Soldiers Once

About the Book

     Vietnam! On the battlefield and at home it was our nation´s longest and most contentious war. Soldiers Once is a telling account of men who fought an early year of that war - our men and theirs - and women caught up in the struggle.

     Ramsey and Douglas, reluctant warriors in the famed 1st Air Cavalry, are thrust into the greenish hell of jungle combat in 1965, when victory was not only possible but a given. We follow the two along the banks of the River Meur and into the Id Drang Valley, where we see the price America´s youth paid for these early victories. As the story unfolds, we meet Saito Hirosaki, who finds a calling in a profession he did not choose. Douglas and Domingo Morales, his carefree sidekick, hold Sergeant Druthers, their former drill sergeant, in contempt - initially. Captain Robinson´s dreams of glory fade in the harsh reality of infantry combat. His commander, Colonel Wendon Ambrose Bickford, sees the war as a stepping stone to stars.

     Opposing them are soldiers of a similar breed, every bit as dedicated to the cause they serve. There is General Chu Huy Man, whose grand plan to sever the country during the embryonic stages of the allied buildup goes awry. Private Phan Dinh Nhu is a peasant farmer who would rather be back in his native Red River Delta, atop his gentle carabao, overseeing glimmering waves of rice. Senior Lieutenant Thanh Duy Vo proves to be a man of many tricks, while Colonel Nguyen Loan Ngoc´s chance encounter with a beehive aside Highway One has disastrous consequences. Co Hein, the seductive informer, no longer cares which side wins. She just wants the killing to stop.

     Back home, Carol Robinson´s uninhibited lust for another man threatens her marriage. Elizabeth Bickford, "the colonel´s wife," finds both solace and terror in her bouts with alcohol. Tamamura, Saito´s sister and Ramsey´s betrothed, discovers she´s pregnant. Douglas´ college heartthrob, Sandra, joins a fledgling antiwar movement.

     The story moves at an explosive pace from Vietnam´s fiery jungles to sleazy haunts in Honolulu, Bangkok and Manila, and back again to an unexpected finale. Along the way Ramsey and Douglas undergo the warrior´s rite of passage, a lesson in courage and fallibility, laughter and pain. A change that, for better or worse, cannot be undone. Indeed, it will become the legacy of Vietnam.

About the Author

James Estep enlisted in the Army as a private in the fall of 1957 and retired from it, nearly thirty-two years later, as a colonel. He served in Vietnam as a Special Forces non-commissioned and commissioned officer, an infantry company commander in the 1st Air Cavalry Division, and an ARVN advisor, during four separate tours. His decorations include the Legion of Merit, the Silver Star, and three Purple Hearts. Comanche Six, an earlier book, is a memoir of his experiences in Vietnam. Estep is a graduate of Auburn University and the Army War College and resides with his family in Jonas Ridge, North Carolina.