On Point : A Rifleman’s Year in the Boonies: Vietnam 1967-1968

The young draftee was a typical army rifleman: a grunt. Most of his tour he spent “humping the boonies,” on patrol searching for an elusive enemy. There were hours, even days of enervating boredom as Hayes & his comrades in arms trudged through the jungles, punctuated by the moments of sheer terror & exhiliration of the fire fight: a sudden ambush or two opposing units stumbling into each other. For much of the time, Private Hayes (ultimately he was promoted to sergeant) was the pointman, leading the way for his unit. This was a position of special responsibility, requiring absolute alertness, keen eyes, & even keener ears. If the pointman was skilled, he survived, & his unit survived: if he wasn’t . Although wounded four times during his year in the boonies, Roger Hayes survived to tell the tale. The author’s time in Vietnam was marked by stark contrasts. As the end of 1967 approached victory seemed near. General Westmoreland was seeing light at the end of the tunnel. The hard-charging American soldiers were the masters of the battlefield: masters, that is, whenever they were able to get the Viet Cong & NVA forces to stand up & fight. Then came February 1968 & the Tet Offensive. Initial Viet Cong & NVA successes captured the attention of the American media. While the enemy was soundly defeated over the days that followed the surprise attacks, the battles for Hue in the north & the Cholon district of Saigon in the south lasted a long, agonizing month. As the number of American deaths mounted, the sentiment at home turned against the war & defeatism started to eat away at the troops in the field. pp. xx, 249 140715