Unfortunately, I was traveling when I read this and read in many short periods. I became extremely engrossed in the battle tales but failed to connect with the characters as well as I would have liked. Irrespective, I would agree that this sounds like the most realistic book describing what it was like to be in the field in Vietnam. But Webb covered much more than just a platoon that suffers heavy casualties. A brief part of the book covers a young officer in Okinawaw who develops a love interest with a young Japanese girl with the relevant cultural issues that arise when he proposes.

The battle scenes are mezmerizing like the three men sent outside the perimeter stupidly by command who are terribly overrun and must lay wounded in the midst of the enemy all night. In many respects this book seemed to closely parallel the movie Platoon.

But the most unexpected part of the book was the dialog from the Vietnamese scout who was a former Viet Cong who defects only to have his family killed. This was great perspective on what was going on in the minds of the Vietnamese people who generally hated the Americans for their brutal treatment.

In summary, I think this is a very important book by a very decorated and brave individual that shows the mental conflicts and pain of war. I encourage you to read this if you want to learn of the brutality of war. But this is not a light read and will challenge your feelings of the war.


Jim Webb and the Arizona Territory   September 18, 2006
 51 out of 54 found this review helpful

Jim Webb served his time in Vietnam during one of my nearly three years in Vietnam. I found this book just after the original publication in 1979. It was as if I was reading a biography of my own service with the grunts in the 1st Marine Division. In the years since I have always admired his work, first as a Platoon and Company Commander in 5th Marines and then as Secretary of the Navy and as an author.

Fields of Fire fully described the green hell that was Vietnam for every Marine infantryman who served there.

If you want to get a feel for what that war was like, read this book. If you think you might want to go fight in a war, read this book.


Outstanding War Novel   July 2, 2006
 42 out of 44 found this review helpful

I read Jarhead on a whim earlier this past week. Anthony Swofford, the author, is a gifted young writer. But the book left me feeling empty, even angry. There was an attitude about Swofford and many of his Marine Corps buddies that just rubbed me the wrong way. Whiney might be the right word. Furthermore, Swofford through the course of the book seems to have been in a serious, depressive state that probably required professional help. It does not appear that he received that help prior to being discharged from the Marine Corps. Based on several of the Jarhead reviews I read on Amazon, I then read James Webb's Fields of Fire. Granted, it was a novel and it was based on the Vietnam war, not the first Iraq war. But the book was much more satisfying. In fact, it was a terrific read. Webb's description of war, and how Marines of various backgrounds experienced and dealt with it, was unforgettable. Until now, I thought that Anton Myrer's epic Once and Eagle was the best war novel I had ever read. Fields of Fire rivals it. It is not nearly as lengthy as Myrer's novel, and the characters are not developed quite as well, but the prose and the realism are absolutely first rate. So, here's my recommendation. First read Jarhead. Its an easy read, its popular, and you can appreciate a great young writer from whom we will be hearing much in the future. Then read Fields of Fire. Webb, like Swofford, has also been there and done that. Together the books provide two very interesting compares and contrasts of the Marine Corps infantry in wartime situations. My bet is you will be much more satisfied with the latter.


The real deal   May 5, 2006
 39 out of 39 found this review helpful

A lot has been said about style, etc. that I agree with & won't repeat. Suffice to say James Webb was a platoon commander in Delta Co./1st Battalion/5th Marines: I was a grunt (said with pride) in C/1/5. When I first opened this book back in late '70s and saw the map of the An Hoa basin - the "Arizona territory", Go Noi (No-go) Island, Liberty Bridge, the Phu Locs - the hairs on my neck stiffened, and then I let out an "Alllright!!" (scared a few bookstore patrons, nbd).
When you're reading this you are walking down the same trails, setting up ambushes in the same spots, taking fire from the same tree-lines that Lt. Webb and this young (then)PFC walked & fought from. Hell, it was like goin' home for a visit!
I had the chance to meet James Webb during the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and thank him for writing this personally. He still had the look in the eyes: quiet, deadly calm, with steel-trap analytical processes going on upstairs. At his swearing-in ceremony for Secretary of the Navy (he remembered this grunt from two chance meetings & sent me an invitation!), as soon as he was "official", he stopped the show, called up some of the men who had served with him back in An Hoa, and gave them the medals and commendations he had recommended so many years before but had never been given to them. Outstanding!
Jim has the courage of his convictions that he later resigned rather than acquiesce to a polically-motivated evisceration of the Naval service he was entrusted with. He exemplifies the Marine officer - I know of only one other, a Lieutenant in C co, that I had as much respect for, and sadly he didn't make it out alive. He's the real deal: this old grunt would assault the fire-and-brimstone-beaches of hell if James Webb was commanding!


Best Vietnam War Novel, Bar None   April 30, 2006
 22 out of 22 found this review helpful

I started reading novels about Nam when I got home from the Army in 1977 and have read a lot of them. Without a doubt, this is the best one I have read - over and over again through the years. James Webb brings a squad of grunts at the end of the pipeline in Vietnam to life. Every man in the squad has a nickname: Snake (you will come to love him), Phony, Senator, Cannonball, Bagger, Waterbull, Wild Man, Baby Cakes, Ogre, etc. Each character is developed and the background of the main characters before they became part of the Corps is flashbacked to. The squad is commanded by a newly commissioned 2nd Lt. named Robert E. Lee Hodges, a real grit as Snake says, but one who knows how to call in artillery support when needed in a hurry. The utter futility of patrolling endlessly through the An Hoa valley as "bait", trying to draw an elusive enemy out to fight comes through loud and clear. The firefights are breathtaking and the sheer terror of having the perimeter overrun by sappers or being on an LP and hearing movement is unbelieveable. This book brought back so many memories of the 1960s it is like going into a time warp: from the popular music, to the figures of speech used, to the thoughts of the men as they count down their time before they can go back to The World. Unlike many other Nam novels this actually goes into the experiences of a couple of the men when they return to the States only to discover that no one acts like there is even a war on, treating them like outcasts. The incredible camaraderie of men in fighting holes protecting each other in battle as well as the racial tensions of the time in the rear areas comes through loud and clear. I have read all of Webb's novels and this one is his best. Two Nam books come to mind that are close to, but not quite as good as this one: Body Count and Close Quarters.