The Village By Bing West Summary

The Village Bing West’s The Village is a book about the life of a small unit level squad of Marines during the Vietnam War. Accurately and meticulously portrayed the book covers over 17 months of the struggles the Combined Arms Platoon (CAP’s) of Marines had with the PF’s (Popular Forces) and villagers. On June 10, 1966 Twelve Marines had volunteered for this assignment to live among six-thousand Vietnamese in the Village of Binh Nghia, thinking it would serve as a break from the war itself, it was not what they had expected. For the first week or so was pretty quiet, during the day the Marines worked with the PF’S and villagers fortifying the village. No technology or modern defensive tactics were used on fortifying, like West said that
The tactical, cultural and social level they experience in a combat environment. How the Marines trained the PF’s and local police and vise-versa. It tells a lot of the situations they had to work through to keep stability in Binh Nghia and secure the town. West was a member of the squad he describes so vividly throughout the book but doesn’t insert himself too much in the story. He just describes what happens in great detail especially during patrols. The detail he uses makes for a strong connection between the reader and the characters making it that much more tragic when they die in the book. He does a great job describing how the Marines conducted their day to day joint patrols with the PF’s and how each learned from one another. When the Marines first got there the PF’s couldn’t shoot worth a damn but they were good at spotting VC at night. In October of 1967 it had been 2 and a half months without firefights or even any sign of VC. The training the PF’s received through the Marines eventually allowed them to be able to keep the village safe on their own. The Marines were no longer needed. Only seven of the original fifteen were