Welcome to Vietnam, Macho Man

Reflections of a Khe Sanh Vet

By: Ernest Spencer

Narrated by: Ernest Spencer

This is hands down the most heartbreaking and thought-provoking book about Khe Sanh and even the Vietnam War you will ever have the honor to explore. Other books are easier to understand, yet none of them will leave you a believer in the way that this book has. Seldom is the author so true to himself and the memory of those lost that he is willing to blind others with their own tears and shame rather than sacrifice what he knows to be the true story.

At the very end, the author, Ernest Spencer, was faced with having to identify a casualty from his battalion. He says, "Rodriguez is gone, and I am still here. Why? Am I but a witness? I feel fear wash through me. They die while I watch. Whom should I tell? Who will care? How long will they care?"

You will find some rather colorful language and the haunting truth. Please listen to the audiobook. It will probably make you feel uncomfortable. Good! It should. If for even a few moments you feel you have suffered from hearing about such waste and suffering, then take a few more moments and try to imagine first living the story and then laying it down on paper. It is our debt to listen to this audiobook, in honor of those who have given more than we can ever imagine. And to remember what really mattered: the men and women who served and sacrificed for a country that has remained ungrateful.

This audiobook is full of heart and soul - bare naked anger, hate, suffering, and despair. You will feel the weight of the war in Vietnam in your hands. You will find some rather colorful language and the haunting truth.

©1987 Corps Productions, Inc (P)2021 Corps Productions, Inc

The voice

Wow what a story macho man I don’t know how you survived that shit

Thank you
Welcome home

Great Book

Nothing like hearing a salty candid Marine talk about his experience in the war. Thank you for your service, Macho Man.

Excellent Audio Read by Author. Realistic, alive

Having read the paperback, I admit to enjoying the audiobook so much more. With the book I am merely absorbing words on a printed page – left to my own imagination to picture the conflict of war. My mind doesn’t allow for any nuance of the content itself. Hearing the story told in the author’s own voice makes the book come alive and engaging. It becomes 3-dimensional, and the listener can visualize the book easily turning into a blockbuster movie. It helps that the author has a smooth baritone voice which is pleasing to the ear.
Again, in comparison to the print version, the audiobook engages the listener at a deeper level. The storyline stayed with me throughout the read. I’m left wondering if Ernest Spencer’s upbringing had any part in his development as “Macho Man”. Or did Spencer came into the world straight from the womb as a “Macho Man”?
Some parts of the author’s account are so vivid and so unique that I found myself rewinding the book to hear it again. The book is riddled with exacting metaphors (i.e., “bodies were stacked in a pile like a cord of firewood) which makes a lasting impression when hearing it through my AirPods. I really got the sense that Spencer was single minded in his ambition to take on “Charlie” even if it meant bending the rules.
I’m tempted to think there were times the author may have had an unconscious death wish during his tour that was masked only by his ruthless ambition to destroy the enemy. The inflection in his voice reveals so much more than words from a printed page ever can. This is especially telling during his final days in Nam when he struggles to make sense out of something that, looking back, might have been senseless.