Lima-6

This book has been around. I first read it right when it was published but perhaps that was too soon for me to think I could remove my personal experiences from my critique of the work. Now, being old enough to realize that I will never go a week without being in Vietnam, I re-read it.I knew Dick Camp during the Vietnam War, although we never knew we were sometimes on the same ground or within the same D-Ring. The book portrays the life of a company commander in the battles along the DMZ. I was well into my second year in country, with Fox, then Echo Company, 2/1. Dick commanded Lima Company, Third Battalion, Twenty-sixth Marines from the summer of 1967 until Tet '68, when he met the rigorous selection standards of Major General Ray Davis (MOH) as the general's aide when he took command of the Third Marine Division and dramatically improved how Marines fought the war along the DMZ.Dick certainly relates a good deal of the terrific pace of violence, the incredible maelstrom of infantry combat "close-up and personal", and the dramatic increase in your senses and perceptions. He gets so much so very right as when, in the middle of overwhelming motion and noise, you suddenly focus on one Marine as he stands up and with calm deliberation fires into oncoming NVA soldiers, walking forward, using grenades, and oblivious to the hundreds of enemy bullets coming at him. It is like slow motion and incredible. Sometimes that Marine remains untouched: sometimes you hear the sound like a dull stick rammed into a pumpkin as a round goes through the Marine's head. And then you are tossed back into the mass of noise. Dick Camp takes you there again and again.The stories Dick tells are real. Things happen that would be booed out of the theater were Hollywood dare to write them into a script. For the men who fought it, the war had nothing to do with politics. We listened to the same music and we survived and most came home. But nobody came home the same. The author is dead honest, letting several dirty little secrets out. When he has men killed, he felt anger, sadness, but a little joy for still being alive. That combat is the ultimate "game" and Marines who were really good at it took pride in themselves and missed the war when they left it.If you are looking for an honest account by a guy who managed to portray himself, "warts and all", this book will give it to you. There is no yawning void of nihilism, none of the drama of massive civilian casualties, none of the pseudo intellectual crap the ran rampant through the '60's and '70's. Dick Camp's war was in areas with few or no human beings, other than American and Vietnamese warriors, in a country that was hauntingly beautiful. A good read.

I love the author's fiction (Echo Among Warriors and The Killing Ground) and wanted more. These novels are Vietnam based, so I downloaded the Kindle version of Lima-6 hoping that the Vietnam war setting would yield something similar. The similarity was there, only this isn't fiction. This is real and even more compelling.The author not only takes the reader to the I Corps battleground, but into his own thoughts, successes, mistakes and lessons learned as a rifle company commander in combat. It is as hard to put down as is his fiction, and unlike Marlentes' wonderful two fiction/non-fiction books on the Vietnam war, covers different ground than is in his novels about the war. The author's many other books, be they novels or non-fiction history, are about others. This book is about him and provides the reader with seldom attainable insight into the world of a combat leaderIt is a deeply personal piece of writing and generated in me, a USMCR rifle company platoon sergeant whose unit never was activated during the war, some serious questioning about whether we were adequately prepared for it and about how I would have handled the responsibility for that many lives. I wish I'd had it to read back then. It should be required reading for all infantry leaders, both commissioned and non-commissioned.You don't, however, have to have been in the military to appreciate this very human story. If you were infantry, though, one of those marvelous grunts, you will identify very strongly with this book and it will bring back memories.And it passed my personal library test. I will often buy the Kindle version of a book and, if it makes it into my five star category, I buy the hard copy to display on my book shelves. Lima-6 is now on those shelves.

I can think of no more challenging job in the world than that of being a U.S. Marine infantry company commander in combat. In "Lima 6" gifted author Dick Camp explains through his own harrowing experiences the incredibly difficult environment a company commander must operate in to destroy the enemy, while at the same time safeguarding the lives of his Marines.Captain Camp leads his company of young Marines in battle against heavily armed battalions of the North Vietnamese Army in the ultimate danger zone -- northern I-Corps. Camp becomes the skipper of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines, immediately after the former CO is killed in action. Camp demands discipline from his young Marines and soon earns their trust. His company joins frequent firefights that show Marines face as savage combat in Vietnam as was found in World War II. And later, while providing security at a huge base camp, Lima Company is subject to daily bouts of incoming accurate enemy artillery.Camp's excellent prose explains just how terrible the rigors of combat were, day in and day out, for the members of Lima Company. And we see the incredible heroism that his Marines exhibit.His book is a spot-on portrayal of the Vietnam War through the eyes of an infantry company commander. This excellent book is recommended for those who already are experts in military history, as well as those who are neophytes about the subject.Franklin Cox is the author of "Lullabies for Lieutenants."

As someone who survived my time in in Khe Sahn I am always looking to find out what the other survivors did during their time there. I was not surprised but excited to know what else happened. It was a very good book to read.

This well written account is the best I've read by a Marine commander in the jungles of Vietnam..Action packed, hard to put down. This fearless warrior is a Patriot and deserves our thanks for his unwavering brave service. A thoroughly enjoyable read,don't miss it.