Company Commander, VietnamThe young captain saw war as man's ultimate competitive sport. It was this realization that brought James Estep back to Vietnam for a third tour - this time as a company commander in the famed 1st Cavalry Division. Call-sign "Comanche Six, " he commanded an airmobile rifle company. They were pawns in this game of war: picked up by helicopters and dropped off at an LZ in the heart of "Indian country, " with orders to launch search-and-destroy missions by day, and "trick or treat" patrols at night - to find the elusive "Charlie" and kill him. Vietnam has been called the "company commander's war" - these were the young officers who ran the war on a day-to-day basis, making life and death decisions in the jungles, rice paddies, and villages. Estep quickly learned what it meant to be a leader of men: to comfort an 18-year-old who had killed for the first time; to give confidence to an intimidated platoon leader; to revitalize the morale of a "hard-luck" company; to gain the trust of his crusty first sergeant; and, most of all, to confront and conquer his own fears. Company Commander - Vietnam will stand as one of the fine memoirs of Vietnam; it is an honest and compelling story of American infantrymen caught up in a war that could not be won. But more than one man's story, it is a revealing look at "the way of war" - how young boys become fighters and leaders, what they give, what they gain - and lose - in the end. |
Contents
Prologue | 1 |
An Khe Vietnam | 10 |
Happy Valley to Binh Loc 4 | 53 |
Copyright | |
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ambush Arizona Three Army artillery ARVN asked atop battalion Binh Dinh Binh Dinh Province Blair Blue Max boonies bout Bull bunker Camp Evans Camp Radcliff Captain Charlie Company Charlie's claymore Colonel Lich Comanche Six command company's Corps couple course damn Danang dead defensive Dubray enemy fire fucking goddamn gotta handset helicopter hell Huey inbound infantry jungle kill Kit Carson klicks later log bird looked Major Byson mean meters minutes morning mountain moving Nha Trang night nodded North Vietnam Norwalk Nungs Okay paddy paused perimeter platoon platoon leaders Qui Nhon radio replied Roger round Saigon Sergeant Sullivan shit Six's Slim smiling snuffie soldiers squad suddenly talking tell Tet offensive thing Three Six tonight trail troops turned valley Viet Cong Vietnam Vietnamese village weapons Whoom Willie wounded Yeah