Reflections of a Warrior : Six Years as a Green Beret in Vietnam

From Publishers Weekly
Miller served with the Army in Vietnam from 1966 to '72, winning the Medal of Honor and six Purple Hearts. Writing with Army captain Kureth he here discusses the attractions of combat: "I loved it. I couldn't get enough." Miller is aggressively outspoken and repugnant about the business of killing ("Genuine killers are not to be confused with guys who simply spray the area and happen to kill someone") and objectionably recalls that he nearly murdered his Vietnamese girlfriend for no particular reason ("To this day I'm not sure why I wanted to kill her"). After his Medal of Honor exploit his superiors consigned him to a psychiatric ward purportedly in order to remove him from the combat zone. Miller found peacetime duty almost unendurable ("My extensive combat skills and ass-kicking abilities were no longer needed") but recovered his morale as an infantry instructor. He is still on active duty with the Army. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
The Special Operations Group (SOG), a small unit that operated behind enemy lines during the Vietnam War, has gotten remarkably little historical examination. This memoir by Congressional Medal of Honor-winner Miller describes some of the actions of this unusual unit. Miller was sent to Vietnam in 1966, and once he discovered he was very good at combat, managed to remain there until 1972 when his status as a recipient of the nation's highest military medal (and hence a soldier to be protected from further hazardous duty) forced him back to the States. His exploits are disturbingly and vividly told, with the frank language and gruesome detail that is common to descriptions of close combat; there is an especially harrowing description of the action that got him the Medal of Honor. For students of the war there are many glimpses into the workings of the SOG. The book's sanguine tone somewhat mars recommending this for general readers.- Mel D. Lane, Sacramento, Cal.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Review
Library Journal Miller's exploits are disturbingly and vividly told, with the frank language and gruesome detail that is common to descriptions of close combat, especially a harrowing description of the action that got him the Medal of Honor.


Review
Library Journal Miller's exploits are disturbingly and vividly told, with the frank language and gruesome detail that is common to descriptions of close combat, especially a harrowing description of the action that got him the Medal of Honor.


Review
Library Journal Miller's exploits are disturbingly and vividly told, with the frank language and gruesome detail that is common to descriptions of close combat, especially a harrowing description of the action that got him the Medal of Honor.


Book Description
PFC Franklin Miller arrived in Vietnam in March 1966, and saw his first combat in a Reconnaissance Platoon. So began an odyssey that would make him into one of the most feared and respected men in the Special Forces elite, who made their own rules in the chaos of war. In the exclusive world of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Studies and Observation Group, Miller ran missions deep into enemy territory to gather intelligence, snatch prisoners, and to kill. Leading small bands of battle-hardened Montagnard and Meo tribesmen, he was fierce and fearless -- fighting army policy to stay in combat for six tours. On a top-secret mission in 1970, Miller and a handful of men, all critically injured, held off the NVA in an incredible Alamo-like stand -- for which he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. When his time in Southeast Asia ended, he had also received the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, an Air Medal, and six Purple Hearts. This is his incredible story.


About the Author
Franklin Miller was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor, the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, the Air Medal, and six Purple Hearts in four years in combat, prompting Gen. Henry H. Shelton, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to call him "an icon to what service in the armed forces is about." He retired from the army in 1992 as a command sergeant major, becoming a benefits counselor for the Veterans Administration. He passed away on June 30, 2000.


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In the exclusive world of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Studies and Observation Group, Miller ran missions deep into enemy territory to gather intelligence, snatch prisoners, and to kill. Leading small bands of battle-hardened Montagnard and Meo tribesmen, he was fierce and fearless -- fighting army policy to stay in combat for six tours. On a top-secret mission in 1970, Miller and a handful of men, all critically injured, held off the NVA in an incredible Alamo-like stand -- for which he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. When his time in Southeast Asia ended, he had also received the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, an Air Medal, and six Purple Hearts. This is his incredible story.


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