When I Turned Nineteen: A Vietnam War Memoir Paperback – December 2, 2016

Very nice and informative book . Enjoyed the details of the grind these soldiers endured.Thank you for your service.

This is a very good book about a young man who served in Vietnam. He goes into detail about his year spent in there. He paints a very good picture about his experiences and some of it is very sobering.

I could be partial, so keep that in mind. I also was 11B from Jan 15, 1969-October 17, 1970. Twice I had orders for Vietnam and twice fate worked it's magic and I was never sent overseas. I bought this book because it covers the year pretty much when I would have been in country. MOS: 11b is a rifleman, the guys that go into the jungle or rice patties looking for a fight with the NVA or VC. This author descibes what it was like. It's the first time a book scared me and I thanked the heavens that I did not have to go to Vietnam. By now there are hundresd of books about serveing in Vietnam. "When I Turned Nineteen: A Vietnam War Memoir". is a grand look inside the grunts year of service in country. It is not blown out or proportion. It's written without a bit of "bravery" from the author but more a bit by bit telling of his story and his comrad's story. I have read some critiques that it was not well written meaning sentence structure, etc. But it is well written and gave me the chills. You will not put this book down. One flaw from a personnal perspective was that many of this squad were paratroopers. That accounts for a sentence or two in passing. I served with the 82nd Airbornes division and jumped more than a few times. These guys are extremely proud of their service as I am. Last note, I was born in 1949. At the end of the book is a description of each man mentioned in the book and almost all were born in 1948 or 1949. That's when tears flowed down my cheeks knowing on which date each man got WIA or KIA. They could have all been in my Jump School class. I loved this book!

My husband is a veteran and he could not put it down. He said it was spot on!!!

Lotta 19 year olds ended up over there and this is one of them

Great product fast shipping AAAAA loved it

I so appreciate the transparency and honesty from Glyn as he journeyed from innocence to a man, in fighting a war, where we were never meant to win, could not cross a line, the lies by the government and that continues today, with few getting rich off of wars, and mostly those in the United States. I value his wisdom, saying in effect, "enough is enough," and got placed behind the lines, in his latter days of active duty. His devotion and sincere care of his fellow comrades at arms, was there then in this terrible war, but also, continued, as he sojourned in life.

The book isn't a history lesson. It is a glimse at life for an Infantry Soldier in Viet Nam and is written by the person who lived the expereince. Glyn takes the time to explain details that allows the reader to feel what he was feeling in a war, in Viet Nam. Amazing detail kept me so interested that I couldn't put it down. My respect goes out to the Veterans who fought in the jungles of Viet Nam. They experienced things that most people can't even imagine. And, they did it as mostly 19 & 20 year olds -- an age that should warrant new jobs, college, first cars, not the harsh reality of war in Viet Nam!

At 19 I was a freshman at a cosy university. Glyn Haynie was “walking point”, humping across the paddy fields, hills, and jungles of Vietnam. Looking out for trip wires and punji traps, dodging ambushes and laying ambushes. Caught up in savage fire fights, seeing his comrades mangled and dying all around him. And hoping that he’d live to see 20.Other accounts of the Vietnam War may be more intellectual, more poetic, and the prose more polished. This is the unvarnished voice of the common foot soldier. The “Grunt”. And it is more compelling for it. Other books about the War read like older and wiser men looking back. Haynie’s voice is that of a 19-year-old. It’s in the moment; it reads like letters he might have written home (although there are surely things that he would have never told his parents about). Including some unedited letters sent home by his buddies is a masterstroke. You learn about the simple but all-important – and so poignant – things in a soldier’s life. Like a steady supply of Kool-Aid sent from home. The book subscribes so powerfully to the old adage that war is long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. Surviving on the kind of black humour that only a soldier can appreciate (how many of us can claim to have had leeches on their testicles?).The author also includes unflinching accounts by his wounded pals of their evacuation from the battlefield and subsequent treatment in military hospitals. There can be few moments so profoundly moving as one soldier’s joy and excitement when the tubes are removed, and he is able to urinate again unaided for the first time and regain his dignity.The text is augmented by fifty-plus images that put faces to the names. Those young faces. Some who never lived to grow old.The book is especially interesting as it is set in 1969-70. Other classic memoirs of the War are set years earlier, when those arriving in Vietnam still had high ideals to lose. By 1969, U.S. soldiers in Vietnam had few illusions left. President Nixon was talking about “Peace with honour”, there was talk of troop withdrawals and many a soldier’s thoughts were no longer about victory but survival. And yet they still had to fight.I’m struck down with awe when I read this book. And contrition. While I hold to my conviction that it was the wrong war, I no longer believe that it was fought by a gang of drug-crazed psychotics. But young men like I was: “Average American sons, fathers, husbands, or brothers”. What would I have done?

Thank you for writing this book and for sharing with us the memories of the members of the platoon and yourself. It felt like I was transported back in time and walking alongside the platoon and witnessing the events. It is almost possible to feel the heat, the wet monsoon, and the intensity of the emotions through the words in the book. Great read!

I enjoyed this book, couldn't put it down like most books, I read, that are written about combat during the Vietnam war. I was at school during these events and certainly got caught up in the anti war movement. I have always had an interest in what actually happened to the individual foot soldiers who took part. I cant believe that a country like America expecting success would commit to war young men and then foolishly realise after the war had raged on for a number of years, they didnt have enough resources on the ground in manpower to achieve their objectives. This was due to the losses sustained in personnel plus terrible planning and the determination of the enemy. That's just my thinking in hindsight. This is a terrible tragedy for the guys that served in Vietnam who believed in the aims of the war, that is to preserve democracy and stop communism. It was a disaster.

This book is enriched with verbatim letters from the authors' brothers in arms as well as many photos and accounts of more recent gatherings. The effort to remember is admireable.

Good story