Chasing Understanding in the Jungles of Vietnam: My Year as a Black Scarf

Summary

Author Doug Beed relates his memories of the men and missions during his year (1968–69) as a combat soldier with the First Infantry Division in Vietnam. After two years of college he couldn't afford to continue, so he was forced to relinquish his student deferment and enter the draft. He tried various strategies to get a non-combat job; nevertheless, he ended up in the infantry and was assigned to Vietnam.

The stories in this book depict the year Doug spent in Alpha Company, where he spent days on patrols finding and killing North Vietnamese soldiers along the hundreds of miles of trails heading for the Saigon. These stories range from funny to tragic, from uplifting to extremely frustrating, and from touching to horrifying. This book gives the listener a sense of life in the infantry in 1968 and 1969.