Boot: A Sorta Novel of Vietnam by Charles L. Templeton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There is a plethora of novels about the Vietnam War out there, and none of them are quite like this one. “Boot: a sorta novel of Vietnam” is centered about George Orwell Hill (G.O. to his comrades), a young marine who learns the hard way how tough a war can be on an individual’s mind. From the moment his boots touch the ground in Vietnam, G.O. must learn to compartmentalize his morals, emotions, and his humanity in order to carry out both his mission and to survive what is to come. Weaving the bloody and dark humor only a soldier who has served can understand into this story, the author gives us a gripping insight into the mind of a soldier at the time.
My time in service came roughly 30 years after the Vietnam War was fought and I can say that much of what was described by the author, in terms of the camaraderie you develop with your fellow soldiers, or the mindset you need to put yourself in during a campaign on foreign soil in order to do your job and survive, still happens. This was a well-researched and written book that is a good starting point for anyone seeking to understand the psyche of the US Marine during that time.


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