Brief description:
From the dust jacket:
Corporal Stanley Rusat aspires to be a Weapons Leader among the Green Berets, but he has two individual problems: will he get into the real action, and, will an old grudge against rigid authority haunt him.
Stanley and the others with him plunge into the specialized training. A patrol moves in where there may be an ambush; they work on another ambush called the Hammer and Anvil. The trainees practice scaling and rappelling, crossing chasms. In the survival area they learn to recognize and prepare strange foods and to live ofl’ the country. The weird devices of the Vietcong to trap, maim, and kill engage them. They study spoken Vietnamese. They work on Morse code and the many tricks of radio communication. At times Stanley and his buddies feel they’ll never be able to master it all, especially when they try each others’ specialties.
For those who do last, there is a full-scale operation. Trainees who pass this test are certain to be sent to Vietnam. Corporal Rusat finds, as he had hoped, that pride in full measure goes with the Green Beret—and that he still has that grudge. It shows up during the Pineland Operation with the arrival of the stiff lieutenant, and they are to serve together in Vietnam, right where teamwork is essential. Patrols, skirmishes, alarms, increasing knowledge of the South Vietnamese they are helping, and of the Vietcong with whom they are struggling weld the men. When the big attack comes they acquit themselves as a perfectly trained team, Corporal Rusat sees that he himself has been imposing authority all along—as is done wherever men must bring others through to efficiency. He takes another look at being a Green Beret.
Corporal Stanley Rusat aspires to be a Weapons Leader among the Green Berets, but he has two individual problems: will he get into the real action, and, will an old grudge against rigid authority haunt him.
Stanley and the others with him plunge into the specialized training. A patrol moves in where there may be an ambush; they work on another ambush called the Hammer and Anvil. The trainees practice scaling and rappelling, crossing chasms. In the survival area they learn to recognize and prepare strange foods and to live ofl’ the country. The weird devices of the Vietcong to trap, maim, and kill engage them. They study spoken Vietnamese. They work on Morse code and the many tricks of radio communication. At times Stanley and his buddies feel they’ll never be able to master it all, especially when they try each others’ specialties.
For those who do last, there is a full-scale operation. Trainees who pass this test are certain to be sent to Vietnam. Corporal Rusat finds, as he had hoped, that pride in full measure goes with the Green Beret—and that he still has that grudge. It shows up during the Pineland Operation with the arrival of the stiff lieutenant, and they are to serve together in Vietnam, right where teamwork is essential. Patrols, skirmishes, alarms, increasing knowledge of the South Vietnamese they are helping, and of the Vietcong with whom they are struggling weld the men. When the big attack comes they acquit themselves as a perfectly trained team, Corporal Rusat sees that he himself has been imposing authority all along—as is done wherever men must bring others through to efficiency. He takes another look at being a Green Beret.
Publication
David McKay Company,(1967),1st, Hdbk,DJ,,Good, x lib