Col. Hackworth in town

[MORTARDUDE]

Col. Hackworth was in town last week at two book stores for signing of his new book "Steel My Soldier's Heart". It happened so I had an appointment at the Vet Center and he was going to be just down the street at a very small book store shortly there after. He showed up about 40 minutes early and he and I were mostly alone and talked. I found him to be very personable and friendly and interested in my service and some clippings I had taken to the Vet Center. He then gave a half hour talk and signed books. I know some people on this forum have a different opinion about him than I do. Our Lt. Col. types were always flying around in LOHs directing traffic or hiding out in a command track. I only saw one of them on the ground once, when he walked up behind me at New Year's and told me to stop shooting flares off to celebrate.




The following review from www.amazon.com. from the Battalion Surgeon mentioned many times in the book says it all :


Reviewer: byron e.holley,md from brandon, florida United States
I feel very qualified to review this book as I lived quite a bit of it serving as Col.Hackworth's Battalion Surgeon in Vietnam.Most of the battles occurred on my watch and I was involved in trying to save the casualties,friendly and enemy. Fortunately, under Hack's leadership our KIA's and WIA's plummeted to record low numbers and many of my infantry brothers feel, as I do, that we are alive today because of his shrewd understanding of the battlefield and how to approach it in a SMART way. Our previous CO clearly lacked the experience and knack for getting it done without lots of unnecessary casualties. Hack's prior tours in Korea and Vietnam were all building blocks which he stacked up in a very creative way to out-G the G (Guerilla). Being aware of lots of details about our combat operations, I was quite amazed at the amount of information Hack and Eilhys gathered over the past 4 years. I am now able to hear directly from the chopper pilots who flew us in and out of battle and to hear straight from the grunts like Tom Aiken who saw his life flash in front of him when he almost tripped a wired booby trap. This classic book, much in the way Hal Moore's We Were Soldiers Once did, looks deep into the memory banks of those of us who were there.What emerges is a captivating book which I believe will be a handbook for all future military operations fought on the ground. It is my privilege to have served under such a brilliant military leader and under a man who loved his men and his country in such a passionate manner. Pick it up and you won't be able to put it down. Byron E.Holley, MD, Battalion Surgeon, 4/39th Infantry Battalion, 9th Infantry Division, USARV

[phuloi]

Wish I could have been there.I hold Hack in the utmost esteem.

[Gimpy]

reading his new book, "Steel My Soldiers' Hearts". Absolutely the BEST accounting of what combat in the Mekong Delta was all about. Like I've said before, I don't particularly agree with a lot of what "Hack" has to say about a lot of subjects. But, I'll NEVER deny the fact he IS one of the BEST battle field CO's this country EVER had. He did an OUTSTANDING job with this book.

The movie rights to the book have been bought and the movie is in the planning stages.

[Packo]

Maybe you could get in the movie as the grizzled ol' SgtMaj. All good war epics must have one......you'd be perfect and you still got the web feet which will come in handy if they film it in a wet area!

Riverborne!

Packo

[Gimpy]

Now that's an idea! S'pose I could "try out" fer tha part anywho, ya know?

Hacks gonna be in town on July 22 fer a "book signing" and speech here in Tampa. I'm planning on goin ta see that rascal and I'll jest axe him fer that part.