MWSA Book Review

Just A Sailor

Authors:  Steven L. Waterman

Publisher:  Random House

Reviewer: Bill McDonald – President of the MWSA

Not Just Any Sailor’s Tale of Vietnam!

There are some authors who seem to make themselves out as bigger than life heroes and embellish their memoirs in order to make a good tale. However, author Steven Waterman understates his experiences with humor, honesty, and an almost conversational style of writing in his autobiography “Just A Sailor.” His story is about his experiences as a Navy underwater photographer. He also engages in underwater salvage, and even combat in Vietnam.

The way the book starts off with the young Waterman getting arrested for underage drinking and then almost dropping out of school, shows that the author was willing to share his personal experiences—blemishes and all! He does a great job of taking the reader though his boot camp training and all the way through the end of his enlistment. Having been in the Army, I found his story to be very interesting, as I had no idea what life in the Navy was like and certainly not the kind of stuff for what he was trained for.

This book is often very funny at times, as the author does not take his life or the Navy, all that serious. The reader will enjoy the story and find Waterman’s personality endearing. You will get to like this guy as you follow him through his Navy career. The book itself is very readable. It is a good tale and it is told well. This book is now available in paperback by Ballantine Books.