Father, Soldier, Son

December 30, 1996
A case study in the development of a junior officer, Tripp's polished Vietnam memoir focuses on his six months as an infantry platoon leader in 1968. As Tripp, a TV producer, farmer and children's writer (Thunderstorm!), tells it, self-doubt and confusion never quite left him in Vietnam; instead, they fostered a sense of responsibility for the men under his command. In Vietnam, Tripp began for the first time in his life to trust his instincts and behavior-and however other units may have behaved, Tripp's battalion, the 1/28th Infantry, 1st Division, emerges from these pages as an outfit that knew how to fight and that fought well. In these respects, Tripp's account is similar to many war memoirs. It is individualized, however, as the title suggests: Tripp was strongly influenced by his ambivalent relationship with a father who suffered repeated psychotic episodes. His behavior in Vietnam was structured by a corresponding desire to prove himself and to find himself; and his disordered postwar life was influenced not only by his wartime experiences but also by a fear that his own sons might develop the cystic fibrosis hereditary in Tripp's family. Most Vietnam literature presents American participants as blank slates on whom war wrote its story unimpaired. Tripp's chronicle is a powerful reminder that men and women carry a life's worth of baggage when they go to war, as well as when they return.

February 1, 1997
Written by an Army platoon commander, this memoir is, on one level, a compellingly vivid look into the conduct of the ground war against an increasingly sophisticated enemy by a decreasingly effective American military in the months after the 1968 Tet Offensive. Tripp's work addresses questions about America's morale, intent, and leadership. However, it involves a moving and candid personal narrative, drawing parallels to the author's relationship with a father whose military career was ended by mental illness. Tripp's work explores the paternal concerns for his platoon members (and, in lyrical sidebars, of the evolving love for his children) and explores the themes of doubt, courage, and commitment in terms of both the war experience and those other battles that one must face in life. Tripp has created seamlessly riveting prose, full of recollections of combat that are chillingly accurate. This is enduring literature; recommended wholeheartedly for all collections, especially military ones.--Mel D. Lane, Sacramento, Cal.

January 1, 1997
%% This is a multi-book review: SEE also the title "Before Their Time." %% Two infantrymen's memoirs feed on the atmosphere of their particular wars--World War II and Vietnam.Kotlowitz reveals a remarkable talent for characterization (he's a novelist) as he concentrates to remember his squad from 52 years ago. There's Fedderman, a disorganized slob; Willis, the company kleptomaniac; Keaton, the Catholic doubting his faith; and Lieutenant Gallagher, the likable platoon leader. After a disastrous training session in which drownings were covered up, as all World War II snafus were, Kotlowitz's unit shipped to France in 1944, enduring on the way the usual humiliations, such as the infamous "short-arm" inspections for venereal disease. Then to the foxholes. Kotlowitz's memorable day began with something his superiors should have learned from World War I was idiocy: a frontal assault on a German machine-gun position. The result was inevitable: the entire platoon wiped out, except for Kotlowitz and Keaton. An artful, angry, and honoring memoir.Tripp's war was fought in the An Loc region in 1968, and his recollection evokes the surrealism and futility of combating an opponent far more motivated than were Tripp and the other Americans. Incidents of chasing Charlie around "Bad Vibes Hill" or of watching B-52s plaster a nearby valley for no discernible reason make Tripp's narrative seem almost a script source for "Apocalypse Now." Crazy, scary vignettes populate the story of his year in-country, all underlain by such factors as vainglorious officers, drugs, and racism that steadily demoralized the troops. Tripp was clearly a competent officer, loved by his men, and they, along with others who served in Vietnam, will find his tough memoir an uncompromising but illuminating reading experience. ((Reviewed January 1 & 15, 1997))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1997, American Library Association.)