Reluctant Warrior - Hardcover

Hodgins, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0449910598 ISBN 13: 9780449910597

Publisher: Fawcett, 1997

Synopsis

"This is a story about how things were, when I was young and my Country was at war. It is a story about young men for whom acts of heroism became daily routine. It is a story about moral courage, glory, and luck. It is a story about Marines."

*Michael C. Hodgins
By the spring of 1970, politicians had determined the outcome of the war in Vietnam. But for the troops in the field, it was a dangerous time. Morale was low, casualties were mounting, and no one *soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine *wanted to be the last mother's son killed in Vietnam.
In I Corps *northern South Vietnam *the Marines of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Wild Bill Drumright, were assigned to cover the withdrawal of 1st Marine Division. Under Drumright, the Marines of 1st RECON Bn operated in small teams of six or seven men. Heavily armed, often led by a lieutenant, the teams fought a multitude of bitter engagements with a numerically superior and increasingly aggressive enemy to ensure that their fellow Marines could be withdrawn safely.
Michael C. Hodgins served in Company C, 1st RECON Bn (Rein), as a platoon leader during Drumright's reign. In powerful, graphic prose, Hodgins chronicles his experience as a patrol leader in myriad combat situations, both traumatic and poignant, while capturing the essence of tactical decisions and the self-doubt that accompanies them. From hasty ambush to emergency extraction to prisoner snatch to combined-arms ambush, Mike Hodgins takes the reader step-by-step through the troop-leading process and the numerous anxious, at times fearsome, events that process inevitably involves in war. The accomplishments of the teams he led, documented by official Marine Corps records, exemplify small-unit combat leadership as well as the daily heroism that was routine for Marines of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion.
Reluctant Warrior is a searing memoir of a young officer's war. . . with his enemy, his troops, and himself.

About this title

From the Back Cover

By the spring of 1970, American troops had been ordered to pull out of Vietnam, and the Marines of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel "Wild Bill" Drumright, were assigned to cover the withdrawal of 1st Marine Division. The Marines of 1st RECON Bn operated in teams of six or seven men. Heavily armed, the teams fought a multitude of bitter engagements with a numerically superior and increasingly aggressive enemy.

About the Author

Michael C. Hodgins enlisted in the United States Marines on July 7, 1964, shortly after his eighteenth birthday. He was commissioned through the Enlisted Commissioning Program in February 1969 and, upon completion of The Basic School, assigned to 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade, then deployed in South Vietnam. He served as an infantry platoon leader in Company H, 2d Battalion, 26th Marines from August 1969 to February 1970, whence he joined Company C, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division. Upon his return from Vietnam, the author served at various posts and stations as an infantry officer until resigning his commission in August 1978. He now resides in La Jolla, California, with his wife and two sons.
From the Paperback edition.

Edition details

• Publisher: Fawcett
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0449910598
• ISBN 13: 9780449910597
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 329