About Face is Hackworth's first book, the one he really wanted to write, and a damn fine memoir about loving the Army, building a career, and then burning it to the ground after decades of systemic betrayals. Hackworth grew up as an orphan in California, and lied about his age to join the Army in 1946, when most people were glad to be getting out. He learned the trade in the elite occupation forces at Trieste (TRUST), and then the hard way in Korea with the 27th "Wolfhounds" Infantry Regiment, where he was battlefield commissioned as an officer. Between Korea and Vietnam Hackworth bounced around the civilian world and Nike missile anti-aircraft units, marked as a soldier with the potential for stars, even as he was caught between his abrasive nature and the '100% efficiency' culture of the New Army; a 100% efficiency often achieved by fudging results.

Vietnam was what finally broke Hackworth. He fought with the 101st Airborne, and remade and commanded the 'Hardcore Recondo' battalion (see Steel My Soldiers' Hearts), but he became incredibly cynical at the hamfisted use of firepower, the ticket-punching attitude of careerist officers, and the way that a combination of strategic obscurity and improper training in infantry basics was getting thousands of American soldiers killed for no damn reason at all. Despite time in command, in training schools, and in the Pentagon, Hackworth couldn't move the machine, and so in 1971 he blew everything up by giving a candid interview to ABC's Issues & Answers where he dramatically countered the "Vietnamization/Light-at-the-End-of-the-Tunnel" Pentagon line. The response was immediate and drastic. Hackworth was followed, wiretapped, investigated for numerous crimes, and finally forced to resign, where he fled to Australia ("As far away as I could get from America and still speak English") to make his own way. And then after 18 years he writes this book, and uses it to launch a second career as a war reporter and defense analyst.

That's the duality of Hackworth. Unquestionably a brilliant soldier; uneducated orphans lying about their age to enlist do not get groomed for the highest command without an immense amount of talent, luck, and energy, Hackworth was also an egoist and a braggart of the highest order. Rules simply did not apply to him, and Hackworth and his men stole jeeps, partied hard on base, ran brothels, scavenged everything they could get their hands on, dealt out 'NCO justice', slept with other men's wives, lied about everything that might get them in trouble, etc. etc. There's a lot to learn from in Hackworth's earlier career (sweat the details, an organization only learns what the boss checks, focus on the fundamentals, loyalty runs downwards before it runs up), but the big deal, his Issues & Answers interview, seems mostly like the last futile gesture of a broken man. What could be done in 1971 to save the war? What did the American people not know, that was heroically revealed? The timeline reveals that Hackworth's alleged crimes were dug-up mostly as a response to the blatant attack of his TV interview; other officers got away with the same or worse. But I have a sense that in some grander sense, his interview was all for the best. General Hackworth would have imploded hard enough to take out a side of the Pentagon.

Everything in this book is written to contrast 'Hackworth the Warrior, Stud of Studs, Master of Battle' against the 'Perfumed Princes' who lied failed to achieve victory in Korea or Vietnam, and betrayed the trust of their troops the American people through a cabal that covers up inadequate training and shoddy procurement. The writing is pulpy, the stories slanted, but this is his first book and both writing and facts are more considered and balanced, before years of "Hack the Great War Correspondent" went to his head. Whatever else, Hackworth had charisma, and it shines through. Even though I don't want to like him, I can't help it.