Close Quarters by Larry Heinemann

Title: Close Quarters
Author: Larry Heinemann
Publisher: Faber & Faber, London 1987
ISBN 0 571 14922-7

Summary:
Fresh out of Fort Knox, Philip Dosier arrives at his posting, an ACAV unit based near the Black Virgin Mountain, Tây Ninh Province. The first thing evident is the ready acceptance with which he is greeted, soon earning the nickname "Deadeye". There are no mind games in store for the FNG; the ACAV guys are fellow tankers, and a relaxed fraternal air seems to prevail among them. Dosier is assigned to a track with an NCO called Cross, and is soon being taught how to drive:

"Dosier m'man, this here is a M-one-one-three, o.d., one each type, never fail, never float, armored personnel carrier. It is powered by a single two-eighty-three-cubic-inch Chevy V-8, with vacuum governor, and something like a ninety-gallon gas tank. The configuration of three automatic weapons makes it an armored assault vee-hicle, and it carries a basic load of eight thousand rounds. We carry firepower, not troops. Let the fucken line companies do that. To climb up, put yer right foot on the tread, grab this lift hook, swing yer other foot to this bolt head, and swing yourself up." He stood on the deck. "Now come up."

After an unfortunate encounter with a water buffalo on an S bend whilst leading a supply convoy, Dosier's track is nicknamed "The Cow Catcher", with the honor of painting the lettering falling on him. Within a few months, due to various departures and deaths of his fellow crewmen in a never-ending series of patrols, ambushes, and armored assaults, he mounts the track for the first time as its commander:
"That was the first time I climbed into the TC hatch and settled in behind the fifty-caliber machine gun, with a hundred five rounds hanging from the feed tray, the two slippery wooden handles, and the oily butterfly trigger. I had piled the fifty ammo cans into a high pyramid so I could stand as high as possible. The upturned hatch cover behind me, the two armor shields to the sides, and the curved gun shield on the fifty formed a tub around me. I could look down on the tops of heads, down the front of blouses; I kept a gas-mask bag of frags hung on one side and my shotgun - later a captured AK - on the other."

Thoughts:
This novel is literally a wild ride, with lots of attitude and swagger. Clearly based on Larry Heinemann's own experiences in Vietnam, it is a trackhead's delight. You can practically smell the grease and the gasoline. This is the only war novel I read where a grease gun was precisely that, and the ultimate weapon is "the BFH. The Bravo Fox Hotel. The Big Fucking Hammer."

Another Vietnam War classic I had never read. I found this in a second-hand bookstore in Wellington and started it whilst waiting for my order in the nearby Saigon Café and could not put it down. I have just mail-ordered Heinemann's "Paco's War" as a follow-up and am looking forward to its arrival.

Rating:

C-SPAN talk devoted to Larry Heinemann's autobiography about his time under the Black Virgin Mountain: