The Co-Vans; U.S. Marine Advisors in Vietnam

Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2000. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. xvi, 195, [5] pages. Illustrations. Map. DJ is in a plastic sleeve. Signed by the author on the title page. Includes Foreword, Acknowledgments, and Prologue. John Grider Miller (born 23 August 1935 in Annapolis, Maryland - died 31 August 2009 in Annapolis, Maryland) was a colonel in the United States Marine Corps, who served as managing editor of U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings and of Naval History. After graduating from Yale in 1957, Miller was commissioned in the Marine Corps. He was an infantry officer, commanded a U. S. Marine battalion, and served as an advisor to the Republic of Vietnam Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. Later in his career, he was Deputy Director of the Marine Corps' History and Museums Division and was a speechwriter to three Commandant of the Marine Corps.
He joined the United States Naval Institute staff on 19 September 1985 and served until 31 August 2000, becoming managing editor of Proceedings and Naval History Magazine, the latter of which he had helped to establish in 1988. He wrote several books of which the best known is The Bridge at Dong Ha, the story of Navy Cross recipient John Ripley (USMC). Miller captures the grit of life in the field, and the no-nonsense view of all men at arms no matter what their nationality. More than a combat memoir, this is an introspective and thought-provoking look at an unusual mission within an inscrutable culture, near the end of a war most other Americans were trying desperately to forget. Depending upon where and when they served, Americans had vastly different experiences in the Vietnam War. Among the more unique experiences were those of the advisors who worked closely with their Vietnamese counterparts, sharing the dangers, privations, local politics, tactical victories, and ultimate defeat as part of the long saga of the Vietnam War. U.S. Marines worked more closely than other advisors with the Vietnamese and were often on their own to deal with the vastly different culture and difficult cause. Despite these obstacles and arduous circumstances, the advisors, called co-vans in Vietnamese, did a credible job amidst a war far from home, upholding the honor of the Corps and infusing their allies with an esprit de corps that made the Vietnamese Marines a potent fighting force.
John Miller, a co-van himself, has captured their experiences in this very readable, often humorous, sometimes poignant book. With the same writing style that earned him writing awards and thousands of readers in his earlier book on John Ripley's heroism at a bridge in Vietnam, Miller captures the grit of life in the field, the no-nonsense view of men at arms no matter what the nationality, and the smell of cordite in the air. But more than a combat memoir, this is an introspective and thought-provoking look at an unusual mission in a war in an inscrutable culture at a time when Americans and their values were under fire.