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One Day At A Time

by Edward A. Marcin

184 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-1257; ISBN 1-4120-0889-1; US$22.50, C$26.00, EUR18.50, £13.00

There is no beginning, there is no middle, there is no end! There is a large part of who I was, or who I would like to be, missing or still hiding out inside me and I believe in another country and another world.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpts       reviews       catalogue info

About the Book My feelings and perceptions as a young man prior to my entry into the military and during my time in Vietnam. Memories of what it was like to train for and then go to war as an everyday soldier. The things that happened then contributed to my being the person I am today.

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About the Author Author Edward A. Marcin was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts. The oldest of six children and a 1965 graduate of Lynn Trade high School, who served 20 years in the United States Army. The first three years as a clerk, equipment operator and armorer with the Signal Corps (1965-1968), and seventeen years as an engineer equipment mechanic, maintenance supervisor, and engineer maintenance technician with the Engineer Corps (1969-1986), at various installations within the U.S., Europe, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Write to the author at- oneday1@comcast.net

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Sample Excerpts

A breath and a blink later feeling extremely tired from so many long days and night's, and hot from the blazing sun and upset with your situation you begin to get mad.

You can not share it with someone that has not been, although you may try to explain it.

Our mission is to repel an undetermined number of enemy soldiers. The problem was riding out to engage the enemy with unloaded weapons and one empty magazine!

Every conflict generated it's own circle of fear and only the place and circumstances have ever changed! Every action is a risk, every street is a potential ambush site, every local person is a potential threat, every day is a danger and every night is even more dangerous.

It seems one reason we as people never seem to learn from the lessons of the past is that the lessons are often buried along with the pain and the horrible memories associated with that past.

Imagine that it actually costs money to equip or support a soldier in the field.

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Reviews

BOOK REVIEW
by Peter Bollen

Anyone who has ever served in the military, especially if he or she had to face the possibility of engaging in a wartime scenario and the specter of a hidden enemy, will relate to the narration of author Edward Marcin's account of his days as an 18 year old enlistee in the U.S. Army.

Marcin graduated Lynn Trade High in 1965 and looked forward to a career in the Army which promised education, training and a structured life. For Marcin, the Army promised a solid career with a sense of duty for a young man with a sense of ideals and a vision of purpose. Perhaps it was also the dream of travel to one confined to an upbringing in the hardscrabble working class neighborhood of Lynn, Massachusetts.

The author, in this first person account, takes the reader on a moment to moment and, at times, a day to day accounting of the sights, sounds, and largely, his own reflections of daily life in a boot camp oriented to personal combat in far away jungles. A new recruit traditionally drills in this fashion, but in 1966 a real war was going on in a distant part of the globe. This was a time when our government, already engaged in Vietnam, was still contemplating the extent of our involvement. The questioning of our involvement and the ensuing anti-war movement had not caught on outside of the fringes of the college campuses and the occasional editorials of the press.

The young men in the military, both draftees and volunteers alike, were not likely aware of what their future days entailed. Marcin articulates the mind-set of a conscientious new soldier, constantly questioning his sense of duty, honor and the true efficacy of his commitment of one suddenly put in harm's way - now being prepared to fight, defend and carry on whatever war time tasks which might arise. Suddenly, you're a man, a trained soldier and you ask no questions. You take your orders and you react. In Marcin's conscience, he questions, he reacts on his own instincts and he accepts whatever responsibilities result in his activities. Marcin gets reprimanded for doing what he feels is his common sense obligation of updating his camp's readiness. Taking his newly assigned position as a supply clerk seriously, he chooses to replenish and store arms in the event of a possible raid or attack in his camp. Marcin gets reprimanded and warned about requisitioning at his own behest. Inevitably, the camp gets attacked in a sudden raid and the personnel (caught unaware) take up whatever arms are on hand and fortunately, were able to fend off the flurry of attacks. Subsequently, no official thanks nor acknowledgment for Marcin's foresight or vigilance was forthcoming. Marcin shrugs this off as warfare's duty and eschews the politics of where credit is given in the echelon of military rank. Just a soldier doing his duty. Reprimands were part of his independent judgments.

Marcin's powers of observation and fine eye for detail gives this account a certain page turning quality for those curious about the day to day life in a war zone. Marcin's observations may also give pause to those who look at military life as a romantic rendezvous with destiny. Here's Marcin's observations on his fellow recruits' fate: "Just about everyone that was transferring through Oakland was going to Vietnam for the first time. There was little or no conversation about that other than the questions about where in the world Vietnam was, and why we were there in the first place. I cannot remember ever hearing any good reason anyone had."

Bearing the burden of serving his country, Marcin relates his first painful return home and what he encountered. Any returning veteran of that era will understand the painful and heartbreaking reception which Marcin endured. There are many lessons to be learned from the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Of the most painful of these would be the fate of the veterans and their families and how they were regarded and treated for their sacrifices in this unforgiving involvement.

One Day At A Time spares no sentimentality of a 17 year old recruit to an 18 year old battle- trained soldier - to a questioning veteran responsible for the men around him and ultimately, for the vicissitudes of war and the random conditions which war renders for those who are the chosen defenders of liberty. Those were the conditions set forth for these young , largely unquestioning men. Marcin was one of those who constantly questioned. This book can be valuable for young people interested in a future career in the uniformed services and gives much insight in the military's role and the expectations it demands. Veterans will relate to the author's observations and can empathize especially, with returning to civilian life and the often traumatic transition from war to American society.

In a time where young Americans are being sent to a foreign land to engage in war, One Day At A Time is a soldier's timely lessons which shouldn't be ignored. It should be noted that the author returned to Vietnam with other veterans after 20 years in a memorable documentary titled: Two Decades and a Wakeup, to make peace with their own past as well as healing relations with a new generation of Vietnamese citizens. The documentary was the subject of a Nightline special and a live interview with host, Ted Koppel.

Viet vet became author

BY ROBIN CONNOLLY

THE DAILY ITEM

"You cannot share it with someone who has not been there, although you might try to explain it."

The 184-page, newly published, "One Day at a Time" is the explanation of Lynn native, Edward Marcin, in the words of Vietnam vet Marcin, and the memory/pain of soldier Marcin turned scribe, for those who have not been there. It is, a first person account told "moment to moment," according to author/reviewer Peter Bollen, of a young soldier's journey through Vietnam and the person he left behind, never to grow. Marcin, a 1965 graduate of Lynn Trade High, says, "There is no beginning. There is no middle. There is no end! There is a large part of who I was, or who I would like to be, missing or still hiding out inside me and, I believe, in another country and another world."

It is a world, the Chelseaborn, eldest of six children and a 20-year veteran of the United States Army, describes in minute detail, of heat-induced rage, 24-hour fear and questions never answered. It's a log from a 17-year-old recruit, determined to serve well, armed with the duty and dignity he deemed appropriate for a soldier and catapulted into the dirt-hard realities of a war that often lacked both: "Our mission is to repel an undetermined number of enemy soldiers. The problem was riding out to engage the enemy with unloaded weapons and oneempty magazine!"

It's a log from a 17- year-old recruit, determined to serve well...

Marcin, a supply clerk in Vietnam, recounts his determination to replenish and store arms in case of attack and subsequent reprimand for requisitioning. It is during the attack that did come, with American soldiers caughtunaware and unarmed, scrambling for whatever was available that validation came.

Acknowledgement did not, and it was, for the former Lynner, affirmation of self-duty — reprimands be damned.

"One Day at a Time," is, according to publisher, Trafford of Canada, a 33-month telling of what happened in Vietnam and, perhaps more noteworthy, what happened when Marcin and fellow soldiers came home to a people who couldn't share and didn't want an explanation. "The lessons," they say, "learned from this career veteran are timely.

The questions and emotions a soldier experiences can only by known by those who served during those troubled times." They are times, revisited, according to the author who, 20 years after leaving his first militaryassignment in Vietnam, returned with a crew of fellow veterans and the making of a documentary, "Two Decades and a Wake Up." It was the subject of a "Nightline" special

Lynn native's book details war experience and live interview with Ted Koppel. It was, again, an explanation. Marcin, who now lives in Spanaway, Wash., with wife, Evelyn, and daughter, Trish, cannot, he admits, share with those who were never there, can never know "a breath and a blink later, feeling extremely tired from so many long days and nights, and hot from theblazing sun and upset with your situation, you begin to get mad."

It's a beginning, for this author, that never existed, nor a middle or end. It is, he says, of the book, somewhere in the pages, in another country, another world, and somewhere in sharing with those who went and came back, an explanation for those who can never really know.

Jeffery S. Smith
PKMM Fabrication Facility Manager

This book is a MUST read for all veterans and current members of the Military. It will most assuredly help Vietnam veterans and their families come to grips with what was happening to our young men and women in Vietnam. In One Day At A Time Mr. Marcin provides an insightful look at the every day life of "non-combatant" in Vietnam. Mr. Marcin's "do what it takes at all costs" attitude shows his dedication not only to the country and the Army but to his fellow soldiers. One Day At A Time gives the public a look at one of the many HEROES that served our country during an era when service in the US Military made you a target for the US public's frustration and disdain. Let us not forget the pat so we dont repeat it in the future.

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Catalogue Information

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