Review (PDF) Flashing Saber: Three Years In Vietnam
“The division's expendables.” That's what one division commander called the Ninth Cavalry Blue platoons during the Vietnam War. The Blues, as they were called, were perpetually understrength and considered to be acceptable losses in hopeless situations—but their amazingly successful record proved otherwise.A firsthand account of mortal combat with the Ninth Cavalry, Flashing Saber is the remarkable story of the brave men who served in the First Air Cavalry Division's reconnaissance squadron. Included is an account of an air-ground raid that overran a regimental command post and killed more high-ranking enemy officers than any similar engagement of the war. The story begins when a teenager, an Eagle Scout and West Point Prep School student, goes to Vietnam in 1965. Motivated by patriotism and the desire to see combat firsthand, Brennan volunteers for front line duty and spends years as an artillery forward observer and infantryman. Promoted to sergeant and then to lieutenant, Brennan participates in hundreds of assault landings.An expansion and careful reworking of his previous work, Brennan's War, published in 1985, and in the vein of classic memoirs by Johnnie Clark and Frederick Downs, Flashing Saberis a harrowing firsthand account of life and death in war, one filled with breathtaking details about a renowned unit.
File Size: 9018 KB
Print Length: 424 pages
Publisher: Matthew Brennan; 1 edition (March 16, 2015)
Publication Date: March 16, 2015
Sold by: Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B00UTKELYC
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray: Enabled
Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #69,509 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) #35 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > Military & Wars > Vietnam War #52 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Military > Vietnam War #62 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Military > Vietnam War
"Flashing Saber: Three Years in Vietnam" tells the story of a young man who quits college and joins the Army in 1965. He volunteers for Vietnam and is assigned to the 1st Cavalry Div - 9th Infantry. Initially, he is assigned to an artillery unit as a Forward Observer in Division HQ - a relatively safe position, but volunteers for the infantry units that patrol through the jungles looking for the enemy. At first, he is awed by his surroundings, naive in the ways of war and soon has his first firefight with the enemy. Wondering if he had made the wrong decision, he decides to give it his best and learn all he can to stay alive.Sgt. Brennan later joined the famed "B-Troop Blues" unit which go looking for trouble and do so daily. Intelligence receives information and the small platoons are sent to engage the enemy. Most firefights are hit and run from the enemy, but when it's over, trophies and souvenirs are plentiful. These units are extremely skilled and battle hardened, soon developing a warrior reputation among other fighting units in country. The author's accounts are brought to life in such detail that readers may have to periodically take a break to ensure they are not in the war fighting alongside him.The author returns home after his first extended tour and discovers that his fiance hadn't been true to him in his absence. He leaves town and heads out on his own to find himself. Life is difficult. There is no excitement, camaraderie, and getting a job is almost impossible because of his war veteran status and he soon misses those friends he'd left behind. Sgt. Brennan reenlists specifically to rejoin the Blues, feeling re energized and content after the first mission.
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