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Rating: 
Summary: Justice in the Field
Review: "Son Thang" is both an important work of legal scholarship and a compelling, well-written story. Col. Solis documents, step by step, exactly how the Marine Corps treated its own suspected of war crimes in Vietnam-they were quickly tried, and if convicted, imprisoned. There were no coverups and no excuses. Marines accused of killing non-combatants were swiftly brought to book and the chips allowed to fall where they may. Here, it appears that several of the Marine Corps prosecutors were out-lawyered by civilian attorneys. That doesn't matter; a trial is, after all, a contest. What matters is that the Marine Corps had-and has always had and will always have-the will to try those accused of atrocities.
Rating:
Summary: Justice in the Field
Review: "Son Thang" is both an important work of legal scholarship and a compelling, well-written story. Col. Solis documents, step by step, exactly how the Marine Corps treated its own suspected of war crimes in Vietnam-they were quickly tried, and if convicted, imprisoned. There were no coverups and no excuses. Marines accused of killing non-combatants were swiftly brought to book and the chips allowed to fall where they may. Here, it appears that several of the Marine Corps prosecutors were out-lawyered by civilian attorneys. That doesn't matter; a trial is, after all, a contest. What matters is that the Marine Corps had-and has always had and will always have-the will to try those accused of atrocities.
Rating:
Summary: rayjoy@iap.net
Review: A very interesting book.The author was not afraid to put the blame where it belonged. I wonder how many more such incidents happened in the time we were in Nam.As a Nam vet I know to well what it was like to be in a situation where you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. Hind sight is always 20 - 20,but sometimes our boys were put in a situation like that and were killed if they didn't take the nescesary steps. I am not condoning any senseless killing, but when it is kill or be killed you do what you have to do.
Rating:
Summary: rayjoy@iap.net
Review: A very interesting book.The author was not afraid to put the blame where it belonged. I wonder how many more such incidents happened in the time we were in Nam.As a Nam vet I know to well what it was like to be in a situation where you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. Hind sight is always 20 - 20,but sometimes our boys were put in a situation like that and were killed if they didn't take the nescesary steps. I am not condoning any senseless killing, but when it is kill or be killed you do what you have to do.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for any student of history.
Review: An exceptonally well written and researched account of a shameful chapter of the Vietnam war. It is a fast-paced and gripping read, even when covering points of military and international law that are obscure to the layman. Gary Solis does a masterful job, perhaps as only a combat veteran can, of setting forth the moral choices that sometimes face men during war, and the conflicting ethical forces effecting those who had to deal with this horrible tragedy. Ultimately, I came away depressed because so many involved in the Son Thang incident and its aftermath made morally wrong decisions and choices when the correct courses of action appeared clear from the outset.
Rating:
Summary: [A Review]
Review: I Just got through reading the book for the second time,and it
was just as good to me the second time as the first.
I will never understand the disparagey in the verdicts.To me the one that was most guilty got off scott free, while the least
guilyy got the worst punishment.That militarry justicefor you though.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping war story/provocative lesson in war crimes trial
Review: Smaller wars, bigger war crimes seems an apt description of the New World Order. Brutal atrocities by members of armed forces of questionable pedigree and dubious professionalism have been the stuff of numerous front page stories since the deconstruction of the Soviet empire. The apparent intransigence or inability of particular governments to punish genocidal rapes and murders, reprisals, and pillaging have prompted collective reaction in the call for establishment of an international court for the trial of war crimes. To the consternation of our friends and the comfort of our enemies, the military establishment of the United States has opposed such a tribunal, asserting ,on the one hand, that our domestic military law affords sufficient deterrence for U.S. forces, while, insisting on the other that an international court offers too great a risk of railroading innocent Ameican soldiers, sailors, and aviators. For the contemporary study of these issues, Gary Solis offers an excellent historical lesson in Son Thang: An American War Crime. He recounts the story of the killing of several women and children during one night operation by a small band of U.S. Marines in Viet Nam, not long after the more notorious massacre of non-combatants by Americans at My Lai. Within earshot of their commanders, the Marines pulled women and children from their homes, gunned them down, and then tried to cover it up. From the story of the atrocity, he unfolds the story of its exposure by other, relentless Marines, and then the story of its legal accounting, in a series of courts martial right there in the field. When Solis has finished his report, he leaves readers to judge the effectiveness of the American process of military criminal justice for the prosecution of war crimes. For a former Marine with combat experience himself, Solis the story-teller excels in making the context intelligible for the rest of us. He seems to know just what needs explaining, from the art of night patrolling to the atmosphere of the ramshackle huts in which court was held so close to the continued fighting. He tells a gripping and tragic story clearly. Having heard it, we are the better to judge whether even as distinguished and professional a fighting force as the U.S. Marines can be left to police its own. Son Thang: An American War Crime is not only a fine read, it is an excellent lesson.
Rating:
Summary: Superb account of a horrific incident.
Review: The reviews of Gary Solis's SON THANG are entirely accurate: the book is a masterpiece of historical research and sharp, incisive, nuanced writing. A gripping and depressing read, the book examines not only the singular horror of the Son Thang massacre (and in that it is a refreshing alternative to the incident as presented in Oliver North's white-washed memoirs, and Randy Herrod's self-serving BLUE'S BASTARDS), but also the decline in morale and professional standards during the waning days of the Vietnam War. That this decay almost overwhelmed the draftee-filled U.S. Army is an accepted fact. That an institution as proud as the Marine Corps (an institution which had upheld its highest traditions at places like Con Thien, Hue, Khe Sanh, and Dai Do from 1965-68) was also dry-rotting during the 1969-70 period is not as well known. Though a proud Marine veteran himself, the author is willing to look such ugly truths square in the eye, and SONG THANG is all the better for it. The Foreword by BrigGen E.H. Simmons, USMC (Ret), is also fascinating.
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