C. M. Boyles

The Sandman in Viet Nam: Essays on Engagements C. M. Boyles

The Sandman's comin' and like an evening breeze in the rice, the Sandman could not be stopped. From the tepid rice paddies and steaming jungles came the one who made the soldiers sleep. This enigmatic persona and bane of the North Vietnamese as well as the American and South Vietnamese Forces again emerges after 30 years to describe the journey that forged the psyche of a dreaded assassin and the dedicated ally of the Vietnamese who knew this special operations officer.

The Sandman in Viet Nam, Essays on Engagements, presents a fresh perspective and provides critical insights on the Southeast Asian Campaigns in the Year of the Monkey--1968--and how those events continue to affect our lives and mold our society. The Sandman sets aside the aloof accounts of military operations and places them second to the emotional battles that were fought, lost, and seldom won.

The Sandman offers readers a view of the soldiers' paradox: Men must--by military doctrine--do the impossible. Simultaneously, soldier must deny the existence of emotion--that which spurs one to do the impossible. The Sandman allows the readers experience the conflict and find themselves within reach of the highs and lows that only the combat soldiers know. As you read the Sandman, you will find yourself laughing till the tears run down your cheeks, then notice you are weeping at the profound sadness.

The Sandman by C. M. Boyles offers the millions of family members and friends of those soldiers a frame of reference that helps them understand their sons, husbands, and lovers and how the experience of Southeast Asia affected their relationships. These readers, who have been dealing with the residual damage of Southeast Asia, can come to understand the basis for the soldiers' point of view, and their methods for processing information.