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so did my older brother.
Another interesting aspect of the book is how people away from the front lines are indifferent to the pain of the combatants. I'm thinking about the bitchy Navy nurse. If she is like that, then how much worse would one feel facing the people back home ? Or the anti war hippies.

True. I think the book was a good portrayal of the times in general. I thought he did particularly well portraying the differences in opinions and feelings of the black soldiers. By the end of the book I kind of even liked China or could at least empathize with his own internal conflict about everything he was involved in and what he saw Henry doing. I think it was during the movie scene when the one white sergeant stopped a massive race fight from breaking out and the black soldier thinking to himself "Why could you and I be friends back in the world?" - well, I found that powerful. The time on the ship was good too, seeing the anger Mellas felt and the tough time he had controlling it was powerful as well. Even Cassidy's thoughts are an interesting look into the mind of a bigot. By the end I realized that it was more his love for the Corp more so than his hatred for blacks that drove his sometimes extreme behavior. That was in a way surprising for me, I didn't expect to fell any sympathy for him at all but did when he was thinking about his wife and kid back home and his love for the Marines.

The more I think about it I might have to go back and change my Goodreads rating from 4 to 5 stars.

I think your analysis about micromanagement is spot on.