Gordon Steinbrook was a young tenderfoot army second lieutenant, commissioned out of college, and newly married, when he received his orders for Vietnam in 1966. At that time the war was rapidly escalating: the United States hoped for a quick resolution of the conflict through massive amounts of American firepower and troop strength. Steinbrook was no ideologue; like so many of his compatriots, he saw Vietnam service as a job to be done, efficiently and quickly, and then home again as soon and as safely as possible. What elevates Steinbrook’s account into a special category was his assignment as an artillery forward observer with Australian and New Zealand allied troops.
In the American national debate and hand-wringing over the Vietnam War, an often forgotten component of the war is the service of several allied contingents—Koreans, Australians, New Zealanders, Filipinos. The experience of these forces—who often participated in heavy fighting—has not been well reported or studied, not even in the countries that provided the troops. Accounts of the attitudes of these troops toward the war, and toward their ostensible Vietnamese and American allies, are a major contribution of Steinbrook’s book.
The author has created the account of his experience through a skillful blend of memories and letters home; the result is an engaging and unpretentious depiction of what the war was like for an ordinary young man who saw exceptional service in America’s most troubling war.
Gordon L. Steinbrook is a history instructor at Columbus High School in Columbus, Nebraska.