Barry Fixler

The Marine's creed is Semper Fidelis, often shorted to Semper Fi. Translated it means always faithful. The fact that Barry Fixler decided to call his memoir as a marine in Viet Nam, "Always Cool" is a good indication of this books' many shortcomings. Let me start off by stating that I mean no disrespect to The Marines, but with the exception of the very last chapter when Fixler actually did demonstrate faithfulness to The Marines creed Semper Fi, to me this book was a complete waste of time and definitely not cool. Right from the first page this book was pretty much nothing but Fixler bragging about the man he shot during an attempted holdup of his jewelry store, all the mischief he committed as a youngster, and how he was more of a man than anyone else because killed more men in the battlefield and slept with more women in the bedroom. Sorry dude, not cool. And frankly, not very interesting at all.… (mais)

SEMPER COOL is an engrossing and compelling piece of writing. I read it in just a couple of sittings. Fixler doesn't give us much about his life after Vietnam and the Corps, and I wondered about whether he went on to college and what he studied if he did. Not that college is neccesary to be a good writer, but ... Well, this is good stuff, both in style and content. When you read SEMPER COOL, you get a very authentic feel for what the Marine Corps was like for a kid just out of high school back in the 60s. And you also definitely feel the adrenaline rush and excitement of being under fire and experiencing combat in the jungles and mountains of Vietnam.

Fixler tells of his boyhood admiration for the Corps and his early ambitions to join up. And that's as far ahead as he thought,since he admits he never really had any great feelings of patriotism or going to war. The war was already there, of course, and he soon found himself in the thick of things, staying alive by virtue of his boot camp training and his wits and reflexes. The patriotism part came later, along with his intense pride in having served.

The subtitle of Fixler's book, ONE MARINE'S FOND MEMORIES OF VIETNAM, was puzzling at first, but its meaning comes clear as he tells of his military buddies and the lifelong importance of the friendships forged during those years of training and then being flung into the crucible of combat. He tells his story in short stark declarative sentences and peppers his narrative with the casual obscenity that is endemic to enlisted life, giving it a genuine authenticity that marks the best of military memoirs.

Fixler emphasizes the uniqueness and the special 'apartness' that marks the Marine Corps experience, but I served in the army just a few years before his years of service, and I could easily relate. And there is a special sense of humor and spirit of fun depicted here too that gives SEMPER COOL its own flavor. And Fixler obviously never lost that 'cool,' even after surviving the siege of Khe Sanh. This is a war memoir, but the truth is there is a lot of very funny stuff here.

The only thing that bothered me a bit about this book was Fixler's adamant refusal to accept this thing called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He seems to think it's just a form of self-pity or even cowardice. I mean, C'mon, Fix. Cut the poor guys some slack. Not all wounds are physical. And if anyone oughta know that war really is hell, it should be you.

This is a great book though. If you start it, I guarantee it'll be hard to put down. It was for me. It belongs on the shelf with other great Vietnam memoirs, books like Philip Caputo's A RUMOR OF WAR, or THE KILLING ZONE, by Frederick Downs, or tucked in with some of the great novels of that war - MATTERHORN or THE BIG V and others. Thanks for writing your story, Barry, and also for your continuing campaign to help the wounded veterans of today's wars. I salute you, Marine.… (mais)

This review first appeared on my blog: http://www.knittingandsundries.com/2011/03/semper-cool-by-barry-fixler-book-revi...

About the Cover Photograph
Author Barry Fixler holds the skull of an North Vietnamese soldier at an outpost near the DMZ. The Marine to his right was killed shortly after this photo was taken. The Marine to his left lost both legs in battle.

When reading this book, there were times when I FELT the jungle and it's heat around me and the weight of the gear the soldiers had to carry. Mr. Fixler's unapologetic look at the time he spent in Vietnam has moments of machismo, but after all, he IS a Marine. I don't know ANY Marines who don't rightfully puff out their chests a bit when speaking of their military experience. Heck, even getting through boot camp is a lesson in discipline. As part of Echo 2/26, fighting in the Siege of Khe Sanh, one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War, Mr. Fixler has good reason to be proud of his service.

This memoir is about a skinny Jewish kid from Long Island, who, rather than heading straight to college after high school, enlists in the Marines and goes off to fight in the Vietnam War. He tells the story of Vietnam with the cockiness of a fighting man, with little fanfare, just the bones and guts. He was fortunate to come back in one piece, without physical or emotional scars, and his fighting experience came in handy during an attempted robbery at his jewelry store many years later.

While many Vietnam vets were traumatized by their experience, both during the war itself, and by the unwelcoming reception they received when they returned, Mr. Fixler was fortunate enough to come back stronger, and ultimately pshaws PTSD (a position I personally don't agree with, but I can understand how someone who hasn't experienced it might feel that way. I felt that way about depression until I went through my own bout for a few years after my little brother was murdered in a random act of violence. Some things you just have to experience yourself to know that they're real).

After hearing about a particularly heartrending case of a returning Iraq veteran who was severely wounded and languishing in a V.A. hospital, Mr. Fixler took up his cause, and was able to get him transferred to a private hospital. Through a prolonged fundraising effort, he was also able to donate $100,000 to his family for the ongoing care that our government would not provide.

As a result of this effort, he is committed to the cause of veterans, both those returning and those who won't return, and 100% of the profits from this title will go to wounded combat veterans and their families, as well as to children of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Interspersed with photos from the war, this title is a must-read for those of us who grew up in the generations after the Vietnam war. I have heard many accounts of the war from Vietnam vets that I personally know, but none were delivered in such a matter-of-fact, realistic fashion.

QUOTES

But for all of his bravado, Mitch was never a tough guy. He never went looking for fights, and he had no business ending up in Vietnam.

Upon arriving in Vietnam, when getting orders for assigned units:

If you were alive, that meant your unit was in one of the less dangerous places in Vietnam. If you were a basket case, your unit was in a pretty bad place. If you were dead, that meant you were headed straight into the deep sh_t. Your unit was in the middle of the worst of the worst combat.

The infant knew how to beg before it knew how to walk.
Someone could have shot at me and wouldn't even have been able to react, I was so engrossed in that thought: The child couldn't even walk yet, but already knew how to beg.

Writing: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Reading Immersion: 4 out 5 stars

BOOK RATING: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Sensitive reader: It's a book by a Marine .. a Marine who fought in Vietnam ... there's cursing and the violence of war.… (mais)