Warpath: One Vietnam Veteran's Journey through War, Disillusionment, Guilt and Recovery by AJ Moore

This post is dedicated to every veteran of the Vietnam War, but most especially the American troops who were degraded, spit upon and ignored by the same people who sent them off to fight and die. The way my country treated them was both sickening and offensive. I have no right or responsibility to apologize for something I never took part in or had the power to prevent, having been born over a year after the fall of Saigon, but I will never, ever, for as long as I live, show support for what happened to you or those that did it. They have no love for you, but I do. Thank you for all that you've done, both during the war and for society since you came home. 

 

It strikes me as ironic that I found Warpath: One Vietnam Veteran's Journey through War, Disillusionment, Guilt and Recovery by AJ Moore the day after I announced the lineup for my annual Memorial Day Event here at Jimbo's, but one thing I've never been accused of is having a perfect system. For those that missed it, this is a review of a work of Non-Speculative Fiction, specifically a memoir by an American Veteran. I know that this is a space where I usually stick to the world of SF/F, but this is my blog. My blog, my rules and Lord knows that Moore has earned a review, both with his writing and his sacrifices.

Warpath is the story of AJ Moore, a man who willingly enlisted to serve in Vietnam (as did roughly 70% of the troops who served there) and then volunteered for combat duty despite the fact that he was a helicopter mechanic who could have stayed on post. He wanted to experience combat. He got his wish and went through some things that no human being should have to deal with, but many have. It's only through luck and a bit of skill that he managed to get home and work in IT instead of ending up as just another name on the wall. 

But it's weird because Moore never once calls himself a hero or acts like he deserves any special type of recognition, at one point turning down a chance to apply for a Purple Heart. Having been through some things myself, although nothing to compare what he has to deal with, I'm tempted to believe that Moore wrote Warpath as a form of therapy. I've done similar things myself, I've just never written anything this extensive, or thought to get paid for it. Regardless of the reasons he wrote it, I hope it helped him to do so.

Moore does not go for the heavy description I've seen in many works of fiction and for that I'm actually thankful. He has seen and done some truly horrifying things and, while he is graphic enough that I don't think I'd let my eleven year-old daughter read Warpath, it could have been much, much worse if he had added too much detail. I kind of wonder whether he did it that way on purpose or if he just didn't think to include the details, but it's the right decision either way. 

Moore also talks about the cost of war to the survivors. He is open about the mental anguish he has suffered and the fact that he suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I hesitated to review Warpath for precisely this reason, but it's a subject that needs to be openly discussed. It's important to note that, while some of the action Moore took were not necessarily perfect, he never once seems to have intentionally harmed a human being since getting home or intentionally harmed anyone mentally or emotionally. There were some things that he did that weren't good for his kids or his spouse, but he didn't realize it at the time. And...

Well...

Dear Lord, if there is any chance that I can do any good in your name with this blog, let it be this:

Let some veteran of the Iraq or Afghanistan wars see this, or let someone they know show it to them, and have it help them to get the help they need to spare their family the same thing. If it does I'll never know it and that's okay. All glory goes to you. 

*AHEM*

I guess that's a little off topic but I needed to do it.

At some level, I wish they would teach works like Warpath in history classes. I know the cool thing in academia is to ignore military and political history in favor of breaking things down to the lowest common denominator, but the bottom line is that military and political history is something that has effected, and continues to effect, literally every culture on Earth once it hits a certain size. Warpath is the kind of document that details the actual emotional effects of war on the people who fight it on a level that nothing else ever could. 

Seriously, when Moore talks about what he went through just trying to take a shower in Vietnam at his base camp or the time he got crotch rot (which is an actual thing) from living in the wet conditions in Vietnam it adds something to what you're learning. Historians call this a "primary source document" but there's more to it than just being a primary source. I've read dry, clinical after action reports before and they can't come close to matching Warpath for what it is. 

Warpath is an actual recounting of things as they happened, at least to the extent that a human being is able to remember things accurately. But it is also a collection of the impressions of the person who lived the war and who paid the price that all people who were there paid. It's something that a work like Maus or X-Men: Magneto: Testament never could be, because it is told in the realest terms possible. Moore is a man who learned to work on helicopters in the states and how to fly them in Vietnam so he could get home if his pilot was injured. He was a man who actually shot at the enemy and took fire himself. He did things for real. This isn't some comic book which, while certainly well-written, probably contributes to the fact a third of North American students think the Holocaust either didn't happen or is exaggerated. Comic books create that aura. Those who teach comic books in a classroom setting perpetuate it. An honest memoir does not.

Moore tells it like it was. He was there. He saw it. He did it. He changed his mind about whether he should have been there or not. Then he came back to a world of suffering that he never would have had to endure if he hadn't set off to do what he thought was right at the time. He's honest and open. That is what true authenticity looks like. 

This is a book worth far more than the time it takes to read it and the money it takes to buy it if you don't have Kindle Unlimited and can't just read it that way. Seriously, put the time in. 

And seriously, if someone in Washington can find a way to create a medal/decoration to award to people who serve their fellow veterans after their time in service ends, award one to AJ Moore. He's got it coming.

My apologies to Specialist Moore if this became more of a soapbox for me to speak from and less of a review than he deserved. I am responsible and could have prevented such and didn't.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Thankful Bloggers

Warpath: One Vietnam Veteran's Journey through War, Disillusionment, Guilt and Recovery
AJ Moore
Apache Press Books, 2022

Warpath: One Vietnam Veteran's Journey through War, Disillusionment, Guilt and Recovery is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.