Dutch

From Rising Sun to the Rise of Jihad, Six Decades of Service

By: Kim Kipling

Narrated by: Kim Kipling

Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Master Sergeant Jan W. “Dutch” Wierenga is a little known but highly respected Special Forces and CIA legend. He has served the USA for 60 years in total, in some of the most dangerous and difficult circumstances imaginable. Born in Indonesia in 1936, he and his family spent a total of four years imprisoned in Japanese and Indonesian internment camps under unspeakably harsh conditions. They were rescued under fire by British Gurkha troops in 1946. He was running jungle combat patrols by age 16, and emigrated to Holland by cargo ship in 1955. He arrived in the USA in 1960, became a US citizen and enlisted in the US Army in 1963, serving three tours in Vietnam. A Green Beret, he was a Recon Team leader in the then-secret, now legendary MACV/SOG, running some of the most harrowing and highly-classified missions of the Vietnam War. He later served as a Special Forces Team Sergeant, Recon Instructor, HALO parachuting instructor, and First Sergeant of the Special Forces Training School. He was the Senior NCO at the founding of the Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape (SERE) program under COL James “Nick” Rowe. Dutch earned numerous combat decorations including the Silver Star, four Bronze Stars and the Purple Heart. He retired from the Army in 1986.

Dutch then joined the CIA as a Paramilitary Operations Officer. He conducted numerous clandestine missions for CIA, including serving as a Battalion Adviser to the Nicaraguan “Contras” and acting as Chief of Station in a war-torn African country. He became a beloved Training Instructor at the CIA's “Farm”, serving in that capacity until he finally retired in Spring 2022. Now, his incredible life story can at last be told. This book is the biography of this remarkable American patriot. It contains numerous first-hand descriptions of Vietnam combat, CIA operations, and other historic events. It was written by a friend and CIA colleague.

©2022 Kim Kipling (P)2022 Kim Kipling

Great story of a great man.

when I heard about Dutches passing I went back and re-read his book.
his story was truly amazing and in my opinion, it deserves to be made into a movie.

Very Well Written

The life and stories of this amazing man are almost unbelievable. To know that Dutch not only lived through all of this but is still cognitive enough to recall enough details to create this book is amazing. The author managed to craft a vivid and thorough retelling of Dutch's life and illustrious career.

Fascinating OG paramilitary hero

Grateful I saw this as a recommendation and picked this title out. Dutch and the men he served alongside in MACV-SOG have their stories of heroism and selfless service live on in this book, as reminders of who the most exceptional Americans should strive to be like.

Note

I appreciated the author's frankness regarding the current state of the agency at the end of the book.

True American Hero

This is a very well written book about the life and times of a fascinating American hero. While the story covered 60 years it was never anything but fast paced and interesting. I purchased three hard copy books for friends but they never got them because others wanted to read them first. I got the audio book to enjoy while driving. The author who narrates the book has a strong, easily understood voice and has a passion for the story, his friend, and his country. Am looking forward to reading more from this author. Thank you to you and Dutch for your service.

Fascinating look at an Incredible Individual.

I really enjoyed learning about Dutch's incredible life and career of service. It is hard to believe that one person could experience and accomplish so much in one lifetime.

The narration was made better by the fact that it was narrated by the author. He was well versed in the information included and therefore didn't have difficulty with the narration, names, acronyms etc. that you sometimes experience with audiobooks.

An Exciting True Story of a Remarkable Patriot

This is a very enjoyable audiobook, documenting the incredible life story of a true patriot. Never mind the snarky reviews of a couple of nitpickers below; this is a great listen.

Great story, poorly told

Great story, but the writer is not good. The author read for the audio book and did a bad job.

Fantastic American, painstaking listen

This book is about a great American who gave decades to a country he did not grow up in. The story was written like a government cable, at the 6th grade level with short & to-the-point sentences with NO literary poise. It is excruciatingly painful to listen to, and it repeats itself constantly with quotes from the subject stating some fact, preceded immediately by the author having just stated the same fact, using the exact same words, with no apparent editorial license to take pity on the reader. The chapters are arranged as if this is a chronological debrief, not a story. Some chapters have just a short one or two minutes of content. If I didn’t have such respect for the subject, I would have stopped listening after the intro.

redacted

the sections on SOG are very interesting otherwise Dutch seems like a real redacted