Conversations

I read both this book and Why Didn't You Get Me Out. I must say after reading both these books, I can see two sides to ONE story. They were both very accurate with details, however, obviously, each had a side. I can see how Anton would come away saying Garwood was a traitor. I believe ALL those men committed some crime in some small way while they were there. After all the Vietnam reading I have done on the different situtations and torture, I can't help but think that. I don't know how any of them would have remained completely without fault. These men, all of them, are my heroes. I love every Vietnam Vet out there. I know there are men left over there and I wish someday before it's too late one of our President's would go get them back! I mean these are live men! This is the most horrific crime in our history and I am ashamed at the way our goverement has handled this situation.... Godspeed to all our military, cause in the goverment's eyes, they are ALL expendable!

Converations With the Enemy is the well documented saga of the 14 year captivity of U.S. Marine PFC Robert Garwood in Vietnam. In September of 1965, while serving in Da Nang as a staff driver, Garwood was tasked to pick up a military member some distance from his base when he was accosted by the Viet Cong and placed into the enemy prison camp system.Beginning his ordeal in Southern Vietnam, the book portrays a story of dreadful conditions suffered by American POW's in the worst types of conditions. The compelling narrative will illustrate how a U.S. serviceman can suffer and cope and adjust to his situation to make it survivable so that he may one day return home. But, it goes quite deeper than that. We find that Garwood, while stationed at a number of prison camps in the south, was eventually joined by other captured American prisoners. Already in the camp system for many months on his own before seeing new Americans, he had to adjust his means of survivability in the way he interacted with the North Vietnamese enemy that held him. Some of the measures he adopted were learning to speak the Vietnamese language fluently, interpreting for the camp hierarchy, assisting camp cadre with duties, and succumbing to propaganda viewpoints (after being tortured) to name just a view.It is no great leap of logic that when new American prisoners were brought to the camp and witnessed Garwood's activities and unusual behaviors, he appeared to be colloborating with the enemy in certain ways and his actions could certainly appear to be traitorous. When described in detail by the authors, the activities of Garwood do appear to be detrimental to the U.S. soldiers code of conduct but you must also ask yourself this: In his position, what would you do to survive and to make ends meet in a very harrowing situation?I agree that some of Garwood's actions are very suspect and quite possibly out of line and readers will cast their own judgement's about the controversial happenings in this book.After years of confinement in Southern Vietnamese camps, the story shows how Garwood was eventually moved to North Vietnam to another camp and was "employed" in a matter of speaking by the North Vietnamese as a mechanic for their military vehicles. The methods by which he lived in that camp might also be seen as controversial depending on the views of the reader. There is no doubt though, like his life in the Southern Vietnamese camps it was far from pleasant. Using clandestine methods, Garwood was eventually able to get a note to a foreigner in Hanoi to alert the United States of his captivity in Vietnam.Upon being repatriated back to the Unites States in 1979, his return is problematic and controversial to our government and to the Vietnamese government being that after the release of POW's in 1973, both governments claimed there were no more POW's in Vietnam. To compound the problem, Garwood is accused of committing several military crimes while he was in captivity and is fac