The Only War We Had cover art

The Only War We Had

A Platoon Leader's Journal of Vietnam

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The Only War We Had

By: Col. Michael Lee Lanning Lt. Col. - Ret
Narrated by: Alexander MacDonald
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About this listen

In my year in Vietnam, I walked the booby-trapped rice paddies of the Delta, searching for the elusive Viet Cong, and later macheted my way through the triple-canopy jungle, fighting the North Vietnamese Regulars…I sweated, thirsted, hunted, killed. Somewhere in all my experiences, I overlapped the situations of nearly every infantryman and many others who served.

Michael Lee Lanning's journal of his first tour of duty in Vietnam provides an unvarnished daily account of life in the field. The blood, fear, camaraderie, and tedium of combat and maneuver. Fleshed out with narrative and detail years later, the pages of this memorable book, first published in 1987, show an eager young recruit growing before the reader's eyes into a proud but bloodied combat veteran.

Subsequent volumes in his Vietnam Trilogy will detail Lanning's tour as a company commander and his post-war investigation into the mind of the enemy. Through his eyes, readers see the reality of a war that did not always receive glory but was, in his words, "the only war we had."

©1987 Michael Lee Lanning (P)2013 Redwood Audiobooks Military Vietnam War

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Insightful snapshot of young leadership

Enjoyable story from a leaders point of view. Quaint at times capturing the human experience from a young leaders point of view. With a point of view that highlights the way time changes acceptable language and attitudes I found it insightful and enjoyable.
The narrator struggles in the beginning but warms up as the story progresses.

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