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MWSA Review
Shrapnel Wounds, An Infantry Lieutenant’s Vietnam War Memoir is a well-crafted raw look at the combat experience of one soldier, which also represents the experiences of countless others. Tom Crowley’s unabashed account of his time in the military and the lifelong impact it had on him is a must read for anyone who seeks to understand the reality of combat.
Crowley skillfully captures the struggles, heroism, fear, and loss experienced by combat soldiers of all eras. From mundane days, to tragic, senseless deaths, to equally tragic but extraordinarily heroic sacrifices, Crowley takes the reader with him. He brings the reader to boot camp and to the jungles, in a manner that is felt as opposed to just read. He shines a spotlight on the lethal consequences of arbitrary decisions and backwards bureaucracy while demonstrating the courage of the unsung heroes of war.
This book will resonate with combat veterans, provide insight to their families, and educate the ignorant on the true cost of freedom.
Welcome Home.
MWSA Reviewer: Barbara Allen
Author's Synopsis
Shrapnel Wounds is the combat memoir of Lieutenant Tom Crowley, an enthusiastic and highly trained U.S. Army enlistee and Officer Candidate School grad who enters combat in Vietnam in mid-1966. Highly regarded by his infantry platoon and strongly encouraged by his superiors to become a professional soldier, Crowley almost inadvertently examines the system by which career officers are shepherded through to higher and higher rank—and increasingly rejects that system over the course of his one-year combat tour.