Jungle Combat

Jungle Combat Book Description

Many autobiographical books have been written about the Vietnam experience, most of them years after the fact based upon imperfect memory. By contrast, the contents of this book reflect immediate reactions to the grim reality Col. John "Ace" Astle U.S.M.C.R. (Ret.) encountered in Vietnam at the time on a daily basis.It's all here, from the drama of facing danger in combat, to the frustration of dealing with the military bureaucracy, to the excesses of exhausted Marines in drunken revelry. What follows is a chronological transcript of those tapes edited only for coherence, and not to protect the readers' sensibilities. It reflects John's extreme swings of mood-from fear and anxiety to grief and exhaustion to relief and exhilaration. The events described are sometimes barbarous, sometimes ridiculous and sometimes sublime, but they are always real. In the theater of war, life gushes forward at a heightened pace. But amid the cacophony and confusion, the discerning reader will hear the earnest sounds of a young man emerging into manhood. Be forewarned the language is sometimes raw and cruel, for which John makes no apology. It is the honest language of who these men were then, an audible snapshot of that hardest of times.