Bernie W. (bernie2260) reviewed Corpsman Up!: A Marine Medic Struggles with War, God, and Patriotism" on + 119 more book reviews
review Written by Bernie Weisz/Historian, Vietnam War Pembroke Pines, Florida
June 4, 2019 E Mail:BernWei1@aol.com Title of review: "I Found Nothing Exhilarating About Zipping Up Some Mangled Body In An Army Tank Green Body Bag"
Truly a thought provoking book, David Johnson's "Corpsman Up!" will leave the reader upon completing this with a variety of questions and issues. What was accomplished in Vietnam? How many unreported atrocities truly were there? What is the "Military Industrial Complex" and how does it profit from conflict America emeshes itself in? What is Fascism? Does God exist? Is the Bible a bunch of myths? Is Christianity a cult? In terms of "Faith Healing", is taking dying people's money by offering false hope despicable? If a Christian buys health insurance, is that a testimony of disbelief? Does the Bible preach rampant sexism? Was it written for the privileged class for the benefit of the privileged class? Was Jesus gentle, or truly a family man? These issues, and many more will the reader of "Corpsman Up" encounter, surely to raise the ire of some, others the curiosity, indignation and further.
On July 2nd, 1967, Two days before his 21st birthday, David Johnson found himself in Vietnam. Although he was ambivalent about the war, he justified his presence by taking the position that he was fulfilling his obligation to serve his nation, answering America's call. 1967 was a year of intense combat in Vietnam. Johnson made it in time for "Operation Swift", which occurred on September 4th, 1967. This was a search and destroy mission in the Que Son Valley, carried out by the 1st Marine Division. Launched on September 4, 1967 the ensuing battles killed 114 Americans and an estimated 376 North Vietnamese. The operation ended September 15. Other major events that year were Operation Medina, occurring October 10, 1967. This was a was a search and destroy operation conducted in the Hai Lang Forest Reserve of South Vietnam. It lasted till the 20th of October. Johnson, as a witness, continued to question America's presence as the Battle of Ong Thanh, on October 17, 1967 saw the soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry (the "Black Lions"), ambushed and subsequently decimated by a well-entrenched and prepared Viet Cong, regiment outnumbered the Americans almost 10-to-1. Bad went to worse with the Battle of Dak To, November 3 to 22 in the Kontum Province, in the Central Highlands of the Republic of Vietnam and finally Operation Wheeler, on November 11, 1967. This was supposedly an offensive on the part of the Americans, of which the My Lai Massacre by a platoon led by Lt William Calley was part of.
David Johnson's job in Vietnam was as a combat medic. Vietnam combat medics were trained military personnel responsible for providing first aid and frontline trauma care on the battlefield. They were also responsible for providing continuing medical care in the absence of a readily available physician, including care for disease and battle injury. Combat medics were stationed with the combat troops they served in order to easily move within them and monitor their ongoing health. However, as Johnson's tour progressed, his attitude about fulfilling his obligation to his country began to sour. He began asking himself very hard, soul-searching questions. Whose interests was he really serving in Vietnam? The South Vietnamese? Critically viewing these agrarian rice farmers, Johnson realized that all the average Vietnamese peasant cared about was food and housing. What side, Communist North Vietnamese or the supposedly Democratic South offered that security meant very little. And for Johnson, what little combat pay the U.S. military offered meant very little with the risk of being killed a very real possibility. Was Johnson in Vietnam for America? Which America? Lyndon B. Johnson and John McNamara's America, the U.S. companies like "Root and Brown", a/k/a "Haliburton" making billions while the body bags kept coming home, or the youth of this country, faced with ether staying in college, going to Canada or Sweden, or jail?
David Johnson became a casualty of Vietnam on an October, 1967 operation when his unit was ambushed and half of his company was wiped out. Completely depersonalized, Johnson wrote: "While dealing with all the dead and wounded, unbeknown to be, I too had become a casualty of war myself. My greatest loss was my identity. Who was I? Is the naked me the same person once attired? My answer was-no! What made me think I was the person I once thought I was? More importantly,how did I end up in this position, fighting in a war I could find no justification for? David Johnson entered the Marine Corps with a set of values and beliefs inculcated from his upbringing. Seeing descriptions of combat on TV, it turned out to be nothing like what he thought it was going to be like. The defining moment for Johnson came when a dying Marine that he was attending to asked him how God, the god that was supposed to protect him from harm, could let him die half a world away in the fashion he did. Johnson, shaking his head at the uselessness of this war and the futility of death, did not know the answer. The questions of: "Why were we here...dying in some mosquito infested swamp? For what? And who were the beneficiaries?" make up the perplexing questions that Johnson in a no holds barred manner both asks and ANSWERS! And some of those responses could make up a book in itself!
However, David Johnson doesn't just focus on Vietnam? I actually felt that there should have been 3 separate books written on the multitude of different topics he brought up! This man, putting it mildly, is quite a thinker! Issues such as Post Traumatic Stress disorder are dealt with. Johnson has ideas of how the military can prevent, or at least limit it in the first place. Another issue addressed in this fascinating memoir are the problems that veterans (both from the war in Vietnam and what is currently ongoing in Iraq and Afghanistan) face when they leave the military, e.g. unfairly finding themselves four years behind their civilian counterparts after leaving the service. Johnson throws it out there to Americans in "Corpsman Up" if they have the political will to level the playing field between their combatants and those that stayed home and began their careers four years earlier. How do veterans fill that four year gap? Johnson boldly asserts that when pink slips are given out, the first to go are always veterans.
"Corpsman Up" also addresses conflict per se. David Johnson eloquently points out that for most of the past century America has been in one war or another. He asks the reader to consider this and unabashedly asks "why"? However, he doesn't stop there. He asks the reader if America truly is the protector of freedom around the world, or are there ulterior motives? Once again, Johnson's answers within the pages of this book are sure to create controversy. He challenges the premise that because America is supposedly the world's greatest military power, it is our responsibility to protect Democracy. Is it? How true was the "Domino Theory" that America's entry into S.E. Asia was based upon? An extensive discussion of the law of supply and demand ensues. The Military-Industrial Complex is described as an all-too friendly relationship that developed during the Vietnam War between certain defense contractors and the U.S. Government. Both sides received what they were perceivably looking for, i.e. a successful military engagement for war planners (the war in Vietnam) and financial profit for those manning the corporate boardrooms. It can be viewed as a "war for profit" theory. David Johnson is not afraid to point out that if there was no Vietnam, there were no corporate profits. If there is a surplus of supply (guns, planes, tanks, bombs), a "demand" must be created (war in S.E. Asia) and a motive must go along with it (the supposed "Gulf of Tonkin" incident and the "Domino Theory").
There are so many more issues that the reader will come across when reading "Corpsman Up" that it is impossible to read more than 10 pages in this book without going off to the Internet to look up something or to go purchase another book mentioned within these pages. Johnson discusses the My Lai massacre and his feelings about that embarrassing event, America's rearmament of both Germany after W.W.II and Iraq after it's war with Iraq, the definition of Fascism and how it relates to society today, and the ignorance of the thousands fighting fascism when they cannot even define what it was. However, the most controversial part of this book, which I will not give away in this review, is David Johnson's discussion of God, the Bible, science, Evolutionism verses Creationism, Christianity per se, and the belief in what Johnson labels a "higher power". Right or wrong, I applaud this author for having the courage to question some very cherished beliefs and institutions, challenge the integrity of the movers and shakers of this country, and whether or not you agree or not with this book, I can guarantee you that when you finish the last pages of "Corpsman Up" your views on a variety of subjects mentioned within the pages of this memoir will never be the same!!!!! A must read!!!!
June 4, 2019 E Mail:BernWei1@aol.com Title of review: "I Found Nothing Exhilarating About Zipping Up Some Mangled Body In An Army Tank Green Body Bag"
Truly a thought provoking book, David Johnson's "Corpsman Up!" will leave the reader upon completing this with a variety of questions and issues. What was accomplished in Vietnam? How many unreported atrocities truly were there? What is the "Military Industrial Complex" and how does it profit from conflict America emeshes itself in? What is Fascism? Does God exist? Is the Bible a bunch of myths? Is Christianity a cult? In terms of "Faith Healing", is taking dying people's money by offering false hope despicable? If a Christian buys health insurance, is that a testimony of disbelief? Does the Bible preach rampant sexism? Was it written for the privileged class for the benefit of the privileged class? Was Jesus gentle, or truly a family man? These issues, and many more will the reader of "Corpsman Up" encounter, surely to raise the ire of some, others the curiosity, indignation and further.
On July 2nd, 1967, Two days before his 21st birthday, David Johnson found himself in Vietnam. Although he was ambivalent about the war, he justified his presence by taking the position that he was fulfilling his obligation to serve his nation, answering America's call. 1967 was a year of intense combat in Vietnam. Johnson made it in time for "Operation Swift", which occurred on September 4th, 1967. This was a search and destroy mission in the Que Son Valley, carried out by the 1st Marine Division. Launched on September 4, 1967 the ensuing battles killed 114 Americans and an estimated 376 North Vietnamese. The operation ended September 15. Other major events that year were Operation Medina, occurring October 10, 1967. This was a was a search and destroy operation conducted in the Hai Lang Forest Reserve of South Vietnam. It lasted till the 20th of October. Johnson, as a witness, continued to question America's presence as the Battle of Ong Thanh, on October 17, 1967 saw the soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry (the "Black Lions"), ambushed and subsequently decimated by a well-entrenched and prepared Viet Cong, regiment outnumbered the Americans almost 10-to-1. Bad went to worse with the Battle of Dak To, November 3 to 22 in the Kontum Province, in the Central Highlands of the Republic of Vietnam and finally Operation Wheeler, on November 11, 1967. This was supposedly an offensive on the part of the Americans, of which the My Lai Massacre by a platoon led by Lt William Calley was part of.
David Johnson's job in Vietnam was as a combat medic. Vietnam combat medics were trained military personnel responsible for providing first aid and frontline trauma care on the battlefield. They were also responsible for providing continuing medical care in the absence of a readily available physician, including care for disease and battle injury. Combat medics were stationed with the combat troops they served in order to easily move within them and monitor their ongoing health. However, as Johnson's tour progressed, his attitude about fulfilling his obligation to his country began to sour. He began asking himself very hard, soul-searching questions. Whose interests was he really serving in Vietnam? The South Vietnamese? Critically viewing these agrarian rice farmers, Johnson realized that all the average Vietnamese peasant cared about was food and housing. What side, Communist North Vietnamese or the supposedly Democratic South offered that security meant very little. And for Johnson, what little combat pay the U.S. military offered meant very little with the risk of being killed a very real possibility. Was Johnson in Vietnam for America? Which America? Lyndon B. Johnson and John McNamara's America, the U.S. companies like "Root and Brown", a/k/a "Haliburton" making billions while the body bags kept coming home, or the youth of this country, faced with ether staying in college, going to Canada or Sweden, or jail?
David Johnson became a casualty of Vietnam on an October, 1967 operation when his unit was ambushed and half of his company was wiped out. Completely depersonalized, Johnson wrote: "While dealing with all the dead and wounded, unbeknown to be, I too had become a casualty of war myself. My greatest loss was my identity. Who was I? Is the naked me the same person once attired? My answer was-no! What made me think I was the person I once thought I was? More importantly,how did I end up in this position, fighting in a war I could find no justification for? David Johnson entered the Marine Corps with a set of values and beliefs inculcated from his upbringing. Seeing descriptions of combat on TV, it turned out to be nothing like what he thought it was going to be like. The defining moment for Johnson came when a dying Marine that he was attending to asked him how God, the god that was supposed to protect him from harm, could let him die half a world away in the fashion he did. Johnson, shaking his head at the uselessness of this war and the futility of death, did not know the answer. The questions of: "Why were we here...dying in some mosquito infested swamp? For what? And who were the beneficiaries?" make up the perplexing questions that Johnson in a no holds barred manner both asks and ANSWERS! And some of those responses could make up a book in itself!
However, David Johnson doesn't just focus on Vietnam? I actually felt that there should have been 3 separate books written on the multitude of different topics he brought up! This man, putting it mildly, is quite a thinker! Issues such as Post Traumatic Stress disorder are dealt with. Johnson has ideas of how the military can prevent, or at least limit it in the first place. Another issue addressed in this fascinating memoir are the problems that veterans (both from the war in Vietnam and what is currently ongoing in Iraq and Afghanistan) face when they leave the military, e.g. unfairly finding themselves four years behind their civilian counterparts after leaving the service. Johnson throws it out there to Americans in "Corpsman Up" if they have the political will to level the playing field between their combatants and those that stayed home and began their careers four years earlier. How do veterans fill that four year gap? Johnson boldly asserts that when pink slips are given out, the first to go are always veterans.
"Corpsman Up" also addresses conflict per se. David Johnson eloquently points out that for most of the past century America has been in one war or another. He asks the reader to consider this and unabashedly asks "why"? However, he doesn't stop there. He asks the reader if America truly is the protector of freedom around the world, or are there ulterior motives? Once again, Johnson's answers within the pages of this book are sure to create controversy. He challenges the premise that because America is supposedly the world's greatest military power, it is our responsibility to protect Democracy. Is it? How true was the "Domino Theory" that America's entry into S.E. Asia was based upon? An extensive discussion of the law of supply and demand ensues. The Military-Industrial Complex is described as an all-too friendly relationship that developed during the Vietnam War between certain defense contractors and the U.S. Government. Both sides received what they were perceivably looking for, i.e. a successful military engagement for war planners (the war in Vietnam) and financial profit for those manning the corporate boardrooms. It can be viewed as a "war for profit" theory. David Johnson is not afraid to point out that if there was no Vietnam, there were no corporate profits. If there is a surplus of supply (guns, planes, tanks, bombs), a "demand" must be created (war in S.E. Asia) and a motive must go along with it (the supposed "Gulf of Tonkin" incident and the "Domino Theory").
There are so many more issues that the reader will come across when reading "Corpsman Up" that it is impossible to read more than 10 pages in this book without going off to the Internet to look up something or to go purchase another book mentioned within these pages. Johnson discusses the My Lai massacre and his feelings about that embarrassing event, America's rearmament of both Germany after W.W.II and Iraq after it's war with Iraq, the definition of Fascism and how it relates to society today, and the ignorance of the thousands fighting fascism when they cannot even define what it was. However, the most controversial part of this book, which I will not give away in this review, is David Johnson's discussion of God, the Bible, science, Evolutionism verses Creationism, Christianity per se, and the belief in what Johnson labels a "higher power". Right or wrong, I applaud this author for having the courage to question some very cherished beliefs and institutions, challenge the integrity of the movers and shakers of this country, and whether or not you agree or not with this book, I can guarantee you that when you finish the last pages of "Corpsman Up" your views on a variety of subjects mentioned within the pages of this memoir will never be the same!!!!! A must read!!!!
