First Force Recon Company: Sunrise at Midnight

cracking read

Spot-on

Great book.

Very good. Well written amazing story. What is incredible is how any team leaders survived the tour. Like the references to divine assistance or intervention because it is hard to explain how successful they were and how they had so few people wounded or killed.

I was looking for a book with a firsthand accounting of Force Recon operations in Vietnam and this book by Bill Peters was perfect. It is well written and well detailed, at least for my needs. He does a good job of putting his operational experience in Vietnam in the context of the times: national political and diplomatic dynamics, student unrest specifically in California where he attended college, and personally--loss of adult role model while serving and death of best best friend. Although I was anxious to read about Force Recon operations, Bill Peters took enough time, but not too much ink, to remind the reader of the many emotional stresses of being deployed, fighting an out of favor war effort not particularly well supported and perhaps uncreatively fought, and to the extent possible the extreme risks taken by Force Recon patrols. Combat books can sometimes get mired in bravado, not this book, not this author. Quite frankly It is hard to believe we have men that would go in harms way day in, day out in pursuit of such a challenging mission; these were hugely risky patrols. Oddly, I read Harrison's fictionalized "Leaving Brogado" first and then this non-fiction book. Both are excellent books and are similarly organized. I recommend both..

I found this book interesting right from the first chapter about the strong objection to the Vietnam War by the very young and idealistic (mostly students) people in the US. Many were just looking for a cause to rally behind and this one got a lot of media attention. The rest of the book continued to follow the writer through initial Marine Corps training and then immediately into Vietnam as an 2nd Lieutenant in a reconnaissance unit. This was pretty heady stuff with a number of hazardous patrols and the wounding and death of some in his command, This gives the reader an in-depth view of what it was like to serve in a front line combat units. Well written and somewhat disturbing to see what our troops had to deal with during this protracted war. Politicians and top military leaders alike were not willing or capable to look more closely at the realities of this conflict and continued to make repeated bad decisions.

A very well written book. I almost puts you there with them

I have read this book twice. It is extremely intriguing and inspiring. Simply put, a revealing and accurate account of the turmoil in the states and fury of war in Vietnam. I love hearing the perspective of someone who actually volunteered to fight in Nam. Better yet, someone who was excited to go out and perform his duty with excellence and extreme courage behind enemy lines. My father in law, who served in Vietnam in the army, also read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was able to introduce my father in law to Dr. Bill Peters and he was able to really help my father in law work thru some of the incredibly tough emotions that he was still dealing with from his two tours in Nam. I have known Dr. Peters since 2009 and have seen first hand his character and heard many more accounts of his missions. Not only from himself but from others that were on his team as well. He remains close to a lot of his team from his time in Vietnam and they all still have a lot of love and respect for him. That should tell you all you need to know about the man and this amazing account of his time in Vietnam.