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Summary: "Stolen Valor" recovers the truth
Review: I could not put "Stolen Valor" down! Despite being 592 pages long and documented with 983 footnotes and four appendices, "Stolen Valor" is easily read. Authors Burkett and Whitley break the book down in four parts, and each chapter within each part builds toward the next. Subjects like Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), draft demographics, Agent Orange, homelessness and unemployment, and fake Vietnam Vets are dealt with entertainingly and informatively.I was very surprised to learn of the ease of which military records can be accessed, and even more surprised to learn that they are very rarely accessed by anyone, especially the VA (Veterans Administration) or news programs (60 Minutes, The Wall Within) or even written news media. "Stolen Valor" is nonpolitically written. By that I mean it is not a book written for a right wing, left wing or a centrist audience. The purpose of this book is to tell the truth. In that regard "Stolen Valor " accomplishes its mission. I strongly urge all to read this book.
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Summary: A fine read; and a public service
Review: My name is W.E.B. Griffin, and I have something of a reputation for my books about the military. Until I read this book---and more important, checked it with, among other people, the former President of the Special Operations Association---I had no idea of the extent to which a group of psychopathic phonies had, literally, Stolen The Valor of the men who served in Vietnam. This is a very important book, and the nation owes a large debt to the author.
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Summary: Perhaps the most significant book on Viet Nam ever written.
Review: I can not recommend this book to everyone, only those who are Viet Nam veterans, know Viet Nam Veterans, have ever wondered about the war and its "hiddden costs. It is a real eye openner and the authors should be commented for their public service in "setting the record straight". A personal thank you from me.
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Summary: Great book, must read.
Review: Burkett takes on the myths attributed to Vietnam Vets and their service one by one. By factual analysis and heavy reliance on actual military records Burkett reveals the truth - and the agenda's behind those that perpetuate the lies. Not a dry read, Burkett includes many representative stories as examples of the falsehoods. Burkett does not however rely on mere examples to support his thesis, he backs up every claim with factual data. You must read Dereliction of Duty to understand how we got to Vietnam, you must read A Better War to understand how we really left, and you must read Stolen Valor to know the truth of the aftermath on our society. Must read for all citizens of a free country who have an opinion on the forces that affect our society.
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Summary: Another Vet's Thank-You
Review: I would also like to add my nearly total endorsement of Burkett and Whitley's expose of this largely media-fed phenomenon. Having served as a combat medic in the Americal Division (1/1 CAV '68-69), I was initially taken a bit aback by the author's critical assesment of that unit, but then, even began to wonder if there wasn't some truth to their allegations, which actually seemed to put some of the worst things I experienced therein into perspective. On the other hand, it would be doing many brave individuals who served in Americal a grave injustice not to point out that they, in fact, constituted the division's bulk...not to mention all the Blacks in my own unit who - at least by my memory - did seem statistically over represented by their numbers in the US population overall. Might Burkett's impressions of Americal have in any way been reflective of that? I would only like to further add one more thing however, motivated by the drubbing that Burkett seems to be taking in many of the reviews here concerning his overall views of PTSD. In combined arms operations on the Batangan Peninsula just northeast of Quang Ngai in early 1969, an infantryman (whose name I only wish I could remember), setting claymores for a night perimeter, stepped on an anti-personel mine and lost both legs, an arm and an eye in the instant. The only thing that myself and his own unit's medic could do for him was to lift him into a pancho and onto a helicopter which had thankfully been very rapidly diverted to dust him off. We only heard the next day that he had survived. Several years later (maybe 10?), I read a story in the Los Angeles Times about a guy who had sustained just these injuries in Vietnam, and was then living in Palmdale, with a wife and kids, on a ranch, with horses, and carrying on just about as normal a life as anyone might, given such a fate. And I thought, "My God, what if that's him?" Yet the point is how well adjusted he seemed, to which I wondered that, given his lot, how could I - or anyone else - complain? So whenver I might start feeling sorry for myself over Vietnam, all I have to do is think of that guy, and so many other real heroes like him, and thus draw on his, and their inspiration for my own. To him and them I will always be grateful. In the words of post-WWII writer McKinley Kantor, the opprtunity to serve with such people made, "Glory For Me". What more could one hope for?
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Summary: FAILED RESEARCH PRODUCES A FAILED BOOK !
Review: As the co-author of One Tough Marine, a book which Mr. Burkett and Ms. Whitley take to task in Stolen Valor as being "pure fantasy," I will share this information with fellow Amazon readers and military historians: at no time did either B. G. Burkett or Glenna Whitley ever contact 1st Sgt Don Hamblen, or myself, and ask us to produce evidence that Hamblen did, in fact, go into N. Vietnam during his 30 consecutive months with MACV/SOG in Vietnam. Do they really believe that LtGen Herman Nickerson, the III MAF CG, would stand by Hamblen if his story was not factual? General Nickerson is alive and well, living in Maine, and is easy to find. The truth is that Mr. Owen A. Lock, the VP of the IVY Books Division of Random House Inc., offered Mr. Burkett undisputed evidence (photographs, 35mm slides, 16mm movies, first-hand interviews, primary source material and tape recordings from those who served with Don), that the Hamblen story was factual, as written. Burkett refused to accept it. General Singlaub, in fact, never visted the DaNang MACV/SOG complex during the time that Hamblen was there, which speaks volumes as to his credibility. More should be stated about former General Mic Trainor's poorly chosen comments concerning Hamblen's service in the Corps during the Vietnam War. Trainor never stepped foot in the MACV/SOG complex in DaNang during 1965-1968, and never met Hamblen. Again, more supercilious comments from another uninformed know-it-all. Perhaps less time running their collective mouths and more time doing some basic research would have opened the eyes of these two self-proclaimed authorities. The three of them have now "sky-lined" themselves as laughable. While it is common knowledge that B. G. "Tank" Burkett served only as a "REMF," I can only summize that poor Ms. Whitley was unfortunately duped into believing Mr. Burkett's uninformed version of military history. It is unfortunate that Burkett and his associate have done such a disservice to one fine Marine. Who else have they "character-asassinated" by not having done some basic homework? TAKE MUCH OF THIS BOOK WITH A GRAIN OF SALT BEFORE TRYING TO DIGEST IT. Their comments on Don Hamblen - One Tough Marine - just ain't true.
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Summary: Overlooked piece of outstanding journalism
Review: This book does two things extraordinarily well. It demonstrates that the well-known story of the traumatized Vietnam veteran who can't fit into society is almost entirely without substance. It also dramatically undermines the conventional wisdom about the demographics of Vietnam veterans: If you picture the typical Vietnam-era service member as an undereducated male from a poor family, guess again. Moreover, the book does a good job of not doing something: Given that the subject matter is chock full of opportunities for digressions ("The war should have been fought this way...", "Social policy in America is screwed up because...", etc.) the book never pursues those tangents. The result is a tightly focused piece of outstanding journalism. It's a little depressing that there hasn't been more press about this terrific book. I hope the buzz grows.
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Summary: Whitley & Burkett are saying what has needed to be said.
Review: When I retired from the Army in 1991, after serving for 22 years, I could not understand why I was being treated with so much fear and distrust. I finally figured out that it was because I was a Vietnam Veteran. Folks just naturally thought I must be another one of those lunatic whiners they had seen in our community, dressed like Rambo, reliving war experiences they probably never had, and never working a lick to help themselves. Most of the Vietnam Veterans I have known are outstanding, successful citizens, who have never asked for, or expected, a handout. Unfortunately some Vietnam Vets do, and they give us all a bad name. Whitley and Burkett have captured the truth of the post-war Vietnam veteran, and many of us are not going to like the picture they draw. You must read this book if you want to understand what has shaped the highly negative public image Vietnam Veterans have developed since the war ended. Moreover, you need to read this book if you want to understand your own mixed emotions about your fellow veterans. A very good read.
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Summary: Long Overdue.
Review: I just wanted to thank Mr. Burkett for writing "Stolen Valor." I was a support soldier in Vietnam (as was over 80% of those stationed there)and I always wondered that with all those other support troops in the clubs getting drunk and in the PX's buying stereos, why every Vietnam Veteran I meet now was a combat killer. I knew Chaplain (Maj) Gary Probst while stationed at Ft. Lewis (I was a career soldier 1968 - 1993). I was there when Probst ( then a Mormon high priest) was exposed, kicked out of the army and the Mormon church. After serving through a few wars after Vietnam, it has been my experience that real soldiers do not suffer PTSD, they get over it and get on with their lives.
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Summary: For Veterans of All Wars and their children
Review: Excellent book. I fine piece of work that should have been written years ago. I've recommended it [first time I've ever recommended any book] to many of my Veteran friends. Those that have read it agree with my assessment wholeheartedly! It should be part of the collection of every high school library so that the youth of today can read about the falsehoods that were and still are being spread about the VietNam War Veteran. Victor Vilionis, 7th Marines, VietNam June '66 ~ July '67
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