"Noble Warrior; The Life & Times of MajGen James Livingston

So few Medals of Honor; yet so many are awarded for those quick and usually fatal decisions made in combat; so many citations are of those young Marines who threw themselves on a hand grenade or charged a pillbox. With some 70% of Medals of Honor awarded posthumously, it is rare to have the opportunity to learn about the action from the Marine himself.

"Noble Warrior; The story of MajGen James E. Livingston, USMC (ret), Medal of Honor" provides a unique window into the world of a Medal of Honor awardee who is both a survivor and an officer. An autobiography written with experienced military authors Colin Heaton and Ann-Marie Lewis, MajGen James Livingston's book gives the reader a look at the man behind the medal. From enlisting in the Marine Corps to fighting in Vietnam to his post-combat career, Noble Warrior is a well-written book that begins to shed light on the life of a most interesting Marine.

Not quite a depression baby; Livingston was born just months prior to the start of WW2 in rural Georgia. With his family economically better off than most, he relates how his parents were unique in ignoring the segregationist practices so prevalent at that time, and how those beliefs carried over to his Marine Corps years. "I always believed," he wrote, "in what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said...that a man `should be judged by the content of his character and not by the color of his skin.' This was never truer than on the field of battle, and it is one of the great hallmarks of our beloved Marine Corps"

This was a unique code of ethics for a Georgia boy during those turbulent times, and equally unique was his father's pushing him off the farm in order to obtain a college degree. Perhaps not so surprising was his joining the Marine Corps, in his eyes `the most aggressive outfit,' Soon Livingston received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant, sent to Camp Pendleton, and deployed on a southeast Asian float. After a second cruise, Livingston threatened to resign if he was not given command, so he was shipped to Vietnam as commanding officer of Echo Company, 2nd Bn, 4th Marines. The die was cast.

Just weeks earlier, Echo had suffered 60% casualties and Livingston made certain that any casualties suffered in the future would not be due to slipshod training. A hard-charger even by Marine standards, Livingston explains his rationale for the never-ending and sometimes ruthless training programs for which he was known "I led by example," he wrote, "and was always shaved, had my gear in order, and was always in the front of a fight or PT run. You have to lead from the front...anyone can shout orders from the rear, but I would not want to follow such "leaders" into harm's way either." Sound policy as he led his Marines during the firefights so prevalent in pre-Tet Offensive's Quang Tri Province.

Most actions resulting in a Medal of Honor are short in duration; Noble Warrior recounts how Livingston earned his during the pitched battle at Dai Do. Written in an understated style that belies the intensity of the fight, Livingston narrates how an understrength battalion landing team found itself locked in a three-day battle against 7,000 experienced North Vietnamese regulars.

With Golf 2/4 finding unexpectedly heavy resistance when assaulting Dai Do, Livingston's Echo Co was ordered to assist. After their first two attacks stalled, he personally led the reserves in a charge that broke the enemy lines. Although wounded twice, Livingston directed his Marines in killing the remaining NVA fighting from their bunkers. Only 35 of more than 100 Marines remained combat-effective.

Yet the fight was far from finished. Hearing that Hotel 2/4 was pinned down by numerically superior NVA forces, Livingston moved the remainder of Echo to Hotel's position where he led the merged companies in yet another charge. After an hour of hand-to-hand fighting, the Marines owned the field...for the moment.

Later in the day, the reinforced NVA attacked in force, so Livingston ordered supporting fire and smoke in order to bring the Marines out in a phased withdrawl. Wounded for the third time, he was firing at the NVA when two Marines dragged him out.

Recovering from his wounds, Livingston returned to Vietnam, and under the command of Col Al Gray (later Gen, CMC), was involved in the desperate evacuation of Americans and Vietnamese as Saigon fell in 1975.

Retiring from the Marine Corps in 1995, Noble Warrior further describes how Livingston went on to a successful public service career. Written in a blunt and unyielding style that co-authors Heaton and Lewis wisely left unchanged, "Noble Warrior; The story of MajGen James E. Livingston, USMC (ret), Medal of Honor" is well worth reading.
==============

"War" by Sebastian Junger

War by Sebastian Junger is the story of the 2nd Platoon, Battle Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade fighting at FOB Restrepo. Located in the Korengal Valley's isolated RC East, the 15 to 20 2nd Platoon soldiers fought in almost 500 firefights during their 15-month deployment — some 20 percent of all Afghan combat in that time period. Through five lengthy embeds, Junger followed this single platoon with the goal of conveying "combat" to the civilian audience.

Junger is no novice. Years before he wrote A Perfect Storm, he was traveling from Kosovo to Bosnia to Liberia to Sierre Leone to Kashmir, reporting on human rights violations, war crimes and the kidnapping of civilians as a terror tool. He's also no stranger to Afghanistan; prior to 9/11 he profiled the Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud as they fought against the Taliban for a National Geographic special. So his current best-seller War is written from a depth of knowledge and experience that few writers possess. I recently spoke with him about his book and the time spent with 2nd Platoon, Battle Company.

At one point # 3 on The New York Times bestseller list, War brings the reader directly into the fight at Restrepo. The base is isolated in a valley so remote that the locals speak a different language (Korengali) than the rest of Afghanistan. The reader is thrown into the firefights, ambushes and boredom that make up a deployment. It's in the blend of firefights and boredom where Junger excels; his descriptions, from AK rounds snapping past his head to the primitive living conditions to the funny yet totally sophomoric humor, are amongst the most realistic portrayal of soldiers in combat published to date. "If I sleep with your mother, does that make me your father?" one soldier asks another, and the resulting philosophical and genealogical debate lasted until...the next firefight.

Being this close to the fight, however, brings some disturbing observations about war, and comradeship. The 2nd Platoon has fallen into the practice of giving each member a "beat-down," where the platoon pummels each member.

"It's a form of initiation rite," Junger explained to me,"it's a way of bonding, as well as reinforcing the concept that the group, in this case 2nd Platoon, takes precedence over the individual." An anthropologist by training, Junger continued, "It isn't about abuse, similar to Lord of the Flies, it's about demonstrating group inclusion, knowing that everyone is committed to the unit. You've got a small group of young men, heavily armed, in 4-5 TIC's (troops-in-combat) daily... no email, little comm[unication] with family... their world consists solely of their fellow soldiers. Is it a normal ritual? Probably not, but look at where and how they're spending 15 months."

Despite his previous trips to combat zones, these embeds in Restrepo were Junger's first embed with the Army. Impartiality and accuracy are of paramount importance to a journalist, and especially one of Junger's stature, yet in War he writes of the impossibility of remaining impartial. "I'm living in close quarters with the soldiers. I eat, sleep, and go on patrol with them, and too many AK rounds and RPG's have barely missed us all. But remember, I'm not writing an opinion piece; I'm sharing their experiences in order to bring their story to you."

He does this very well as he describes life at Restrepo, "It's a miraculous kind of anti-paradise up here, heat and dust and tarantulas and flies. No women and no running water and no cooked food. Nothing to do but kill and wait."

After spending five months sharing danger and boredom, Junger finds himself drawing closer to the soldiers of 2nd Platoon and losing any journalist sense of impartiality, but he knows he needs to find a balance between being a journalist and being a combatant. After all, press credentials are worthless in a firefight. Despite the daily threat of being killed, Junger draws his own line at potential levels of his involvement "Oh, I'll carry ammo if asked, and they gave me a refresher in combat first aid. But I'm careful not to become like those journalists who confuse themselves with the story they're covering."

Responsible combat journalism is a difficult assignment, but Junger handles the partial-impartial question well. Embedded with a close-knit unit for some 35 percent of their deployment while sharing the firefights, the boredom and the isolation, all thoughts of impartiality disappear once the first AK-47 round hits the Hesco over one's head and the soldier next to him returns fire. Junger acknowledges this conundrum head-on, and in doing so, brings even greater poignancy to the story of 2nd Platoon, Battle Company.

Shortly after War was published, Gen. Stanley McChrystal closed all the Army FOB's in the Korengal, with the bland statement that engagement in the Korengal no longer fit into the Army's strategic vision. Junger mentioned to me that it would be interesting to see what the surviving soldiers of 2nd Platoon thought of the decision that their 15 months and some 500 firefights had been deemed unnecessary.

"Immediate Response" Brit Chinooks in Helmand!

"Immediate Response"
Maj Mark Hammond
Penguin-Michael Joseph, 2009

It's easy in the United States to overlook the robust British effort in Afghanistan - but "Immediate Response" goes a long way in setting the record straight.

Written by Maj Mark Hammond, Royal Marines,"Immediate Response" is the story of Hammond's Chinook squadron fighting in Helmand Province. Hammond is a helicopter pilot flying British troops into hot LZ's and taking out the wounded. These are incredibly important and stressful missions in which lives are saved or lost due to his flying ability.

Hammond is a superb writer. He succeeds in bringing the reader into the cockpit with him, in the heat, sand, and dust in which he and his mates live and work. They cope with the stress with black humor as saracastic, sophmoric, and semi-obscene as do our troops; this is a no-holds-barred look at men at war.

Our British allies are doing an excellent job in Afghanistan; well done Maj Hammond in making us aware of it.

Noble Warrior; The Story of MajGen James Livingston; USMC-Medal of Honor

Noble Warrior; The story of MajGen James Livingston, USMC, Medal of Honor
By James E. Livingston, with Colin Heaton and Anne-Marie Lewis
Zenith Press, 2010, U.S. $28.00
ISBN # 978-0-7603-3807-0

So few Medals of Honor; yet so many are awarded for those quick and usually fatal decisions made in combat; so many citations are of those young Marines who threw themselves on a hand grenade or charged a pillbox. With some 70% of Medals of Honor awarded posthumously, it is rare to have the opportunity to learn about the action from the Marine himself.

“Noble Warrior; The story of MajGen James E. Livingston, USMC (ret), Medal of Honor” provides a unique window into the world of a Medal of Honor awardee who is both a survivor and an officer. An autobiography written with experienced military authors Colin Heaton and Ann-Marie Lewis, MajGen James Livingston’s book gives the reader a look at the man behind the medal. From enlisting in the Marine Corps to fighting in Vietnam to his post-combat career, Noble Warrior is a well-written book that begins to shed light on the life of a most interesting Marine.

Not quite a depression baby; Livingston was born just months prior to the start of WW2 in rural Georgia. With his family economically better off than most, he relates how his parents were unique in ignoring the segregationist practices so prevalent at that time, and how those beliefs carried over to his Marine Corps years. “I always believed,” he wrote, “in what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said…that a man ‘should be judged by the content of his character and not by the color of his skin.’ This was never truer than on the field of battle, and it is one of the great hallmarks of our beloved Marine Corps”

This was a unique code of ethics for a Georgia boy during those turbulent times, and equally unique was his father’s pushing him off the farm in order to obtain a college degree. Perhaps not so surprising was his joining the Marine Corps, in his eyes ‘the most aggressive outfit,’ Soon Livingston received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant, sent to Camp Pendleton, and deployed on a southeast Asian float. After a second cruise, Livingston threatened to resign if he was not given command, so he was shipped to Vietnam as commanding officer of Echo Company, 2nd Bn, 4th Marines. The die was cast.

Just weeks earlier, Echo had suffered 60% casualties and Livingston made certain that any casualties suffered in the future would not be due to slipshod training. A hard-charger even by Marine standards, Livingston explains his rationale for the never-ending and sometimes ruthless training programs for which he was known “I led by example,” he wrote, “and was always shaved, had my gear in order, and was always in the front of a fight or PT run. You have to lead from the front…anyone can shout orders from the rear, but I would not want to follow such “leaders” into harm’s way either.” Sound policy as he led his Marines during the firefights so prevalent in pre-Tet Offensive’s Quang Tri Province.

Most actions resulting in a Medal of Honor are short in duration; Noble Warrior recounts how Livingston earned his during the pitched battle at Dai Do. Written in an understated style that belies the intensity of the fight, Livingston narrates how an understrength battalion landing team found itself locked in a three-day battle against 7,000 experienced North Vietnamese regulars.

With Golf 2/4 finding unexpectedly heavy resistance when assaulting Dai Do, Livingston’s Echo Co was ordered to assist. After their first two attacks stalled, he personally led the reserves in a charge that broke the enemy lines. Although wounded twice, Livingston directed his Marines in killing the remaining NVA fighting from their bunkers. Only 35 of more than 100 Marines remained combat-effective.

Yet the fight was far from finished. Hearing that Hotel 2/4 was pinned down by numerically superior NVA forces, Livingston moved the remainder of Echo to Hotel’s position where he led the merged companies in yet another charge. After an hour of hand-to-hand fighting, the Marines owned the field…for the moment.

Later in the day the reinforced NVA attacked in force, so Livingston ordered supporting fires and smoke in order to bring the Marines out in a phased withdrawal. Wounded for the third time, he was firing at the NVA when two Marines dragged him out.

Recovering from his wounds, Livingston returned to Vietnam, and under the command of Col Al Gray (later Gen, CMC), was involved in the desperate evacuation of Americans and Vietnamese as Saigon fell in 1975.

Retiring from the Marine Corps in 1995, Noble Warrior further describes how Livingston went on to a successful public service career. Written in a blunt and unyielding style that co-authors Heaton and Lewis wisely left unchanged, “Noble Warrior; The story of MajGen James E. Livingston, USMC (ret), Medal of Honor” is well worth reading.

Senator's Son

There is truth, and there is 'The Truth', and in "Senator's Son", former Marine officer and combat veteran Luke Larson gives us the latter.

Based on his two tours in Ramadi, Larson gives the reader a peek into the world of the junior Marine officer on his first combat tour...age early 20's, highly trained and motivated - and worried spitless that he won't measure up to Chesty Puller, Alexander Vandergrift, John Yancy, and all the other awesome Marines whom he'd studied at TBS and earlier.

Larson brings the reader into his world as the young lieutenants plan their missions, interact with the Marines in their commands, relate with their families back stateside, and all the while worrying how to win a battle in which he's not even sure who is the enemy.

His writing is crisp, clear, and very, very honest; if the reader is upset by the directness and earthy humor of young men at war...then stick to watching M*A*S*H re-runs.

And for those of us who spent time in Ramadi...his mentions of OPVA, Route Michigan, Snake Pit, and 17th St Station are dead-on accurate...you can give this book to your children in 20 years and say "I was there; this is what it was like."

This is Larson's first book. Let's hope we see more from him. Bravo Zulu, Marine - Well Done !!