From Classrooms to Claymores: From Classrooms to Claymores: A Teacher at War in Vietnam

I don't need to put many words down, but if you read books at night to help you get to sleep,well........don't by this one because you'll see the sunrise. Enough said.

This was a most enjoyable account of the author's experiences told in a most unique way. Not often am I able to delve into a book that has such an appeal and attraction that I simply had to read it without stopping. While reading I experienced a wide range of emotions, from anxious or attentitivly cautious one minute and sitting at the edge of the chair to laughing at picturing the involvment of the characters and situations. This is the first war story that I have ever read, and was at first reluctant but since it was recommended to me by a friend, did, and must admit that the way it was written did indeed facinate. I would highly recommend it as a good read, and hope the author in the future continues to write.

Ches Schneider has portrayed the day-to-day life of a U.S. soldier in Vietnam in unvarnished, un-heroic, yet realistic terms that make the drama of war all the more intimate to the reader. I definitely identified with the thinking of that young recruit, who knew so little of the "whys" of his war, nor had any idea of what to expect of himself in circumstances so foreign to his up-bringing. He traverses the difficult passage from boyhood to manhood in circumstances where some young men never make it. He vividly portrays the kinds of experiences some of us say we do not regret, but would not repeat. It is a good book. Very well-written and the first I know of that didn't dwell either on the heroics or the horrors, but wove them into the first-person experience of an ordinary guy with a highly-developed ability to chronicle with clarity and wit.

It provided me a general knowledge of everyday life in Vietnam. The men that fought were very couragous, and it is great the Ches now passes that knowledge on to his students. A must read for the Vietnam book reader!