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Nam-Sense: Surviving Vietnam with the 101st Airborne
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
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Nam-Sense: Surviving Vietnam with the 101st Airborne
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Summary
An honest tour of the Vietnam War from the soldier's eye view...
Nam-Sense is the brilliantly written story of a combat squad leader in the 101st Airborne Division. Arthur Wiknik was a 19-year-old kid from New England when he was drafted into the US Army in 1968. After completing various NCO training programs, he was promoted to sergeant "without ever setting foot in a combat zone" and sent to Vietnam in early 1969. Shortly after his arrival on the far side of the world, Wiknik was assigned to Camp Evans, a mixed-unit base camp near the Northern village of Phong Dien, only 30 miles from Laos and North Vietnam.
On his first jungle patrol, his squad killed a female Viet Cong who turned out to have been the local prostitute. It was the first dead person he had ever seen. Wiknik's account of life and death in Vietnam includes everything from heavy combat to faking insanity to get some R&R. He was the first man in his unit to reach the top of Hamburger Hill during one of the last offensives launched by US forces, and later discovered a weapons cache that prevented an attack on his advance fire support base.
Between the sporadic episodes of combat he mingled with the locals, tricked unwitting US suppliers into providing his platoon with a year of hard-to-get food, defied a superior and was punished with a dangerous mission, and struggled with himself and his fellow soldiers as the anti-war movement began to affect his ability to wage victorious war. Nam-Sense offers a perfect blend of candor, sarcasm, and humor, and it spares nothing and no one in its attempt to accurately convey what really transpired for the combat soldier during this unpopular war.
Nam-Sense is not about heroism or glory, mental breakdowns, haunting flashbacks, or wallowing in self-pity. The soldiers Wiknik lived and fought with during his yearlong tour did not rape, murder, or burn villages, were not strung out on drugs, and did not enjoy killing. They were there to do their duty as they were trained, support their comrades, and get home alive.
"The soldiers I knew," explains the author, "demonstrated courage, principle, kindness, and friendship, all the elements found in other wars Americans have proudly fought in." Wiknik has produced a gripping and complete record of life and death in Vietnam, and he has done so with a style and flair few others will ever achieve.
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What listeners say about Nam-Sense: Surviving Vietnam with the 101st Airborne
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr. R. Moseley
- 20-06-23
Interesting perspective
I enjoyed the book - the narration in my opinion didn’t need the change of voices for certain characters but overall a good account of one man’s year in Vietnam.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Pete W
- 27-04-20
Received and understood.
From the moment the audio book started I was transported into the authors mind and his experiences...12 months of hell! A great listen.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Martin Scoley
- 24-07-21
Engaging
It's ok. but aspects of the authors behaviour I do not like, condone or respect.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr D
- 03-07-22
Great listen
Have listened to this book twice now , really well narrated and a great account from the author of his tour of duty . Funny in parts but also serious where needed 5*
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- wayne jackson
- 01-08-24
outstanding
when us civilians think about Vietnam, we think of gooks,drugs & booby traps..yet that was a tiny section of the war with the majority of boredom in-between..This book 📖 is a nam book like no other , its extremely funny and filled with the cheekiness I'm guilty of myself..read it within days as I couldn't stop listening to it...very well narration leaving you laughing outloud manytimes,much to my wife's frustration 😀 😄...but its also got a sorryful thread of stress & tension reminding you that it's a war book.. best book ihave come across so far on audible 10-10
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mr James D Millard
- 16-08-22
Ooh-aah-ee
Great story. I always enjoy hearing first hand accounts and personal history, so I found this very interesting and quite harrowing. The only thing that drove me crazy was the pronunciation of Hawaii, a little like the "Yuman" narrator in the Chiimp Paradox.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Robert Vernon
- 01-02-23
Great book
It was a very good story and I learnt a lot I didn't know aboute the war and was told in a very good way.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Viano
- 05-10-23
Highly Recommended
Couldn’t possibly imagine what these guys went through during their tour, but this will give you a glimpse. Outstanding personal account. Funny, sad, surreal and everything in between.
Thank you.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Stewie
- 16-05-21
Dragged kicking and screaming
If you wanted a story of a brave heroic soldier, keen for the fight, you’ll be disappointed. What you get is an unfiltered view of a good soldier, in a war he didn’t ask to be in, in a place he didn’t want to be fighting in - working for intense or incompetent leaders enabled only by their rank.
If you’ve served, you’ll relate to this mans story. Would highly recommend.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 20-04-23
First-hand account of why Vietnam war was lost
Selfish, self-centered, unmotivated POS trying to mask his lack of EVERYTHING as the opposite of what he is.
But he has a point when criticizing the Army. He never should have been an NCO nor in the 101st Airborne. I wonder if he ever understood that his bad attitude/being selfish WAS the problem the whole time.
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