A textured semi-autobiographical look at Vietnam day-by-day with one foot in the summer of love and the other in a jungle combat boot.
Brewer's story describes the path of a young man from a Northeastern high school to combat with an elite airborne brigade in Vietnam. There are quite a few books on Vietnam, so it takes some effort to make one stand out. Brewer has succeeded because he answers a very good question with considerable descriptive talent. It's quite clear that Brewer is just about there as a wartime novelist.
This is some of the most vividly descriptive word use I have yet seen, avoiding overstatement and creating instead texture: the environment, the weather, the noise, the fear, the mess, the dope smoke. I'm not normally patient with typos, and to keep me reading in spite of them, the underlying tale has to be a very good one with much to say for it.
Have you ever wondered why the Vietnam vets "can't just let it go and move on?" I'm pretty sure Brewer has fielded it quite a few times, and eventually got sick of it and decided to answer it in novel form.
Remember how Depression-era parents and grandparents, to the end of their days, played economics close to the vest no matter how greatly they prospered? What the author conveys is this: some experiences, and for many Vietnam was one such, impact one so much that they don't and won't just go away. They create fundamental shifts in mentality that will last one's lifetime, including some aspects that are very difficult to manage.
I won't spoil them for you, but if you ever wanted to know why Uncle Bill defines himself as a Vietnam veteran above other descriptors, to this day forty years hence, Brewer can answer that question for you. Highly recommended
Vernon E, Brewer II is a multiple Purple Heart recipient who was medevacked from Vietnam in 1969. He spent seven months in Fort Devin's Army Hospital recovering from a booby trap wound to his left thigh. In 1981, his first draft of this book won the State University of New York's Writers' Forum Scholarship and was accepted for publication by the first publisher to which he submitted the book, selling out two printings with little advertising except word of mouth. His poetry has been published by Old Dominion, and the intro to his web page was featured by AOL on its news site after Brewer allowed a fellow Vietnam Vet to use it on another web page. In 1981 Brewer, an avid skydiver and motorcyclist, skydived the Lower 48 states to bring media attention to the dangers of Agent Orange. The Stars and Stripes invited him to write his story, with a lead on the front page and 5,000 words taking up the entire centerfold. Brewer recently traveled 14,000 miles visiting the graves of all those paratroopers who served with him and were killed in action during his tour with Alpha Company, 4th Battalion, 173d Airborne Brigade. Brewer donated 100% of all his royalties from this book's first printing to The National Veterans Foundation, and gave a portion of the proceeds from the second printing to the Sky Soldiers' Memorial in Fort Benning, Georgia. 50% of Brewer's royalties from this E book release will also go to the Sky Soldiers' Memorial. Brewer currently resides in an A-frame tucked way back into the Finger Lakes National Forest in upstate New York.
