Acceptable Loss: An Infantry Soldier's Perspective Mass Market Paperback – September 23, 1991

One of the best books I have read from a first person point of view. I was in the Navy during the same time period and met several sailors who were transferred to my ship in the Mediterranean from river patrol in Vietnam....combat veterans....who always still had part of their brain and emotions still in Vietnam. Jorgenson does a great job in capturing the horror and exhilaration of combat as well as our generation’s rebellious attitude towards hypocrisy and carelessness of lives of the ‘chain of command’. Despite what the media has been decimating for half a century in the media and Hollywood, the Vietnam era soldier did his duty and beyond, as in the example of Jorgensen, and several of my boyhood friends were killed in the war.....all draftees and 18 y/o. This book does a great job of demonstrating the quiet patriotism of men fighting for each other despite the machinations of the politicians and the generals. I’m looking forward to reading his other books.

Acceptable Loss is an awesome story!! I especially liked reading about the secret insertions into "no man's land" as the five-man LRRP teams operated without any support. It is edge of your seat suspense when these small groups are unknowingly trapped between large enemy forces and have to make their way to the pick-up point, precisely on time, or they will be left behind! After several of these encounters, I can see why Mr. Jorgenson transferred to the Blues. However, it wasn't any easier there as these volunteers knew they were headed for battle when the call came for help.I am also a Vietnam Infantry veteran and author, and can relate to those instances when the author walked point, as I did for much of my tour; much of it hit home. There is nothing glorified about war, and Kregg was able to show this all through his novel. I truly enjoyed his story. It was very easy to read, and made me feel like I was right there beside him; heart pounding and wondering if we were going to survive. Acceptable loss kept me up a little longer that I should have on some nights, but I found myself yearning for it upon my return home the next evening.Acceptable Loss deserves five stars and a place within the top twenty of my all time best Vietnam novels. Great job Kregg!John Podlaski, authorCherries - A Vietnam War Novel

"The Army gave us two parachutes. If the first one fails, open the emergency then when you land there will be a truck on the drop zone to bring you guys in. As I leaped from the plane, the guy behind me had his first chute fail, then his emergency chute failed and as he flew by me at 120 mph I heard him say, "I bet the truck aint there either"".The above is a story one G.I. tells another in the book. Obviously a joke but the irony of the story is something you adopt having served time in the Army. Kregg Jorgenson takes us through his tour of Vietnam where he landed as a gung-ho, let me at em boot and left the war a year later, wiser, 10 years older with a cynicism reserved only for those who have been in combat.Kregg volunteered for the Rangers pretty much as soon as he arrived in Vietnam. 5 man teams sent out on reconnaissance missions into hostile territory. He tells his mission stories with both humor and seriousness. He enjoyed what he did despite the fear he felt. After a spell on Ranger teams he joined the Air Cav, 1st of the 9th as a "Blue". The missions mainly involved rescuing downed chopper pilots inside enemy held territory.He has a no nonsense way of telling his story and you can feel the gung-ho, spit, shine nature he landed in Vietnam with erode from the middle outwards as he sees friends get killed or maimed, and as he sees friends and trusted team member rotate out of Vietnam back to the world. Despite the erosion and eventual disappearance of the "John Wayne" spirit he retained his professional edge as far as doing his job. He struggles with his inner thoughts and guilt about the situation. The guilt is only magnified once he receives the Silver Star for bravery in combat. Unfortunately this was the same battle where he lost a good friend.As his time in country and his reputation with his buddies grows and, after he is seriously injured he is offered "soft" jobs which he wants to accept but, due to his nature and his torment, he turns them down again and again. Even a serious wound to his legs doesn't help him accept a soft job. Once out the hospital he is back with his team doing what they do best, rescuing downed airmen.I particularly enjoyed Jorgenson letting us inside his head as he deals with his thoughts and his guilt. The fear is always there but with each siren heralding a new mission the adrenaline rush overcame the fear somewhat and he'd go back out. 54 missions and 3 purple hearts later he came back home. A true hero.This is a great book and a fast read. One worthy of your time if you are a big Vietnam none-fiction fan.

With 48 very positive reviews already, I am spinning my wheels here, but this is a great book! Mr. Jorgenson (with an "O")has an amazingly great memory for details, and wrote these down in book form evidently back in the early 90s (some 20 years ago now). Several things make this a great book, one is that when he went in he was young at 19, and was starry eyed, believed in good guys and bad guys. He volunteered for LRRP and ended up being a highly decorated young soldier in just a few months, saw a lot of action. Yet he (at least by the 90s) understood that what he saw was just a portion of the whole picture. That the VN war was different for everyone who experienced it. He understood the transitory nature of the US military in VN at that time and indeed the transitory nature of the entire US military during that era. Men were constantly coming in or leaving an area as their tours ran out. ETS parties and dates were a huge deal. Great book, I highly recommend this for a great read on understanding what combat was like in one area of VN in 1969 near the Cambodian border.