Published under our Fortis nonfiction imprint:
What Now, Lieutenant? is on the Marine Corps Commandant’s 2019 Professional Reading List.
About the Book
Wars fought on a grand scale with global consequences are made up of countless smaller battles and events. For the men who fought, bled and died in them they are not small—those little pieces of war—and the personal aftermath and their effect is beyond measure. One such battle pitted a North Vietnamese Army (NVA) battalion of 700+ men against the men of Company I, Third Battalion, Ninth Marines, Third Marine Division. Of the seven officers in the field at the beginning, only three walked out. I was one of them. I was 24 years old, and this was my first significant combat experience. The fighting lasted six hours, and toward the end, we were almost out of ammunition. Those few hours changed forever the lives of the survivors, including me, and the next of kin of the men we lost. That battle was the crucial event in my life; an ultimate What Now, Lieutenant? moment that taught me so much that came into play in other such moments in my future. Seeing that question in the eyes of the men on Hill 70 that day is how I learned a most valuable lesson about leadership over the course of a bloody day in Vietnam, now more than 50 years ago. Everything that happened to me after that day is now seen through that prism. –Butch Neal
About the Author
General Richard ‘Butch’ Neal is a retired four-star general and served from 1996—1998 as Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps. After graduating with a B.S. in History and Education from Northeastern University in Boston, in 1965, Neal was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps and spent the next thirty-five years commanding at every level. During his time in uniform, he also went on to graduate from the National War College and earn his M.Ed. from Tulane University. He served two tours in the Republic of Vietnam, and during Desert Storm, he served as the Deputy Director of Operations for General Schwarzkopf as well as Central Command Briefer. His decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal; Silver Star Medal with Gold Star; Bronze Star Medal with Combat V; and the Purple Heart. Since retiring in 1998, he has been president of three intellectual property licensing companies. He was the Senior Mentor for the Marine Corps for five years and a Senior Fellow at the National Defense University. The general also served as Chairman of the Board for the Military Officers Association of America, and is presently on the board of directors for several companies, and sits on the Board of Trustees for Norwich University.
Distributor: Ingram
ISBN: 978-1937592639 (hardback)
ISBN: 9781937592646 (paperback)
Page count: 268
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