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Title: Chasing Understanding in the Jungles of Vietnam

Subtitle: My Year as a Black Scarf

Author: Douglas Beed

Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-31-17

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Author Doug Beed relates his memories of the men and missions during his year (1968-69) as a combat soldier with the First Infantry Division in Vietnam. After two years of college he couldn't afford to continue, so he was forced to relinquish his student deferment and enter the draft. He tried various strategies to get a non-combat job; nevertheless, he ended up in the infantry and was assigned to Vietnam.

The stories in this book depict the year Doug spent in Alpha Company, where he spent days on patrols finding and killing North Vietnamese soldiers along the hundreds of miles of trails heading for the Saigon. These stories range from funny to tragic, from uplifting to extremely frustrating, and from touching to horrifying. This book gives the listener a sense of life in the infantry in 1968 and 1969.

Members Reviews:

A very good read for someone wanting to know about everyday life ...

A very good read for someone wanting to know about everyday life of a "grunt" in Vietnam. My husband was in country about the same time as Douglas Beed and Joe Fair. He was in the 1/2, but he was Charlie Company. Keep up the good writing!

Honest look at a soldier's experience

Doug Beed's book is one of the best books I've read about Vietnam (and I've read quite a few). It's not a history of the country or the war, not a political treatise, not an attempt at explaining cultural differences. It is a very good - and honest - description of life as a "grunt" (infantryman) in the Army in Vietnam.

I have always wondered about the daily life of soldiers - in any war - and Beed gives details of patrols, "jobs" (radioman, etc.), what they had to carry in their packs, daily routines, etc. He was in some pretty terrible places - lost many friends - but always just sticks to the facts. It seems he never lost his sense of humor, and even though he had to deal with some issues after his return (and is still dealing with them), the book is not depressing.

What I appreciated most were his comments about and descriptions of the Army leadership - sort of explains why we lost that little war in the jungle.

I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn something about the life of a soldier in Vietnam.

A pretty decent account of life in III Corps

From the 11 series Rifleman, somewhat different than many of the books about being a VN War grunt. Most have focused on life in the north I and II corps where the topography and other conditions were quite different - including the danged French rubber plantations and the obscene 700$US per damaged tree. Good read, especially in treating anger issues with the right tone white there against REMFs and jerks,

My time over there.

The aria was about the places that I served. I was a lifer, but in the sense that the auther of the book. We all trained in Hawaii With the 25th Infantry Division and went into Combat as a well train unit. I see the problem he encounter by not bing train as a unit. Most of my men were draftees and had no problems being a lifer.

Good read

Thank you for sharing such trying times in your life. Very much appreciate the honesty and thank you for your service