Fire in the Hole: Tales of Combat With the 1st Engineer Battalion in Vietnam

Paving the road to Hell...one kill zone at a time.

In the Vietnam War, few units were more essential-or more overlooked-than the US Army's combat engineers. Operating in some of the most hazardous terrain in Southeast Asia, they cleared roads, built fortifications, set obstacles, detonated explosives, and reinforced fighting positions-all while facing the constant threat of ambush, mines, and enemy fire.

On August 25, 1966, during a route-clearing mission in support of Operation AMARILLO, Specialist Dan Crowley and his demolition team from Charlie Company, 1st Engineer Battalion, found themselves thrust into a major battle. Along Highway 16, an American patrol had been surrounded by the Viet Cong. In the scramble to save them, Charlie Company was thrown into a hastily-assembled rescue force. The fight that followed would be remembered as the Battle of Bong Trang.

Fire in the Hole presents a detailed, ground-level account of Charlie Company's 1965-66 deployment to the Republic of Vietnam. Drawing on extensive interviews with four veterans-Dan Crowley, Larry Blair, Chuck Humphrey, and Jay Franz-this book offers a rare and deeply personal look at the combat engineer's role in Vietnam.

Inside these pages you'll witness:

• Road-clearing missions under constant threat
• Mines, booby traps, and sudden explosions that reshaped the land-and the men
• Close-quarters firefights where engineers became frontline soldiers
• The grit, nerve, and loyalty that held Charlie Company together.

Raw, immediate, and impeccably-researched, Fire in the Hole is a ground-level journey into the world of America's combat engineers-ordinary men thrust into extraordinary danger, shaping the battlefield one blast at a time.