Tom Carhart

After graduating from West Point, Tom Carhart volunteered for service in Vietnam, where he led a long-range reconnaissance platoon. In this excerpt from his book The Offering, Carhart re-creates the longest day of his service in Vietnam, when his platoon stumbled upon a camp filled with North Vietnamese soldiers. During the fierce firefight that followed, Carhart was forced to confront several unpleasant truths: not all men are brave and war demands that men sacrifice themselves for their country. He describes his emotions when one of his soldiers offered his life in combat.

That night Mad Dog is informed of some changes by Battalion. Our company has to move to its initial point (IP) for descent into the A Shau Valley. I look at the map with Doaks and Mad Dog. We have about sixteen clicks [kilometers] to our IP and three days...