The Offering - Softcover

Carhart, a 1966 West Point graduate, was fighting in Vietnam the following year and like many of his fellow servicemen felt it was a patriotic duty to risk his life for his country. In combat he discovered not only the horrors of jungle warfare but also the dangers of being given orders by superiors unfamiliar with a situation on the battlefield (he was branded a coward for pointing out that a certain tactic would bring heavy casualties). He was briefly in Saigon, where he had a romance, then was an adviser in the Mekong Delta, where he went on what he terms "search-and-avoid" missions, allegedly to find Vietcong but actually designed not to encounter the enemy. Carhart's re-creation is not as significant as other personal works on the Vietnam War, but he nonetheless produces a rounded picture of the futility of the struggle.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Carhart, a decorated infantry officer, tells us in an often certain, occasionally melodramatic voice, of his year-long service experience in Vietnam from December 1967. He commanded not only an infantry platoon but a special reconnaissance team called the "Tiger Force," and later was assigned to a Vietnamese reserve unit as an adviser, where he learned much about the politics of the conflict. Though he ran afoul of military and Vietnamese politics and writes with sincere melancholic lyricism about his departure, he does not go so far as to say the sacrifices were questionable. These are illuminating glimpses into the conflict in the bush and the role of advisers in 1968, but sometimes the treatment is heavy-handed. Worth acquiring for military collections. Mel D. Lane, Sacramento, Cal.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.