Rating: 
Summary: Justice at Last
Review: Though I served in the Army at the time of the Vietnam War, I never saw combat. I did not even make it up to REMF status ( if you were Army, you know what it stands for), serving in the States the entire time. I did, however, serve with a number of men who did see combat. You know what? They all had their heads screwed on better than most of the rest of us! I have always believed that combat FORCES a person to cope. If he can't, he is usually killed or gets taken off the line pretty fast. This opinion was shared by my father and three uncles with 90 years combined military service and nearly 10 years combined combat experience from World War II to Vietnam. From the mid '70s on, the Hollywood image of the "crazed" Vietnam vet made me grind my teeth. As the number of people using supposed "scars" from the war as an excuse for bad behavior increased, it was at odds with my own view of combat vets. I was at a loss to understand the disparity of viewpoints and actually began to accept the stereotype as accurate. What kept me on course was the fact that the majority of troops in Vietnam were in support roles. The number I remember was that one person in ten was a combat troop. There seems to be more guys with combat stress problems than there were combat troops! I first viewed the poseur aspect as serious in the early 1980s, when I worked with an individual that made the usual grandiose claims about Special Forces, cutting throats and other bovine scat. It went on long enough for a real combat vet to get annoyed and confront him. It nearly led to blows. In the end, the TRUE Vet got copies of the poseur's service record, much like Mr. Burkett did with with Goff, and made a spectacle of him in front of the other employees. I suppose I'm getting long winded here. Bottom line, this book has given me cause to believe that justice does indeed prevail. I hope every living combat vet reads it and gets a measure of renewed confidence that the wrongs will eventually be righted. I also see a line of ghostly warriors raising their hands in salute. The rest of us who stayed behind also stand in respect of Burkett's and Whitley's efforts. We all know that but for a clerk's punch of a typewriter key, the bullets could have been flying at us as well. This is a great book and long overdue. Jim Allen
Rating: 
Summary: Fell into the same trap
Review: This book could have been the break through that Vietnam Veteran needed but Mr Burkett falls into the same trap as those that trod before him. He does the Vietnam Vet a great service when he exposes frauds and wannabes. Then kicks them in the gut when he accuses the VA and the Vietnam veteran of being in a conspiracy to defraud the government. I have yet to see a "true combat" Vietnam Veteran who enjoys his visits to the VA. He then states that air crews drank agent orange in an initiation rite. Mr Burkett, I have some "safe" pecticide at my home, I'll drink a Guiness Stout as I watch you drink pecticide and coke!! Heck mate, we don't live that far apart, I'll bring it to your home!!! No, here again we have a case of the "combat veteran" being described by a person who was not in the combat arms nor saw combat. Some of your views on how Vietnam Veterans should look is nausiating.He throws out only the figures he agrees with, or uses some he,himself, pulls out of the air. If you have any doubts who is writing this review go to the 75th Ranger Regiment Assn Web, look under 1/101LRRP, F/58 LRP, L/75 Ranger, and there I will be, James "Limey" Walker. Not a wannabe just a foreigner fighting for a great country.
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Summary: Why are all VN vets dirty and disheveled?--THEY'RE NOT!!
Review: If you've ever wondered about why all the VN 'vets' you see always appear to be dirty and disheveled, then you need to read this book! The authors' investigations not only probe the background of the people who purport to be veterans, but also provide comparative information from previous conflicts as far back as the Civil War. You'll be surprised at what you read that you'd never heard before. Also provides a thorough discussion on PTSD, Agent Orange and other subjects. When I read the book, some parts would make me laugh out loud at some of the claims of the 'vets' and other parts would make me very angry at what some of the people have done. Mandatory reading for all serious students of the VN era. An excellent piece of work by the authors. Highly recommended!
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Summary: Best book I ever read about Vietnam Vets
Review: This is the Vietnam veterans book I have been waiting for since I left Vietnam in April'68 after a year there as a grunt and a LRRP.From long talking to other vets and just perusing this review, I know the burden of the mystique of being a vet, especially a combat vet.I stopped telling people about it in short order! Burkett and Whitley have done a lot to dispell that negative image and I think their book is well worth reading , not just for the fascinating stories--a trip through the dark side of some pathetically twisted minds, investigative reporting as the mainstream media SHOULD be doing-- but for their excellent and thorough documentation. I wish that they would have included some "how-to's" on the FOIA but their example has taught me that I can learn it, too. I found their exposure of the VA PTSD clinics to be right on the money, having some experience there (leaving disgustedly.) If the clients who go there spent as much time & effort trying to have a good life as they do trying to convince people that they're crazy, then they'd most assuredly HAVE good lives. Burkett & Whitley have given a well deserved psychological boost to all the Vietnam Vets who truly deserve it. Thanks. James Worth
Rating: 
Summary: An important read! The social effect of war.
Review: The basic question is still why Americans refused and still refuse to reward their heros. The author does a great job exposing what most others refuse to confront, but he still fails to expolain completely how it all begins with the lifers' effort to enlist dratees [and compulsory enlistees] to fight their war. When so many were willing to lessen the burden they chose by shifting it through 6 month combat tours [and less] and with preferential duty assignments, you can expect the corruption to continue long after the war. Those who chose non-hazardous duty began the fraud that continues today, a military burdened with too many avoidees and a society that can not sort the real heros from the false because of its burden of shame.
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Summary: Well written factual account that sets the record straight.
Review: I am a two tour Vietnam vet, former prisoner of war, winner of two Distinguished Flying Crosses, three Purple Hearts, Air Medal with "v", the Vietnamese Cross with Bronze Star, and the POW Medal. My first tour unit was one of the few to receive the Valorous Unit Award for the time I was assigned. All the years since my return from captivity, I have seen vets pitied for their psychological scars and inability to cope because of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or the ravages of Agent Orange. I have also watched the families of MIAs being exploited to advance the fame and bank accounts of those who would generate false hope where none should exist. While I recognize there are thousands of Vietnam veterans who are plagued by significant physical and mental scars and who desparately need our help and understanding, the story of the Vietnam vet, until now, has been a very dismal portrayal. Stolen Valor, for the first time, brings a much needed balance to the Vietnam veterans' story. Burkett and Whitley do an outstanding job of identifying those who adopt the stories of courageous soldiers as their own, wear medals they never won, or offer bogus PTSD or Agent Orange ailments in order to elicit praise, pity, or cash for themselves. The authors go on to give credit where it is due to the truly courageous, and to point out that most Vietnam vets served honorably and adjusted after the war as contributing members of our society both in and out of military service. One account that is set straight particularly well in the book is that of Colonel Floyd J. "Jim" Thompson, now retired. As the authors note, Jim was the longest held prisoner of war in Vietnam and therefore the longest held in U.S. history. He has never been fully recognized by America for this fact, and the honor is too often mistakenly given to Everett Alvarez. It is an illustration of the calibre of this book that Jim's story is brought out in its pages. This is an important book for all Americans.
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Summary: Why has it taken so long for this "GREAT" book!
Review: This is a must read for all Viet Nam combat vets! As a former SOG recon vet it gives us another research tool and contact person to help expose the people who wish to try to impress people with false war stories. Do yourself a favor....read this book! Keith A. Larson RT Indigo, CCN, Task Force 1 71-72
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Summary: Great book that has been needed for a long time!
Review: This book documents the feeling I have had about the wanabees for years. PTSD is over diagnosed by the VA for one notable reason. The more patients in need the more budget needed. The agenda of VA officials fits nicely with the agenda of the wanabee. This also applies to many of the Vet organizations. As he pointed out so well, these groups do much more harm to the typical vet than they help with the " victim " agenda they try to further. If these groups want to truly help VN Vets I suggest that all the fund raising they can do be applied to purchasing and distributing this book wide and far. The more people who read this book the better for all VN vets, even the wanabees. These groups raising the funds to distribute this book will not happen because the majority seem to be led by those with a personal "victim" agenda. But wouldn't it be great if real vets could take control of these organizations from the wanabees. This is a must read book for anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Burkett grinds his ax with the same techniques he criticizes
Review: Burkett berates the media for showing only failed veterans, ignoring the majority who have made successful transitions. Then he turns around and does the same thing. He examines the issue of anti-war veterans by choosing examples only among the minority of losers, ignoring the majority with real stories and good discharges. He documents his statements with nearly a thousand notes, including many that are totally unnecessary. Then he sprinkles a hundred or so statements through the book that cry out for notes, but go undocumented. The whole book consists of anecdotes about dozens of anti-war vets he exposes as frauds. He does good work exposing the frauds. No question about that, and it needed doing. But there were tens of thousands of antiwar veterans, and they should not be condemned or denied because of the frauds in their midst any more than all vets should be condemned because some are frauds. Mr. Burkett, I am: David L. Rosen, US 52656561, 11Bravo, 3/12 Inf, 4th inf Div. Vietnam service 9/66 to 9/67, Former Treasurer, VVAW; Neither hero nor victim
Rating:
Summary: A must read for vets. You will feel better.
Review: As a vet I liked this book. I feel much better about the time I spent in the Navy and Vietnam. I always wondered about those guys on the street corners who said they were vets. The men I served with would not do that sort of thing.
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