Monk’s War: An 18 Year Old Marine’s Story from the Rice Paddies

Book excerpt: In the last few years, Vietnam Veterans, including myself, have experienced a phenomenon that is hard to explain. People are interested in the Vietnam War! I think the audience for Vietnam War stories is a diverse one. From young people with a thirst for knowledge about what their fathers and grandfathers went through in the only war that America has lost (so far history hasn't made its final judgment on Iraq and Afghanistan) to the baby boomers who fought in Vietnam. Even those boomers who demonstrated actively against the war and resisted being part of it are suddenly interested. This book provides those interested with what they crave: more true stories of what it was like to live the life of a Marine ground pounder in Vietnam. It's like a good adventure novel, when your own "theater of the mind" puts you in the shoes of the main character.