The Expendables - Softcover

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Military fiction buffs looking for immersion in authentic renderings of infantry combat will appreciate Scott's ( The Hill ) latest Vietnam war story. Shawn Flynn returns from fighting in Vietnamp. 62 to find his home life has gone sour. His career almost goes the same way until a pal with some rank gets him in on developing a new unit, the First Cavalry (Airmobile) Division. Shawn's best men turn out to be an unlikely quartet joined by strong bonds formed during basic and airborne training: Blake Alexander, whose only constant in life is in failing to meet his rich father's high standards; Vinny Martino, a South Philadelphian who grew up streetwise; Eugene Day, a black radical civil rights activist; and Lee Calhoon, a hardworking but poor rural Georgian. Together they face battles against North Vietnamese regulars. These characters are not drawn with finesse or depth, but they are established as individuals and this is adequate to Scott's purposes: the sense of horror instilled by his battle scenes depends not on the drama of these particular characters caught up in such carnage, but from our comprehending that real people were.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Scott's fourth Vietnam novel (The Hill, 1989, etc.) is reminiscent of an old John Wayne movie, with Barry Sadler's ``Ballad of the Green Berets'' for background. We begin in 1953, seeing the young man who will become the Grizzled Old Sergeant get his first taste of action in Korea. Then we see the early years of the men whose fates will be determined in combat. There are, among others, the Unhappy Rich Kid, out to prove himself; the Angry Black Guy who hates ``the Man''; the Tough Italian Stud from the big city; the Simple Southern Hillbilly whose innate goodness belies his ``white trash'' background; and an Even More Grizzled Old Sergeant--all of whom are thrown into the mix, a mix in which the noncoms are toughened warriors with hearts of gold beneath their gruff exteriors; the officers come in two flavors (naive--West Point; good guys--ex-college jocks); and just about everyone else functions as a Plot Element. The most interesting parts here are the often humorous takes on basic training and Scott's description of some of the final conflict--the classic 35-day battle of the Ia Drang in which 304 Americans died--from the Vietcong viewpoint. But finding out which members of Our Gang survive for the truly maudlin conclusion is about the only motivation that will keep some readers going to the end. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.