Customer Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Companion Book - Different from Many "War" Books
Comment: -This book is very different from "We Were Soldiers Once... and Young" and in doing so is an excellent companion book to it. "We Were Soldiers Once..." is an amazing narrative on the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley and manages to fit a ton of details into a compelling narrative. This book is a refreshing follow-up to the story of the combatants and their lives after the Ia Drang Valley. It delves into the "enemy" leaders and information from the Vietnamese(Communist) point of view on the action and it features updates on the participants of both sides.
-More importantly though, it is the story of Vietnam after the War and it manages to convey the notion that after the US left Vietnam that there was still a long struggle to become an independent country free from other countries' control. It also pushed forward the notion, however unpopular, that despite the US being pushed out of Vietnam that the country was still able to rebuild itself into a vital and successful place.
-As someone who visited Vietnam in 2001, I was very impressed by the development of the country and its mix of capitalism and communism and by the resiliance of the people. Many Vietnam War books tend to focus on the impact of the war on the US and the perception that without the US that Vietnam really had no chance. This book shows that the country did survive and is prospering. This book is a vital companion piece in showing that there is/was more to Vietnam than just the battles.
Customer Rating:
Summary: We Still Are Soldiers
Comment: We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of VietnamA GREAT book and a necessary follow-up for those who have read the first book, "We Were Soldiers Once and Young." This book is easy reading and one that you won't want to put down once you start. I personally feel that it is very true and exact history because I know many of the player's.
Richard Tieken
Customer Rating: 
Summary: We are Soldiers still, and will always be
Comment: This journey back in time is not just a well written literary documentary. What struck me was the bond that developed between men who 40 years earlier had spent 3 days desperately trying to kill each other. I walked away with profound sadness and anger.
If it can be proven that men of like mind and ability can reach across the years in brotherhood, why couldn't we have found some way to achieve that condition forty years ago and saved 58,000 American lives and who knows how many Vietnamese? If we can live in peace and prosperity with Vietnam now and feature VISA and American Express floats in their parades now, why couldn't we have come to some accomodation before so many lives were destroyed?
This book affected me. It will affect you. Read it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Trick248
Comment: I am a Vietnam veteran who found the book to be painfully hard to read. One chapter per evening. It stirred sorrowful emotions and memories, but also had a healing effect. A MUST READ for vietnam veterans.
...Trick248 Vietnam '69 and 70.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Lesson in War and Remembrance
Comment: Only a person who has fought in a war,only a person who has led in the heat and storm of battle can truly appreciate and understand war. Only they can make the best case for or against it. In this followup to "We Were Soldiers Once...And Young," General Moore does just that: talk about the destructive waste of war in real terms and helps the reader, and hopefully the American Public, understand the folly of war.
There are just and necessary wars, but Vietnam and most likely Iraq are not among them. His comments to the cadets at West Point regarding Vietnam, Iraq, Secretaries McNamara and Rumsfeld are especially poignant. As he says, we are about to ask those young men and women to risk their lives and possibly give their lives to their country. The least we can do is be honest with them. Amen to that, and to this book.
This book proves that we as a nation should listen, stand up and take note when our former military officers speak out against wars. They know whereof they speak.
There are essays on leadership, war, a tribute to one of General Moore's men and to his wife, but the real heart of this book is his return to battlefield of Vietnam, his meeting and developing respect and friendship with the men who tried to kill him on this ground, just as he was tried to kill them. Good stuff. Moving stuff.
The most striking thing about this book is the revelation that virtually all signs of the American presence in Vietnam are gone, erased from the face of the earth. It's as if we had never been there. Vietnam has moved on, its people accustomed to the comings and goings of war, while we Americans are still wrestling with and battling with our memories and scarred psyches of that war.
"Oh, how I love the smell of napalm in the morning" is a movie line and only a movie line. This book is the real stuff. It's not pretty and its tragic, but in the end it's heartwarming and hopeful---if and only if our leaders and the American people take notice.
Pray to God that they (we) do.
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