Accidental Soldier Memoir of a Mestizo in Vietnam

9780826330130

0826330134

"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 Colorado and takes him to Utah and a stint as a Mormon and ultimately to Vietnam. In late 1965, a cocky, naïve, 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.