Mike Force

Mike Force is a terrific account of a vastly under-reported facet of the Vietnam War. When I commanded an airborne battalion in Germany, then Captain Bucky Burruss was our most outstanding company commander. He earned a max OER from me. For the record, the commander to which Bucky refers in Mike Force is the battalion commander who came after me. Anyone interested in what real soldiering is all about should read all of Bucky's novels. His combat scenes are so realistic my palms begin to sweat. William A. Hamilton, Lt. Colonel, USA (Ret.)

LTC Burruss, wrote one of the definitive books on the use of indigineous troops in the Vietnam conflict. The tactics, techniques and procedures learned by the men of the Mike Force in battle, have now been passed to a new generation of Special Forces soldier now fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. COL(R) John Tobin, SF

It may be fitting but it's hardly proper that the most popularly acclaimed works of literature from America's most distinctively unpopular war -- among them, Michael Herr's "Dispatches" and Phillip Caputo's "A Rumor of War" -- reflect the growing socio-political ambivalence that undermined America's resolve in that war. It's understandable but a shame that first-person accounts by participants in the war, such as L.H. Burruss' "Mike Force," that project the author's strong belief that what he and his comrades did was necessary and honorable were largely ignored by the arbiters of popular literary taste. It is encouraging that "Mike Force," published in 1989, has been reissued. Along with a new wave of war literature exemplified by Mark Bowden's widely popular "Black Hawk Down," this revival points to an emerging readership that apparently, at long last, accepts soldiering as a worthy vocation. One would hope that readers of this new wave of war literature will work their way back to discover such gems as "Mike Force," which give a needed balance to the collective memory of a war that for too long has worn the dunce's conical cap. Burruss, who tried teaching high school English before joining the Army, and who taught again briefly after his first hitch before deciding to make the Army a career, has a ghost-writer's skill with language. What lifts "Mike Force" far above the usual ghost-written account is that Burruss' narrative smokes and crackles with reality, losing nothing -- neither detail nor passion -- in its translation from principal to interpreter. Burruss includes everything -- his irritations and agonies, confessions of bad judgment and frank acknowledgments of competence, moments of weakness and triumph and even the irreverent hijinks and scrapping of boys learning to be men in life's toughest academy. Burruss retired as a lieutenant colonel and deputy commander of the elite Delta Force. His book is honest, unpretentious and illuminating. He includes well-turned, heartfelt, haunting poems, which he composed on or near the battlefield, usually in tribute to a friend lost or severely wounded. It's high time for "Mike Force" to be included among the books that must be read by anybody who wants a balanced picture of the Vietnam War and by all who simply want an unfiltered glimpse of what it's like to carry their country's flag into humankind's darkest quarter.

LTC L.H. "Bucky" Burruss is the real thing. He's one of the original members of what's known as Delta Force and even received praise from the British SAS. Bucky lead a Special Force "Mike Force" in Vietnam. These were quick-reaction forces composed of Montagnard tribesmen led by American or Australian Special Forces advisors. The Mike Forces were probably the least known of all of the SF activities in Vietnam, but they saw plenty of action. Bucky was in the thick of the fight with guys like Mike Donahue, Larry Dring, "Blue Max" Pfeistenhammer and Clyde Sincere. The book is well worth the read if you want to learn about some of America's "Silent Professionals."

Don't be fooled by the trashy men's magazine cover on this book. It is one of the best accounts of the Vietnam War from a soldier's perspective that I've read. Those looking for a chest-thumping narrative will be surprised to discover a writer of surprising range, subtlety and honesty, a soldier who never paints himself as a hero, and emerges as more of one because of it. We will never fully understand the Vietnam experience in this country until we embrace the memories of those who served, who risked their lives and saw some of the best in their generation killed. When the best accounts of that episode are compiled, "Mike Force" will be among them.