term paper).

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If your curiosity has taken you to this remote corner of Amazon.com, I urge you venture further, deeper into the Vietnam War by way of Kenn Miller's book and it's companion by Rey Martinez.