Parthian Shot

By Loyd Little

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804100047
• ISBN13: 9780804100045
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 289 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.

Customer Reviews

GREEN BERETS UNLEASHED!!!

AS AN OLD VIETNAM ERA SPECIAL FORCES VETERAN, I WAS TOLD BY ANOTHER OLD SFr TO "READ THAT DAMNED BOOK!" IT'S A CASE OF A CONTINUAL, ROLL IN THE FLOOR, HILARIOUS, ONE SCREW-UP AFTER ANOTHER, SCREAMINGLY FUNNY SERIES OF ALL-TOO-BELIEVABLE UNBELIEVABLE MESSES PILED ONE ON TOP OF ANOTHER!!! IT STARTS WITH THEIR LOSING RADIO CONTACT WITH "HIGHER UP" JUST PRIOR TO THIER SCHEDULED RELIEF AND ROTATING BACK TO THE STATES. A FEW WEEKS LATER, THEY MANAGE TO RE-ESTABLISH CONTACT ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT THEY HAVE (PRESUMABLY) ALREADY BEEN SENT HOME. THEY ARE ALSO TOLD THAT THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY VIET CONG WHO GOT HOLD OF AMERICAN EQUIPMENT AND CODES AND IF THEY TRY THIS TRICK AGAIN, THEY'LL BE BOMBED OFF THE FACE OF THE PLANET! FROM THERE, THEIR NEED TO FIND SOME MEANS OF "SUPPORT" (OTHER THAN THE BRASSIERE FACTORY THEY PUT TOGETHER) INVOLVES THEM IN THE FUNNIEST SERIES OF MISADVENTURES YOU COULD NEVER IMAGINE! WAR IS OFTEN A CIRCUS OF BLACK HUMOR -- THIS IS A GREAT EXAMPLE!

Well Written story of a Special Forces A-team in Vietnam

Little, I believe, was actually an Army Special Forces medic in Vietnam in the early 60's. His book is beautifully satiric and features some seldom-depicted characters of Special Forces legend. Anyone wanting to get a look at how Special Forces used to be when young men still heeded JFK's call should read this. The plot features a team working with the Hao Hao religious minority in Vietnam's Delta region in the early 60's, before the massive influx of U.S. troops. The team has somehow been forgotten by Saigon when the team's higher HQ is rotated back to the states. The team decides to wait and work with the Hoa Hao until the mess is straightened out. In the meantime, the team starts a brassiere and lawn chair factory, commissions a Rand corporation study to look for ways to keep the Hoa Hao out of the fighting, and the team medic (the narrator) is ordained a water-walking saint in the Hoa Hao religion. A howl of a book.