In the past few week I’ve kept reading Blood on the Risers by John Leppelman. I have finished my book in the past week. I really enjoyed this book since it is a true story about someone who was a paratrooper in Vietnam and the hardships that he faced in country. This book is mostly on him in the field so far and what he does every day. It goes over most days and sometimes it he says that he skips a couple of weeks in his story. He normally goes over the major events that happen and if anything important happen then he will talk about it. He also talks about what happens when they’re not on the front line and they have time to rest back at a base for a few days. They always end up going out most nights to the town and enjoying themselves. The author doesn’t normally talk to much about it but he did say that once he woke up early in the morning after he spent the night sleeping in the street. He also said that some of the people that when they visit the town will carry a gun with them. Since they’re paratroopers most people won't want to mess with them. Lepp and his friends went to the town of Bien Hoa and their were infantry in a bar that they wanted to go in and take over. The infantry that were inside the bar all got up and left without a fight since they know what the paratroopers are and what they can do. Also they don’t like the intelligence and the people that just stay in the rear. Those people only hear about what is going on and they don’t know what is actually going on or how hard it really is. They just expect them to meet or exceed a certain number of body count or distance traveled in a day. During one of their tours they had a major from the rear come forward and join them for a few days. The major came in when they army flew in some hot food for the soldiers and he came with it. Everyone that was in their camp hated this major an example of this is in a conversation with Lepp “When I got up to him, I tried to avoid looking at him, hoping he would pick on someone else. ‘Hey, soldier,’ he said loudly. I glanced to my left and said, ‘Who, me?’ ‘Who me, what?’ I was getting mad. ‘ Who me, Major?’ He looked at me with obvious distaste. ‘Why is your shirt unbuttoned, troop?’ ‘Because it’s hot, Major.’ He appeared to be getting madder. ‘ button it up, soldier, and hand me your rifle.’ I unslung my rifle from my shoulder and handed it to the jerk. As I buttoned the top button on fatigue shirt, he jacked the bold back and gave me a shocked look.” it keeps going like this for a little while between the two of them since the major wants everyone to follow the rules exactly and not deviate at all but when you’re in the field and fighting you do what you have to to survive. This major caused issues for people, that afternoon he made many people dig him a latrine. It stood out significantly in the hill side. Later the next day when the major went in to use his latrine the enemy started shelling the area. They were trying to hit the latrine and when they did the major went flying with his pant down around his ankles and everyone that saw it cheered since no one liked him and no one went over to help him when he was calling for help. As soon as the enemy hit him they stopped firing. This part of the book is similar to the previous part of the book but he is becoming more comfortable with what he is doing every day. His job seems interesting and a job that I would want to do in the air force currently. Being a paratrooper is the first job that i wanted to have as an enlisted person in the air force. This book has shown me some of the different things that can be done in the military and what you have to do get something that you want. He has done three different jobs in the Army and each were a little bit different and took some different skills and abilities.
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May 2017
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