Swift Boats at War in Vietnam

By: Guy Gugliotta, John Yeoman, Neva Sullaway

Narrated by: David Colacci, Susan Ericksen

Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Developed specifically for the Vietnam War (and made famous by the 2004 presidential campaign), Swift Boats were versatile craft "big enough to outrun anything they couldn't outfight" but too small to handle even a moderate ocean chop, too loud to sneak up on anyone, and too flimsy to withstand the mildest of rocket attacks. This made more difficult an already tough mission: navigating coastal waters for ships and sampans smuggling contraband to the Viet Cong, disrupting enemy supply lines on the rivers and canals of the Mekong Delta, and inserting SEALs behind enemy lines.

The stories in this book cover the Swift Boats' early years, which saw search-and-inspect operations in Vietnam's coastal waters, and their later years, when the Swift Boats' mission shifted to the Mekong Delta's labyrinth of 3,000 miles of rivers, streams, and canals. This is an intimate, exciting oral history of Swift Boats at war in Vietnam.

©2017 Guy Gugliotta, John Yeoman, and Neva Sullaway (P)2018 Tantor

Ride with the Swift Boats

Personal accounts of life on a Swift Boat in Vietnam that immerse the reader with the entire range of human emotion. The reader feels as if he is onboard living the experience in each of these stories. An excellent book.

Character voices

A good book but the narrator’s attempt at Impersonating the different characters left much to be desired.

A slow boat to Vietnam

A collection of anecdotes rather than a story. The short choppy lack of continuity made it difficult to engage. Combined with the expressionless reading, I could not finish this one.

Great listen.

There are many great individual stories in this book.It is well worth the time to listen to it.

A glimpse into the past. Without bias and bravado.

Got me right in the feels. My family tree is filled with veterans. I loved how this brought all their stories together and gave them life again.

Great book

Narration was fantastic and the content, pulled from various swift boat veterans, was incredible. Thank you to everyone involved!

Great collection of stories

I knew little about swift boats, great stories from different perspectives. worth the listen.

Well worth listening to.

I had heard about the Swift Boat Navy, but never knew their stories. I am glad that I listened, as it was informative and entertaining. I loved the reader's voice, as it is low key and seemed to portray the matter of fact attitude of a soldier/sailor who questions why his superiors make such dumb decisions that can get them killed.
I also liked that it tells stories of dozens of people, and gives some background on them, instead of just telling the Vietnam part.
I actually found myself finding time to listen, and finished it in four days. That confirms that I liked it a lot.

Amazing listen!

New authors and narrators for me. Wow!! Loved this! All the different experiences create a myriad portrait of struggles, hardships overcame, pain, and everything that will stay with an individual. It's so interesting to hear/read/see how service members deal with being in a war, their views, and what comes after. Each war has treated our brave men and differently, especially when they come home. My heart breaks for those who came back to a home that turned its back on them. War is hell, but mostly for those fighting in it and they don't deserve hate for doing what most can't.

Good 1st hand stories from those that were there

this is a very insightful book w many 1st hand accounts of experiences on the Swift Boats, the time, and the return from Vietnam.

A stories that need to be told

Very interesting listening to something I knew nothing of,
I would recommend this book if you want to learn about another aspect of the Vietnam War.

Great stories about swift boats from Vietnam

Great to hear different stories from the service men who did their duties and the time when another country needed them, sad when their own country turned their backs on them when they returned home.
I wish the narrator could have used different voices to help tell their story.
The perspective one gets from their service is they did their best and handled over the necessary equipment to make the South work to win the war, sadly we all know how the war turned out.
I hope to see a movie out of Swift water navy.

retired sailor.

Easy listening and great stories.

Very well researched with great personal stories from the point of view of each story teller.
Admittedly, in my minds eye I kept visualising PBR's in the stories rather than swifts.
I recommend having a quick research of swift boats and maps before listening just to help sent the scene.
Because it's an audio book it does lack the visual cues of the photos and maps/diagrams required for a story like this. However it was still outstanding.
At no point did I feel any gun ho moments which publishers like to force into some books.
This is pure reminiscences. Humorous, tragic, happiness, sadness, emotional numbness, excitement and boredom.
Truly a great testament to the men's memories.