Take Back the Night

"The main character in this book is a US army long range patrol platoon leader in Vietnam. Everything in the book is told from the perspective of the main character, including his assessments of the troops he’s serving with and their missions. Every man in his platoon has volunteered for their dangerous assignments behind enemy lines. The book is about how the lieutenant learns to be a better leader of his men, how he learns to maintain their morale, and how he deals with the politics of an enormous army bureaucracy while staying focused on his work.<br/><br/>I particularly enjoyed this book because during the 80’s I went through the exact same training in the Australian army for long range patrol and reconnaissance. This book brought back all the officer training in field craft and “man management”. It was vivid and realistic. At times the chapters felt like descriptions of training scenarios that made me stop to think “what would I do?”<br/><br/>However, I’m not saying it’s a dry army memoir. It’s an exciting novel. It’s got action and suspense. It’s also got all the moral and ethical issues faced by junior officers who hold their men’s lives in their hands every day.<br/><br/>The author gets it right because he served as a platoon leader and eventually retired from service as a Lieutenant Colonel. The book reads so well because in addition to active service that earned him two Silver Stars and four Bronze Stars he’s also taught taught fiction writing at the UCLA Writer's Program for fifteen years and been a successful screen writer and producer.<br/><br/>This is one of the best Vietnam stories I’ve ever read. It’s one of the best novels I’ve ever read about young men going to war. I’m going to read the whole series."