US History

  (out of 5 stars)

Colonel Hackworth's memoir Steel My Soldiers' Hearts records his experiences in Vietnam with the US Army 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry. Hackworth, a staunch disciplinarian who believes strongly in maintaining order even under the worst of conditions, describes how he arrived at the battalion when the unit was suffering low morale, poor preparedness, and dangerous security, and then transformed the men into a first-rate combat team.

Hackworth's style makes for engaging and easy reading, and I love that he is not afraid to question the rigid Army system he was expected to enforce. At first, the men hate Hackworth, who shows up like any other disliked battalion CO: instituting rigid discipline and training; eliminating the comforts (such as hot food); enforcing rules which the previous CO had been lax to enforce. At one point, a bounty was even placed on Hackworth's head by his own men.

However, Hackworth was not an officer who lead from the rear. At one point early on, the Colonel flew into a hot and dangerous combat zone to help evacuate men wounded in battle. He routinely put his own life at risk in order to protect his men, and pretty soon, the soldiers understood that their new CO was something special. The bounty on his head would quickly disappear.

Hackworth's descriptions of battle are also fantastic. You get the usual battalion-level strategy and tactics, but you also get Hackworth's first-hand observations as he was often under fire with his men. The accounts of his soldiers are also included, and the narrative of each key battle unfolds with excellent vividness and anguish.

One of many excellent books on Vietnam, Hackworth delivered a fascinating and troubling look at how the war should have been fought and, often, was not as a result of higher-level military politics and posturing. Never shying away from the awful and gruesome details, this narrative is well recommended for any military reader. Four and one-half stars.