Father, Soldier, Son: Memoir of a Platoon Leader In Vietnam

By: Nathaniel Tripp

Narrated by: Jeff Zinn

Nathaniel Tripp grew up fatherless in a house full of women, and he arrived in Vietnam as a just-promoted second lieutenant in the summer of 1968 with no memory of a man's example to guide and sustain him. The father missing from Tripp's life had gone off to war as well, in the navy in World War II, but the terrors were too much for him, he disgraced himself, and after the war ended he could not bring himself to return to his wife and young son. Tripp tells of how he learned as a platoon leader to become something of a father to the men in his care, how he came to understand the strange trajectory of his mentally unbalanced father's life, and how the lessons he learned under fire helped him in the raising of his own sons.

©1996 Nathaniel Tripp (P)2012 Steerforth Press L.L.C.

Critic reviews

"Father, Soldier, Son will stand as one of the finest soldier memoirs of the Vietnam War . . . If all that has been written about the war in Vietnam, in fiction and nonfiction, has made it a familiar story to some, Tripp overcomes cliché by individualizing every well-known fact." ( The Boston Globe)

“A searing memoir . . . The reader can almost smell the dank Mekong River, the fear, the rotting flesh. Mud, blood and vegetation swirl on the page, and Mr. Tripp pounds home the sights and sounds.” ( The New York Times, a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year)

"Not since Michael Herr’s Dispatches has there been anything quite as vivid, gripping and soul-searing," ( The Washington Post)

Real Story of Vietnam War

This is the first book I have heard about life in combat during the war. Well told. The narration is well suited to the story.

Not What I Was Expecting

I found the book to be tedious, boring and repetitive, The author chooses to devote a major part of the book to the analysis and reconciliation of his relationship with his veteran father.

Ouch! Really a poorly told story.

Too much irrelevant information. Author needs a good therapist to work through the childhood issues. Not what the book title leads one to believe the book is about.