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Fred Reed

Au Phuc Dup and Nowhere to Go: The Only Really True Book About Viet Nam Paperback – April 27, 2009

by Fred Reed (Author)

42 ratings

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Fred Reed enlisted in the Marines in 1966 and went to Viet Nam as an Amtrac crewman in what he calls a "barbecue battalion." (First Amphibian Tractor Battalion, Third Marine Divions, Danang.) He describes an Amtrac as "a 37-ton barely armored death box with the gasoline tank in the bottom, so land mines could blow it up and barbecue the crew. Great mine detector. I think it was a design feature." So he knows about Viet Nam and the Marines.Having gotten a faceful of shrapnel and a Purple Heart ("A Viet Cong shooting medal. Why did they give it to me?") he spent a year on the eye ward at Bethesda Naval Hospital, became a reporter ("the moral equivalent of a used-car salesman") and covered the military for thirty years. From this he learned many things of note to a former country boy. ("When you have done a cat-shot off the deck of an aircraft carrier, you gain a whole new perspective on drag racing.") Over the years he acquired an intimate familiarity with all levels of the military. ("An asylum with guns. How much sense does that make?")"The military," he says, "is a mix of absurdity and, among officers, cultivated mental retardation, punctuated by interludes of ghastly barbarity. The only way to bear up under the barbarity without strangling someone is to focus on the ludicrousness, of which there is an abundance. So I did."Au Phuc Dup and Nowhere to Go has been described by Fred's friends as "the most accurate and least factual book ever written about Viet Nam, and one of the funniest." Since his friends include former door-gunners, three-tour Special Forces guys, tunnel rats, and Phantom drivers, they probably know what they are talking about.Fred now lives in Mexico, on the north shore of Lake Chapala, an hour south of Guadalajara. He has a glorious Mexican wife and superb teenage stepdaughter (ask him) who somehow put up with him. ("High-octane models, large IQs, very Latin, slightly nuts.") His two gringa daughters, Emily and Macon, ar

Print length

124 pages
Language

English
Publisher

iUniverse
Publication date

April 27, 2009
Dimensions

6 x 0.31 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

144013720X
ISBN-13

978-1440137204
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ iUniverse (April 27, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 124 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 144013720X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1440137204
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.31 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,772,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #21,029 in Humorous Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
42 ratings

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5 star		30%
4 star		14%
3 star		18%
2 star		16%
1 star		22%

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Bob Lawrence

Good Fred, Bad Publisher

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2017

Verified Purchase

The printed version was totally Phuc'd, as noted by others. I purchased this when it came out and tried to read it, but it was the most seriously mangled print-on-demand book I've ever read. I really like Fred Reed, and have several of his books, all fine. Today I ordered the Kindle version which I hear is actually readable. I strongly recommend his other essays. This review is *only* regarding the terrible job of the publisher. Fred is well worth reading.

One person found this helpful

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hantayo

An excellent satire of the military's insanity in Vietnam

Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2014

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Regardless of the editing, I think Fred has truly captured the military intelligence??? "mindset" that kept this illegal, immoral, and insane war in Vietnam going for 10 years+. I have come to believe this is true for all our wars. Especially the current ones in the middle-east. Anyone who served in Vietnam, or was ever in the military, and everyone who has their eyes open, can relate to this hilarious satire.

6 people found this helpful

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Donald porter

fabulous critique of US MILITARY.

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2016

Verified Purchase

reed is so surprising, i would read anything he writes, even if it was a laindry list. this book is as good as CATCH- 22. WONDERFUL CONCEPT, AND a thoughtful mirror to the military mind . not to be missed.

2 people found this helpful

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Richard Martin

Great book, lousy publisher

Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2009

Verified Purchase

This is a terrific book, the Catch-22 of the Vietnam War. It's fiction but it rings very true. (I was a sergeant in the US Army during the time of the Vietnam War).

That said, iUniverse, the publisher, did a truly poor job of putting the book together. There are chapters that are repeated word-for-word under different chapter headings (bad pointers to text blocks in the database?) , and chapters that are repeated almost word-for-word (multiple versions?). I think that iUniverse is one of those print-on-demand publishers. Being an old software and database developer myself, I think that iUniverse needs to work on its data control.

25 people found this helpful

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Emmet

Great writing meets horrible editing

Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2013

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Fred Reed is a terrific writer and a lot of this book is both insightful and hilarious, particularly for anyone who saw the Vietnam war from in-country, not just from the comfy shores of "The World." On that it should get five stars.
Then we get to all the typos, which make you think nobody paid much attention to proofing galleys. But you shrug it off.
Only to find an entire chapter that is repeated a chapter or two later - same words, different chapter title. And you suspect there are other glitches, too, for the stories seem out of sequence.
Not Reed's fault - unless he was his own editor. But somebody shoulda proofed this thing; no excuse for this kind of sloppiness.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

A total parody of the Vietnam War - if it weren't so tragic, it would be hilarious.

Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2019

Verified Purchase

Not one of Fred Reed's better writings. Poor editing - there is one complete chapter that is repeated. It makes perfect sense to those who were there, but to anyone else, it makes no sense at all....probably much like the war itself. Maybe that was Fred's intentions when he wrote this.

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Feed must have been drinking the wrong stuff...

Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2017

Verified Purchase

Sorry. I usually enjoy Fred's rantings, but this book....

Is/Was the military in VN REALLY this screwed up? I could agree it might have been in Washington. But...?

The book became unfunny before the halfway point.

One person found this helpful

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Michael David Newton

Not as good as the articles

Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2021

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Fred Reed's short articles are great. The book is not so great.

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