An Accidental Soldier, by Manny Garcia

An Accidental Soldier: Memoirs of a Mestizo in Vietnam, by Manny Garcia
University of New Mexico Press, 2003
278 pages, no index, No photos
Library: 959.704 GAR

Description
"I was born in a log cabin just like Abe Lincoln, except our cabin was a rental." Starting with this account of his humble origins, Manny Garcia, who describes himself as a "left-handed, rather contrary Mestizo-American" has written a memoir that begins in late 1947 in the San Luis Valley of Southern Colorodo. His journey takes him to Utah and ultimately to Vietnam.

In late 1965, a cocky, naive, alienated teenager, Garcia joined the army almost accidentally, enlisting for three years. At eighteen he became an Airborne Ranger, a combat infantryman with the crack First Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, the Screaming Eagles. His book shows you the war from the point man position, up close and personal, at eye level.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1: The Chameleon
Part 1: The Myth of Training
2: The REcruit
3. The Infantryman
4. Airborne Ranger
Part 2: When Men Are Shot At
5. Cherry
6. Hell's Foyer
7. The Field Trip
8. Lady Killer
Part 3: Full of Emptiness
9. Headshot
10. Strike Force
11. Jungle Rat
12. I Corps
13. Bastogne REvisited
Part 4: Armistice and Eloquence
14. Foul
15. Left-handed Eloquence
16. Hindsight and Movement
Epilogue