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March 9, 2017

I just finished reading this book & wanted to express my appreciation and thanks. I myself turned 19 in November 1971, although my brother and my dad are both vets, I never served. But I often feel like I should have.
 
I've recently taken great interest in reading about the history of the Vietnam War. Your story is compelling, and very well written. It drives home the sacrifices and contributions of our Vietnam vets, who should be honored, respected & revered.
 
I was fortunate recently to talk to a survivor from the battle at Firebase Illingworth, April 1970.  And I will never forget how he described it. I felt the same way after reading your memoir.
​
I am aware that many vets are reluctant to talk to just anyone about their time over there. As a student of history, I feel strongly that these stories need to be told, and never forgotten.
 
Thanks again, and all my best to you. And to all who served.
 
Don 
March 7, 2017

Well put Glyn, I am grateful that you fastidiously documented your experience.

Jeff
March 6, 2017

Great book.  We were in the Army together a little bit during the same time (1973-1976).

​Todd
March 5, 2017

Mr. Haynie,

Just finished your book, "When I turned 19"... First off, thank you so much for your service. Second, it gave me great insight on some of what you experienced there and I truly appreciate you sharing your story.
​
Thanks again

Jason
March 5, 2017

I served in Vietnam Sept 67 to Sept 68 @ Long Binh as a supply specialist. I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed reading your book. Those of you who served in combat did the "heavy lifting" over there and guys like me were just trying our best to support your efforts. I wrote a favorable review comment about your book on the Amazon website. Well deserved!

​Tom
March 4, 2017

Glyn,

Just finished your book. EXCELLENT!!! I was an A.F. dog handler at Da Nang working the perimeter from 12-20-67 through 12-20-68. We never considered Da Nang an in-country R&R destination, because we weren't allowed to go downtown or even off base for that matter. We worked with the Marines on the perimeter at night, and through this relationship they would open up the back gate during the day so we could "socialize" in Dog Patch. I had to crack up about your initial reaction to getting off the plane. Same here!! The heat, humidity and that friggin smell!!! I love watching the movie Platoon and I've told people that, to me, it's the most realistic movie made about 'Nam. But, it couldn't capture the "smell". Anyway, Glyn, loved your book. Welcome home, Brother.

​Steven
March 2, 2017

Glyn,

I read your book and I give it a 5-star thumbs up. I am curious about what you did after you returned to The World. Did you re-up right away or did you give civilian life a try? You left me hanging with "I'm going to look for an apartment."

Thanks,

Doug 
​February 21, 2017

Glyn, just finished your book. Did a tour 196 lt InF 67/68.

How was it good?, @ the end I felt a profound sadness reading the obituaries, so that makes it good, it was personal and I was not there.

Everyday after Vietnam a gift, enjoy it, your buddies would have wanted you too.

My tour, Through the Valley, James F Humphries, and Why didn't you get me out, Frank Anton. Just north of you, could see it all again in Kindle.

Larry 
February 14, 2017

Glyn, I just finished your book and I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it.  It was total truth and well written.  I served in Vietnam about the same time as you. I was a Navy Corpsman attached to the marines.

​Welcome home brother.

Russ
February 12, 2017

I just finished your book about your tour in Vietnam. I was only ten years old at the time but my young brother in law was there then too. Only he was in the airforce at Nha Trang AFB. Vietnam was front and center in our family.
 
When my brother in law returned, he became a police officer in the city of Wayne, Michigan where your best friend Mike is from!
 
Thank you for writing your book. I am in awe of your service and of those who served with you. I pray for all those lost and for the eternal anguish Vietnam has caused. I also pray that we have learned from Vietnam and it's consequences.
 
With deepest respect and gratitude to you and all those who served in Vietnam.
 
Kathleen
February 8, 2017

Glyn, I was conscripted into the Australian Army in 1970 for a two year period. I did a tour of Vietnam as an infantry soldier in 1971 with the 4th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment.

I have read quite a few books about Vietnam and I found yours to be very well written and one of the best books from an Infantry soldiers perspective that I have read, very well done.

The Australian Army had a different perspective with the installation goiing on returning from their tours together, so 90% of us were "Green" when we arrived in country. We did have replacements with Conscripts completing their two years service in the army, together with the KIA and wounded.

Look after yourself and again a great book.

Bob
January 22, 2017

I just finished your book. I am 75 years old, a lawyer, who did not serve in the armed forces because of a blood clotting issue. But I want to thank you for going to Vietnam. I am sorry you and all others who returned were not welcomed and honored as you deserved.
  
God does love you and He cares for you. I only hope that you turned back to Him since your return from the war
Anyhow, thanks for serving and writing the book. It was a good read.
 
Bruce 
January 17, 2017

Awesome read! I’m a fan of history and really enjoyed this excellent first-hand account of what it was like to be an infantryman in Vietnam. The book is easy to follow and keeps you captivated from the moment you pick it up until you put it down. Glyn, through his experiences as a rifleman, was able to capture the true emotions and feelings of the average combat soldier in an unpopular war. The hardships and heartbreaks were very well conveyed, leaving the reader with a sense of being there. I highly recommend this book to everyone studying or just interested in learning what it was like to be removed from civilian life and thrust into a day-to-day life or death situation. I bought several copies and gave them to young relatives interested in Vietnam.
​
Don
January 17, 2017

A short note to tell you how much I enjoyed your book. Well written!  Most importantly, thank you for your service and sacrifices.
​      
Bill
January 14, 2017

​Welcome home. Just finished your book and like all nam combat vets can relive your time in the Nam, same same my time. Very true and factual as too what I experienced in my tour, dec68/ 69. Isn't it the truth about the brotherhood and bonds that we share with our fellow brothers? I was a combat engr serving with the 299th cbt engrs in the highlands around Dak. To, Ben Het, in support of the 4th ID & the 173rd airborne. I enjoyed your book because it's a factual true account of life in the 60's before, during, and after the Nam. I was also involved in locating the bro's I served with and have attended 12 reunions. We have them every year at a different location across our great country. God, it is something that we made it home and too this day and forever miss our fallen. I salute you and all service men & women but especially those who served in Vietnam during those troubled years. We served proudly and we hold our heads high.

Jay
January 12, 2017

Glyn, Thank you for writing one of the best books I have read thus far that tell the soldiers side of the Vietnam War. I served in Vietnam from 9/15/66 to 9/15/67, serving as a Finance Officer at Headquarters, US Army Vietnam-long time ago. … I collect books that present the war from the soldiers point of view and would like to talk to you about your remarkable book. Once I started reading, the book defied putting down and I finished it in two days. Well written! I could almost feel the pain and smell Vietnam all over again.

​Dave
January 10, 2017

A great read. Brought back good and bad memories as a young grunt in 1/7 1st MarDiv. Stay well.

Steve
January 3, 2017

Hello Glyn, I have just finished your book which I enjoyed very much. As an Englishman I was spared the horrors of Vietnam and find it incredible that you were all so young and endured so much. It could not have been an easy story to tell and must have awakened many painful memories; thanks for sharing your story with us. It is a very personal, yet inclusive narrative. The quotations of other's letters and photos bring it very much to life.
Deep respect and thank you for your service.

Michael 
December 8, 2016

Thank you for sharing your experience. Wow!

You reached so many different emotional levels it made me feel like I was there. I watch you grow in the book to a mature person. A person with enough sense to live.

Clearly you did the best you could at the time given your age, education, and experience. No way could you have done anything differently. It shaped your future.

Stephen
November 17, 2016

We find When I Turned Nineteen to be an incredibly well written and moving memoir from the eyes of a young soldier. While it touches on the intense bursts of fear and the stresses of combat and the long stretches of boredom, it also exudes the kindness and brotherhood bonds that were made. Glyn writes with a heartfelt compassion as he talks of his observations of war.

Unattributed
​September 15, 2016

… Mr. Haynie’s writing style is very personal and humanizing; it is very compelling. Complementing this personalized style is the fact that his brother accompanied him to Vietnam and that Glyn came from a military family, with a father who had served in both World War II and Vietnam. …

… At the same time, the style of the writing is coldly realistic. This account revealed more detail to me than I had ever read before about what it was like to be an infantryman in Vietnam. This realism will likely appeal to many readers. …

... Also very effective is Mr. Haynie’s use of quotations excerpted from soldiers’ letters home to their families or friends. These are looks deep inside the conflict, each revealing a different aspect of it because of the differing personalities, temperaments, and emphases of the different writers. ...

Excerpts from an Editorial Review by 1106 Design, Phoenix, AZ
September 11, 2016

"When I Turned Nineteen" was a wonderful surprise to me. As a fan of fiction novels, I didn't expect to be so captivated by a memoir pertaining to the Vietnam War. This book has all of the interesting characters, suspense & emotion that I enjoy in fiction novels. It is astonishing that these true events happened in the span of one year and even more shocking, at the young age of nineteen. Glyn paints a vivid picture of the events he endured, and I found myself constantly wanting to read "just one more chapter." I would highly recommend this book to all readers, regardless of their preferred genre of books! 

~Jenni (Beta Reader)
​​September 9, 2016

"This retrospective story captures a year in the life of a young soldier sent to Vietnam just before his nineteenth birthday. The author describes in vivid detail the thoughts, experiences and actions of a platoon of soldiers facing the ugliness of war. He engages his reader with casual commentary reflecting about the life of young men sent to war among enemies, foreign lands and brotherhood. Personal letters and narratives add fascinating insights to platoon members who were all struggling with remarkably similar challenges." 

A Must Read! :)

Suzanne(Beta Reader)
September 8, 2016

“When I turned Nineteen”

"This book is not your normal Vietnam book. It tells events of a tour in the Vietnam battlefield through the eyes of an 18 year old who turned 19 in the midst of war. The book causes you to think back to your own life at this age and contrast it to the experiences of Glyn Haynie.   

Glyn’s story starts right after high school graduation and moves quickly into his voluntary enlistment in the Army. Glyn details the life of an infantryman and the grueling conditions they endure in the field. The book is compelling in that it is not only a story about Glyn, but his platoon, of which all did not come home. The book contains personal letters home from his platoon which really paints a clear picture of the emotions, mood and challenges these men endured. Storytelling and memories can change over time, by using actual letters sent home to families during the war, you get an accurate picture of their life at this time.  

I will have my teenage son read this book once he is a little older, the horrifying events he experienced are so starkly in contrast with the average American at this age it will cause you to think deeply about the price of war that is paid primarily by the young in our society."

Kevin(Beta Reader)
September 2, 2016

"I am honored to be asked to provide a review on my friend and neighbor, Glyn Haynies’s first book When I Turned Nineteen: A Vietnam War Memoir. 

Glyn takes his readers into the soul and mind of so many of our nation’s young soldiers during the Vietnam War. Through well-developed characters and first-hand accounts of life in the First Platoon Company A 3/1 11th Bde Americal Divison, 1969 Vietnam comes alive in the pages and pictures.

Painstaking research and years of gathering letters and pictures to recount Glyn’s year in the Vietnam War zone are revealed as the book takes you from Glyn’s high school graduation to his return home as a combat veteran. The letters home from his brother’s in arms are effective in supporting the day-to-day life in the platoon and the constant battle against the Viet Cong, mother nature, new platoon members and personal challenges. 

When I Turned Nineteen: A Vietnam War Memoir is a must read for anyone looking to gain an insight into the finest Infantry Soldiers in the World and how they won daily and survived in Vietnam to return to the home, country and people they love." 

Manny USAF Veteran and U.S. Air Force Academy Graduate. (Beta Reader)
September 1, 2016

"The story and experiences of a combat veteran at the age of Nineteen, something you never want to happen to your son, but it happened to so many of our young American boys, sent to the other side of the world, to Vietnam in the 60’s. They returned never to be the same, grown up way before their time. 

When I Turned Nineteen: A Vietnam War Memoir chronicles the year-long events of combat infantrymen. You will understand why being a combat infantryman is the most dangerous position in any War. In Vietnam, even more so, we were fighting a civilian population, not only uniform soldiers, just men young and old, women and kids, all with one constant, hatred for Americans. 

It is a well-written story. It effectively uses letters written by fellow infantrymen to their parents, times and events told as it happened. The story then moves to the difficult and painful events of War, losing your friends and fellow soldiers at the age of nineteen, holding their shot and mangled bodies, having them literally die in your arms. Then, with no time to mentally and physically adjust, you are asked to take the lead once again, stepping out one step at a time, with your life at risk with each step you take. Reading this book will let you know how the United States lost 38,000 men (one man at a time) and continues to suffer even today, with over 250,000 wounded men that were spread over this great country of ours. 

The pain of War cannot be explained by any infantrymen. It is anguish and a personal nightmare that lives with a nineteen-year-old for the rest of his life. And the Story never ends." 

John U.S. Army Vietnam Veteran 66-67. (Beta Reader)

Glyn Haynie, Author

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