While using the key word “Taiwan Army” to search aimlessly on the Internet, I found a page describing a book written by an American (actually a Taiwanese, read on). But this book is not any travel journal written by a foreigner who passed through Taiwan on one of the so many trips. Its author 林道明 (T. C. Locke) is a naturalized Taiwanese who renounced his blue passport more than ten years ago. He then went on to serve the two-year mandatory service in the army. This book is about his experience in the infantry.
I ordered the book, 台灣饅頭美國兵 (Counting Mantou: An American in Taiwanese Army), immediately after I read the webpage because I wanted to know why he decided to give up the US citizenship, which so many Taiwanese are dying for. But unfortunately he did not write about it in the book. Anyway, this book is very easy to read. And fun to read. I finished it in one day. I was especially moved by the last sentence of the book, which actually filled my eyes with tears: “I chose Taiwan.”
Those who go to great lengths to avoid serving should definitely read it.
This is TC’s website: http://www.poagao.org/.
Thanks for reading my book. The English version is actually much longer and contains much more information the Taiwan publisher felt was extraneous in the Chinese-language version. I am still working on trying to find a publisher for the English-language version, but so far I haven’t been able to find one.
Too bad you weren’t in the navy, or you can try to get USNI Press to see if they are interested…….