BOOK REVIEW: “Fire in the Hole: Tales of Combat with the 1st Engineer Battalion in Vietnam” by Mike Guardia

   August 25, 1966. Specialist Dan Crowley was among the handful of demolition experts assigned to a route clearing mission in support of Operation AMARILLO. His equipment load was the same as it had been numerous times before: a Claymore mine, TNT, C-4 explosives, blasting caps, time fuse, det cord, eighteen rounds for his M-79 grenade launcher, two hand grenades, and his Colt .45.
     But this would be no ordinary mission.
     The Viet Cong had just surrounded an American patrol along Highway 16. Crowley’s outfit – Charlie Company, 1st Engineer Battalion – was among the smattering of units thrown together for this impromptu “relief force.” History would call it the Battle of Bong Trang.
     In a war dominated by airmobile infantry, the combat engineers played a critical role in shaping America’s battlefield victories. They built obstacles, dug defensive positions, set landmines, performed various types of demolition, and could fight as infantry whenever ordered.
     “Fire in the Hole” tells the story of Charlie Company, 1st Engineer Battalion during their deployment to the Republic of Vietnam in 1965-66. Told from the perspective of four Charlie Company veterans – Dan Crowley, Larry Blair, Chuck Humphrey, and Jay Franz – this book provides an intimate, no-holds-barred account of the combat engineers in Vietnam.

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     Mike Guardia is an internationally-recognized author and military historian. A veteran of the United States Army, he served six years on active duty (2008-2014) as an Armor Officer. He is the author of the widely-acclaimed Hal Moore: A Soldier Once…and Always, the first-ever biography chronicling the life of LTG Harold G. Moore, whose battlefield leadership was popularized by the film “We Were Soldiers,” starring Mel Gibson.

     He has twice been nominated for the Army Historical Foundation’s Distinguished Book Award and was named “Author of the Year” in 2021 by the Military Writers Society of America.

     As a speaker, he hosts the lecture series “Hal Moore: Lessons in Leadership,” which is available for presentation at schools, businesses, and civic organizations worldwide.

     In 2022, he appeared in Season 1 of the History Channel series, I WAS THERE, as a featured historian in the episodes on the Johnstown Flood of 1889; the Chernobyl Disaster; the Battle of Stalingrad; and the Oklahoma City Bombing. His other media appearances include guest spots on National Public Radio (NPR); Frontlines of Freedom; Armada International; and Military Network Radio.

     Mike Guardia has given presentations at the US Special Operations Command, the International Spy Museum, and the George HW Bush Presidential Library. His work has been reviewed in the Washington Times; Military Review; Vietnam Magazine; The Cannata Report; DefenceWeb South Africa; and Soldier Magazine UK.