Suicide Charlie: A Vietnam War Story

I first read _Suicide Charlie_ in highschool and even though I was kinda naive and immature back then I still liked it. The book has real-life characters who's names have not been changed and it tells of the damaging effects of war on a person's psyche, heart, and inner being.

I picked this book up from a library. I started reading it on an airplane. Once I started reading it, I didn't stop. I read the whole book at once, because it really captivated me. Russell's descriptions are full of anguish, yet so real. A truly excellent book of a time when all hell broke loose.

This book was the first one I ever read on the subject, having avoided books about the war up to that point. But when I came accross a description of it in a library trade publication, curiosity got the better of me. I served in the same division as Norm Russell, during the same time period. Like him, I served in a mortar platoon. His descriptions of the conditions, attitudes and reactions were in many respects identical to mine. I highly recommend this book to those interested in first-person accounts of combat service in Vietnam during the time period of 1968-69.