Mad Minutes Outside the Wire: A Grunt's Journey During the Vietnam War

This powerful book is written by a noncommissioned officer-a grunt who witnessed the war firsthand. It draws the reader into the world of SSG Hill's platoon and the battles its men faced. Staff Sergeant Hill brings the jungles of Vietnam to life through vivid descriptions of combat and the physical and psychological wounds it leaves behind. Mad Minutes Outside the Wire is intense and emotionally charged. Vietnam veterans, in particular, may find in it insights that help them confront and escape the lingering horrors of war.

From the Back Cover:
Every veteran of the war in Vietnam has a story. This is mine.
I write these episodes of the perilous events and struggles the men of
Delta Company, 1st Dracula Battalion Black Scarves, 2nd Infantry
Regiment, 1st Infantry Division endured during my tour in Vietnam
from 1968 to 1969.

This book is about the mental toughness, suffering, and bravery of the
men I served with in that war. I hope that by sharing, I can enlighten people
to the hardships we faced as United States Army Light Weapons
Infantrymen. We were referred to by many names-11-Bravos, grunts,
ground pounders, legs, draftees, the expendables. These two-year
temporary soldiers were the true heroes, many giving all they had to
give, or ever would have, to this country. There are men suffering today
from the mental and physical injuries they sustained in Vietnam.

I write this to honor those brave young men and my comrades-in-arms.
It is written from an enlisted man's perspective. We were assigned tasks,
and it was our duty to perform them at all cost. The men I served with
were the toughest, most hard-core men I have ever known.

To most American citizens, Vietnam is ancient history, but to me, it
was a moment ago.