Quotes
“Exit Wounds is the finest memoir of the Vietnam War that I have read. It is written from the perspective of a citizen-soldier whose personal story placed him in the front ranks of the Vietnam War as a medical officer with the Special Forces. His experiences in-country ranged from combat to the farcical. Hunter returned to Vietnam in 1997 in response to a letter from his Montagnard interpreter requesting help after ten years in a communist reeducation camp. The stories of these two men are related contextually during their travels on Hunter’s return pilgrimage. The narrative is seasoned with the author’s insights on history, politics, medicine, the horror and rapture of war, and the ambiguity of the human condition, citizenship, cultural imperialism, religion, morality, loss, and recovery. Hunter writes with the precision of a surgeon, the arresting images of a poet, and the compassion of both—which he is.” Karl Marlantes, USMC, Vietnam, 1968/69, author of What It Is Like to Go to War, Deep River, and the New York Times bestseller Matterhorn
“Hunter not only documents his own boots-on-the-floor experiences as a doctor in the Vietnam War in 1965–66, but he also revisits the scene of some of his most harrowing moments.” New York Post
“The memoir seamlessly blends these two Vietnams—1965 and 1997—as Hunter and Y-Kre tromp old battlegrounds and reflect on their lives, together and apart. Hunter’s prose is poetic, at times staccato, and thrums throughout with a pulse-pounding urgency. Exit Wounds is transformative and transcendent…and not to be missed.” Historical Novel Society
“This book is important, and I urge every American, veteran, and civilian alike to read it. Lanny Hunter has much to teach us and the skill to do it well.” John Musgrave, USMC, author and narrator for Ken Burns’s series The Vietnam War