Rating: 
Summary: Another History lesson
Review: "Steel My Soldiers Hearts" is another great book from a great American. I could not put this one down. I have grown to expect nothing less from Colonel Hackworth. It would be nice if this book were mandatory reading for everyone in the Pentagon. Colonel Hackworth allows the reader to experience the Vietnam War down in the weeds and mud. He doesn't pull any punches (as usual) when describing the mental midgets who ensured the Vietnam War was a lost cause.........the inept self serving brass who only cared about their own promotions. You either Love Hack or you hate him. I believe we need more leaders like Colonel David Hackworth. This is a great book!!
Rating: 
Summary: Well written, could of been a 5 Star.
Review: A very good account of what happened in the Mekong Delta. Not something that I wanted to relive, but a story that needed telling. Hack did it well. You either love him or hate him.
The only reason it didn't get a 5 star is personal.
Rating: 
Summary: Good War Story -- Could Have Been Better
Review: First and foremost, this book is about David Hackworth. As he describes himself through the book, David Hackworth embodies both the best and the worst of US Army officers. He is hard-charging, mission-oriented, and motivational. He demands excellence from the men under his command and suffers the same hardships as they do. As this book reveals, he is also quite egotistical and narcissistic.
All of this come through in Steel My Soldiers' Hearts: The Hopeless to Hardcore Transformation of the U.S. Army, 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, Vietnam. At its core, this book is about Hackworth's transformation of a combat-ineffective battalion of draftees into a solid American fighting unit. The story is a remarkable case study of leadership, motivation, and courage. The descriptions of combat operations contained in the book are some of the best I've read.
This book is also an effort to settle a score Hackworth has with another officer in the 9th Infantry Division at the time. It is one thing to point out and criticize the failings of superior officers. However, Hackworth's over-indulgent belittlement of this officer adds nothing to the book, and in many ways cheapens what is otherwise a very compelling war narrative.
While Hackworth is a very good story-teller, he leaves a great deal to be desired as a writer. His most obvious shortcoming is his criminal overuse of simile that only distracts the reader from the story. Hackworth was either not well-served by his editor in this regard or ignored the editor's suggested revisions. My hunch is that the latter is the truth.
Despite the book's shortcomings, I recommend it to those interested in military literature or Vietnam War history. I believe David Hackworth honestly relates a narrative about himself and his experiences exactly as he remembers them. I do not believe he stretched the truth about anything in this book. Additionally, the story of the men in the 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry deserves to be read. I honor them for their service.
Rating:
Summary: Universal Leadership Principles and Great War Stories
Review: Hackworth walked the walk, and you will be be inspired to do same when you read how he transformed the hopeless 4th Battalion of the 39th Infantry Regiment from the worst to the best unit in Viet Nam in a matter of months in early 1969. Hackworth is the ultimate warrior, and the reader accompanies the Colonel during terrifying night ambushes, hairy helicopter landings, heartbreaking firefights and constant meddling from glory-seeking and incompetent senior brass. For sheer excitement and pathos, the war stories in Steel My Soldier's Hearts far excel those in Hackworth's autobiography About Face. Steel My Soldier's Hearts is also a virtual manual of asymetrical warfare infantry tactics and counter-insurgency operations which, as the author allows in his epilogue, has very current application in the war on terror and the Iraqi insurgency. But most satisfying of all, Hackworth's hands on/lead from the front leadership style could be taught with equal profit to business leaders as well as combat commanders. The leadership principles would be worth the effort, even without the harrowing combat. But make no mistake: This is a book of graphic, gut-wrenching combat reports, and the absolute reality of the lives and deaths of American fighting men disturbed my sleep for many nights. Since we must continue to rely on soldiers like Hackworth to defend us, we damn well ought to honor such courage and give them the leadership they need to win. Steel My Soldier's Hearts shows that if we pay attention, our heros will teach us about the courage and leadership we all need to survive.
Rating:
Summary: True Hack at his best...Hardcore
Review: If you are looking to read about Vietnam, War, Hackworth, or just how badly things can get FUBAR when the wrong people are in the wrong places "leading"...and what can happen when the RIGHT people are in the right places, this is for you. Hackworth puts you there, next to him in his command chopper, and right next to him and the guys on the ground. If there was ever a person to look to for clarity at this time in our history, it's Hack. He is a no b.s. truth teller. And, he has lots of scars to show for it. This book is a good read...one I couldn't put down.
Rating:
Summary: Hardcore Battalion
Review: This book hits you harder than a 7.62 slug to the chest. Every page is full of action. Hack takes a unit that "couldn't fight its way out of a retirement home" and turns it into one of the most lethal battalions in Vietnam. Hack had to use his own tricks because our manuals were outdated and designed for fighting World War II. In fact he had to WRITE a manual (The Vietnam Primer)! Why a colonel, who is close to collecting his pension, would risk his career for a third tour of duty in Vietnam (with the worst performing battalion in the war no less) is beyond me. The only explanation is that Hack is absolutely passionate about the "enlisted swine". His lead-from-the-front style, his maverick attitude, and his outside-the-box tactics will amaze. A word of warning: the military won't let you do "radio patrols" and they sure as hell won't encourage you to steal the enemy's AK-47. Throughtout his career as a journalistic and soldier, Hackworth has somehow managed to piss off just about everyone in the Pentagon. This book is for those who are mature enough to handle "the ground truth" about Vietnam. If you like warrior leaders who won't put their troops through anything they wouldn't endure themselves, then you'll love this book. If you're an officer who's been trained to believe that war is a giant game of Pac Man, then you'll probably hate this book!
Rating:
Summary: Steel My Soldiers' Hearts
Review: This book is trully outstanding in its realism and honesty. It is a fantastic account of the workings of a U.S. division later in the war let alone a Battalion. This is my personnal favourite read because it has depth and the personnel accounts of the soldiers are hard and gritty. It is a trully unique account on all levels and would be a good read for both first time readers of the war and people who have a greater interest.
Rating:
Summary: Blowing away the fog of war
Review: Uncompromising, tough, boots on the ground in the enemy's face. This is the way that David Hackworth ran his battalion and taught them to fight the enemy. That his methods were so successful with an outfit previously dubbed 'hopeless' is vindication of Hack's theory that with proper leadership and training the American soldier can meet and defeat any foe.
Steel My Soldiers' Hearts is more than a simple primer on combat leadership techniques. It is larger than the historic role it will fill in the library of personal reminiscenses of Vietnam. This book captures well the irrational nature of the war as expressed by the national leadership and promulgated down through the military command structure. It touches a poignant nerve of what might have been.
Hack had to fight much more than the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army although they proved to be as tough an opponent as he had met on any battlefield. He had to deal with the double dealing and backstabbing of career army officers to whom a dead GI or a false report was of considerably less condern than risking the next promotion or decoration.
He was continuously at loggerheads with highers up who saw more benefit in using precious helicopter resources to ferry USO entertainers about than to support American troops engaged in battle. He recounts how his battalion staff, trying to run inteference with him while he led from the front on the ground - something mighty scarce among leaders in that war - had to cope with minutiae and bean counting from higher HQ. Exceeding allotted 'blade time' on helicopter assets meant that you would not supply or maneuver troops in contact, for example. He fought the all too common practice of routinely disregarding or downgrading awards and decorations for combat soldiers while quietly approving them for senior officers who never smelled a sweaty armpit or fresh gunpowder.
In the Vietnam era Army the officer's efficiency report form listed 'tact' as an evaluated leadership trait. It was a point of pride for most of us to get low marks in that category. I am certain that David Hackworth set the standard in blunt truth that many of us strove to match. His most recent work Steel My Soldiers' Hearts has only added to his reputation for direct and honest expression of thoughts regardless of whose feelings get hurt.
Stylistically there are places in the book where I would have suggested different word choice or toning down of expression. To me it got in the way of the narrative. However that might not be Hack. And regardless it ought not get in the way of his core message.
This book is a must read for anyone interested in the Vietnam war as it was not as we hoped it might be. It ought to be required reading for anyone responsible for dispatching, funding, managing or leading troops, especially for the politicians who somehow manage to avoid seeing the product of their failed policies.
Rating:
Summary: Hack Tells It Like It Is
Review: Well written book.Good detailed accounts of Hack's experience with the Hardcore Recondos. He's not afraid to point out the shortcomings of his superiors and gives the reader insight to the problems and hardships his men faced during the Vietnam war.He shows us that by his own basic rules of soldier discipline , leadership skills , tactics, and common sense , he is able to take the fight to the enemy and turn around his unit.Hack gives us the truth and a better understanding of that war. Maybe it will prevent future military leaders from repeating the mistakes of the Vietnam War era. I have read several books about the Vietnam war and this book is the best one I've enjoyed reading. It is a hard one to put down after you have started reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Hack Tells It Like It Is
Review: When Donald Rumsfeld was named Secretary of Defense for the second time, one of his main objectives was transformation of the military. Thirty years before, in the Mekong Delta region of South Vietnam, a different yet equally important kind of military transformation was taking place. This book chronicles the transformation of the 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry and its warrior leader, David Hackworth. As an author, COL David Hackworth is known for his straight talking, "tell it how I see it" style. In keeping with previous efforts, this book is a first-hand, full-frontal assault by COL Hackworth. He gives you his complete and biased view of his tenure in command, the officers and men he fought with, and the battles waged against the enemy and against the state of warfighting by the US Army in Vietnam. The book opens with his being named to command a downtrodden infantry battalion who had been intimidated by the enemy and lost its will to fight. The Commanding General described it as the "worst" battalion in the Army. The opportunity to command is normally a coveted and prestigious honor in military circles, however this opportunity was more of a double-edged sword. The initial impression of his new unit was as bad as he imagined it would be. COL Hackworth uses the break in period to set the tone. He replaces ineffective soldiers with more capable men and changes the unit's standard operating practices. Initially his methods are met with great skepticism and some go so far as to place a bounty on his head. He thwarts the bounty and eventually the adaptation of new tactics for fighting counter insurgency warfare pay dividends. The continued success and uncompromising leader transforms the unit into battle-hardened fighting force that is using the enemy's own battle plan against itself. This book could be read from the standpoint of the specific firefights and skirmishes along the Mekong Delta, however it goes much deeper. COL Hackworth provides his thoughts regarding the US Army Officer Corps and our warfighting failures in Vietnam. He provides firsthand examples from the tactical level of warfare and relates these examples to much larger problems in the war effort. Throughout the book he castigates the inexperience of the officer corps, the lack of effective training, and the inappropriate strategy. As always, he continually gives credit where it is due and provides little quarter to the ineffective peers and superiors in his limited use of pseudonyms. COL Hackworth writes like a military warrior but includes a glossary to accurately describe military terms in common language. This is an outstanding addition and is beneficial for any reader. While this book is not a significant work in military history circles, it is appropriate for more than just the Hackworth-faithful. Members of the Armed Forces, Vietnam buffs, and persons interested in small unit leadership and group dynamics may find this book interesting, straightforward, and useful.
I recommend this book.
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