Reluctant Warrior, by Michael C. Hodgins

Reluctant Warrior: A Marine's True Story of Duty and Heroism in Vietnam, by Michael C. Hodgins
Fawcett Columbine, 1966
300 pages, plus Appendices, Bibliography, Index and 8 pages of b&w photos
Library: 959.704 HOD

Description
By the spring of 1970, politicians had determined the outcome of the war in Vietnam. But, for the troops in the field, it was a dangerous time. Morale was low, casualties were mounting, and no one - soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine-wanted to be the last mother's son killed in Vietnam.

In I Corps - northern South Vietnam-the Marines of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel "Wild Bill" Drumright, were assigned to cover the withdrawal of 1st Marine Division. Under Drumright, the Marines of 1st RECON Bn (Rein) operated in small teams of six or seven men. Heavily armed, often led by a lieutenant, the teams fought a multitude of bitter engagements with a numerically superior and increasingly aggressive enemy to ensure that their fellow Marines could be withdrawn safely.

Michael C. Hodgins served in Company C, 1st RECON Bn (Rein), as a platoon leader during Drumright's rein. In powerful, graphic prose, Hodgins chronicles his experience as a patrol leader in myriad combat situations, both traumatic and poignant, while capturing the essence of tactical decisions and the self-doubt that accompanies them.

From hasty ambush to emergency extraction to prisoner snatch to combined-arms ambush, Mike Hodgins takes the reader step-by-step through the "troop-leading process" and the numerous anxious, at times fearsome, events that process inevitably involves in war. The accomplishments of the teams he led, documented by official Marine records, exemplifies small-unit combat leadership as well as the daily heroism that was routine for Marines of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion.

Table of Contents
Prologue
Introduction
1. Welcome Aboard
2. The Lieutenant's Protective Association
3. Warrior at Large
4. Turf Club
5. Charlie Ridge
6. Valhalla
7. The Fort
8. The Gauntlet
9. The Snatch
Epilogue
Appendix 1 - I Corps
Appendix 2 - Patrol report for Turf Club
Appendix 3 - Patrol Report for Sunrise
Bibliography
Index