Bøger af Marc Cullison

Each of us who served in Vietnam was the guy next door, the average Joe, not a hero. The boy who might date your daughter or sister. The young man who might mow your yard. In Vietnam, we weren't out to be heroes. We just did our jobs.For a helicopter pilot, each day was like all the others. You flew the mission and never stopped to think that it might be your last. You didn't think about the bullet holes in the helicopter, the cracks in the tail boom, or about any of it until night, lying in bed when you couldn't think of anything else.The Other Vietnam War is the story of the introduction to a new country, a backward culture, the perils of a combat zone, and the effects on a young lieutenant fresh out of flight school. It does not labor the reader with pages of white-knuckle adventures, as so many other fine books about the Vietnam War do. It instead focuses on the internal battle each soldier fought with himself to make sense of where he was, why he was there, and if he was good enough.The administrative duties of Commissioned officers, while tame compared to the exploits of valiant pilots who wrote about them, caused a deep introspection into life and its value in an enigmatic place like Vietnam. Aside from the fear, excitement, deliverance, and denial that each pilot faced, the inner battle he fought with himself took its toll. Some of us thought we'd find glory. But many of us discovered there is no glory in war.

Author Marc Cullison captivates readers as he exploits his experience as a science professor and draws readers into the bewildering world of academia. Through his work of fiction, Cullison establishes a vivid depiction of the devious student, the corrupt colleague, and the intricate politics of higher education that will have readers clutching to the pages. It's a story of a man who leaves the comfort of a secure and steadfast career as an engineer to find the meaning and passion he feels is lacking in his life, which he finds not in the rewards of teaching, but through the struggles and step-backs he encounters along the way. Cullison is a long-time Oklahoman and centers his characters on the region's terrain, bringing the setting to life and placing Oklahoma back on the map for literary significance. Though the characters and institution itself are fictional, Cullison's artful prose keeps the reader wondering where the line of reality versus fiction is drawn.

A torrent of books about the Vietnam War has flooded the market, most of them documenting battles, strategy, and personal journals of life during the war. There are far fewer books about soldiers who have returned to that country of conflict four decades later. Most men and women who served during the Vietnam War were only too glad to leave and never look back. I was one of those people until last year when an unexpected phone call had me considering something I never thought I would do...return to Vietnam. The two weeks I spent touring Vietnam made me re-evaluate my life and everything I thought I knew about that country and its people. I found answers to questions I had long buried in my mind and found myself absolved of the indignity I had carried all of those years. A vision into America that I had always suspected, but had never seen opened up before me. The book, Vietnam...Again, follows our flight into Hanoi and the two-week journey south to Ho Chi Minh City, with stops at Dong Hoi, Quang Tri, Hue, Qui Nhon, Nha Trang, and Phan Thiet. Our tour guide, an NVA veteran, became a valued friend and showed us how Vietnam has evolved and prospered since the war. I found a gracious people who welcomed us as friends and shared with us the beauty and hospitality of their country. This book explains the maturing of Vietnam and visits the ancient cities with the striking architecture and craftsmanship that helps define the Vietnamese people.

Each of us who served in Vietnam was the guy next door...the average Joe, not a hero. The boy who might date your daughter or sister. The young man who might mow your yard. In Vietnam, we weren't out to be heroes. We just did our jobs.For a helicopter pilot, each day was like all the others. You flew the mission and never stopped to think that it might be your last. You didn't think about the bullet holes in the helicopter, the cracks in the tail boom, or about any of it until night, lying in bed when you couldn't think of anything else.The Other Vietnam War is the story of the introduction to a new country, a backward culture, the perils of a combat zone, and the effects on a young lieutenant fresh out of flight school who endures the trials and tribulations of a new country and comes back home to a less than warm welcome to his own country and begins to build a life after the Vietnam War.Then, 40 years later an unexpected phone call has him considering something he sure as hell never thought he would do...return to Vietnam. Could he return to Vietnam...Again and face-down memories that had haunted him for years? This anthology gives a unique perpective of one soldier's true life "there and back again story".