Steel My Soldiers’ Hearts
The Hopeless to Hardcore Transformation of U.S. Army, 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, Vietnam
About the book
Colonel David H. Hackworth, among the most decorated American soldiers, recounts his 1969 command of the 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry in Vietnam, a unit of poorly led draftees with drained morale and one of the Army's worst casualty rates. In 1966 he and the military historian Samuel Marshall had written the Vietnam Primer, urging small, disciplined units in place of World War II tactics against the hit-and-run Viet Cong, an approach he called Out G'ing the G. Leading from the front, he turned the battalion into the Hardcore Recondos of the Mekong Delta. The narrative covers sniper missions, ambushes, helicopter strikes and the politics of command, and Hackworth draws lessons for fighting insurgents.
Jocko Willink named it among books that reveal how people respond in certain situations and how egos flare, even when the leadership principle is not always made clear.
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This book has 1 recommendation
Jocko Willink (Founder/Echelon Front)
Another book by Hackworth called Steal My Soldier’s Heart [...] Again, it’s not always clear that oh, here’s the leadership principle; here’s what you should be doing. No, it’s not always clear like that. But when you understand what people are going through emotionally and you start to get a glimpse at human nature and how people react in certain situations and how their egos flare up, that’s what makes these books good. Because it gives you a frame of reference.
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