Uncover The Long Gray Line: The American Journey Of West Points Class Of 1966 Presented By Rick Atkinson Categorized In Printable Format
was intrigued when I heard about this book and was encouraged by my brother to read it.
So, I had put it in my "to read" category for the time being, What had started me in REALLY reading this was when I took a history class and the instructor mentioned that he had graduated West Point, class of, and had served in Vietnam as an officer.
To me, getting myself immersed in this time period had become more vivid, as I had genuinely felt one step removed from the cadets and soldiers that Atkinson wrote about.
I can only imagine of this particular time period in American history a time where boys and girls had to grow up out of necessity and had to become men and women during a time in our nation of uncertainty.
There was something that was definitely relatable to me about this book, and that was that no matter the circumstances in the world, there is a need for citizens of our country to stand up, to defend and to honor the service and sacrifice of those before us.
This book was a great example of that, My brother is a great reader of books on military history, When he finds one he really likes, he tries to get me to read it, I usually defer, but sometimes, if I'm searching for something to red, I'll relent, The Long Gray Line is a case in point, It is about the West Point class of, which had the misfortune of graduating into the Vietnam war, At first glance it would seem a book about the war, but it is far more than that, Atkinson, who is a fine writer, follows the class from, when they enter the academy to the late nineties in the version I read the book was first published in thes and reissued in thes.
He picks a handful of recruits and follows their entire careers, but he tells the stories of dozens more.
He also tells he story of their girlfriends, wives, and children, Only a small, terrible part of the book covers Vietnam, The rest really tells the story of the changes wrought by the war in both West Point and the Army.
And, of course, the changes that took place in America during the same period,
Most of the cadets leave the Army and he follows them into civilian life, Some never lived up to their potential, but all of them were smart and some hugely successful,
It's a very interesting book and a great read, And it reminded me of why I chose not to stay in the Army after my three years were up.
I don't think I was cut out for a military life, When I read this book, I saw part of myself in the mirror, having been in the Class oftruly loved my classmates, detested the system while I benefited greatly from both.
I'm lucky not to have stayed there the wholeyears to make the military my career, but I respect those who did both.
All prospective cadets to USMA should read this book, All excadets should read it as well, Interesting look at the class offrom West Point Military Academy and life in the's,
What does it mean to be an American and Patriotic
Are all wars Just and should we fight regardless of our views
this is an extremely well researched and written account of the impact of the Vietnam war not just on those who graduated from West Point inbut on America as a whole.
The careers of a number of the graduates are followed not just within the Army but for those who didn't remain and tried to find their way in civilian careers.
Through the career of one of the class Atkinson covers the relative collapse of the US Army after the war as well as its recovery after it became a far more professional organisation.
The story behind the building of the Vietnam Memorial Wall is a reminder of how difficult it was for the country to come to terms with losing a war whilst at the same time honouring those who gave their lives.
Unlike those who have fought in Americas more recent wars returning veterans from Vietnam were never thanked for their service in the way those who have fought in the deserts of the Middle East have perhaps this book redresses that to some extent An impressive amount of research and time went into this work.
However, I found that the author lacked control of the subject matter and tended to ramble on with really extraneous information.
It is not a history per se, since it is full of the author's opinions about the military and the American government.
But it is still worth your effort if you have any association with that period of American life, I grew up in the's, and lost friends in the VN war, which made the narrative about the realities of combat in VN all the more compelling.
The Vietnam chapters look amazing, . . but West Point itself is a slough of boredom, I haven't read a single American military bio or memoir in which it's interesting, not even in a sadistic Young Törless kinda way it's strict! there's no booze! Or women! Except MacArthur's mom, who lived nearby to keep him out of "trouble"!.
All I recall Grant saying is that he hated it, Not even James Salter, whose blurb for The Long Gray Line partly convinced me to add the book, writes well about West Point in Burning the Days, his years there are an arduous trial, for Salter and reader alike, before fighter jets, coterie fame, and La Belle France.
Three and a Half Stars
I was born in, My father was born inand had already been to Vietnam before I was even conceived, Growing up I didn't give too much thought to my parent's generation, The socalled "Baby Boomers".
However I was in awe of the WW II generation, My grandfathers and greatuncles fought in that war, That was the "Good War", My parent's generation fought and lost in South Vietnam and gave us the seventies and Jimmy Carter, I was young and simplistic in many ways, But I suppose most kids feel that way about their parents generation growing up,
However by the time I was in my early twenties I had begun to feel differently about my parents and their time.
I was a young man in the U, S. Army in the late eighties and there were still many Vietnam veterans serving in both the Regular Army and the Army Reserve and Army National Guard.
I had gotten to know some of those men and women and I was also growing up, I had come to realize that blaming my parent's generation for the previous fortyfive years was absurd and simpleminded.
Rick Atkinson's The Long Gray Line came along at the right time, For not only was I a young and enthusiastic soldier in, but I was wanting to know more about what my parents and their peers had experienced in their youth.
The book begins inwhen the Class ofreports in August for "Beast Barracks", Beast Barracks is basically an abbreviated and intense introduction to West Point and Army
life for the young plebes.
It's to teach them the military basics that they will need in order to survive their first year at West Point.
There is background information on the officers that Atkinson profiles and the book follows the individual officers up to the late's.
The book ends in.
Basically Atkinson examines the changes that the U, S. Army and the United States experienced over a very traumatic twentyfive year period, The book is more or less an biographical account with fairly extensive background political, military, social, economical information so that the reader can put the individual experiences in context.
While the book isn't a barn burner it is an interesting read and provides a very Human aspect to the time period.
It also serves to give the Army a Human face, This book also helped me to appreciate my parents generation a little more and that is never a bad thing in my opinion.
So in it's own small way this book made a difference,
Mr. Atkinson is a journalist and the book reads like a journalistic piece which it essentially is, It's well written and has a nice comfortable informality about it, It's a good read and I recommend it, This book seems like a bit of a hen's tooth to my mind, A fascinating, readable, very comprehensive yet also incredibly detailed dive into a part of history I really knew very little about going in.
Gives all sorts of facts, figures and juicy details whilst still keeping them, well, juicy, A dry tome of events and statistics, this ain't,
Somehow the author covered his subject in painstaking detail without making it any less of an enjoyable narrative.
The subject itself may sound kind of niche, but through that subject the book takes a good look at a dazzlingly wide array of subjects and of course, I've come away with an understanding of West Point and the American military as a whole that isimproved on the nexttonothing I knew before.
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