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MWSA Review
In his book, We Had to Get Out of that Place, Steven Grzesik gives us a good view into his life as a soldier fighting the war in Viet Nam. While he does provide some basic background of his life before his time in the army and a little afterwards, the focus of the book is his two tours of duty in Viet Nam. For a person who didn't want to go, didn't want to be there, and had no career military ambitions, Grzesik volunteered to become a Ranger to get out of the infantry and away from a role that he thought would certainly get him killed. Already through most of his tour of duty, becoming a Ranger sent him right back to Viet Nam for a new tour of duty. This time, however, he was with an elite group of soldiers. He became more confident and mature. Later, in his second tour, when the army was looking for helicopter gunners, Grzesik once again volunteered. His nearly two years in Viet Nam gave him a plethora of stories to include in his book. He even acknowledges that he developed a drug habit and barely escaped hard jail time for his drug use. This is an interesting book that fans of military history should enjoy.
Review by Bob Doerr (April 2023)
Author's Synopsis
My book is a descriptive narrative of two tours of the Vietnam war. The title, ‘We Had to Get Out of That Place’ is a word play on the song titled ‘We Gotta Get Out of This Place’ by Eric Burdon and the Animals. It was a favorite of the combat soldier.
The back cover has my photo and a bio as well as three reviews from notable people.
For reasons explained in the book, I was lucky enough to get multi-angled views of the war because I served as a combat infantryman, in a rear engineer unit, as a long range patrol member with the original 75th Rangers, and as a door gunner on a helicopter for approximately 250 hours.
My story is told as a linear timeline of amazing events in and out of combat. There is some blood, gore and politics, but not much. There is beauty, passion and great sadness. The book starts with me as a child of the 60s, broken and disillusioned by drugs and the false promises of the ‘Age of Aquarius’. It ends with me, a changed grown man, angry at my own country for betraying its soldiers. My book is complete at 80,000 words.
Anyone who reads it will enjoy it. It is exciting and colorful, but most of all, it is the truth: my experience, unadulterated and unexaggerated.
Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 207
Word Count: 80,000