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    Loon: A Marine Story
    Loon: A Marine Story
    Loon: A Marine Story
    Audiobook7 hours

    Loon: A Marine Story

    Written by Jack McLean

    Narrated by Chris Andrew Ciulla

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    "Kids like me didn't go to Vietnam," writes Jack McLean in his must-listen memoir. Raised in suburban New Jersey, he attended the Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, but decided to put college on hold. After graduation in the spring of 1966, faced with the mandatory military draft, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps for a two-year stint. "Vietnam at the time was a country, and not yet a war," he writes. It didn't remain that way for long.

    A year later, after boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, and stateside duty in Barstow, California, the Vietnam War was reaching its peak. McLean, like most available Marines, was retrained at Camp Pendleton, California, and sent to Vietnam as a grunt to serve in an infantry company in the northernmost reaches of South Vietnam. McLean's story climaxes with the horrific three-day Battle for Landing Zone Loon in June, 1968. Fought on a remote hill in the northwestern corner of South Vietnam, McLean bore witness to the horror of war and was forever changed. He returned home six weeks later to a country largely ambivalent to his service.

    Written with honesty and insight, Loon is a powerful coming-of-age portrait of a boy who bears witness to some of the most tumultuous events in our history, both in Vietnam and back home.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateApr 23, 2019
    ISBN9781541448148
    Loon: A Marine Story
    Author

    Jack McLean

    Jack McLean is the author of "Loon: A Marine Story" (RandomHouse, 2009), a national best-selling memoir about his service as an infantry corporal in the United States Marine Corps from 1966 to 1968. In the fall of 1968, he became the first Vietnam veteran to enter Harvard University. His thirty-year marketing career began with the New York Mets as the assistant ticket manager. He subsequently held senior positions with insurance broker Johnson & Higgins in Boston, Portland, and Charlotte. He went onto become the founding managing partner of the Greater Washington (DC) Initiative. He and his wife Nina reside in Huntington,New York.

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    Reviews for Loon

    4/5

    39 ratings12 reviews

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    • 2/5
      A disappointing purchase and way over-priced.One of the really positive benefits of the self-publishing revolution has been the number of memoirs being published. Obviously many not polished, but interesting and of considerable historical value. Some are very good, indeed. Others less so. This one felt like a book one expects to have been self published; I looked, and was surprised to see the Random House imprint.Mclean, who was at Andover with George Bush, (of National Guard and cocaine fame,) struggled through Andover and when he wasn’t accepted by Harvard or Yale, or Stanford, was at a loss as to what to do. So he enlisted in the Marines. He was born just a month before me, so the dates brought back many memories. Getting out of Parris Island, he was sent to California for a few months to learn supply, much to his relief, but everyone in the Marines eventually wound up in Vietnam, and, sure enough, his orders for that quagmire came through.Mclean was urged to write this memoir when his wife discovered the letters he had written home over the months he was in Vietnam. The very short section, barely a couple chapters, dealing with the horrific, if futile, experience on LZ Loon, was seemingly thrown in almost as an afterthought, rather than the highpoint (or low-) of his experience, his life even. Clearly the experience of writing for him personally must have been necessary and cathartic, I hope. There is a good story in here and perhaps with a good editor, it could have been teased out. Some chapters are very well written but often there was little transition to the next. The book as a whole lacked focus and at times wandered between being critical and stand-up-salute-your-flag bravado. Finding a theme was difficult. There are many other Vietnam memoirs out there that I feel are much better. And I got a little tired of hearing that Sid was dead six weeks, two days, several weeks, later. Once has devastating impact. By the fourth time, it brought a yawn.
    • 4/5
      Jack McLean's Vietnam memoir looks at his tour as a Marine at the height of the America's involvement in the war. The book is from a fairly unique perspective; McLean enlisted after prep school, taking a route that most of his classmates avoided. McLean splits his time between introspection and full-on machismo. The former lends some poignant moments to the narrative, especially near the end, as he looks back at the emotional wounds. The latter — which pops up mostly when McLean writes about his unit's action at LZ Loon — takes the form of rattling James Patterson-esque chest beating. It almost seems like McLean's terseness in the prose reflects his surroundings; that doesn't make it any easier to read, though.The whole package works in the end, though, despite the shortcomings. It might not be as good as similar books by Tim O'Brien or Phil Caputo, but it's still a good effort overall.
    • 5/5
      I'll be honest, when I received this book from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program, I couldn't remember why I requested it. It's a book about Viet Nam, and I am not a reader of war stories. My grandfathers were both war veterans, but neither my parents nor any of my sisters were in the military. I have no real interest in the military or reading about war. I actually dreaded reading the book.Until I opened it and read the first few pages.I couldn't put it down. I started it last night before bed and finished it about a half an hour ago. I haven't sped through a book that fast in recent memory. The book isn't too long, about 250 pages, but it is intense, and it will keep you turning the pages. I was enthralled. It's a fictionalized memoir, I guess you could call it. The events are true, but some of the dialogue was created by the author, since it would have been all but impossible to recall the exact details of conversations held 40 years ago.The book tells the story of McLean's enlistment in the Marines and his subsequent tour of duty in Viet Nam. McLean came from a place of privilege, private school and money. The kids in his graduating class went to college to avoid the draft, but McLean actually signed up for service. The story details his basic training, his first assignment in supply school, learning computerized inventory systems, and his eventual shipping off to Viet Nam to see action "in the shit."I'll say it again, I was enthralled. Not being a reader of war stories, I haven't read anything about the Viet Nam war. My senior year English teacher in high school lived through Viet Nam and read us snippets of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, but that was the extent of my knowledge of the war. I don't even remember learning that much about it in history (except the mention of the domino effect theory in the book did ring some bells).I'm so, so glad I read this book. It was touching and scary and fascinating, all in one. I cried at several points during the story. I give it five out of five Whatevers. LOVED it. I recommend this to just about anyone: those who remember Viet Nam or those who, like me, need to learn more about it. It is pretty scary, so it's not for young kids, but other than that, go for it.
    • 2/5
      The dialogue seemed trite and too well-worn, like you could drum up any war movie and hear the same conversations. Memoirs can be a tough sell and there are too many good ones out there to waste your time on the merely mediocre. If "war memoirs" are your one and only love then this is probably a good fit.
    • 4/5
      Loon is a memoir of the author's experiences in the Marine Corps from 1966-1968. It begins with a review of his life leading up to his enlisting in the Corps and the fact that boys like him did not enlist in the military, much less go to Vietnam. He made his way through Philips Academy in Andover, Mass. His classmates made their way to Ivy League schools. Jack McLean went to Parris Island and became a Marine.In between tales of boot camp, his first year stateside involved in logistics work, McLean mixes in vignettes contrasting civilian experiences with his own. It provides a fascinating view of the spirit of the times.In the end, the author ends up in Vietnam serving in a quiet locale for the most part, until ending his term involved in fierce fighting at Landing Zone Loon. McLean spends little time speaking of his own experience of the battle, rather focusing on the other men of his company and their acts of leadership and courage under fire. One gets the sense that he underplays his own experience to give a wider view of the battle. It is, ultimately, more a tale of people and only briefly scans the tactical and strategic situation.I enjoyed the book very much. The author provides a view of the Vietnam War in America that seamlessly contrasts between the military and civilian viewpoint and his own thoughts at the time and in retrospect. It is very readable and a solid addition to any collection covering Vietnam.
    • 5/5
      This is book is a simply-told recollection of a young man who becomes a marine, serves in Vietnam and returns home. It is not a story of amazing heroism, amazing feats in battle or heart-pounding action. It is, rather, an account of a real marine in the middle of a complex conflict fighting for a conflicted country. The best parts of this book are in the way he describes his transitions: From teen to marine, from marine to battle, and straight from battle back to civilian - coming back to a country wracked by guilt over an ill-conceived war. I felt that Jack McLean did a good job of making us feel as he felt through these life changes. As we feel these emotions, the book flies past us, leaving us turning pages backward and re-reading parts to better understand. I wish we had done a better job separating the war from the people who served and we would have honored them from the start. We have been recovering from this mistake for decades. This excellent book helps us to understand this recovery.
    • 5/5
      This non-fiction, first-person narrative held this vet's attention all the way through, an almost commands the non-vet's undeerstanding of why many of the best and brightest volunteered for that war specifically. "tO SERVE" IS NOT JUST A mARINE cORPS PHRASE; IT IS KNOWN TO ALL THE ARMED FORCES AS THE PRIMARY PURPOSE FOR THEIR EXISTENCE, AND MOST CERTAINLY TO THE UNITED sTATES aRMY, OF WHICH i AM ONE. When the readeer is finished with the book, he or she should hopefrully understand why so many roly-poly teenagers went to The Nam full of hope and humnor, and returned with white hair, shrapnel in their bodies, and an arguably paranoid aversion to loud noises and crowds. Certainly there are flaws, but barely enough to mention. One thing though must be changed where the author says it takes thirty days for gonnorfrhea to gestate. It takes two to three days. How do I know? That's right, folks. Been thee. Done that. Have the T-shirt. McLean's figure on Marine-Army ground troops in country might be checked, also, especially his contention that the majority of ground troops in The Nam were Marines. McLean brfings us once again to those glorious days of yesteryear when the Lone Ranger rides again and his faithful Indian companion, Tonto, is cut in half by a Bouncing Betty. The latter is one of several things not mentioned in McLean's narrative, which makes me think he was smoothing down the horror for you , and that is probably a good thing. This is a must read for any vet, and a learning esperience for everyone else. The world is better off for it to have been written.
    • 5/5
      While this memoir of a Marine in Vietnam is not groundbreaking, it is well written and it keeps the reader's interest. The parts detailing McLean's experiences at Parris Island were a welcome addition; for an outsider, it is important to see how these men were transformed from boys to Marines. Also valuable were McLean's occasional mention of significant historical events going on back in the world during his time in Vietnam. McLean used his correspondence with his family and friends to write the book, and it is apparent that the details are not hazy for him, these many years later.McLean isn't exactly covering new ground, telling us about various reasons he and his fellow Marines went to war, what his life was like upon returning to the world, how hellish combat could be, etc. Yet this memoir is a welcome addition, since it adds one more voice to the chorus that tells us what happened. We need to listen to this.
    • 5/5
      This is the story of a boy with a privileged upbringing and private schooling. After struggling academically at prep school and being rejected for admission to college, enlisting for a couple of years in the military seemed like the only available option. Told through the eyes of an innocent nineteen year old, this was to be a short break before reapplying to college, but the year was 1967 and the nation was oblivious to the dangerous plans to escalate the war. The narrative flows easily from enlistment to landing in Vietnam. It moves from the mundane to the terrifying in seconds, survival depending on everything from luck to the very best Marine leadership. McLean leads the reader up to the horrific and culminating battle of Loon, one of the deadliest in the war, and then to his psychologically jolting return to the states.McLean tells his story of survival in Vietnam without bitterness or recrimination in an unforgettable, clear voice. It is an elegant and sensitive tribute to our understanding of the Vietnam War and the boys and men who fought it. I am looking forward to more work from this talented writer.
    • 5/5
      This is one of those books you can't put down once you start reading it. It is the moving and beautifully written true story of a young man who spent a year in Vietnam in 1968 and was forever changed by the experience. Jack McLean buried his time in the USMC in the back of his mind for more than thirty years before he was able to put pen to paper. Based on his recollections and on the many letters he wrote to his family, this story is as raw and fresh as if he had written it as soon as he returned home. If you like personal war memoirs, you will love this book; if you don't care for that genre, you would still love this very human story.
    • 5/5
      The year is 1966, and Jack McLean is deciding what to do with his future. After attending the prestigious Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, five colleges deny him admission. A short break from school seems like a good idea so McLean opts for a two-year stint with the United States Marine Corps much to the bewilderment of his parents.The reader is led from boot camp through war and back home again. Thinking back on the Viet Nam era, I was completely absorbed in what McLean had to say. I suppose that people who have engaged in active combat cannot easily share the horrible reality of it with others so they may often choose not to. It is with great humility that I read a book such as this. McLean was a young man who, whether he intended or not, put his life on the line for his country. At first, I thought that McLean’s story was just skimming the surface of what needed to be said. By the time McLean arrived in Viet Nam, however, the story became so gripping that I could not put the book down until I finished it. The story was neither too technical nor too gory. It was mostly thoughtful – a look back at a young man’s decision and how it affected his life immediately afterward.I know the Viet Nam era is past history, but for me it was a time of turmoil and the right to express my antagonism to the war. How little did I appreciate the opposite side of the equation! By the end of this book, McLean was out of the war. He was already home, but the agony of his homecoming and the oddity of his being a Viet Nam vet among college students of the 60's caught me in a stranglehold. My reaction to McLean’s recalling this was my wanting to shout out “Thank you” to the author for sharing his story and to tell him how proud I was of his service even though, many years ago, I might not have told him so. My favorite quote from the book is this: 'My lesson for that day was that the line between life and death was random and arbitrary. I elected not to share that revelation with my mother.' At the time of the Viet Nam war, I was a student and then a young working professional. Now I am a mother. Looking back on the Viet Nam war experience after 40 years is a strange experience but one which I'm glad the author forced me to do.
    • 5/5
      Loon is a refreshingly honest Viet Nam story told by an Andover graduate who is accepted at Harvard while on duty in Viet Nam. This is not a typical Viet Nam book. I couldn't put it down. It includes Marine boot camp through the dissappointing return home. It describes an honest R and R experience (while not dwelling on the sex), letters home,letters from home, and detailed Marine duties like cleaning out the "Johns".Perhaps because it was written thirty years later, there are none of the polemics, politics and philosophizing found in so many Viet Nam memoirs--just the facts.War is hell and he tells it as he saw it. Written using former buddies memories and his own one hundred letters home to jolt his own memory, the book should be an excellent text for high school or college American History students. This is a report of how it really was in Viet Nam from 1966 to 1968.It reminds me of Tobias Wolff's reflections of Viet Nam with a writing quality as good as or better. I very much enjoyed reading the book and just wish it had been written 25 years earlier. Also, who is Jack McLean and what has he been doing for the last thirty years since he was George Bush's classmate at Andover? Did he know George Bush? Why mention George Bush if there is no revealing tidbit to share? So McLean went into marketing. Who did he work for? What did he do? How about his diabetes caused by agent orange? Still it's a great book and I recommend it highly to Viet Nam aficianados as well as ordinary folk like me who lived during the war, but served earlier.