going off the beach: a Vietnam veteran looks back 50 years to love, war, and courage

Just two months after my 20th birthday, I was drafted into the US Army. Before my next birthday I arrived in the former Republic of South Vietnam; it was February 1969. I have been asked countless times over the last five decades: "What was Vietnam like?" For decades I could never give much of an answer. If one is to give an answer, one must first confront their past.

Going Off The Beach is the account of a conscripted, "boots on the ground" soldier and his experiences in the US Army during ...