Then A Soldier: A Jewish Odyssey

Then A Soldier is two stories and two histories that are intertwined. On one level it is a realistic understated un-romanticized description of close combat in Vietnam and a serious analysis of three firefights in which the author was engaged. On the second level it portrays the social historical and cultural pressures that led a Jewish boy from the Bronx of the early 1960s to become a career Army officer and when his country was at war to seek out a combat assignment. It is the story of a young man setting out to prove that Jews could be good soldiers as he simultaneously embarks on an uncommon assimilation strategy to enter the WASP establishment. Then A Soldier describes the growth of the author from a boy to a student to a ROTC cadet to a peace-time soldier and finally as a junior officer in combat in Vietnam. It is the story of a young man testing himself and finding a new dimension of his makeup. ReviewA fine honest account of close combat in Vietnam. This is a clearly-written tough-minded memoir of the grunts war the brutal exhausting and morally challenging long patrols and lightning-quick collisions with death at the muddy bloody bottom of the chain of command strategy and politics. Every veteran of the era as well as todays soldiers and civilian readers will find each moment spent with this book worthwhile. Ralph Peters Retired U.S. Army officer Fox News strategic analyst Author of Endless War