Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Stolen Valor : How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History

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One person found this helpful

I purchased this book several years ago and enjoyed reading it

ByRoyon July 7, 2015

I purchased this book several years ago and enjoyed reading it. Burkett did a great job of gathering the informantion. He correctly states that after the show 'Rambo' everyone became a Special Forces soldier, even, and especially those who didn't serve. That was Vietnam, today, everyone is a SEAL or a Sniper, or both. I have a great respect for both, but only the real ones. I purchased the book for someone else who may actually believe that everyone at the golf course bar is a spec ops. I am sure some of the seals he may have met may have been seals, but only at Sea World, dressed as a seal, passing out directions to the restrooms. This is book is a eye opener.

Top critical review

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One person found this helpful

Excellent description of the trees, but misses the forest

ByKen godwinon August 27, 2015

The book documented the abuses of individuals, the media, and the VA in the handling of Vietnam Vets, particularly of those who claimed to have been in combat. The authors used the Freedom of Information Act to show the bias in many news accounts of returning vets, the bias in blockbuster movies, and the failure of the VA to check the stories of all the soldiers who claimed PTSD but were not in Vietnam or were not in combat roles. All of this was excellent. What the author did not include were the results from a large number of academic studies of Vietnam Vets with statistical comparisons of vets from other wars, soldiers who served during the same period but were not in Vietnam, and soldiers in Vietnam that saw combat and those who were in Vietnam but did not see combat. Had the authors included those studies, they could have shown us the forest as well as the individual trees. We would have seen the Vietnam veterans were no more likely to come back "damaged by war" than soldiers of other periods and that, on average, Vietnam vets have been more successful than persons of similar backgrounds and educations who did not serve.

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Showing 1-2 of 2 reviews(1 star, Verified Purchases). See all 307 reviews

Much of the Agent Orange and P.T.S.D. information in the book is plain nonsense

Bynonameon May 6, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Stolen Valor drifts into so many categories of military law, military justice, false records of " heroes" during the War, those who did not even serve in combat, but worse, Mr. Burkett has decided he knows a great deal about Agent Orange and P.T.S.D.; in fact, he comes off as a medical researcher, doctor, scientist, epigenetic researcher; but what angers me, is that intelligent, hard working, and thoughtful scientific researchers such as Dr.'s Jeanne Stellman and her husband, who have worked in Vietnam studying the amounts, toxicity ,and the effects of the various forms of Agent Orange on both U.S. soldiers and Vietnamese, those who were exposed to Ranch Hand in heavily concentrated spray areas are ignored, and promulgated as a " myth".....Burkett is no doctor, no genetic specialist, and obviously has not done his homework on the science of A.O., nor how it was made, he has not studied the independent reports of Dr. Stellman,the medical and scientific reports of the S. Korean Government, Australia Government, New Zealand Government, and Okinawa Government; his medical evaluation of P.T.S.D. is so bad, that he believes he has figured out the universal synaptic neuron transmissions in the human brain. P.T.S.D. impacts not only combat soldiers, but civilians in very severe accidents ,i.e., plane crashes. I have been back to Vietnam,( I served with the 25th Infantry Division), and 40 years later, there is nothing is growing in farming areas that was sprayed with A.O.; worse, third generation of Vietnamese are still born with horrible defects, epigenetics is not one of Mr. Burkett's strongest points. He drifts from valid points about " Stolen Valor" into areas of incomprehensible interpretation of " his " scientific and medical interpretations of P.T.S.D. and Agent Orange"....his evaluations, opinions, are to be considered a farce, and only lead to U.S. Government Agencies, such as our" Soylent Green" Veterans Administration to penalize Vietnam Veterans on falsehoods promoted by Mr. Burkett. The current news speaks for itself, with regard to the administration of the V.A. and V.H.A.; Mr. Shinseki and his minions are being asked to step down from their positions of power, thus it would not surprise me that books such as " Stolen Valor" contribute and assist the cause of the V.A. into treating Vietnam Veterans, Iraq Veterans, and Afghanistan veterans, with disdain about their supposed injuries, diseases, conditions, created in our new technological war that includes ionizing radiation, biological warfare, and chemical warfare. Sadly, this book does much harm to veterans with Mr. Burkett's chapters on what he thinks he knows of Agent Orange, P.T.S.D., depleted uranium rounds and the effects of war within the human character.