In 1967, at age nineteen, John Stillman—refusing to wait for the draft—voluntarily enlisted in the Army to aid his fellow countrymen in one of the most opposed involvements in our nation’s history: the Vietnam War. Quickly falling in love with the rush of being a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne, he believed his service would honorably help the South Vietnamese protect their country from the … the ruthless communist North and their Southern allies. But once in the volatile jungles of Vietnam, the merciless hunting and killing of the enemy, constant threat of landmines and booby traps, ambushes that could easily backfire, and deaths of his comrades made Stillman question how any man—if he survived—could ever return to his life as he’d known it.
Written with John’s daughter, Lori Stillman, Jumping from Helicopters is a vivid and moving memoir that unearths fifty years of repressed memories with stunning accuracy and raw details. Interwoven with the author’s own journal entries and including thirty-five photographs, it is a story that will open your eyes to what these brave young men witnessed and endured, and why they returned facing a lifetime of often unspoken unrest, persistent nightmares, and forced normalcy, haunting even the strongest of soldiers.
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Great account of the life of a Vietnam grunt.
Jumping from Helicopters is a memoir about a Screaming Eagle, a member of the 101st Airborne Infantry during the Vietnam War. John Stillman served with the 1st of 502nd Battalion, B Company. John recounted his time there to his daughter, Lori, who wrote the book. John obviously suffered from PTSD and stuffed it all inside. His finally opening up to his daughter was helpful to him as he was able to get some of his story out in the open, thereby causing a release of some of his inner struggles.
The story mostly takes place in Vietnam although there are brief parts about his enlistment and training and then his eventual homecoming. At the end of the book are a number of pictures and what is titled, “A Conversation with John and Lori Stillman.” That part is worthy of reading and sheds some light on how the book was written and answers some questions about John’s thinking now about what went on while he was at war. It is revelatory. Be sure to read it after you finish the memoir itself.
John was proud to serve and still thinks what he did was right and helpful. His tour of duty was a mixture of guarding bridges or Rome plows, setting up ambushes, sweeping villages, and humping through the jungle attempting to find the enemy and hopefully stay alive. He had some down time also, brief rest periods of a day or two here and there along with one leave of R&R to Manila.
At the beginning of the book, there is a short statement about authenticity and the fact that the book tells it like it was, meaning some words might offend a few folks. I know that in our PC society today it is probably necessary for the publisher to include such information, but in a way it saddens me that it has to be mentioned at all. These guys were in the midst of it, tough, scared, brutalized, and proud. War is traumatizing. You don’t see friends killed or maimed, participate in killing others, and not develop attitudes to remain sane. The attitudes are reflected in speech and the treatment of others, friends and foes. There are mental scars also, and for many it takes a long time to heal if ever. We owe a great debt to those who have served.
John had two narrow escapes. One involved the jamming of an enemy’s rifle, and the second was with a booby trap. Either one could easily have killed him. John was a Roman Catholic, and it appears he was nominal in his belief. He mentions that he prayed a bunch and recounts going to mass once. Nonetheless, God obviously had His hand on John and saved his physical life. Rita, his girl friend and later wife, was a source of strong encouragement to him both while in Vietnam and after he came home. That illustrates the importance of having loving support, especially for those who undergo the rigors of war or any other traumatizing experience.
Personally, I did not go to Vietnam, but it was my era. I was called up for the draft but mercifully passed over for some reason. Friends went, and thankfully returned. Unfortunately, 58,000 plus did not. Read the book and gain some insight into the physical and mental conditions our troops underwent and may your appreciation for them grow as a result.