Roger Hayes

Good book. Hayes tells of his year in a Mechanized Infantry unit in a calm, unadorned fashion. He employs no obscenity, a rare thing in a combat memoir, often displaying a dry wit so subtle you could almost miss it. Hayes walked point often, was a volunteer tunnel rat, and a mortar and machine gun man too. He "instructs" his readers in tactics, OP's and LP's and warns you off powdered "green eggs" for reasons Dr Seuss never imagined. ON POINT was first published nearly 20 years ago, a part of the glut of Vietnam books that flooded the market. There is some quiet heroism displayed in these pages, by many GI's. Hayes' own is very understated, but it is there. I'll say it again. Good book. And Roger Hayes was an exemplary soldier.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the Cold War memoir, SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA… (mehr)