Rating: 
Summary: A MUST-READ book for any historian
Review: I found this book to be remarkable.My only wish is that everyone teaching "Viet-Nam" classes should read it before they pass on myths to their students. For those interested in VietNam is it possibly the single most important book I have read. Of course, since my primary area of research is WW1/WW2 you might find it interesting that I see many parralels with those periods, and find the book just as important a work for military historians of any era. Too many writers take the printed word at face value. This book serves a good reality check when reading personal memoirs. I can't say enough about it, just read this book! And many thanks to the publisher for printing it as well...
Rating:
Summary: Good Analysis
Review: Even though Burkett may have been a non-combatant, as many seem determined to point out, his analysis rises above any such limitation ascribed to him. As a two-tour Vietnam vet -- one in an Infantry company/battalion in the US 25th Inf Div, and one in an Infantry battalion in the 9th ARVN Div -- I give Burkett 5 stars for his in-depth research, analysis and obvious conclusions. Remember, it's a stuck pig that squeals the loudest... and sometimes makes the most threats.
Rating: 
Summary: Informative of authors exploits but not a "how to" book.
Review: Very interesting and written to make easy reading for those of us that are less than scholars. A good quick, extremely well documented read. I do wish they had done more to inform me of how to and what to do to follow in their footsteps. Having returned from my third tour two weeks after Woodstock, I grew tired of being the only Nam vet that wasn't a hero. To this day I run into more "Seal-recon-airborne-POW-escapees" than you can shake a stick at. Would have given 5 stars but for that. Non-hero veterans should make this book a piece of required reading.
Rating:
Summary: Long overdue.
Review: I am a Vietnam combat veteran, a Navy corpsman who served with the 7th Marines in 1968. Stolen Valor is a remarkable book, very well-researched and informative, and well worth the time and money. I think all Vietnam veterans, combat and non-combat, will recognize something from their personal experiences both during and after the war in the pages of this book. For my part, the book made me recall an experience I had about three years ago when I was asked to speak for the veterans at the large government organization where I work. The agency was dedicating a veterans memorial for all the veterans from our agency who served in all of our wars. As I prepared my Memorial Day speech, our veterans organization was coordinating the event with Administration officials. At one point during this preparation phase someone at one of our field offices made the following derogatory comment to our veterans committee: "I hope this thing isn't just a bunch of Vietnam veterans." At the time I wondered how anyone could make such an insensitive comment. After reading this book I understand why we have been given such a bad rap and why we are so misunderstood. I ignored the derogatory comment and went ahead to give what I think was the best speech of my life. I wanted to pull everyone together, rather than divide them, and in particular, I wanted them to feel some of the pride I felt for having served in the military. Everyone who has been in Vietnam should read this book, especially Burkett's final passage where he explains why he undertook what must have been a grueling and difficult writing task. If you are a Vietnam veteran or someone who just wants to understand who Vietnam veterans really are, read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Went into areas he had no business being
Review: I am first to applaud Mr. Burkett for the help identifying the phonies. I am, however, very concerned that he blurs the line and makes perhaps a few to many vets appear as phonies. Because a vet wears camies does not makes him a phony. Because he is a drunk does not makes him a phony. This book is called Stolen Valor. In it Mr. Burkett, a non-combatant, attempts to steal the valor from honorable men with a wide brish. Far to many VA Hospital workers will be destroyed by reading it. Additionally, Mr. Burkett's analysis of PTSD and it's effects on vets is very flawed. He seems to make his decisions concerning PTSD based on everything EXCEPT his combat time and his medical degrees. I know he is a VN vet. But as a non-combatant he cannot understand combat and it's effects on people. He has no right to go there. He is not qualified as a non-combatant to attempt to stand in my PTSD shoes. In his book he talks about his shear terror when he thought he had to go to the bush. I went there on two tours. Perhaps if he was forced to go into the bush that shear terror he wrote about would have turned into PTSD. Hmmm Mr. Burkett, stay away from the medical writing concerning that which you can never understand and stick to exposing phonies. As a two tour Marine I have no problem with you doing that. But to attempt to get your non-combat self into my combat emotions is not possible for you to do.
Rating:
Summary: A flawed beauty of a book.
Review: Stolen Valor really pissed me off! This book caused me to have my own little case of PTSD from the trauma of reading a hot blast of truth. Thanks a lot, Burkett and Whitley. As a VA health professional, I resonated way too much to the authors' analysis. Filled with youthful idealism, I chose in the early '80's to work for the VA out of a conviction that those of us who did not serve in Viet Nam owed something to those who did. I have provided psychotherapy to scores of comabat veterans. I have written research papers and book chapters about PTSD. But like Mr. Burkett, I have often cringed when looking at some bedraggled soul in "cammies" and a booney hat, stinking of last night's cheap wine, homeless, whining about some imagined symptoms "I got from all that 'orange' stuff they sprayed on me," and claiming to be a Medal of Honor winner. "Who the Hell are these people," indeed? To the extent that Burkett and Whitley are even partially correct, we in the VA have a lot to answer for. Any VA health professional who is honest with himself must at times be appalled at the way the VA system disables and creates victims of vets, real and bogus ones alike. As the authors state "The VA doesn't cure PTSD; it teaches PTSD." This is most apparent in the Vet Center programs. The VA may never rid itself of this tendency to promote illness until it does a number of things. First, it must do the kind of investigation of military backgrounds that Burkett has done. Yes, it will add expense and time to the claims of veterans who are making them. But the savings in dollars now paid to people who are not truly or seriously suffering from PTSD would far exceed these additional costs. Second, the VA needs to distance itself from the Veterans Service Organizations who aggressively pursue monetary disability benefits for veterans regardless of the merits of the claims. They encourage vets to pull out all the stops. Some will threaten and even assault health care providers when frustrated in their quest. But the saddest cases are those of bona fide combat vets who become disabled by the seduction of the disability benefits. Stolen valor. Third, the VA needs to take an honest look at the psychological sequelae of war. Something like PTSD has existed since there was war, rape, hurricanes, etc. It is "real." Even Burkett/Whitley admit that battlefield psychiatric casualties take a huge toll not only on individual soldiers but also on the fighting effectiveness of whole armies. But PTSD is generally a short-term "illness." As Burkett/Whitley point out, most "real" combat vets feel pride years later. Fourth, the VA needs to build a firewall between that part of the system responsible for delivering health and mental health care and that part responsible for determining disability comensation. When, in the course of working with a veteran, it becomes clear to me that he is only interested in establishing a "record" of evaluation and care to include in his claim package, I feel like a whore. The Burkett/Whitley book will be strongly recommended reading for all my PTSD staff. But the book also has some ugly flaws. The political diatribe against the "liberal" anti-war movement is a joke. Remember, it was Ronald Reagan who proclaimed "Rambo is a Republican!" Remember the American Legion and the VFW. Hardly hotbeds of leftist thinking. Liberal? The right, as well as the left, have promoted the image of the victimized, out-of-control, drugged out, violent, veteran. The POW issue was promoted largely by groups ocnsiderably to the right of center, e.g., Ross Perot. If liberals want to prove that the war they hated was evil, conservatives desperately want to prove that everything about the 60's was corrupt. Burkett/Whitleys' polemics only detract from an otherwise scholarly, insightful, and readable book. Lose the political rant in the next edition, you guys. I do not know whether the VA is up to the challenge posed by Burkett/Whitley's mostly very fine book. Who know, maybe enough people will read the book that the VA can actually redeem itself. I know, I know: there I go again with that idealism.
Rating:
Summary: Must reading for anyone working for Veterans Affairs
Review: I am a police officer for the V.A. I am also a veteran of two tours in Vietnam. I have long known that many of the "PTSD" Vietnam veterans were not what they seemed. At first I was beginning to think all of the Special Forces, Rangers, Airbone, Seals, etc., that ever served in Vietnam were coming to the Sheridan V.A. Medical Center for PTSD treatment. It did not take me long to start spotting the phonies. This excellent book should be required reading for anyone working in the V.A. system.
Rating:
Summary: Has confirmed what I have known all along
Review: As a current active duty Navy sailor, I have served with many sailors and Marines who were in Vietnam, and yes they ARE/WERE COMBAT VETS, and yes they were/are extremely well-adjusted. It seems as though the people who do not agree with this book cannot debate it on it's content and rely on ad-hominem attacks on the authors. Typical cry-baby emotional liberalism. It is extermely sad that the anti-war baby boomers get all of the accolades and the men who went to fight in Indochina are still vilified by their peers, many of whom went into journalism/the arts/and government. By the way, I am wondering if the authors were behind the outing of Tim Johnson, the former Toronto Blue Jays manager.
Rating:
Summary: This is a must-read book!
Review: This is an outstanding work - long overdue. A s a career Army officer I am constantly in contact with former (and current) servicemen who can't wait to to regale me with tales of blood, guts and combat. And for years I have wondered, where is the huge tail-to-tooth ratio that I've learned about as a support officer, because everyone seems to be a combat vet, no one evers seems proud to say that they drove a truck or slung hash. The authors have validated my suspicions with unassailable research and 'can't put it down' writing. I have spent the money to buy copies of this book for my peers, and I am learning how to access the Freedom of Information Act records and do some research of my own. Before you say again,'Yeah, we have a Nam vet at work . . ." or put another penny in the can for that drifter with the 'Vet' signm READ THIS BOOK!
Rating:
Summary: Not an anonymous Vet
Review: I submitted a review a few minutes ago ... clicked the wrong button ... I have no problem at all with you displaying my name ... Might flush out a few more of 'em. <g>
|
