Yellow Green Beret Volume III: Stories of an Asian-American Stumbling Around U.S. Army Special Forces Paperback – August 7, 2012

The third volume of "Chester Wong"'s "[Yellow] Green Beret" series is highly recommended.For those who aren't familiar with the series, it presents hilarious and harrowing anecdotes from the training and career of an Asian-American Army officer who rose through the West Point crucible to become one of the most experienced Special Forces ("Green Beret") combat commanders in the Army, with numerous active-combat tours in the Philippines and Iraq. Those who have read the first two volumes will undoubtedly have liked them immensely, and will be interested to know that the third volume continues that great tradition, with much emphasis this time on the author's personal background, experiences, and perspective on combat and the Army environment. He also touches in more depth on issues particularly arising from his Chinese-American heritage, including his family and their response to his military ambitions, and issues he encountered while serving.Like the first two volumes, vol. III is a series of short incidents told in non-chronological sequence. It's written in "Wong"'s characteristic cool, conversational style and wryly self-deprecating sense of humor. Of the three volumes, it gives the greatest sense of the author's personal opinions, political and cultural, and it fills in some gaps in his career timeline left in the earlier volumes. It also gives a clearer sense of the practical reality of life as a young Army officer, and goes into great detail about the author's experiences through four years as a West Point cadet. This volume should be recommended reading for any young person considering applying to a military academy or ROTC program; it will really give them a heads-up on what to expect, and what will be expected of them, during their educational years and as they enter their careers as officers. (The first two volumes are great reading for anyone interested in the military, and include a lot more detail on Ranger and Special Forces training and missions. Vol. III covers more of the West Point experience.)Reading the first two volumes of the "[Yellow] Green Beret" series, it's hard not to want to know more about the author as a person, and his personal opinions about the things he witnessed and participated in. Although he maintains anonymity in the third volume, he is more forthcoming, and you end this book feeling like you know him better. The volume is also packed with his familiar hair-raising and often funny stories. It's as much fun to read as the two preceding volumes, but may offer a more thoughtful, and more personal, perspective than before. It also answers the question of how and why he left the Army - something hinted at but not explained in the earlier volumes. Experienced readers will be glad to know there is absolutely nothing in here about the author's culinary experiences during wilderness survival, but many will end up shaking their heads at his bizarrely ill-judged dislike of spaghetti.The entire "[Yellow] Green Beret" series will be fascinating for anyone interested in the military, West Point, Army Rangers, Special Forces, the recent "war on terror," or the intricacies of Philippine karaoke. It is not necessary to read the three volumes in numerical order, but this third volume will be especially satisfying for those who have finished the first two and - inevitably - want more. And, as noted, it will be invaluable for anyone considering following the author's footsteps and wondering if they have what it takes.You are strongly recommended to purchase "[Yellow] Green Beret, vol. III" and its predecessors. You'll be glad you did.

For me, this book and the entire series were very personal. Flash back to 2012. I'm a year out of college and law school with straight C's, no career prospects, adrift without a clue of what I wanted to do in life. The seed of an idea had been planted in my head: I wanted to join the Army, to have a second chance and make something better of myself than the soft, lazy failure I had been. I wanted to do something so hard that no one would ever talk s*** to me again. I wanted to be Special Forces. Sound familiar? It's a more common story than you might think. I set to work devouring every scrap of information I could learn about the men in green hats and somehow, I stumbled upon this series. I figured, "I'm Asian and I want to be an SF guy. Why the heck not?" So I picked up all three books.You know what? They spoke to me. Over the course of three books and countless stories I found that I could relate to Chester Wong, his struggles growing from scared, quiet Asian kid into tough, relentless soldier, his unflagging sense of humor that I'm sure allowed him to persevere through the triple suckfest of West Point, Ranger School, and SFAS. Fast forward three years later. I've gone from scared, quiet Asian kid fresh out of college to semi-competent Army medic and have failed in my dream to be SF. But you know what? It doesn't matter. The books still speak to me and continue to do so. Every time I read them I get a little bit more insight into how the Army works and I think to myself, "yeah, I could see that happening. I hope I can deal with it as well as that when it is my turn."For me, the dream is going through a complicated birth. Maybe I'll never work in special operations. Maybe I will. But this is my advice to all you aspiring Yellow Green Berets: you need all three of these books and one in your bag when you go to Selection. It might make the suck a little bit more bearable.P.S. The SF guys around here still talk about the pizza incident. They said you were a dirtbag and got kicked out, but your secret is safe with me!

I enjoyed vol 3, I was worried it wouldn't as i found 2 less awesome.So without reserve a very good trilogy and full of insights into army, SF, asian Americans, Koreans Koreans and much much more.A rare style for a SF autobiography but all the better for that.

great