Donald Bodey

Filthy. Soaked. Oozing. Scared. Stoned. Tired. To the bone. Some combination thereof. Every day.

Don Bodey depicts Gabriel Sauer's transformation from an Effengee to a combat veteran in Vietnam. No one, no thing, and no country is shown in a glorious or heroic light. The focus is on the often mundane but miserable day to day existence of a single squad, a handful of men. Building hooches and bailing them during monsoon season. Humping for days in the jungle carrying heavy rucks and guns. Trying to remain alert even while exhausted and distracted by the aches and pains that never go away.

When Sauer's squad does see close combat, it is upon them quickly and the effects are devastating, both physically and mentally. No battles are won. Some are lost. Surviving the one-year tour is a victory.

As much as Michael Herr's brilliant Dispatches is surreal, F. N. G. is real. It is ironic that the former is non-fiction and the latter is fiction. The author is a veteran and F. N. G. reads like much of the content is based on first-hand experience.

The new first chapter in this revised edition is understandably controversial, but the rest of the book stands strongly on its own.

More reviews.… (más)

Reading this novel was a little different for me as I usually read about World War II and never fiction. The only thing I really know about the Vietnam war is that I was still in diapers, my father didn't go because he had small children and a wife and that it was not a fair war. The book starts out with a scenario between a grandfather and his grandson who is about to go to Iraq. This lasts for only one chapter (I will not spoil the scenario). The remainder of the story is about the grandfather when he was drafted to serve in Vietnam. I have to admit that I hated the book at the beginning, only because of the foul language. Plenty of foul language. However, as the story progressed, the story became engrossing and I soon learned to get past the language to dig into the story. The story describes this grandfather's experience, from the time he was an Effengee until the day his tour was over and found himself on a helicopter going home. The grandfather suffered a lot of loss, and it really started me reflecting upon all the men who survived Vietnam, a snapshot glimpse of what they went through over there. I never really gave much thought to Vietnam. I'm too wrapped up in WWII, but I sure will not look at those who served the same again. I mean that respectfully.

In my honest opinion, I enjoyed the story (almost wanted to watch Apocalypse Now after I finished). Not as much as I would have if it was World War II, but that is just my preference. I did think there was a lot of profanity, but I guess taking that element out may destroy the purpose of making the reader think they are there. I would think this is would be a great pleasure reading for anyone interested in war stories, especially Vietnam.… (más)

F.N.G is a book about a grunt trying to live through a year in the Vietnam War. I personally have no military experience and I was not alive during the Vietnam War. Therefore, I can only speak to how I enjoyed this book as fiction and based on my third hand knowledge of the War.
F.N.G. was originally published in 1985. This revised addition includes a new first chapter which involves the main character Gabriel Sauers, now a Grandfather, taking his Grandson hunting before the Grandson ships out to Iraq. Sauers doesn’t want his Grandson to go through the traumatic experience of a war like he had to, so he shoots him in the foot with a 12 gauge slug from 50 feet to keep him out of the war; with his Grandson’s permission of course. This chapter strikes a discordant note with the rest of the book and is the only part that I truly did not like. The rest of the book details Sauers experience in Vietnam and it paints a gritty, sad, funny, crazy picture. The strength of this book revolves around the relationships that Sauers develops with his squad mates. It does an excellent job of showing of how, as a new guy, Sauers depends on and trusts the older hands. As the experienced soldiers rotate back home newer soldiers come to depend on Sauers for his experience. His relationship is stronger with the guys he first served with, and he is less attached to the new new-guys, much as the experienced soldiers probably felt about him.
The author, Donald Bodey, also has a knack for making me empathize with Sauers. I could perfectly picture being in the stark blackness of a jungle night, straining to hear any sound while you wait in ambush or the constant itch of the everyday irritation that is jungle rot. He also drove home the arbitrary factors that decided who lived and who died. Everyone was stumbling around the jungle fighting guerillas that had been fighting on this land for years. A misstep here, moving a little to the left there, choosing the wrong place to sleep on the wrong night: these are the things that dictate life and death. You don’t need good or bad luck to live or die, but chance does play a major role in who goes home and when.
The book did have some weak points. At times the story drags and the characters seem less real in some chapters, behaving as generic, stoned soldiers in order to drive Sauers’ story but overall I enjoyed this book. It doesn’t rank up with my favorite war novels. My reaction to this story was more of, “What a crappy situation,” as opposed to, “War is hell,” but it does get some of the same feelings across.… (más)