Steel My Soldiers' Hearts: The Hopeless to Hardcore Transformation of the U.S. Army, 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, Vietnam

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly Good
Review: When I first saw this book, I thought to myself, "Uh oh. Hacks trying to make a quick buck by re-writing a chapter from his classic "About Face"!". Perhaps he was was doing just that, but he created a gem anyhow!

For those that dont know, David Hackworth made a name for himself in the Vietnam War by figuring out a cost effective way of fighting the enemy that could have lead to US victory. Unfortunately, nobody would listen to him. This book focuses on Hack's third tour in Vietnam when he commanded a down and out infantry battalion in the Mekong Delta. After instilling some discipline in this pack of sullen draftees, he turned them into a winning combat team. He also rewrote their tactics. Instead of headlong and pointless search and destroy missions, Hack sat back and watched the battlefield and waited for the Communist enemy to trip up. When that happened, he poured every resource available into them and utterly crushed some of the best Viet Cong units in existence. When he turned over command, his unit racked up a 100 to 1 or so kill ratio. A ratio the enemy could not take.

In this book, Hackworth shows how he did this. He also reveals significant obstacles he had to overcome. Besides inheriting a low quality unit, he had to deal with idiot superiors (in particular the Division commander GEN Ewell and Deputy Commander COL Ira Hunt). Reading how he got over these problems is a real treat.

I believe this book is best suited for the historian wanting to better understand the Vietnam War. It is less useful for the aspiring junior military leader. I say this because much of what COL Hackworth did to succeed went directly against the wishes of his superiors and occasionally against military regulations. Hack could get away with this as he was rising star in the Army. The average leader trying to do much of what he did would wind up getting cashiered.

I shaved off one star for filler. There are two chapters in this book dealing with the battalion medics and his soldiers' sexual proclivities. While both chapters are very interesting, they dont fit into the big picture all that well. Other than this, the book is a keeper.