A gripping firsthand look at the true agonies of war, this hard-hitting memoir shares the combat experiences of Vietnam veteran Gene R. Dark, who served with one of the most decorated companies in the United States Marine Corps.
Nineteen-year-old Dark joins the Marine Corps at the height of the Vietnam War and is immediately thrown into the stark reality of the battlefield. Quickly transformed into a hardened soldier and forced to endure the terror of firefight and the rigors of combat, Dark experiences shock and grief as he watches his closest friends fall. But it is Dark’s tremendous guilt after taking another human being’s life that leaves an indelible mark upon his soul. He was meritoriously combat promoted two times and eventually earned the Purple Heart, but nothing could ever erase his haunting memories.
The Brutality of War is not only Dark’s recollections of an unpopular, rancorous conflict but his own private perspective on the nature of war itself as experienced in the murky jungles of Vietnam.