Military Book Reviews

By their very nature, books on war deal with death, near-death experiences, injuries and all the unpleasant but inevitable aspects of war, like homesickness, bad food, substandard leadership, impossible missions and seeing friends die but above all, is the fear; fear of being killed, fear of losing body parts, fear of not living up to the challenge, fear of fear itself. Just Dust: An Improbable Marine's Vietnam Story has all of that but focuses more on the author's contemplation of the experience.  Like any good book - and this one is brilliant - Choc follows a logical progression beginning with his dissatisfaction with college; his inability to feel important; his decision to join the Marines and his difficulty in boot camp; the challenges of Vietnam and his ultimate and surprising dissatisfaction of Marine life that did not include combat. But what makes this book stand out is how he processed all this and how he closely analyzed his actions and thoughts. Most importantly are...