Time in the Barrel
256 pages, 6 x 9
18 B&W figures - 4 maps
Paperback
Release Date:15 Dec 2023
ISBN:9780817361228
Time in the Barrel
A Marine's Account of the Battle for Con Thien
University of Alabama Press
A Marine’s highly personal memoir reliving the hellish days of a pivotal conflict of the Vietnam War
Con Thien, located only two miles from the demilitarized zone dividing North and South Vietnam, was a United States Marine Corps firebase that was the scene of fierce combat for months on end during 1967. Staving off attacks and ambushes while suffering from ineffectual leadership from Washington as well as media onslaughts, courageous American Marines protected this crucial piece of land at all costs. They would hold Con Thien, but many paid the ultimate price. By the end of the war, more than 1,400 Marines had died and more than 9,000 sustained injuries defending the “Hill of Angels.”
For eight months, James P. Coan’s five-tank platoon was assigned to Con Thien while attached to various Marine infantry battalions. A novice second lieutenant at the time, the author kept a diary recording the thoughts, fears, and frustrations that accompanied his life on “The Hill.” Time in the Barrel: A Marine’s Account of the Battle for Con Thien offers an authentic firsthand account of the daily nightmare that was Con Thien. An enticing and fascinating read featuring authentic depictions of combat, it allows readers to fully grasp the enormity of the fierce struggle for Con Thien.
The defenders of Con Thien were bombarded with hundreds of rounds of incoming rockets, mortars, and artillery that pounded the beleaguered outpost daily. Monsoon downpours turned the red laterite clay soil into a morass of oozing mud, flooded bunkers and trenches, and made Con Thien a living hell. .Being at Con Thien came to be ruefully referred to by the Marines stationed there as "time in the barrel” because they were targets as easy as fish in a barrel.
More than a retelling of military movements, Coan’s engrossing narratives focus on the sheer sacrifice and misery of one Marine’s experience in Vietnam. Through his eyes, we experience the abysmal conditions the Marines endured, from monsoon rainstorms to the constant threat of impending attack. Climatic moments in history are captured through the rare, personal perspective of one particularly astute and observant participant.
Con Thien, located only two miles from the demilitarized zone dividing North and South Vietnam, was a United States Marine Corps firebase that was the scene of fierce combat for months on end during 1967. Staving off attacks and ambushes while suffering from ineffectual leadership from Washington as well as media onslaughts, courageous American Marines protected this crucial piece of land at all costs. They would hold Con Thien, but many paid the ultimate price. By the end of the war, more than 1,400 Marines had died and more than 9,000 sustained injuries defending the “Hill of Angels.”
For eight months, James P. Coan’s five-tank platoon was assigned to Con Thien while attached to various Marine infantry battalions. A novice second lieutenant at the time, the author kept a diary recording the thoughts, fears, and frustrations that accompanied his life on “The Hill.” Time in the Barrel: A Marine’s Account of the Battle for Con Thien offers an authentic firsthand account of the daily nightmare that was Con Thien. An enticing and fascinating read featuring authentic depictions of combat, it allows readers to fully grasp the enormity of the fierce struggle for Con Thien.
The defenders of Con Thien were bombarded with hundreds of rounds of incoming rockets, mortars, and artillery that pounded the beleaguered outpost daily. Monsoon downpours turned the red laterite clay soil into a morass of oozing mud, flooded bunkers and trenches, and made Con Thien a living hell. .Being at Con Thien came to be ruefully referred to by the Marines stationed there as "time in the barrel” because they were targets as easy as fish in a barrel.
More than a retelling of military movements, Coan’s engrossing narratives focus on the sheer sacrifice and misery of one Marine’s experience in Vietnam. Through his eyes, we experience the abysmal conditions the Marines endured, from monsoon rainstorms to the constant threat of impending attack. Climatic moments in history are captured through the rare, personal perspective of one particularly astute and observant participant.
A vivid, compulsively page-turning and often gut-wrenching narrative.’
—Arizona Daily Star
‘Con Thien certainly has been re-created here. I have read few personal narratives from the Marine war in Vietnam that get as close to the sheer sacrifice and misery that I have always suspected to be their lot.’
—Philip D. Beidler, US Army Vietnam War veteran and author of Beautiful War: Studies in a Dreadful Fascination, The Victory Album: Reflections on the Good Life after the Good War, and American Wars, American Peace: Notes from a Son of the Empire
James Coan provides a clear description of the battlefield cutting through the fog of war. His gritty realism creates a riveting experience for the reader….The book is a good read, flows wells and clearly articulates the story without distracting expletives’
—Bob Borka, Semper Fi
‘Time in the Barrel brings to life a significant and often overlooked event in America’s war in Vietnam: the siege of the Marine firebase at Con Thien during the critical months of September–October 1967. James P. Coan has delivered a gritty and impassioned book, one that will enlighten general military history readers as well as Vietnam War and Marine Corps specialists.’
—Gregg Jones, author of Last Stand at Khe Sanh: The U.S. Marines’ Finest Hour in Vietnam, winner of the 2015 General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award for distinguished nonfiction from the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation
James P. Coan is a former Marine Corps captain who was awarded a Purple Heart for his injuries at Con Thien. He is the author of the historical memoir Con Thien: The Hill of Angels. He resides in Sierra Vista, Arizona, with his wife and family.
