Book reviews from BernieWeisz

Honorable Intentions

by Russell Jones

Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War. Contact: Bernwei1@aol.com Sept. 15, 2013 Title of review: Vietnam, the Hells Angels, the Drug War and the Contras...the Good Guys Are Supposed to Win. But Who Are The Good Guys?With almost a half a century worth of Russell Jones' reminiscences, the author takes you through a visceral journey of good and evil lying side by side where righteousness doesn't always triumph despite, as the book's title beckons,"good intentions." This trek is explored through Jones' experiences as a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, a police officer, narcotics detective, DEA task force officer, intelligence operative and forensic consultant. Personality traits of stealth, curiosity, lack of fear and impatience serve as the fuel that propels him to his ultimate conclusion that every act is the source of an infinite series of lasting effects. Does that sound too cryptic? You'll understand completely the meaning of this when you finish "Good Intentions." Russell Jones grew up in an age where the Cold War and Domino Theory drove many Americans to support America's entry into Southeast Asia to stop the spread of communism and preserve South Vietnam's survival from the encroaching North Vietnamese. Enlisting in the Army with the goal of being a helicopter pilot in 1967's "Summer of Love,"Jones would immediately start questioning how honorable America's intentions were in this undeclared war.While Jones learned how to fly a helicopter at Fort Wolters, he would wonder why instead of being told to defeat communism or seek victory, the overriding message given was survival and coming back alive. Upon graduation and deployment to Vietnam in June of 1968, his enthusiasm would be short lived as Jones realized he was heading off to a war his government had no clear plans to resolve. His attitude would crystallize against the war shortly after arrival. The author would meet Hugh Thompson, the hero of My Lai and learn of the atrocities that occurred there. On one mission, he picked up from a village a woman and sick child to bring them to a hospital at Da Nang. As he was lifting off, his helicopter was fired upon. The author's intentions were honorable, yet someone below was willing to kill a mother and her sick child. Jones would become more confused as his tour wound on. Although he had faith that his government was doing the right thing in Vietnam and the Lord would return him home safely, Jones would hear the concerns of his fellow flyers. How honorable were America's intentions when slogans such as "Catch `em alive, leave `em dead, and return with war booty," and "body count, medals and a fast promotion" were the overriding concerns?After learning of the combat deaths of former classmates as well as being wounded himself, Jones at the end of his tour would become completely disenchanted. His superior officers lied and cheated about body counts and dishonest staff officers stole flight hours to boost their own flying time. Jones would even have a recommendation for him to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross thrown away. Between bombing halts of the North, constricting "rules of engagement" and seeing his country being shackled with a defensive war with no objective while the Communists fought offensively, Russell Jones in the fall of 1970 sought an early out and his military career grounded to an end. There was a new war to fight which made sense to the author, Richard Nixon's "War on Drugs." Sworn as a police officer with only a written test and oral board, once again the notability of his intentions were called into question. As with Joseph Wambaugh's true to life novel "The Choirboys," Jones initially treated everyone including perpetrators with respect. Yet within 24 months on the job he considered everyone contemptible, including fellow law enforcement officers. Being told that one of the problems with police work was that "if you did your job right, no one would notice" was even more disconcerting.Deciding to work undercover, Jones would descend into a world of deceit, snitching and lies. Going after Mexican street gangs and infiltrating the Hells Angels, he was required to live a lie and fit in, which would cost Jones one of eventually three marriages. Yet the author realized that despite more drug arrests, doors kicked in, guns and money seized, conversely drug dealing, murders and robberies increased as well. Moving from undercover to being a DEA task force officer would be even more revealing about honorable intentions. Jones would find similarities between some of his officers in Vietnam and DEA agents. Just like some officers were only interested in promotions and medals rather than the success of missions, there were DEA agents Jones would work with where if they couldn't solve a case of their own they would try to usurp his. And as to the war on drugs, it was like the situation with body counts in Vietnam to gauge success. Jones felt America's war on drugs was like shoveling sand against the tide. Leaving the task force and moving on in 1985 as an intelligence operative monitoring the Communist uprising in Nicaragua, Jones discloses his knowledge of drug smuggling with impunity by government operatives, with CIA knowledge. The author mentions that government operatives were behind the crack cocaine epidemic as well.Is the war on drugs fought with honorable intentions? Consider the fact that Russell Jones asserts that this battle has resulted in more snooping, sneaking, corruption and violence than any other act of congress. When Russell Jones was six years old, he started a fire in the grass that was quickly put out by the fire department. After being questioned by a police officer, Jones confessed to being the culprit. His lesson; don't get caught. In regard to this, Jones points out that over 1.6 million citizens are arrested each year for drugs, and with less than 5 percent of the world's population, the U.S. holds 25 percent of the world's prisoners. Of these arrests, half are for marijuana and almost 90 percent are for simple possession. And in regard to being caught, a drug conviction will follow those for the rest of their lives preventing them from being doctors, lawyers or professors. Jones points out that those that use illegal drugs without being arrested can confess their prior drug use yet still become police officers, teachers and DEA agents. Jones is very much correct in regard to the fact that despite honorable intentions, the only sensible move is to end this madness and seek decriminalization. There is validity in the author's observation that drug smuggling is like a multi-headed serpent. You cut off one head, yet another appears. "Honorable Intentions" is a cerebral, deep memoir that even after several rereads will keep you contemplating about what is going on in today's society.

Chapter One

by Bob Staranowicz

Review written by Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War. Aug. 11th, 2013 Pembroke Pines,Fl. USA Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: "Chapter One; An Attempt To Defeat the Erroneous American Perception That Vietnam Vets are Drug Addicts and Crazed Baby Killers"There are times when a novel known as "historical fiction" can describe what actually happened in the past better than a straight memoir. When you refer to the experience of the American serviceman returning from the Vietnam War, the truth can be so painful and searing that it can only be palatable in a fictitious setting. There are veterans of that war that even today have a bitter taste in their mouths as to their treatment upon return. For many of these, "Chapter One" will speak volumes. Bob Staranowicz has come up with a fantastic novel that takes this myth head on and truly shows the reader the pain, despair, sorrow and remorse that both he and his fellow Veterans felt upon return. Although the story is for the most part fictitious, by learning Staronowicz's past one quickly realizes the author is using his protagonist, Victor Charles as a euphemism for the pain his very own Vietnam experience resulted in.A Doylestown, Pennsylvania resident for the last two decades, Staranowicz graduated from Northeast Catholic High School in 1966, the same year U.S. ground troops in Vietnam were first badly bloodied in the battle of the A Shau Valley. By 1968, the year of the Tet Offensive where the North Vietnamese decided to pull a country wide sneak attack on all South Vietnamese cities and provinces, he had been drafted. Staranowicz decided to join the Army, and in August 1968 he started basic training at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and then transferred to the Fort Monmouth New Jersey Electronics School. When Staranowicz finally made it to Vietnam, he arrived at the Army's Long Binh Post, where he received orders for the 101st Airborne Division, HQ - 501st Signal Group. His ultimate destination would be Camp Eagle which was near the Imperial City of Hue, the city that saw the most ferocious fighting during the Tet Offensive.As the reader will find out in "Chapter One," Staranowicz's protagonist Victor Charles follows a very similar path. Doomed to kill and watch others both friend and foe alike die, Staranowicz brings the reader on an engrossing and vicarious one year tour of duty in the very dangerous mountains and firebases of Vietnam. What truly makes this book thrilling is that while doing this, the author simultaneously brings us to present day, where in the novel Victor Charles is writing a second book entitled "Chapter One" in an attempt to help other Vietnam Veterans. While his first book was a smashing success that brought fame and fortune, Charles experiences writer's block, nightmares, violent flashbacks and alcoholism that stall his sequel's conclusion. Just like in the novel where Victor Charles was writing his sequel to help other Vietnam Veterans whereupon in reality it was he who really needed the help, by the very nature of Staranowiz's composition it is the author who derives the ultimate cathartic relief.Regardless, Staranowicz elucidates his pain in explaining his first literary offering; It was written to expel the frustration of war, or "Conflict," as the political world called it, which had little cause and no truly defined winner. It was written with highly inspirational emotions-love of family and friends, hatred of losing more than 58,000 young lives and the indifference toward the protesters of that war." One of the novel's purposes Staronowicz uses "Chapter One" for is to inform all of the qualities of the returning Vietnam Veteran and remove the false stigma of soldiers being presupposed drug addicts and baby killers the media had unrighteously imposed on the American people. Between William Calley and the 1968 My Lai Massacre and a small amount of Veterans that admitted to heroin use in the last two years of the war, a complete false stereotype had been unfairly hoisted on returning Vets. Staronowicz mentions how soldiers in Vietnam were learning about protests and airport incidents going on at home because of opposition to the war. In some airports Veterans fresh off of their "freedom bird" were being spat upon, called psychotic baby killers or worse.One poignant element of this novel is Staranowicz's attempt to make sense of this war, his lament at what transpired in Southeast Asia in what started as a noble cause and ultimate disgust at the end result. Staranowicz asserts; "We were sent to a world where our enemy was unknown and unrecognizable. He could be sitting next to us on a work detail or he could be the traffic policeman in the center of Hue. We only knew him as Charlie. We all went, black, white, Navy, Army, etc. to arrest the continuing expansion of Communism and to train the people of South Vietnam so that their Army could stand on its own against the NVA and we could go home. We did not accomplish that which we set out to achieve. America had lost more than 58,000 young lives in the battle for Vietnam. We came back. No, not to a hero's welcome, but to empty airports, bus and train stations. In some places, we were spat upon, greeted as baby killers and arsonists. We were America's best, but we were treated as lowly criminals and outcasts."Finally, in "Chapter One" Bob Staranowicz makes a sad commentary of how Americans who never fought prejudged the returning Vietnam Veteran. Although most Americans who fought in Vietnam volunteered with patriotic fervor, Staranowicz declares that despite the early 1960's American Cold War attitude and accompanying fear of the spread of Communism via the "Domino Theory," what was once a gung ho war by its end became a crime and its veterans were the criminals. A major resentment is voiced when the author compares the returning Vietnam Veteran with those of the present day Desert Wars. Staranowicz mentions that why Iraqi War Veterans were greeted upon return with flags, flowers, balloons and parades, why wasn't it like that for Vietnam Veterans? In a memorable anecdote, the author sums up the bottom line of this novel; "I wanted to tell the story not seen in any books or movies about that little S-shaped country 10,000 miles away where 58,000 men and women left their spirits and souls, obeying the orders of their country and dying because of it." Bob Staranowicz has certainly accomplished this and much more in this memorable tale of a war America prefers to forget.

"Puttin' On Airs

by L Bradberry Benton

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War. June 19, 2013 Pembroke Pines, Florida USA Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: "My Participation In Viet Nam; I Did Not Want To Kill Anyone In What I Considered An Unjust & Unnecessary War""Puttin On Airs" has so many topics and themes that the reader will wonder if multiple authors cooperated to write this. However, there is only one author here, Ben Bradberry, a man deemed a maverick who made himself successful despite overwhelming odds against him. Here is the story of Bradberry's life, a man who came from the very bottom level of the socio-economic ladder as one of ten impoverished children from Louisiana. His story would end as a self-made multi-millionaire and seasoned world traveler. Yet "Puttin' On Airs" is much more than a rags to riches story. It is an in depth examination of what Bradberry witnessed during a twenty one year naval career at a time when the United States was deeply embroiled in the Cold War as well as the morass of Viet Nam. Great pains are taken by Bradberry to reveal his experiences there in the closing year of the war, an American endeavor he declares both disastrous and unnecessary. While the author felt it was a grave error for American involvement in S.E. Asia, he nevertheless volunteered out of both patriotism and to perform his duty as a professional officer. Ultimately, Bradberry's maverick spirit would shine forth and his fortunes would truly blossom in private industry. Today, in his seventies he is a successful business owner with no plans to retire. You will be treated to his rare insights about the Cold War, Viet Nam, Bradberry's thoughts on education in this country, race relations, divorce, politics, traveling, and most interestingly, an explanation as to why the history of the Nazi Third Reich and the Holocaust is erroneous with the German hierarchy wrongly being vilified.Born to parents with extreme indigence in rural Louisiana, Ben Bradberry believes his father would tell him that even today he is still "puttin' on airs." Physically and emotionally abused, Bradberry and his nine siblings were constantly reminded by their semi-illiterate father to accept their destitute position in life, and any attempt to improve in any form would pretentiously be "puttin' on airs." By absorbing himself in reading any books he could get his hands on, diligently studying the bible and associating himself with anyone that could teach or assist him in breaking the mold, i.e. teachers and doctors, Bradberry would eventually go further in life than his wildest expectations. His big break which enabled all that followed was his 1955 enlistment in the U.S. Navy, which he expressed was a welcome escape from a dead end existence which he was not the least reluctant to leave behind. The same maverick tendencies that led him to the top rungs of personal income in the private world were the same traits that got him in trouble several times over in the Navy. Before Viet Nam, Bradberry would take part as an instructor pilot as well as a participant in operations to retrieve astronauts from the sea after their return from space.Despite a dashing career as a helicopter aviator and officer, Bradberry would write criticizing letters to the naval higher ups of perceived wrongs he witnessed. Examples of which were the unreasonable Navy tactic of using nuclear depth charges against enemy submarines, the sadistic use of inhumane officers to administer Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape schools, and the questioning of bureaucratically inefficient and wasteful rules he witnessed while he ran the maintenance department of the Fleet Aviation Support Unit in Viet Nam. Bradberry arrived in Viet Nam in August of 1971 and was assigned to the Naval base at Binh Thuy in IV Corps. Long before he arrived there, Bradberry concluded that American involvement in Viet Nam was wrong and that the obsession with the spread of communism became almost religious in nature. Furthermore, the idea of stamping out communism all over the world was a tall order ultimately leading America into many ill-advised adventures, with Viet Nam being the most prominent and disastrous. Bradberry debunks the Domino Theory as fallacious logic, citing as proof the fact that ultimately South Viet Nam did become communist without any consequences to the United States whatsoever.The author makes incisive comments on the brutality of Viet Nam with U.S. progress being measured in the absurd theory of "body counts," Agent Orange and the breakdown of discipline between blacks and whites. Also discussed was the failure to adhere to dress codes, smoking of marijuana and the practice of fragging overzealous commanders. Bradberry also comments on the corruptness he witnessed in Saigon, widespread prostitution and the fear of what would happen to the South Vietnamese who assisted the U.S. after the American departure. Bradberry summed up his Viet Nam experience there by asserting that not only did the practice of body counts encourage atrocities, but that to be a successful commander there was to check your critical thinking at the door when you came in. To be promoted in Viet Nam, Bradberry insisted one must do the job they were given and not ask too many questions which couldn't be answered. Between being in charge of FASU, flying non-combat missions for HAL-3 (Helicopter, Attack, Light) as well as being in charge of Binh Thuy base security, Bradberry mentioned the absurdity of this war in what he deemed "the Viet Nam merry-go-round." He explained this as follows; "At any given time here, a third of the troops are leaving the country, a third just arriving, and the other third are doing all the work. It's a hell of a war."Aside from being the only member of his immediate family ever to attend college, he received his degree with honors. With a 21 year Naval career under his belt, Bradberry retired from the military to try his hand at private industry. His rise to fortune in the real estate and dental business is nothing less than meteoric. Richly detailed with photographs, "Puttin' On Airs" could almost be a traveler's guide, as Bradberry chronicles his journeys through 6 continents and over 40 countries. However, it isn't until the author visited the Concentration Camps in Eastern Europe as well as some of the destroyed German cities such as Dresden that he began formulating his theories on the Third Reich and World War II. While he wets the reader's appetite by offering the genesis of his opinions, Bradberry saves his conclusions in a second book entitled; "The Myth Of German Villainy." He also leaves readers with a sobering admonition; "In my lifetime, the U.S. has gone from being a Christian country of English speaking North Europeans with a predominant Anglo-Saxon culture to a polyglot country of babbling foreigners, most not white, with a variety of religious affiliations. The combination of Anglo-Saxon culture and free enterprise capitalism made this country great. Multi-culturalism and Marxist socialism will be its undoing." Whether you agree, disagree or are indifferent to Ben Bradberry, this book will keep you thinking long after you've turned the last page!

Vietnam Ambush

by Daniel Seidenberg Jr

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War April 7, 2013 Pembroke Pines, Fl USA Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: A Combat Infantryman in Vietnam; Shooting Dice For Our Souls With Our Spirits On The Line If We Survived.Dan Seidenberg did not want to go to Vietnam. To escape the draft, the California native joined the Army in December of 1968. He has no memory of the last two weeks he was in Vietnam, as he was hit three months into his tour in the right temple with a Viet Cong rocket propelled grenade fragment, a wound from which 98% whom survive are now vegetables. Seidenberg's memoir is an attempt to make sense of his tour in hell, reluctantly participating in a war he neither supported nor understood. The recurring theme here is the author's survival, the wastefulness of young lives and the stupidity of those he served under. Seidenberg would be assigned as an infantryman in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade, patrolling IV Corps, the southernmost portion of South Vietnam. Although his life almost ended on March 2, 1969, he would see plenty of action prior to this in an area called "the Pineapple," an area full of enemy booby traps and snipers southwest of Saigon. At the time of his near fatal wounding, Seidenberg's heart had to be restarted twice and was the only soldier saved from his company that was severely wounded. What makes this memoir unique is that it is the only one that exists from a participant of the infamous "Operation Speedy Express." This was an operation in the Mekong Delta involving the Ninth Infantry Division serving as the anvil to drive the enemy towards the 199th L.I.B, which acted as the hammer for a shootout. After action reports claimed 10,889 enemy killed, with only 40 Americans lost from December of 1968 to May of 1969. The staggering ratio of enemy killed with only 748 Viet Cong weapons recovered brought America's policy of enemy attrition and body counts into question, with insinuations of brute force and atrocity being bantered about. This memoir will give the reader an invaluable insight into one's participation in a war that today most Americans prefer to forget about.Dan Seidenberg makes it poignantly clear at the outset of his personal accountability, that he did not want to live the rest of his life remorseful of his actions in Vietnam. Reflecting on this, the author wrote; "No one could say what we were fighting for. The consensus was that our purpose was simply to survive it all. I knew that merely surviving would not be enough. I had to make sure I survived with a clean conscience." When the author received his draft notice in the winter of 1967, he asserted; "I didn't want to die. I was only 20 and life had barely begun. I saw no reason to kill the Vietnamese." He actually went to Canada before volunteering for the draft. After recalling the military heroics of his grandfather in W.W. I and father in W.W. II, not to mention being without a family or homeland, Seidenberg thought better, returned home and enlisted. He was told by an Army recruiter that since the war was over if he signed up for a two year hitch he would spend it safely in Korea. Six months later he was in Vietnam, describing his unit's never ending search and destroy tactics as follows; "Set an ambush, patrol to another ambush site, eat rations and pineapples, ambush, patrol, cross a river, on an on day after day. Seidenberg sets up his memoir by describing his observations of returning troops the day he was to deploy to Vietnam. Prior to his commercial flight to hell, he reported at Oakland Army Base the following of those he saw rotating back from their tours; "They all looked very aged and tired, even though they were no older than I. None of them would look me in the eyes nor say anything to those of us on our way to the war. They all looked haggard, distant, and emotionally numbed by their war experiences." Once in Vietnam, Seidenberg never thought of politics such as the "Domino Theory." Instead, it was simply surviving his tour and getting home alive without being maimed. Seidenberg reflected; "It wasn't the fear of death, scary as that is. It was the fear of losing one or both legs. All of us feared this and the loss of our genitals the most."The sense of unreality Dan Seidenberg experienced as he sloughed through leech, rat and booby trap infested Vietnamese jungles is overpowering. Reflecting on this, he wrote; "The war was on television every night at dinner. It could not be escaped back home. And now I was right in the middle of it." His most telling comment was; "Here I was guarding a piece of Vietnamese jungle not knowing why as 1969 arrived." His unit was ordered to patrol very thick, booby trapped jungle areas and blow up any enemy bunkers encountered. With survival as his unit's only goal, they would turn the radio on so the commanders in the rear could hear and feign blowing up VC positions by throwing grenades harmlessly into a creek. Always wet from walking in the moist jungle, sleep deprived and not wanting to be the last person to die in a war America had all but given up on, Seidenberg lamented; "Everything that happened in my life before arriving in Vietnam seemed like ancient history now, a vague, very distant dream. My reality was to find ways to remain alive." Incidents of South Vietnamese treachery, friendly fire and even the cold blooded murder of a prisoner of war are discussed. After one of Seidenberg's fellow grunts was ordered to go on a dog patrol, the author learned that the dogs had set off a booby trap badly wounding them and killing his comrade. Dogs were known to do this with their incessant sniffing and probing. After learning that the dogs were dusted off before his mortally dying friend, Seidenberg concluded that he would be a survivor regardless of what occurred. Several years after his tour ended, Seidenberg was in New York and found that the Vietnam War had ended. He shouted this out to a passerby, whose only comeback was: "So what?" Despite the author being awarded the Combat Infantry Badge and Purple Heart among other accolades, Seidenberg concluded; "The war came to an end as it had begun; silently, unremarkably, very few Americans gave a damn. It don't mean nothing." However, it does mean something, and by reading this amazing memoir we will all acknowledge the both the author's tribulations as well as a generations' trials in that most trying of times!

Lullabies For Lieutenants

by Franklin Cox

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War. Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Pembroke Pines, Florida USA February 12, 2013 Title of Review: A Marine's Year in Vietnam: A Tour With No Happy Ending.After over a forty year passage of time, author Frank Cox decided to set the record straight by documenting his personal remembrances as an Artillery Forward Observer in Echo Company, Twelve Marines during the Vietnam War. He would arrive in July of 1965, in what was known as America's "build up period," and leave in April of 1966 with memories he preferred to block. Those reminiscences are starkly recalled throughout the pages of "Lullabies For Lieutenants." Among the plethora of Vietnam War memoirs that exist, the vast majority have a sobering lament to them. Considering the fact that over 58,000 Americans were killed with 21% of those younger than age 21, it would be hard to find an upbeat memoir about a war that not only did the U.S. Government give up on, but so did an ungrateful populace. So why did Cox decide to write this book about his participation in an unpopular war after over four decades? First he allowed emerging memories as a catalyst to create the emotions of rekindled aggression and adrenalin, serving him well in his career as a stock broker. After discovering letters written home to his mother while in Vietnam, Cox's decision was made. The author explained his reason; "To honor the young Marines of that strange war who were slashed across their cheeks and throats by five foot tall, razor sharp elephant grass as they crossed into the thick green foliage hiding enemy ambush positions."What follows are his personal resentments and indignations of a war he was involved in which was set up as a fiasco from the start. Cox served in Quang Nam, the northern province of South Vietnam militarily referred to as "I Corps" for 13 months as a Forward Observer. His job was to prepare preplanned fire missions without striking populated villages, friendly air traffic or his own troops. After determining the exact location of the enemy on his map, Cox had to decide the type of artillery and fuses to be used and call in a Fire Mission to his artillery unit. The pressure was on the author, for any miscalculation given by Cox and communicated to the Fire Direction Center to commute and fire their howitzers could result in "Friendly Fire," i.e. dead Marines. This all had to be done flawlessly within seconds. Explaining why Vietnam was different than all previous American wars, Cox wrote; "Each day held the potential for ferocious battle to suddenly erupt. In previous wars time in combat lasted only a few weeks for Marines, almost never longer than a few months, and our troops exited the scene. But not in Vietnam. A Marine's tour of duty was 13 endless months, that was the only thing he could count on and the only way to leave early was a dreadful, unacceptable option." Richard Watkins, a soldier in the 25th Infantry Division from 1969 to 1970 wrote a book called "Vietnam No Regrets." Waktins furthered Cox's statement by writing; "There were only three ways out of field in Vietnam: 1. Receive a bad enough wound, 2. get killed, or 3. serve out your time. Those were the only three options the grunts that fought the Vietnam War had. All they could do was make the best of it."What was Frank Cox making the best of? The most inhospitable, hot and humid place in all of Southeast Asia while wearing 80 pounds of equipment on his back. This included dealing with triple canopy jungle, snakes, bugs, rotting vegetation, lack of hot food, cold water or showers while avoiding Viet Cong sniper bullets or booby traps that were omnipresent. Not only did Cox and his company have to enter villages of panic stricken and for the most part collaborationist South Vietnamese, he simultaneously had to beware of enemy mines and spider holes a VC could pop out of with lethal results. Initially optimistic when first arriving "In Country," Cox recalled; "Cocky, young, and wildly optimistic, we assumed it would be a marshmallow war ended quickly by the awesome power of the Corps unleashed against an unsophisticated, rag-tag enemy. Sure, there would be a few casualties, but none of us would be harmed." It would not take long for Cox to revise his opinion, asserting the following; "Despite all the resolve and will the Marine Corps could summon by fully applying its assets and firepower against the enemy, NVA regular troops and hardcore Viet Cong, he was never vanquished. It was his home and he knew every foot of each rice paddy, every spider hole he could climb into and cover with natural camouflage and shoot from after Marines walked past, every tree in each dense thicker, and every entrance into the elaborate tunnel honeycomb beneath his hamlets. He used the same fighting holes he had used for centuries, including recent decades when he battled the Japanese Imperial Army and later defeated French troops. He was a history major, Summa Cum Laude. We were too busy calling in medevac choppers for our grievously wounded to reflect the past." Of the 14,838 Marines killed in Vietnam, 6,480 died in Quang Nam province alone. For six years Marine units suffered casualties in the same villages their predecessors had in the same brutal manner. It's hard to learn from mistakes when history is thrown out of the mix."Then there was the matter of "rules of engagement," i.e. being allowed to destroy civilians dwelling after being fired upon from that particular village. Marine rifle companies performed "search and destroy missions" of villages, receiving enemy sniper and mortar fire in the process. Throughout inhospitable village complexes they would also discover VC tunnel systems, fighting holes, punji traps and trench lines. Yet to Cox's indignation, the Marines could not burn down an enemy supporting village without permission. Frustration would build, not only with an unappreciative population that the U.S. was protecting from communist enslavement, but with the enemy itself. Cox elaborated; Even though in constant contact with the VC it was rare for Marine riflemen to have a chance to isolate and gun down the enemy. Victor Charlie was wily and furtive. And when it was known there had been enemy kills, rarely were the bodies found. After contact the enemy just vanished, along with his dead comrades and most of his equipment. The frustration due to delays in approval of urgently needed air and artillery strikes was visceral. Anger swelled in the hearts of the Marine troopers and their officers in rifle companies." Things would come to a head for Frank Cox, for his Company was part of the infamous August, 1965 "Cam Ne" incident. Cox explains; Upon approaching the Cam Ne complex every Marine patrol came under fire from VC snipers and infantry units consisting of close to 100 strong. The Marines encountered booby traps or mines every few yards. Marine casualties mounted while requests for artillery and air strikes were denied." Finally the rules of engagement were lifted and Marine infantrymen were given the permission from above to attack Cam Ne.The only problem was that the American media would accompany the Marines. One sided, permanently damaging yellow journalism was to occur, equally damaging as the inaccurate portrayal of the Tet Offensive being an American debacle. CBS correspondent Morley Safer was invited to join Cox's Company as the Marines embarked on their avenging search and destroy mission of Cam Ne. Beamed back nationwide and uncensored to Americans televisions, Safer filmed Marines torching all houses in the village. While not being informed of the enemy snipers, tunnels and weaponry found, Americans saw their troops acting like sadists, using flame throwers to burn down innocent families houses instead of handing out chewing gum to children. This would never been released in either World War, Korea, Iraq or Afghanistan without being censored first. Furthermore, Safer made it a point to emphasize that the U.S. would never convince the South Vietnamese peasantry that we were on their side, winning their "hearts and minds." Igniting a burgeoning domestic antiwar movement as well as a stigma on our troops in Vietnam, Safer assured the fact that this would be the first time in history that the outcome of a major conflict was to be determined neither on the battlefield or negotiating chamber, but on the printed pages and television screens. Furthermore, Cox mentions that the broadcast created an irreparable schism between the press and American military leadership that lasted for the duration of the war.Rich Watkins had an experience that like the author would change his attitude towards the war. When his unit approached the village of Tra Cu on a search and destroy mission, Watkins wrote; As we slowly passed the villagers, they could care less that we were there. They hardly gave us a passing glance. Half the people in this village were our enemy, the other half could care less if we lived or died. As far as they were concerned, we were just kind of there, until we weren't, I guess. I had hoped we were there to help these people or save them or something like that, but I was new and I was naïve, and my attitude would change as my tour progressed." Cox explains how his Company's attitude would change as well; the daily nicks the VC had inflicted on Marine patrols via booby traps and heavy trauma two minute ambushes had enraged us." When his Company entered a village where booby traps had been found and the village chief and its inhabitants would deny any knowledge of the enemy, Cox wrote; "No Vietnamese ever admitted knowing the whereabouts of the VC. In this part of Vietnam most sons, brothers and cousins were VC. The population knew which side their bread was buttered on; they'd take their chances with the VC." Cox also reports of bad Marine leadership, even of an officer that had a psychotic breakdown and was later promoted. As a Forward Observer, Cox lamented at how he would call an urgent fire mission while a company was under attack, ambushed and in danger of being overrun. Since his request had to be approved from the chain of command, i.e. Battalion, Regiment, Marine Division Headquarters and the South Vietnamese Army, by the time it was the enemy had vanished and Marines trapped in ambushes lost their lives. Cox wrote; It was difficult to explain those rules to the men and officers who were engaged in an up close and personal manner with the enemy and vitally needed supporting fire immediately.There were legitimate reasons for the rules of engagement before artillery could rain shells down on Cox's coordinates. Fear existed of not only friendly fire on American troops but collateral damage as well, i.e. accidentally killing friendlies in populated areas. Cox noted the enemy ability to capitalize on this, asserting; "the Viet Cong was a savvy student and actually calculated for the artillery delay into his timeline." There were other problems Cox encountered, issues he blamed the Marine Corps Supply system on. The Marine Corps equivalent of a telephone system was communication wire, land lines a Forward Observer used to communicate with his battery's Fire Direction Center. There was a severe shortage of it, and battery powered radios were substituted. Cox recalls how aside from radio batteries being old, moldy and scare, they would go dead. Sadly, ambushed Marines would die when a Forward Observer could not communicate with his artillery unit because of an inoperable radio and request lifesaving artillery on enemy positions. Despite B-52 carpet bombings, defoliating the enemy's sanctuaries, rapidly ferrying into battles troops and evacuating wounded by helicopters, as well as incredible Brown and Blue water naval assets, Cox summed up the American experience in Vietnam as follows; "If I had been an odds maker when I returned to America in 1966, I would have unblinkingly installed the NVA/VC consortium as an overwhelming 3 to 1 favorite to win. But I'd have lost the other proposition: over or under 8 more years of war. I'd have bet under 8 more years. I couldn't have conceived how mad our leadership would become in order to let it linger on for so many years. Maybe our country needs more history majors. Our insistence and proclivity to apply quick, hi tech responses in nonindustrial hotspots fails us." Like most Vietnam Vets, Frank Cox felt the U.S. waged the war in Vietnam with hands tied behind its back, with 58,000 plus paying the ultimate price. Mr. Cox sums up his book incisively by remarking; "In the Vietnam War, if you thought it would happen, it didn't. If it happened, you never considered it." This memoir is an important addition any understanding of America's involvement with Vietnam and essential reading!

1500 Feet Over Vietnam a Marine Helicopter Pilot's Diary

by Bruce Lake

Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historia, Vietnam War. Pembroke Pines, Florida USA Contact: BernWei12aol.com July 26, 2009 Title of Review: An Oral Catharsis Into The Heart And Soul of a Warrior in an Unpopular WarIn reviewing Bruce Lake's Book, "1500 Feet Over Vietnam," it is rare that an author can be so nonchalant and modest to the fact that he had earned the "Silver Star" and 42 air medals as a young Marine helicopter pilot. However, when Mr. Lake wrote this book, it was never intended for publication. This entire memoir is based on letters that started on April 1, 1968 and concluded on April 20th, 1969, all to his wife in an attempt to describe his missions and what everyday life was like in his Vietnam "chariot" i.e. the helicopter. Self published, and without the distortion of time (writing a memoir 40 years later from memory), Lake recounts the pain of close friends dying way before their time in combat and crashes, braving enemy fire for troop insertions, extractions and medical dust offs.Mr. Lake goes farther then that. After leaving the service after 5 years, he would feel embarrassed to tell people at his college campus (often five years younger then him and experiencing their first freedom from home) that he had been to Vietnam. Vietnam had done strange things to "his head." After seeing hundreds of dead and dying people in Vietnam, not to mention flying 840 combat missions in 11 months and surviving helicopter crashes and countless near misses, Lake began to both "think" he was immortal and "knew" he was addicted to the adrenalin the previously mentioned would generate. The reader will understand why Lake grew his hair long, bought a high powered motorcycle and drove it at reckless speeds and while working at a factory he would go to the 5th floor and stand with his toes over the edge of the roof and stare at the ground; all in a fruitless attempt to unsuccessfully recreate the surge of excitement that could only come from bringing a chopper into a hot landing zone while surrounding N.V.A. muzzle flashes were aimed right at him spewing forth hot lead.The letters that made up this book were put away for 8 years, and Vietnam receded in the author's mind. Then, after a Navy Reservist and ex "Air America" pilot who lost a relative in 1968 asked Lake if he had been involved in the medical evacuation of his nephew's unit, Lake collected his feelings and with encouragement from friends and family started to chronologically arrange and read them. The result of that effort comprises this wonderful book. Bruce Lake does a fantastic job of explaining his part of flying in a new military concept introduced in Vietnam that was called "Heliborne Warfare". Depending on weather conditions, Lake's primary job was to transport supplies, cargo, or most importantly 20 fully armed U.S. troops into battle flying his "A" model CH-46 helicopter as part of "Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 265" (HMM-265)Lake was also quick to point out that even though between missions he went to the beach, slept in comfortable quarters, went to the air conditioned Officer's Club, he faced constant issues such as; "Why did a certain pilot get hit? Whose turn would it be next time? How soon will we lose another pilot? When will it be my turn to die?" Lake includes stories in this memoir that are rare, informing, and will never reach any history text. When delivering $30,000 in cash as a payroll officer, Lake tells the reader the security of a cartridge belt and pistol would bring him. Another interesting anecdote was when Lake recalled learning in grade school how people during the U.S. Civil War would pack lunches and bring their family in wagons to watch battles in fields in valleys. Lake wondered how different it was to fly into and out of pitched battles for seven hours and then return to the base, go to the beach and check out a sailboat and sail up and down the coast watching other people fight.Ruminating on the course of the war, Lake reflected; "I had been in Vietnam less than 2 weeks and already I was beginning to think we weren't really over here to win a war. We were there for economic reasons more than democratic reasons." Lake also pointed out that despite the heavy attrition and heavy "body counts" of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong, where the enemy was getting killed more than 100 to 1, superior U.S. weaponry (the awesome fire power of "Puff the Magic Dragon" (a transport plane, usually a "C-47" armed with "Gattling Guns" that could rain down a covering fire for U.S. ground troops of 15,000 rounds per minute!) and the devastation of a B-52 air strike, the U.S. was still not winning the war, with (to use the famous cliche) "no light at the end of the tunnel." Lake shamefully admitted that he worked with pilots who were too cowardly or scared to fly into "hot" landing zones. Similar to the problem with American ground troops fragging their overzealous superior officers, these sneaky pilots would pull circuit breakers to simulate mechanical failure to get out of dangerous missions.Also mentioned was the scarcity of territory the U.S. truly "controlled" in Vietnam, the problem of enemy tunnels all over the South (particularly in and around "Cu Chi")and how units of the South Vietnamese Army (A.R.V.N.) were composed of soldiers that in some cases were 12 years old or younger! The hardest letter Lake wrote to his wife was the story of his aversion to "Wrigley's Juicy Fruit Gum," which he still has today. There were missions Lake flew where he had to bring back many badly decomposed bodies of Marines killed in action. To mask the horrible stench of death, Lake would keep a pack of gum in the sleeve of his flight suit. To mask the odor, he would chew a few pieces and stick the moist gum to his upper lip just below his nose to mask the odor! How many 18 year old's that Lake later went to college with after Vietnam had to deal with this? Lake ends this incredible memoir with his experiences in Japan at the end of his tour and the anti-war sentiment he ran into upon his return to the States. There are so many more anecdotes about the intricacies of this sad chapter in American history, that the serious student of the Vietnam War simply MUST READ this book!

One Zulu Inscribed By the Author

by Curtis Randolph Kimes

Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian/Vietnam War January 19th, 2013 Pembroke Pines, Florida USA Title of Review: "War is Hell! So is a Vietnam War Veteran's Reflections...Looking Death In The Eye & Surviving!""One Zulu" took Curtis Randolf Kimes almost four decades to write. Drafted in 1967 and trained as an infantryman, Kimes on his own volition volunteered for the First Air Cavalry's Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) shortly after arriving in Vietnam. This was October of 1967, one month before the infamous battle of Dak To and three months before the 1968 Tet Offensive. Sent to and completing the Military Assistance Command of Vietnam's "Recondo School," Kimes was based out of Camp Evans and assigned an LRRP team to gather field intelligence for the 1st Air Cavalry Division. Camp Evans, located midway between Quang Tri City and Hue on Highway 1, was the headquarters for the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division for a time. It became one of the most important U.S. combat bases in I Corps, housing major units of the 101st Airborne Division, the 18th Evacuation Hospital, the 158th Assault Helicopter Company, as well as numerous other aviation, artillery, transportation, communications, and supply units. Many historians considered I Corps the most dangerous part of all of South Vietnam, sitting right on the DMZ. Kimes story is on an actual mission he took part in during the first part of May of 1968, which he states in no equivocal terms was painful for him to remember. While Kimes concedes that that he changed the names and personalities of every man including himself that participated in this mission, the factual events are true right down to the last detail.The repressed pain and resentment Kimes justifiably feels is present through "One Zulu." So why did Kimes pen this after such a long passage of time? The author explains; "The strength needed to relate this story has eluded me for all of 35 years. But the images of all that happened visit me in some form every day. During times as I write this, emotions that have been locked away for more than half of my life rain down across my cheeks, and onto my desk. Each one a memory moment. Or part of one. And I cannot stop them, not any longer." Although Kimes would go on to be awarded the Silver and Bronze Star as well as both the Air Medal and Combat Infantryman's Badge, the author reminiscences as to how he and five other LRRP team members were inserted and eventually trapped in extremely hostile enemy territory, known then as "Indian Country" and wound up as bait for the North Vietnamese Army gunning for U.S. Units attempting to rescue them after the team was pinned down. Out of the six LRRP members, 2 would be killed, and all four others wounded to some degree. This book is not only about this mission, as the reader will discover. The effects of Agent Orange, the unparalleled camaraderie of an LRRP team, and the gross unjustness of the VA medical system ungratefully levied towards returning Vietnam Veterans are explored.Yet there are even more painful issues. Kimes gives a coherent representation of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome by unequivocally warning anyone that thinks war is glamorous by relating the following; "How many times has one heard "War is Hell?" It really is. The sanctum of combat inspires a strong binding force between all those that have entered, looked death in the eyes, witnessed its ugly stare and survived. A survivor's unbidden reflections of that experience occur at awkward moments, over uncounted days, and many, many nights....that too is a hell." Furthermore, Kimes expresses his wrath over a government that has spent uncounted millions to find a cure for AIDS, a disease self inflicted for the most part, while it negligently underfunded the VA which incredibly refused to recognize PTSD as a service connected problem until 12 years after the last troops had been rotated out of S.E. Asia. Even more incredulously, the VA took even longer to acknowledge the pernicious consequences related to exposure to deadly herbicides dumped all over South Vietnam to defoliate the country, in particular Agent Pink and Orange. And of the political leadership of the U.S. in relation to the course of the Vietnam War? Kimes acerbically laments; "Why had the country not been given an acceptable explanation, and an apology as to why the military had been shackled by a narcissist who had not allowed the knowledgeable, experienced and trained to take effective, offensive action against North Vietnam?" There are a myriad of contradictions, injustices and indictments of society Kimes points out that a Vietnam Veteran disgracefully faced upon return. Certainly,"One Zulu" will have the reader thinking long after he has turned the last page of this incisiveness book!You may purchase this book direct from the author by contacting Mr. Kimes directly at: paper.marche@att.net

Calico Joe

Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian Pembroke Pines, Florida, U.S.A. September 30, 2012 Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: The Code of Baseball, A Ruined Childhood & A Trip Down Memory Lane!Anyone that became a teenager in the early 1970's will immediately take to John Grisham's "Calico Joe." Especially one that grew up in New York and liked baseball. I know, I was one of them. Grisham's book revolves around a washed up, aging picture for the New York Mets named Paul Tracy and his mercurial, volatile relationship with his son Paul. Added in is a rookie phenom for the Cubs named Joe Castle. Castle, dubbed "Calico Joe," sets major league records in his 1973 rookie debut for consecutive games safely hit. Paul Castle fell in love with Calico Joe, even keeping a scrapbook of his accolades unbeknownst to his father. Grisham portrays Warren as a philanderer, a beanball artist, a drunkard and an abusive husband and father. Shades of the Tony Conigliaro incident are introduced when the Cubs come into town to play the Mets with the National League East pennant on the line. With Paul and his disgruntled mother in the stands at Shea Stadium, the two watch as Castle goes up against his father after successfully pounding Warren for a hit his first time up.The "code of baseball" is introduced, at least Warren's conception of it. If a batsman shows up the pitcher in any way the previous at bat, or is a cocky rookie, the next at bat will surely be a beanball. However, Warren was a cruel, mean "headhunter," and demanded Paul be like him in playing Little League. Without any remorse, the senior Tracy will throw at anyone's head as revenge, rarely missing. In Castle's second at bat, the lives of both the Castle and Tracy are forever changed. The ironies involved and the unpredictable twists of fate make this novel truly amazing. The names thrown out, e.g. Tom Seaver, Bobby Murcer, Ron Santo, Ferguson Jenkins, etc., bring back such vivid memories of a reader's lost youthhood that it is impossible to not love and embrace this fantastically written novel. Even more realistic are the memories Grisham introduces, such as his descriptions of the Long Island Railroad being ridden, Willets Point in Flushing and both old Shea and Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field, etc., with fitting descriptions of the temperaments of the fans of each. Grisham fast forwards forty years later and cleverly plays out a scenario involving Warren, dying of cancer, a caustic Paul and a forever enfeebled Joe Castle.The realism is strikingly apparent, regardless of Grisham's introduction of a fictional protagonist. In fact, the author cleverly let former Cub infielder Don Kessinger proof read and correct "Calico Joe" for realism. Kessinger's interjections make this story so absorbing, captivating and realistic that anyone reading this cannot but be spellbound by "Calico Joe." Memories flash of Carl Mays, Ray Chapman and Tony C. Mays was a right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1915 to 1929. Despite impressive career statistics, he is primarily remembered for throwing a beanball on August 16, 1920, that struck and killed Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians, making Chapman the only Major League player to die as a direct result of an injury sustained on the field. Similarly, Tony Conigliaro nicknamed "Tony C" played for the Boston Red Sox during their "Impossible Dream" season of 1967. He was hit in the face by a pitch from Jack Fisher, causing a severe eye injury and derailing his career. Though he would make a dramatic comeback from the injury, his career was not the same afterwards. Whether you like baseball or not, "Calico Joe" has something for any reader, guaranteeing a satisfying read!

Hot Rain

by Robert H Dirr

Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War July 15, 2012 Pembroke Pines, Fl. USA contact: BernWei1@aol.comTitle of Review: Gunfire, Explosions, Smelling Napalm, Rice Paddies and Human Excrement: Living & Breathing Vietnam 24 Hours a Day! Hot Rain is a book that is guaranteed to mesmerize, captivate and hold you. It will disgust you, make you cry, sympathize, feel indignation and horror, yet give you the power of the healing of love. Subjects such as killing in combat, death and mutilation, the loss of a best friend, unemployment, divorce, PTSD, and even mortality are all served up to the reader. Yet "Hot Rain" is ultimately a love story to his wife, Barbara, as well as an explanation of his tribulations to his friends, family and America of how an innocent 18 year old from Cincinnati named Robert Dirr was affected by the misfortune of being born in 1947. By the time he graduated from high school, our nation's role in Southeast Asia had passed from both advisement of the South Vietnamese and America's escalation of the war against the Communist North Vietnamese to the infamous 1968 "Tet Offensive." Emulating the actions of his father during W.W. II, Dirr enlisted in the Navy in 1966, right out of high school. Deciding to be a hospital corpsman, he was oblivious to the horrors he would find himself enmeshed in. Curiously, Dirr started off his memoir with a quote from Ernest Hemingway, written in 1935 for Esquire Magazine; "They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war there is nothing sweet or fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason. Perhaps Dirr might have been dissuaded from signing up if he had read that or paid more attention to President Lyndon B. Johnson's January, 1966 annual message to Congress on the State of the Union; "How many men who listen to me tonight have served their Nation in other wars? How very many are not here to listen? The war in Vietnam is not like these other wars. Yet, finally, war is always the same. It is young men dying in the fullness of their promise. It is trying to kill a man that you do not even know well enough to hate. Therefore, to know war is to know that there is still madness in this world."Why did Dirr enlist? He explained; "I always had a keen interest in medicine and a secret desire to go to medical school one day, so I figured that with the training received from the Navy I would have an edge over other applicants. Another big mistake!" How big was Dirr's mistake? Read on, if you dare! The author changed all the names of the characters in this book to protect their privacy and dignity, but after being sent to "Great Lakes Naval Base" near Chicago, Illinois, he quickly picked up a fatally bound friendship with a fellow Corpsman Dirr calls "Robert Engels." They paired off together in an inseparable friendship to begin basic training. Engels parents adopted Dirr and the two future corpsmen spent every free movement planning a future together. They graduated as sailors together in September, 1966 and were jointly ordered to report in December to the Naval Hospital Corps School. By this time, 6,143 Americans had been killed in this war, and by the war's end in January of 1973, 58,282 Americans, almost two thirds under the age of 21...would pay the final price. Was it worth it? Read on! In 1967, 11, 153 Americans in Vietnam were killed and twice that number were being wounded in action. Corpsmen were badly needed and Dirr thought he would be stationed stateside at a large naval hospital without involvement with combat situations and Vietnam. His big mistake began to be realized, in living color. First Dirr was told by his commander that because of the war's rapid escalation, the basic course he was to take was changed from 16 weeks to 8. His commander had another surprise for Dirr, telling him not so politely; "Son, The Marine Corps has a lot of troops in Vietnam. Unlike the Army, who has medics, the Marines don't have any people with medical specialties. They get them from the Navy. That's you and me, boy. The corpsman is the medic for the U.S. Marine Corps!"The commander was not kidding about the severity of America's escalation. Ever since President Johnson seized congressional approval of his actions in August of 1964, by that year's end there were 23,300 American military personnel in South Vietnam trying to bolster the fledgling democracy in its fight against the bellicose, invading communist North Vietnamese. This jumped to 184,300 Americans in 1965. During Dirr's enlistment, there were 385,300 U.S. Military "In Country" to join the fray. The climax would be 1968, where 536,100 U.S. Troops were there to prevent the Communistic "Domino Theory" from overwhelming South Vietnam. The author was changing. On a short leave from Great Lakes he wore his navy uniform and found himself taunted and made fun of at one of his old high school's football games. Dirr commented: "I soon found myself drifting away from the old school crowd. I didn't particularly care for those young punks who turned their haughty noses at me, like I was part of a giant killing machine. I now realize they were doing that out of peer pressure, for in 1966 Vietnam was not a popular war. Hell, I wasn't even permitted to see my old girlfriend!" Both Dirr and his friend began to see the barbarity of Vietnam working at the Great Lakes Hospital, as demonstrated by his following comment: "There were a lot of messed up guys there, some in wheelchairs missing legs and feet, and others sitting around minus a hand or an arm. The gastrointestinal ward was overflowing with men who had colostomies with the necessary bags and tubes attached to their sides, a consequence of being gut shot. Many were disfigured and mutilated, and few ever smiled. Most of the patients were Marines."Dirr and his friend Engels wondered if they would go to Vietnam and die. After making a pact with each other that if either friend was killed the other would tell the deceased parents exactly the way it happened, Dirr wrote: "We shook hands while gripping each other's arm very tightly, while looking past the pupils of the eyes into the essence of our beings. That was the closest I've ever felt to another person, aside from my family, and I felt something unusual flow over me. I saw a side of Engels I had never seen before and that particular conversation still haunts me." After learning the basics of first aid, suturing, starting IV's and giving injections, both Dirr and Engels graduated from Great Lakes in February of 1967 and the next month they were both ordered to report the following month together to "Field Medical Training School" at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Dirr wrote; "The jungles of Vietnam called to us with a frightening urgency." Dirr and Engels planned to live out in the country together after the war, building A frame and log cabin houses. The two friends would live in them and sell the rest to their friends. They even planned to name it "Wilderness Retreat." After more military and medical training, they both graduated; Engels was dispatched to Okinawa, Japan for deployment to South Vietnam and Dirr temporarily held over in the U.S. working with the Sanitation Department. The two wrote to each other regularly, and Dirr even stayed at Engels' parents house while their son was in Japan. However, their greatest fear would come true, and as the reader will tragically read, Dirr would have to make the phone call that he promised Engels if he perished.As mentioned before, this is a very hard book on the emotions to read. By September of 1967, Dirr was in Okinawa and on October 2, 1967 he boarded "Flying Tiger Airways" for a one way trip to Danang, the Republic of South Vietnam as a corpsman for "Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, 3rd Marine Division. Dirr wrote while on the airline the following; "So, I thought, I'm finally going to Vietnam. Well, those little yellow ants running around in black pajamas better watch it! Look out, Vietnam, here comes "The Kid." Dirr would later rue that bravado, as he did not realize the tenacity of the North Vietnamese Army. Oblivious to the dangers of deadly warfare and desperate hand to hand combat, even to the point of not hearing a shot fired during the January 31, 1968 Tet Offensive, this calm was a harbinger of the perils to come. For Robert Dirr was to be right in the middle of one of the fiercest battles of the Vietnam war. The battle of Dai Do and An Lac were among the biggest battles of the Vietnam War, occurring April 30 to May 2nd, 1968. Bob Dirr would see and write about the horrors he saw those three days with gruesomely painful details. To explain it, Dirr actually in his 40's went back to college and received two degrees in both creative writing and journalism. Although brutally effective with Dirr's use of pseudonyms, author Keith Nolon gave all the gripping, intense fighting details that Dirr took part in, and was severely wounded in a separate account. Real and gripping, Nolan's book "The Magnificent Bastards" details how Dirr's Bravo unit of 98 men along with several other units similarly manned went up against between 7,000 to 10,000 hard core NVA troops of the 320th NVA Division intent on seizing Dong Ha and the Northeast Sector of South Vietnam and thwarted them!Robert Dirr sparred nothing in describing his tour. When he first deplaned in Danang on October 2, 1967, he described Vietnam as follows; "I stepped off the plane and was punched with an invisible fist of intense heat that almost knocked me down the portable stairs. When I could breathe again, I looked to the sky and saw a line of black clouds that climbed from the horizon to the heavens and remembered from our training that it was a monsoon. The winter storms came in from the sea and pounded the country with daily downpours; 120" of rain from October to April Alone." After being told that he was assigned to 1/3, an irritated Marine told Dirr, a "Cherry" that it was the First Battalion, 3rd Marines. Before being flown by a H-34 "Seahorse" to a helicopter carrier, he would experience enemy shelling for the first time. The carrier in the South China Sea was used as a staging unit for the wounded that were medically evacuated. The next day, after breakfast, Dirr went to the fantail where no one would see him and practiced his quick draw. He wrote "Wyatt Earp had nothing on me." He then saw an ominous sight: "I wandered around the ship and discovered the staging area where the injured were taken off the choppers. The whole scene was surreal and filled my eyes with visions of blood soaked bandages wrapped around limbs and torsos, and I shivered at the blank faces that suggested traumatic shock. The area was off limits, but since I was a Corpsman, nobody said anything. It was also a ghostly place, for the smell of death hovered in the air and I made it a point to stay away from there."The author was on the ship for a week when he was finally sent into action to link up with the 1/3. On the last afternoon on the ship, he asked himself: "Will I be okay? Would I be able to handle all the blood and guts I caught a glimpse of at the staging area? Could I kill another human being if I had to? Would I make it back to the world? Everyone of Dirr's mental ruminations would be answered affirmatively in "Hot Rain." A Huey UH-1 landed on the carrier to take Dirr into a hot landing zone. Before he got on the Huey, he witnessed the following; "I slowly grew accustomed to the gruesome spectacles until I saw something I hadn't noticed before. It was a body bag, long, black and plastic that zipped up and had a tag on it that bore the name of the unfortunate individual inside. I inched myself over to the bag, hoping to catch the name out of pure curiosity when I noticed another thing. I trembled when I saw that the body inside the bag was in pieces. There were large lumps on both ends of the bag and an unnatural empty space in between." Any illusions that this was going to be the adventure of Dirr's life had now been smashed. It was rapidly becoming his worst nightmare.As he arrived at his unit in the jungles of Vietnam and jumped out of the helicopter, Dirr realized the NVA made a game of shooting the aircraft he was in out of the sky and caught some shrapnel in his shoulder. Dirr remarked; "I executed a perfect swan dive into the first hole I saw. I poked my head above the rim of the hole and watched the incoming rounds land. It seemed as if I was watching some kind of war movie being shown on a giant screen at a drive-in." Within a week, Dirr would go to a stream to fill his canteen and come face to face with an NVA soldier doing the same. Wyatt Earp would win the ensuing duel and Dirr had killed. He would also accidentally kill a mother and her four babies, burned to death under a hut floor's trap door. Dirr lit the hut afire after being convinced it was unoccupied. He would also describe taking on the role of a "Vietnam Dr. Kevorkian, giving a fellow marine a fatal dose of morphine while he burned to death. White Phosphorous from a VC booby trap was burning him to death from the outside in and he asked Dirr to kill him. The author performed an act of mercy. All of this pales to Dirr's description of the battle of Dao Dai. As he set up shop to treat the casualties, evaluate their gunshot and shrapnel wounds, Dirr would experience a North Vietnamese barrage of enemy RPG's, artillery and AK-47 fire from all directions directed directly at him and Bravo company. The reader hears the bullets snapping, cracking by, making that splat sound of hit human meat, and the resulting yelp of "Corpsman Up!"."Hot Rain" gives an excellent account of that long forgotten battle, how Dirr saw NVA RPG's and Chicom grenades flying through the air making the "whiz, bang, flash, bang sound. He also declared that despite his fellow Marines dying and becoming wounded all around him answered the NVA with M-16's, M-60's, captured AK-47's and RPG, and when it got down to hand to hand combat, pistols, rocks and barehanded knuckles. It ultimately stopped the NVA charge cold. All of Dirr's commanders were either killed or severely wounded. He also mentioned that most of the guys in the 1/3 were only a few months out of high school, tragically facing bunker to bunker, trench line to trench line, hand to hand combat. Needless to say, Dirr did not write this highly graphic account of the brutality of war to horrify anyone. Although he passed away on June 16, 2012 after a ten month valiant battle with lung cancer, the intent of this author was to let the American people know what he did at a time when on many college campuses students were rioting and carrying anti-war signs. It was important for Robert Dirr to let America know there were many fine Americans who were fighting for a freedom of a people they did not even know. Although Dirr survived the war, he sustained a serious back wound for which he continued to adjust his lifestyle. No "Purple Heart" medal could adequately acknowledge the heroic actions described in this book. Dirr would get very sick later in life, almost dying. He recovered and met the light of his life. Although the description of his relationship with his eventual wife, Barbara only consumes a few pages at the end of this book, it is the most significant and satisfying part of Robert Dirr's life. For his marriage to Barbara Dirr would be the happiest part of his troublesome life, letting Bob go to his astral perch content in an otherwise troubled journey of life's bumps and bruises. The author can also proudly take his heavenly place alongside Marines who have served their corps in every climate and place for the past 200 years. Robert Dirr...Rest In Peace!Robert Dirr's Obituary:Robert H. Jr., age 64, of Mt. Juliet, TN, died on June 16, 2012, at his home, after a lengthy battle with cancer. Born on July 30, 1947, to Edna Shelton Dirr and Robert H. Dirr, Bob, also known as Bongo, was a long time resident of Cincinnati, a retiree of the USPS, a former professional drummer and local DJ. He is survived by his wife, Barbara, sister Venny Cole, brother Donald, sons Tony, Nick, Andy and Rob, daughter Lyndsey Wesley, and five grandchildren, Jaylen, Tristan, Lyric, Pepper and Kamryn. Bob was Navy Corpsman attached to the Marines during the Viet Nam conflict, earning a Purple Heart and a Silver Star. He graduated from Mt. Healthy H.S. and Miami University, earning degrees in journalism and creative writing. Bob was known for his killer smile and his lifelong passion for music. Visitation will be Friday 10am-12pm at Paul R. Young Funeral Home, 7345 Hamilton Ave., Mt. Healthy, with Funeral Service to follow at 12. Burial will be in Arlington Memorial Gardens.

Clear Left! Clear Right!

by Timothy E. Wilkerson

Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War Pembroke Pines, Fl. USA May 30, 2012 Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review; "Vietnam's Hypocrisy Eventually Turned Future War Protesters Against Those Doing The Fighting & Dying!"Victory through enemy attrition, light at the end of the tunnel, racial tension, Vietnam Vets against the war, successful interdiction of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, et. al. Was the U.S. winning the ground war? Was there a drug problem among our troops? What about racial problems? What was the American politician's "end game" plan to lead our troops to a successful conclusion? Read twenty different memoirs of different participants, all from different branches of the service and at different times in the war and you will get twenty different opinions. One thing is clear, all these different perspectives voiced were making both television's nightly news as well as newspaper headlines stateside during the war. It was this very lack of unified sentiment that served the antiwar movement's origins as well as its impetus. While on the hawkish side, Timothy Wilkerson's memoir is no exception. Arriving in Vietnam in November of 1968, Wilkerson takes the reader through his one year tour of duty with incredible clarity. He describes his method as follows; "While serving in the Army, prior to and after Vietnam, I made notes on a small calendar and on my flight logs, as well as letters to and from home and also notes made on the pictures I took during that time. I have compiled this information and retyped the notes as I wrote them and added more information from logbooks and letters."The results of Wilkerson's endeavors are as realistic and historically fascinating as a memoir can get. Ask any pilot in Vietnam what was among his most sacred recollections and artifacts of that war and you will invariably be told that his photos and flight log are high up on the list. Not only are the photos in this book spectacular, but his desktop entries add much to the lore of this war. Why did this author volunteer for Vietnam? Explaining, Wilkerson wrote: "I did not understand all of the ideologies involved. All I heard was that a country full of people wanted to be free and not subject to communist rule. We read stories and heard of Vietnam's ability to grow rice and other plentiful crops that would feed millions of people. We read stories and heard of the "Domino Theory" of communist takeover of the world. We were shown how it was being implemented on a country I never knew existed. " To do his part, Wilkerson enlisted in the U.S. Army on August 21st, 1967. At this point of the war, it looked like the U.S. and its South Vietnamese, South Korean and Australian allies would shortly defeat the Communists. The year started off with an Operation called "Cedar Falls." This was a massive search and destroy operation of an area close to Saigon called the "Iron Triangle." Considered by U.S. intelligence to be a major Viet Cong redoubt, over 30,000 US and South Vietnamese troops were sent in to destroy the enemy. Although this operation uncovered and destroyed major enemy tunnel complexes loaded with enemy supplies, this was to be a harbinger of things to come. Skillfully evading American forces who were prohibited by our "rules of engagement" of pursuing the enemy into neutral territory, the VC fled into Cambodia, escaping through intricate tunnel systems. Not only was the area's indigenous inhabitants forcibly relocated, the entire area was defoliated and their homes destroyed. Although the U.S desperately wanted to win the "hearts and minds" of the native South Vietnamese, by this action many former inhabitants of this area joined the communist ranks as a consequence. In his "Beyond Vietnam" speech delivered at New York's Riverside Church on April 4, 1967 Dr. Martin Luther King became the country's most prominent opponent of the Vietnam War. King called the United States "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." Ironically, the "Summer of Love" would end violently, with the November, 1967 "Battle of Dak To" being a drop in the bucket to the clashes experienced during the January, 1968 "Tet Offensive."While Hippies throughout America gathered in San Francisco for music, drugs and free love, the military did everything in its power to produce a victory, including the attempt to build an electronic wall sealing the North Vietnamese out of the South and seeding the atmosphere with Silver Iodide via C-130 airplanes to extend the monsoon season, thus washing out the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In early November of 1968, Tim Wilkerson arrived at Cam Ranh Bay Air Force Base to do his part. From landing at the most busiest airport in the world at the time through October of 1969 the author served in Vietnam with "A Company" of the 4th Aviation Battalion. Nicknamed "The Blackjacks," his helicopter unit was attached to the famed 4th Infantry Division. They would fly missions out of Camp Enari, II Corps, right in the enemy's backyard, the hotly contested "Central Highlands" of South Vietnam. Of this period of time, Wilkerson wrote; "The opposition to the war was just beginning because communists were grooming the protestors. I remember I wanted to do my part and help the South's defense against communism and to protect their way of life, as well as ours." Right or wrong, Wilkerson voiced his opinion of this war, which killed over 58,000 Americans; "It was a two-front war that was battled abroad and at home. City streets in the free world served as the stage for anti-war protests with deep roots supported by communism. This war was fought for an idea of freedom. The freedom of a small country of people to live the life of free choice and action opposed by those who were, and still are seeking world domination to enslave them and us." Why does the author take his stance? Wilkerson elaborated; "We saw on TV the people burning their draft cards because they opposed the war. Others were burning the American flag in protest. This was a sure sign of communists in the rank and file of the protesters." While the author's patriotic rhetoric might of been a motivating factor, the clincher was that he simply wanted to fly.Right out of high school, the only branch of service not requiring a college degree or prior military service as a prerequisite was the Army. Wilkerson would get his chance alright, accumulating over 1,135 hours of combat time which this vivid memoir gives graphic testimony to. Tim Wilkerson did not write this account for the reader with just a passing interest in history or the Vietnam War. There is no glossary and the majority of this book has notations extracted from his daily flight log. However, if you are knowledgeable about this conflict regardless of whether you served in Vietnam or have an interest in American military history, this book will have you spellbound. Wilkerson asserts his beliefs early in the righteousness of America's military endeavors in Vietnam;"Freedom is not free. It is earned, won and fought for on all levels at home and abroad. The defenders at the Alamo, Wake Island, in Korea and in many other lonely places gave their lives for freedom. Many of those who had given their all may never be known for their sacrifices for the very freedom that gives us the right to protest or to love our country." Why did Wilkerson write this? Ho Chi Minh, the North's communist strongman during the war insisted that America wanted to imperialistically impose its will on a reticent South Vietnamese population. Uncle Ho insisted that this so called "civil war" was really a desire for a country to run its own affairs without foreign interference. Needless to say, Wilkerson's viewpoints are graphically validated by simply reading prisoner accounts of anyone mercilessly thrown into torturous communist "Reeducation Camps" after the Fall of Saigon in April of 1975.Notwithstanding political motives, "Clear Left! Clear Right" goes far beyond the causes and effects of the Vietnam War. This is a book about a God fearing man and his love of aviation. Wilkerson shares the apprehension he felt prior to his first solo helicopter flight as well as glory he experienced in successfully becoming an officer. So strong was his passion for flying, Wilkerson actually named the book using the commands from his instructor pilot at Fort Wolters, Texas. The book's title were safety words taught to Wilkerson prior to starting up a helicopter's blades to full operational speed, ensuring peripheral safety. From being tossed in a pool, a tradition following a pilot's first successful solo to his success in not being captured at Fort Rucker's "Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape" school, Wilkerson's twenty seven year aviation career was launched. If you read through Wilkerson's flight logs, you will find that Wilkerson did it all in his helicopter, a Bell UH-1 Iroquois. A staple of the Vietnam War, his "Huey Slick" flew everything from troop insertions and extractions under full battlefield conditions, medical evacuations, and flare drops to illuminate areas at night to transporting VIP's (very important people such as generals, politicians, etc.) Another side of the war rarely shown is Vietnam's raw beauty and danger. Wilkerson includes beautiful pictures he personally took from his Huey of Vietnam's Central Highlands, from flying over mountaintops and cascading waterfalls to remote firebases. Also shown is "Toolbox," a dog that loved to fly. Also used by the perimeter guards at Camp Enari, Toolbox was one of many German Shepherds that at war's end sadly never came home. In an attempt to make it as much like home as possible, all types of animals were kept as pets, with vivid photos Wilkerson took of "Tippy" the parrot, and even "George" the monkey. Dangerous to our troops, wild Bengal tigers roamed around Vietnam's jungles. Wlikerson includes a graphic description where his helicopter hovered over a tiger, tracking it to an armored unit to be killed. Wilkerson even flew the slain tiger back to his brigade headquarters. The author's flight logs show the good, the bad and the ugly of the Vietnam War. Pilots were shot down and killed by enemy fire, and helicopters crashed after hitting barely visible tree stumps and cloud obscured power lines at low levels.Wilkerson also mentions that drugs had become a major detriment in 1969, adversely affecting America's fighting capability. Personally witnessing this, Wilkerson wrote; "I had to take a stand when I found out that one of our aircraft gunners was using drugs. I learned firsthand from those who witnessed the actions, and I had to remove him from my aircraft. We needed a crew that was alert and could respond quickly and effectively when the need arose, and it usually did when flying in combat." Wilkerson also commented on the American conduct of the war, unsuccessfully using enemy "body counts" as a measure of success; "I noticed that the Allies would take over hilltops or primary control points. I further noticed that after a period of time, based on the enemy's situation, the Allies would pull the units out of the hilltops and move to other locations to attack or stop the enemy." Wilkerson mentions that while he could never bring himself to "hate" the enemy, he respected their ability to conduct guerrilla warfare. Wilkerson demonstrated this by refusing a commander's orders to land alongside an area where a landmine had killed a truck full of Vietnamese citizens. The aforementioned is just a small part of "Clear Left! Clear Right." Tim Wilkerson gives us a scarcely told and riveting perspective of the Vietnam War rarely delivered elsewhere. This is an indispensable account, an absolute "must read" in anyone's collection of Vietnam War memoirs!

Emily's Robert E

by T-M Fitzgerald

Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian, Pembroke Pines, Florida, USA May 9, 2012 E Mail: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: "War and the Finality of Death: Now You See Me, Now You Don't!"Today, U.S. President Barack Obama uses the term "Overseas Contingency Operation." However, it is simply a repackaging of the "'War on Terror" initiated by then US President George W. Bush. Translated, it is close to a two decade global military struggle against any terrorist organization and regime accused of supporting in any way or being connected to militant Islamists and al-Qaeda posing threatening pretensions to America and its allies. The last straw was the "911 attacks." There were many precursors, You pick the main one: The origins of al-Qaeda's inspiration of worldwide terrorism as a reaction to the 1979-1989 Soviet war in Afghanistan, the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in August of 1998 in Kenya and Tanzania, Osama bin Laden's February 1998 signing of his "Fatwa" as the head of al-Qaeda, declaring war on the West and Israel or even the aborted January 1, 2000 bombing of the Los Angeles International Airport. None of the aforementioned compared to the September 11, 2001 New York City, Washington D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania attacks which killed 2,993 people. American war fever was piqued. U.S. armed forces initiated its War in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. The stated goal was to dismantle the al-Qaeda terrorist organization and eliminate Afghanistan as its base. Although President Bush promised to remove the Taliban regime from power and replace it with a democratic state, over a decade later Americans continue to battle the Taliban insurgency and die in the process.It is those American lives lost that are chosen as the prevailing theme of Tina Marie Fitzgerald's book "Emily's Robert E." While this can be seen as a heartbreaking love story, it is not designed to have what Fitzgerald terms a "Feel good story with a happily ever ending." Wars kill. America should know. The Revolutionary War of 1775 to 1783 killed 25,000 fathers, brothers, etc. This was a drop in the bucket to the U.S. Civil War, claiming a total of 625,000 Confederate and Union lives. Although there were the Indian Wars, the Spanish American and Philippine wars, it would take until 1916 for America to enter the "War to End All Wars." World War II claimed 116,516, and a little over two decades later join the fray against Fascism, killing 405,399 of us. We weren't finished though. Becoming the "world's policeman" against Communist expansion, 36,516 would perish from 1950 to 1953 in Korea and 58,272 in Viet Nam, not to mention the 2,500 still today missing in action, never to be accounted for. After nationwide protests and uproar over America's involvement in Vietnam all being based on a sham attack in the Gulf of Tonkin, the leak of the Pentagon Papers and Nixon's embarrassing exit, this country needed a good reason to go at it again. The end of the war in Iraq claimed 4,477 American dead and 31,965 wounded. The still ongoing operation in Afghanistan stands at 6,280 killed and a staggering 41,936 seriously wounded.Author Fitzgerald makes the reader think carefully about the above statistics. She asks you, the reader, the following; "Casualties aren't just about lives that can never be given back but also about lives seized. When a soldier's life is taken, who immediately thinks of the widow, widower or orphans that were created? It doesn't matter what side a soldier fights for, the results are the same. People rarely think about those who are left behind or about any impending consequences resulting from a person's death; soldier or otherwise. Not only was Fitzgerald herself an ex Marine, she did her homework to write this. Meticulously researching America's Spring, 2003 Iraqi invasion dubbed "Operation Iraqi Freedom," you will find a diary in this book any Marine will concur as to its accuracy. Describing time spend in the dessert of Iraq's "big sandbox" is true to form. There's an added plus; many anecdotes Fitzgerald included were based on true events in her own life. Hailing from Mena, Arkansas, Fitzgerald included hometown characters, intelligently weaving them into the story. This is also the author's catharsis, infusing the storyline with personal situations in her own life. At the tender age of fifteen, Fitzgerald lost a very important friend, using Emily's Robert E." as a release, analyzing feelings and emotions she had kept to herself for years. Volunteering as a U.S. Marine, Fitzgerald after five months of marriage was in a near fatal automobile accident. The repercussions were ugly; her marriage ended and her military career was cut short. Turning bitterly vitriolic, Fitzgerald lost many friends.However, there was a silver lining, as it served as the impetus to start writing this book with the elements all magically falling into place. Then another twist of unexpected fate, or circumstance occurred. Fitzgerald met Laurie Holt. Eerily seeming to tell the story of Holts's loss of Marine Corporal David R. Baker, her son, the story seemed to be written about her and her family. Killed by an "Improvised Explosive Device" like a roadside bomb or booby trap in Afghanistan while on point, Holt's very first tour would be his last. Fitzgerald mentions her book "Emily's Robert E" provided Holt with the fortitude to go on with life. The author wrote; " Laurie said I saved her life...my book was a light for her. We remain strong friends to this day. I was in attendance at the Honor and Remember flag presentation for David this past November, and I actually took part in the service. Fitzgerald wishes no accolades for this book, and she embodies this in her actions. Not only is the author a self-appointed Veteran's advocate, Fitzgerald writes, talks and teaches about U.S. Military History and what it means to Americans. She comments; "If I only touched one person by the words in my book, then I accomplished what I set out to do."Other issues are brought up in "Emily's Robert E. "The storyline is about a reversal of traditional roles, with the husband staying at home with a child and the wife getting deployed to the war zone, taking on the risks associated with being in a combat zone. Nevertheless, Fitzgerald brings up poignant truisms, such as the egocentric point that if a story doesn't end well, the public doesn't want to read about it unless it is about someone else. Since America took on the English in 1775 to 2012, a total of 1,529,230 U.S. combatants have gone to an early grave, 1,529,230 have been wounded and 38, 159 never found. This book could be about anyone's experience after a loved one dies. In conjunction with the previous stated casualties, Fitzgerald asserts: "Without anyone to remember, the memories of those who have died fade in vain." Want a little taste of what it feels like to lose a son and daughter post 911? Read "William Koch's painful account of how he and his wife Christine are forced to deal with the death of their son Stephen and daughter Lynne in "Casualties of War." Marie Fitzgerald minces no words when she scornfully writes: "Despite All the support and patriotism exhibited by Americans after 911, it didn't take long for people at home to become complacent, even cynical about Iraq. After the war, Iraq was the furthest thing from anybody's minds, unless they got the knock on the door: "We regret to inform you." This book will teach you never to take tomorrow for granted, as Fitzgerald's story will embody.Finally, Fitzgerald brings up the big question of war; "When a soldier's life is taken, who immediately thinks of the widow, widower or orphans created? It doesn't matter what side a soldier fights for, the results are the same. People rarely think about those who are left behind or about any impending consequences resulting from a person's death; soldier or otherwise." Fitzgerald proves this when she mentioned within the story that people in her hometown fought to buy the Mena, Arkansas Times newspaper whenever it contained headlines of celebrities cheating, divorcing or dying. How true is this? Consider the fact that on February 12, 2012, celebrity singer Whitney Houston died from a drug overdose. The headlines on U.S. newspapers reflecting this had record sales. These young men listed, Corporal Kevin J. Reinhard, age 25, Lance Corporal William D. "Billy" Spencer, age 20, Corporal Jon-Luke Bateman, age 22, Lance Corporal Scott D. Harper 21, Corporal Joseph J. Reinhard, age 25 , Lance Corporal Eric J. Orlowski, age 26. Lance Corporal Joshua M. Davis, age 19, and finally Corporal Michael J. Dutcher, age 22 also died that same day, unmentioned or as a small byline in every nationwide newspaper. They died not in a luxury hotel room nursing a drug or alcohol addiction. They died bravely in "the big sandbox" in a harsh country half a world away. They lost their lives as members of the United States Marine Corps, and may God Bless them and their families.How does Marie Fitzgerald account for this? She correctly points out how history is never learned, thus the mistakes of the past continue to be repeated; "The names of W.W. I and II Veterans that once graced those pages had already become forgotten. There weren't many old boys left who'd fought against the Germans or the Japanese. We fought a war against Germany? When'd we do that? Where is Normandy anyway? Allied Forces? What's the deal about December 7nth, 1941? Pearl Harbor?" Also addressed are the mistakes made in Viet Nam and present, including why selective media is streamlined via satellite back to the U.S. in a favorable manner. Commenting on the error made in showing the public too much in America's first "television war," our leaders today are careful in what they allow us to know and show. The year 1968 taught us a lot; the press's interpretation of the Tet Offensive, President Johnson's decision not to run for reelection galvanizing public antiwar support, both Robert Kennedy's and Martin Luther King's assassinations as well as the riots at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. Fitzgerald explains this phenomenon as follows; "Ho Chi Minh? Cambodia? What was the significance of that wall of names in Washington? And what about Bosnia and Somolia? Where are those countries anyway? Why are we fighting over there in the first place?" The ignorance of America can be mind boggling!For Fitzgerald, she correctly points out that political rhetoric like the "Domino Theory" and "Weapons of Mass Destruction" have lost their potency for motivating Americans to fight for our way of life and freedom. Elucidating, Fitzgerald points out; "War had become a comfortably foreign concept, if not an entirely forgotten one to the Generation X'ers, the so-called "entitled" generation of America. For the most part, the idea of war where people get killed, where somebody isn't coming home was forgotten, except by those who had fought in or lost somebody to one. And then, of the soldiers who had gone to fight and were fortunate to make it back, some of them continued to fight personal battles long after their particular war ended." There were 2,700,000 "in country" Viet Nam Vets from 1965 to 1972, In 2012, less than 500,000 are alive. Fighting consequences brought on by "Agent Orange" and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Fitzgerald laments; "The war has never ended for some." And of our troops still in Afghanistan today? Fitzgerald wrote; "The longer we're here, the more I find myself wondering and questioning at least to myself what exactly we have or were supposed to accomplish. We were supposedly coming to fight a war on terrorism, then we were here to help these people and we've only made more of a mess out of things. This country is in worse shape than it was before we got here."Fitzgerald frighteningly continues; "Snipers think of ways to peck off troops before breakfast every morning like we wonder when this is all going to be over every night. Their days start with waking up thinking how many people they'll get to shoot like we wake up wondering what's for chow. That's their job. And don't forget the rebels who know daily schedules who might let a convoy pass today, then maybe tomorrow kill one or two of us just because they can? Roadside bombs go off with such a rate that the noise isn't such a big deal anymore, it's a given." Regardless, Fitzgerald ends this amazing book by reminding us that despite the casualties in all our wars, the following truism exists; "Do you know your purpose today? Or is it just another day? Are you going through the motions of the same routine? If you're a child of God, know that he has assigned a purpose for you today. Fulfilling your purpose does not mean everything will be completed as planned. Why? Interruptions. In his heart, a man plans his cause but the Lord determines his steps. Our tragedies are God's tools. What we do with them is determined by circumstance. It is the gifts given by God that help us in any situation. The gift of life is the most sacred of all." This is sage advice given by an author who intuitively knows exactly how to put things into perspective. "Emily's Robert E." is a book that simply cannot be put down, not to mention one that will compel the reader to perpetually carry its message! "Semper Fi" T.M. Fitzgerald !

Bill Bell and The Search For American Pow/Mias From The

by Leave No Man Behind

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War Pembroke Pines, Florida USA Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: Vietnamese Communists Exposed; Inhumane Bone Storage Merchants Selling Answers Piecemeal for Political & Economic Concessions Bill Bell's "Leave No Man Behind" is both a memoir of his life as well as a vicarious, in depth view of what he experienced as the head of the U.S. Office for POW/MIA Affairs from 1991-1992 in Hanoi. Bell expresses the continued frustration he encountered in negotiating with ruthless, cash strapped Vietnamese Communist Party representatives (VCP), U.S. Congressmen as well as the grieving American families of missing or lost servicemen. The VCP's sole objective was a nefarious exploitation of Bell's humanitarian missions for economic and diplomatic concessions. By dangling stored U.S. remains and piecemeal answers as to how our men disappeared the VCP blackmailed the U.S. for revenue while the grieving families of the missing suffered, wanting no more than answers and closure. However, this book is much more than any oral history, biography or other memoir you will ever encounter. Revealed is the entire Vietnam War and as a consequence America's concomitant endeavors to recover its missing or lost. Drawing upon previously unreleased details and rare anecdotes, you will find this book priceless considering the wealth of information Bill Bell serves up! Bereavement goes beyond the MIA/POW quandary. It is up close and personal, as Bell reveals the pain endured by losing his father to a train mishap early in life and his first wife and son in a plane crash during "Operation Babylift," a mass evacuation of orphaned children from South Vietnam to the U.S. and other countries only weeks before Saigon fell to North Vietnam's legions. The Provisional Revolutionary Government (also known as the Viet Cong) also lost their freedom, tossed in the "Reeducation Camps" right alongside former South Vietnamese military and government personnel, all seen as VCP enemies.Regardless of external events, Bell's empathy never wavered in terms of his vicarious identification of bereavement and helplessness for the families of the 2,500 military personnel whom disappeared in South East Asia during the war, never to be heard from again. From being a young, idealistic infantryman in South Vietnam circa 1965 to his ultimate disillusionment and frustrating retirement after serving as America's first "field investigator" in S.E. Asia is an amazing journey considering the obstacles he dealt which are painstakingly detailed within this memoir.The issues are complicated in most cases. No one knows the exact amount of Americans lost or captured during the war. Bell explains that some of the missing were just kidnapped by the Communists near their bases or in towns close to their bases, particularly Danang. Prostitutes would usually be the lure, and after these American "john's" were isolated by the Communist ladies of the night, they would be jumped by their Communist captors and disappear forever. Other MIA's were deserters that wound up as captives. However, Robert Pelton describes in his book "Unwanted Dead or Alive" that aside from the 2,500 MIA/POW's already documented; "The U.S. Government officially acknowledged that more than 2,500 men were lost on covert "black" operations in Thailand, China, Cambodia, Burma, etc. This is a total of at least 5,000 MIA's! There actually could have been a whole lot more of them between the ages of 18 and 30. None of these 2,500 men were officially counted as missing in action! Why? Because as silly as it may seem America's leaders couldn't bring themselves to publicly admit that the U.S. had men in areas they weren't supposed to be in! More than 550 pilots were downed in Laos. More than 300 were known to still be alive in 1973. Not one was returned by the Laotian Reds!""MACV SOG" stood for Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. This was a highly classified, multi-service special operations unit which conducted covert unconventional warfare operations prior to and during the Vietnam War. If one looks back and studies the Korean War, which occurred from June of 1950 to July of 1953, due to a lack of "Rules of Engagement" a crisis took place that almost led to World War III and a nuclear holocaust. In the case of the Korean War, the American peace treaty concluded with Japan in 1945 ended the Rising Sun's hegemony over Korea, which existed since 1910. Korea was divided at the 38th parallel, with U.S. military forces occupying the southern half and Soviet military forces occupying the northern half of Korea. It was agreed that reunification would occur in 1948 with free elections, and when that didn't happen, the North established a communist government and the South a capitalist one. The 38th parallel increasingly became a political border between the two Korean states. Although reunification negotiations continued in the months preceding the war, tension intensified. Cross-border skirmishes and raids at the 38th Parallel continued until on June 25, 1950 whereupon on that day the North Korean forces invaded South Korea. Communist Chinese leader Mao ZseDung's was extremely paranoid and kept a careful watch on this conflict since the bloody civil war with his country and Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese Nationalists had just ended.U.S. forces aided the South Koreans in repelling the North's initial invasion and after launching a massive counter-offensive were able to drive the North Koreans past the 38th Parallel to the Yalu River, which serves as the border between North Korea and China. Feeling threatened, on October 25, 1950, 270,000 members of the "People's Volunteer Army" (Communist Chinese Army) attacked American forces. Almost a complete political replay occurred following the May 7, 1954 French debacle at the "Battle of Dien Bien Phu." An agreement at Geneva was struck where Vietnam would be divided at the 17th parallel. North of the 17th parallel was to be administered by the Communists, and just like the Korean conflict was backed by both the Soviets and Red Chinese. The South was supported by the U.S. and adopted democracy. The plan called for reunification to occur in 1956 which would be based on national, independent elections. Negotiations broke down and once again a proxy war was under way with the North attempting to subjugate South Vietnam militarily. The difference was this time the U.S. would do everything in its power to prevent Soviet or Communist Chinese intervention. This took the form of U.S. "Rules of Engagement," which prohibited American ground forces from entering North Vietnam or pursuing escaping Communist forces who used the both neutral Cambodia or Laos as sanctuaries, even building the majority of their infamous "Ho Chi Minh Trail" through Cambodia and Laos.With the exception of the April 1970 Cambodian Incursion, the January, 1969 foray into Western Laos called "Operation Dewey Canyon"and the February 1971 move into Laos named "Operation Lam Son 719." In Lam Son 719 U.S. helicopters were used only to transport ARVN soldiers to and from Laos. Throughout the war. Determined not to provoke either the Chinese or Soviets again, American political and military commanders walked a fine line to prevent this reoccurrence in Vietnam. Only aerial reconnaissance and bombing operations would occur over North Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. However, SOG troops would be secretly inserted via helicopter in all three areas. Their extremely covert cross border operations were known as "going over the fence" and many did not return. Their missions included sabotage of enemy weapons caches, capturing key North Vietnamese personnel capable of providing useful intelligence, calling in tactical and strategic B-52 bombing missions, search and rescue of imprisoned servicemen and downed airmen and those missing in action, etc. In his memoir "Across The Fence," John "Tilt" Meyer recalled the following briefing of what was expected of him on his first mission; "Now listen up real close," the sergeant major said. When you go across the fence, you will carry no identification of any manner, shape or form." That meant no identification papers, no dog tags, no diaries, no photos, no love letters and certainly no green berets.John Meyer continued; "Everyone would wear sterile fatigues, with no company insignia, no nametags, no unit designators, no jump wings or Combat Infantryman Badges. Why? Without giving anyone a chance to respond, he said that because Laos and Cambodia were neutral, the U.S. Government could publicly proclaim that the U.S. respected that "neutrality." Thus, if we were killed in Laos, Cambodia or North Vietnam, the U.S. Government would deny having anything to do with us, thus explaining that no Americans were stationed in Laos or Cambodia, which was technically accurate. The U.S. Government had "plausible deniability" if we were captured or killed. And if captured, we were to speak a foreign language." An epitome of America's involvement in this war can be found in the following comment Bell wrote; "Although I had enjoyed many opportunities to learn the language and culture of the country, It became obvious to me how little the other men knew about Vietnam, other than it was a war they were trying to survive. Once I observed a machine gun squad setting up a position to fire into a small hamlet displaying a large banner reading "Viet Nam Cong Hoa." When I asked why the men intended to fire into the hamlet, the Squad Leader, a young man from Alabama advised me that he was certain the hamlet was enemy because he had seen the banner saying "The Cong Will Win." The man's face turned crimson when I informed him the sign meant "Republic of Vietnam."Needless to say, Bell's memoir reveals a facet never so carefully elucidated; a rare glimpse at the former North Vietnamese elite in attempting to discover the fate of the MIA/POWs. Bared are the "Vietnamese Communist Party" (VCP) and its cadre, described as conniving, dishonest opportunists placed in the role of high party members. Bell's constraint is nothing less than inspiring when one considers how regardless of the VCP's attempts to thwart his objective, the author never wavered in his quest to resolve the fate of these missing Americans and provide closure to their families. This is especially true of Bell's last years of service, faced with a growing U.S. sentiment to forget about the war and capitalize on then President Clinton's February, 1994 lifting of trade restrictions and ultimately Vietnam's 1986 economic reforms initiated with the goal of ostensibly creating a "socialist-oriented market economy" dubbed "Doi Moi." As Hoi Tran, author of "A Vietnamese Fighter Pilot in an American War" wrote in his memoir, and confirmed by Bell in "Leave No Man Behind," Hanoi's henchmen were little more than "Red Capitalists." Between Clinton's actions and the VCP's corrupt opportunists, sadly the fate of our MIA's would be forever pushed into the history books. Shown here are the inner machinations of those that clashed stateside in regard to this tempestuous issue; U.S. politicians as well as the activists representing the families of the missing. In an attempt to assuage both groups Bill Bell found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place in Southeast Asia as a senior investigator for the "POW/MIA Search and Recovery" investigations in the late 1980's and eventually as the "Chief of POW/MIA Affairs" in the early 1990's.Bill Bell's derailment and being branded as a maverick, incredibly by members of our own U.S. military that were bent on intimidation and revenge is a pathetic story in itself as you finish his book. Heartbreaking anecdotes are given in regard to the obstacles Bell encountered in post war financially destitute Vietnam where the ultimate objective of the Vietnamese Communist Party was fleecing the "Ugly American," as evidenced in their non cooperation with the U.S. in regards to resolving the missing American servicemen's fate. Instead of putting the war behind them, the VCP greedily set forth in a campaign to fleece America for every penny it could get away with. From seeking diplomatic concessions, financial remuneration for the most trivial matters, as well as being caught red handed with storing American remains for eventual sale to the U.S., Bill Bell was able to obtain result oriented information from the Vietnamese despite facing formidable odds. This, coupled with the passage of time and American entrepreneurship no longer seeing Vietnam as a war but rather a potential profit laden corporate gold mine would seal the fate of the missing Americans as an obsolete issue." He joined the "Joint Casualty Resolution Center" shortly after as the Chief Field Investigator going to Laos and Vietnam following up on live sighting reports, crash and grave sites of American MIA's. Bell carefully takes the reader through case investigations, determined to find the fate of those not released during "Operation Homecoming" or those disappearing at frustrating incident-of-loss sites.Last known MIA sites where unaccounted-for pilots or other aircrew members who were alive when their aircraft crashed or shot down were examined. Intimidated local villagers and double talking provincial officials, combined with bizarre bone collectors and grave robbers are all part of this memoir. Described are downed American warplanes scavenged by gold collectors. Living in Communist bugged billets with miserable food and transported by out of date, poorly maintained Soviet helicopters, Bell would be led by his VCP counterparts on wild, remote mountainside wild goose chases intentionally designed to physically challenge and discourage him. Even worse, Bell would visit a crash site completely "sanitized" of any valuable information prior to his visit. Bell's frustrations are palpable while going on worthless excavations costing the American taxpayer untold millions, as well as his team being allowed archeological digs only if a sum of money was paid in advance or a road built. Convinced the Communists were hiding either torture and execution, particularly when they were unable to proselytize U.S. POW's, the author states unequivocal that the Communists had live prisoners being held for political concessions or economic considerations." Between the VCP warehousing deceased POW's stored bones, charging the U.S. outrageous sums to excavate intentionally developed former crash sites and POW camps, as well as Bell's team being charged outrageous amounts of money for everything from hotels and transportation, the reader empathizes with Bell's frustration. Even more debasing, Bell relates that many POW/MIA's were kidnapped by the Communists, lured pathetically by loyal Communist prostitutes or even children. Some POWS re kept alive only as a blood source for wounded Communist soldiers.Relating that the VCP believed all Americans were rich and stupid, Bell writes scornfully of the rip off of American tourists, particularly returning Vietnam Veterans, the pervasive problem of pick picketers in the South, and to Bell's ire, while the majority of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's population lived in abject poverty, without jobs, fuel, electricity or running water, the VCP lived the life of luxury. Commenting, Bell wrote "Despite the claims of a just society, there were two separate worlds in Vietnam, one for the people and one for the high ranking Communist cadre." Deeming this group the "Red Capitalists," expatriate Hoi Tran elaborated on this in his memoir: "On April 30th, 1975, the Communist Party won, but all the people lost, to be ruled by a one party dictatorship. And today the Party is rich, filthy rich. Under their skillful management, Viet Nam is now known as the largest source of providing girls and women to neighboring countries as sex slaves. They sneered at culture, all forms of literary arts, books, and music in the South as depraved and were aggressively scouring everywhere to confiscate these materials to discard them. Sadly, after they took over the South, morality, good old traditions and virtues went into extinction! Prostitution, pornographic materials, HIV, venereal diseases and drugs went rampant in this amoral, depraved society! The Communists are no longer Communists! They have become Red Capitalists! These Red Capitalists and their children are living an ultra luxurious life over their poor and miserable people in Vietnam. Never in the former Republic of Vietnam did I see politicians and high ranking officials have multimillion dollar mansions or vacation houses like today's Red Capitalists."You, the reader, must judge Hoi Tran's statement with Bill Bell's insistence warning America that before they normalized relations with the DRV and cashed in on their Doi Moi, a precondition must be a full accounting of all POW/MIA cases. No American conduct toward North Vietnam during the war could justify the Communists current treatment of ignoring our requests for an honest accounting of our missing. Perhaps the VCP felt unresolved enmity towards the U.S. for its Phoenix Program, a controversial combined CIA and U.S. Special Forces counterinsurgency operation that existed from 1967 until the end of the war. Members of this program were tasked with identifying, capturing and ultimately killing members of the Viet Cong, or PRG. Between being caught in free fire zones including the exposure to un detonated land mines and finally the North's "Reeducation Camps," one could legitimately claim the Vietnamese civilian as the most tragic casualty of the Vietnam War. Although Bell intelligently points out that during the course of the war twice as much explosives were aerially dropped on North Vietnam then the combined nuclear tonnage released on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the number of war caused casualties could support Hanoi's assertion that the people of North Vietnam despised Americans as a result of war induced suffering. While John Tirman points out statistics in his book "The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America's Wars," that verify this, Bell wrote in this memoir that while traveling through Hanoi the average Northern citizen acted both amiable and devoid of any trace of American resentment unless agitated to do so by VCP members.Bell was even able to extract valuable MIA information from one willing citizen that watched his helicopter land near a site due for inspection, although this unfortunate good Samaritan certainly faced heavy handed VCP retribution later. From the two Gulf of Tonkin Incidents of August 2nd and August 4th, 1964 to the April 30, 1975 Fall of Saigon, The Vietnamese government estimated 4,000,000 civilians on both sides were killed. Tirman does note that the North's casualties have a built in measure for error because of accurate measure of fatalities rendered an impossibility due to obliteration of areas resulting from B-52 "Carpet bombing" sorties as well as usage of the BLU-82 "Daisy Cutter 1000 Lb. bomb." Tirman also mentions the further complication of unreported deaths of both Northern and Southern Vietnamese in later years resulted from the U.S. implementing "Operation Ranchland. This operation lasted from 1962 until 1971 and involved spraying an estimated 20 million US gallons of defoliants and herbicides over the South's rural areas in an attempt to deprive the PRG insurgents of Vietnam's plentiful jungle vegetation and triple canopy cover. Areas of Laos and Cambodia were also sprayed to a lesser extent. Author Fred Wilcox reports in his book "Waiting For an Army to Die: The Tragedy of Agent Orange" that Ranchhand sorties consisted of 3 to 5 planes flying abreast each other. 95% of the herbicides and defoliants used in the war were sprayed by the US Air Force as part of Operation Ranch Hand.Whatever the C-123's couldn't handle were tackled by men holding portable hand held spraying units, spray trucks, helicopters and boats protecting US military installations tasked with removing possible areas of concealment used by enemy sapper suicide squads. Because of later birth defects and abnormally caused cancers, perhaps this could be a source of Communist held American postwar antipathy and concealment of MIA information. While having seemingly innocuous names such as Agent(s) Orange, Blue and White, the decade of spraying resulted in the destruction of over five million acres of food and oxygen producing tropical rain forests with concomitant destruction of half a million acres of crops poisoned, thus rendered inedible. In "Harvests of Death; Chemical Warfare in Vietnam and Cambodia" author J.B. Neilands gives an in depth look at this man made environmental tragedy that prematurely killed uncountable Vietnamese due to intentionally caused American poisoning of both Vietnam's food sources, including fruit and vegetable as well as both land borne animal and aquatic fish food sources. Neilands mentions in this book that during Ranch Hand, the herbicides employed were sprayed up to 50 times the concentration dictated for normal agricultural use. Another possible cause of lasting Communist resentment towards Americans could have been from atrocities such as My Lai in March of 1968 and "Operation Speedy Express," conducted over a 6 month period ranging from December of 1968 to May of 1969.As author Hoi Tran compared Vietnam's North-South partition and resulting Civil War juxtaposed with America's 1861-1865 War Between the States where an ideologically devoid family was pitted against other members of his or her family if for no other reason than the address of their residence. Ira Hunt, the Ninth Infantry Division's division "Chief of staff" for this campaign released in 2010 his memoir entitled "The Ninth Infantry Division in Vietnam" and justified this operation by insisting that the grounds were a hotbed of heavily armed PRG guerilla forces that posed an invasion risk to Saigon. Like the VCP handled the POW/MIA issue by not answering inquiries about it, Hunt never answered in his book why there existed a kill ratio of 272 enemy soldiers to every American felled (40 were the total of 40 U.S. KIA's). Even more bizarre was the fact that despite almost 11,000 nonmilitary Vietnamese civilians losing their lives, among that figure only 748 possessed enemy weapons such as B-40 rockets and AK-47 assault rifles recovered by Hunt's Ninth. It is a foregone conclusion that Vietnamese civilian innocents perished among the 10,889 murdered in Hunt's area of operation, in this case the Mekong Delta, or IV Corps.Learning of this senseless killing, it is a sure bet that the 9th Infantry Division's actions incited angry relatives in the North to possess perpetual enmity bent on revenge. Adding another piece of incongruity to this already atrocity laden event, Hunt coauthored with the Ninth's 1970 Company Commander General Julian Ewell a 1974 book curiously called "Sharpening the Combat Edge:The Use of Analysis to Reinforce Military Judgement." Similar to Hunt's evasiveness in his 2010 authorship in regards to inconsistencies in "Speedy Express," the only comment of this operation in this 1974 penning came from coauthor General Ewell. A known advocate and highly vocal proponent of "Body Counts" which during the Vietnam War measured factors such as progress, victory, as well as determining the need for follow-up operations, Ewell was quoted as saying; "the hearts and minds" approach can be overdone....in the Delta the only way to overcome VC control and terror is with brute force applied against the VC." Historians argue that the reason atrocities such as the My Lai Massacre occurring was directly attributable to American forces not being able differentiate among the indigenous population Vietnamese friend or foe. Although the VCP could justify its shoddy postwar treatment of America and the POW/MIA issue by citing the unjust and wanton murders of its fellow countrymen while failing to mention their part in the crime committed in Hue. similar to the Communists accusation of Americans doing anything for money while the VCP acted equally if not more Capitalistic, Hanoi's southern recruiting tactics were equally brutal. During the Tet Offensive, the North Vietnamese and PRG forces on January 31, 1968 captured and occupied Hue. When they withdrew on February 28th, American forces found bound, tortured and buried alive approximately 6,000 civilians and prisoners of war.Although this never makes any of the history collegiate textbooks, the PRG forced on usually helpless Southern villages or hamlets communist allegiance with threats of reprisal, kidnapping and violent murder. After VCP agents took control of an area it would be used to billet and resupply Viet Cong guerrillas, supply intelligence on US and South Vietnamese military movements, provide taxes to VCI cadres, and conscript locals into the PRG. SOG over the border kidnappings of key VCP intelligence targets, or even ex South Vietnamese President Thieu's use of his intimidating "White Mice" police or his punitive "Tiger Cages" on Con Son Island did not rightfully justify the Communists usage of America's missing as commodities after the conclusion of hostilities. The actions and extortionist behaviors of the Vietnamese Communist Party certainly lend weight to both the title of his memoir as well as former major General Smedley Butler's assertion as the most decorated Marine in U.S. history that "War is a Racket." Poignantly demonstrated in this memoir, Bill Bell's book is an essential read for anyone interested in a deeper understanding of America's involvement in the Vietnam War and the cruel way the Communists treated a man that gave his all to finding out what happened to them! It is pathetic that if you ask anyone old enough to remember the Vietnam War what the 5 most common remembrances about that conflict come to their mind, it will most likely be: 1. A Buddhist monk sitting at a Saigon intersection immolating himself to protest the South Vietnamese Government. 2. The little girl running naked down Highway 1, fleeing a napalm attack. 3. The national police chief executing a terrified man suspected of being a VC and shot in the side of his head. 4. The bodies in the ditch after the My Lai Massacre. 5. Americans (and Bill Bell!) evacuating from the Saigon Embassy's rooftop. What about the POW/MIA'S? This is the true tragedy of this war, and they must never be forgotten. By reading "No Man Left Behind," you will do your part in ensuring that they won't! An absolute must read to any Vietnam War collection!

Where's Charlie? Memories From a Time Of War, 1965-68

by Tim Soyars

Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Pembroke Pines, Florida, U.S.A. Title of Review: "The NVA had strongholds, battlefronts, ambushes and engaged us. After nocturnally vanishing, the question was "Where's Charlie?, February 14, 2012 "Where's Charlie" is a memoir written in 2011 by Tim Soyars, a former Army Officer who participated in the ground war in South Vietnam's Central Highlands during the peak years of combat. However, this memoir is unlike almost any other memoir you will find written the last ten years. Few Vietnam Veterans talk about their wartime experiences. For every memoir written, there are hundreds that ought to be but never will. This author has no agenda, political axe to grind or atrocity his guilt is compelling him to reveal. Soyars facts and chronology are faultless. Author Tim Soyars did not use "historical fiction" to obscure releasing any national secrets, because he forgot names, dates, locations or to protect others from atrocities he witnessed. Some Vietnam Veterans write their memoirs knowing they have a terminal illness and this is their last chance to leave their testimony or chronicle their historical contribution. Nevertheless, this book's volition was of his wife and children, particularly Soyars son, who wanted to know the details about his father's ordeal. Between using half a century old letters the author and his wife communicated to each other with and saved, Soyars razor sharp memory and his company's operational reports, this trifecta served as the autobiography's framework. The result is an amazing memoir radically different from 99% of similar ones published prior to this. However, if you are looking for an action packed Vietnam War memoir brimming with exciting stories of violent combat, enemy sappers launching 4 A.M. suicide charges, deadly artillery duels against North Vietnamese forces on numerically assigned hills, "Where's Charlie" has something to please all readers. For this memoir took place in 1967, the year before the enemy's infamous "Tet Offensive." The Communists for the most part became as elusive as possible, consolidating their energies and concealing themselves from U.S. "Search and Destroy" missions. Tim Soyars would express exasperation throughout the pages of "Where's Charlie" and be able to witness the reasons for the enemies avoidance of contact. For at the end of January, 1968 the Viet Cong offensive would be countrywide in scope and well coordinated, with more than 80,000 communist troops striking more than 100 towns and cities, including 36 of 44 provincial capitals, five of the six autonomous cities, 72 of 245 district towns, and the southern capital. The Tet Offensive was the largest military operation yet conducted by either side up to that point in the war. The early years of the war from the 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution to the following year's "Battle of Ia Drang" saw the first major engagement between the forces of the U.S. and the North Vietnamese. President Johnson's 1965 initiation of the air war against the North labeled "Operation Rolling Thunder" and the 3,500 Marines hitting the beach in Danang using their "Normandy Beach" invasion style garnered nationwide attention and a lion's share of domestic media coverage. Although nothing would match the repercussions caused by the 1968 Tet Offensive, the enemy only showed himself in force once in 1967, at the November Battle of Dak To. Soyars frustration at the enemies avoidance of contact is conveyed to readers throughout this interesting memoir. Aside from leaving a legacy to his family, Soyars motivation for penning this book is singular. Insisting that his military experience provided the foundation for the rest of his life, the author declared the following as his intention in this historically rich offering; "I sincerely hope this book might inspire some young person to experience the military to its fullest as I did." Tim Soyars was a "baby boomer," an American who was born in 1945, the year W.W.II ended. All those born after W.W. II and everyone else of that era would inescapably be affected by our nation's military involvement in Southeast Asia, although few knew why we were really fighting there. Soyars' father had a fireworks accident as a boy, and because of that injury was deemed ineligible for military service. Growing up in Norfolk, Virginia, Soyars' dad became a fire fighter while his brothers fought both in the Pacific against the Japanese and in Europe against the Nazi's. By defeating both the Axis powers, unwittingly a sequence of events would start culminating in Soyars' one year tour of duty with the First Calvary patrolling South Vietnam's "Central Highlands." To understand this, one must know why America became involved in a nation's affairs 12,000 away in the first place, and what was the war like before we entered it? Was it vital to America's interests for 58,209 to lose their lives in this country, 153,303 to become wounded and 2,489 never to be found, missing even as of today? How did the war change the U.S.? Why did the antiwar movement become so strong and influential domestically? Were these "peace protesters" right? And finally, what is the bottom line? Did the U.S. win or lose our Vietnam war, oh, sorry....that's "conflict," as a state of war was never promulgated. What lessons do we make out of this? "Where's Charlie" will provide subtle answers to all of the aforementioned issues. There are different opinions from all participants who were deployed to Vietnam as to what happened during America's involvement. Tim Soyars certainly gives some good clues, particularly if you continue to read other participant's memoirs and compare them to his. One thing is certain; America's involvement and the views of those that took part in this conflict will differ from branch of service to the year they were there. A soldier in the Seventh Cavalry Regiment who took part in the November, 1965 "Battle of the Ia Drang" will give you a very different account of the conflict as compared to a sailor who participated in the October, 1968 "Operation Sealord," a naval attempt to disrupt North Vietnamese supply lines from Cambodia through the Mekong Delta. Nevertheless, Soyars book holds clues that help all Veterans of that war as well as historians put the pieces of the puzzle together. Today, if a war breaks out, the youth of America need a very convincing reason to go overseas and risk their life more convincing than the "Domino Theory." It wasn't that way in the late 1960's though, particularly if one's family lineage had Confederate antecedents. Most Southerners have manners rarely found in the rest of the U.S. They say "sir and ma'am," hold doors open for others, offer their seats to old folks because they've been taught from one generation to another that such things are expected of civilized people. Study Southern etiquette and mannerisms from the Civil War on and you will find the qualities of courtesy, generosity, class, and charm for the most part in the hearts and souls of most true Southern gentlemen. This is truly a way of life still very much alive below the Mason-Dixon. When in his January, 1960 inaugural speech John F. Kennedy said "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," Southern families took this very seriously. It was only a year later that J.F.K. announced; "The loss of South Vietnam would make pointless any further discussion about the importance of Southeast Asia to the free world; we would have to face the near certainty that the remainder of Southeast Asia and Indonesia would move to a complete accommodation with Communism, if not formal incorporation within the Communist bloc." A firm believer in the "Domino theory," L.B.J. believed that; "If we allow Vietnam to fall, tomorrow we'll be fighting in Hawaii, and next week in San Francisco." He immediately reversed his predecessor's order to withdraw U.S. military personnel from Vietnam by the end of 1963. With the "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution," Johnson began America's direct involvement in the ground war in Vietnam, as within six months after this he set the U.S. on an irreversible course. When Tim Soyars arrived in 1967, Americans were being killed at the rate of over 1,000 a month. This never fit into Soyars nor most southern boys agenda. Bud Willis wrote in "Marble Mountain" the following; "When you grow up in Tennessee, you are likely to be taught the "Pledge of Allegiance" before you learn the "Lord's Prayer." That's just how we roll. There may have been some crafty ways to avoid the draft, but most of us weren't handicapped by that kind of privilege, nor did we care for the label "draft dodger." Throughout the South and in Tennessee in particular, we belonged to a culture that made us want to do our part. After all, if Elvis Presley could be drafted, anybody could! What other place in the world could claim the title of "The Volunteer State?" I'll wager that none of the 70,000 men who flew to Canada to avoid Vietnam were from my hometown." Keep in mind this was 1961, long before the media turned the Vietnam War, especially the "Tet Offensive" into a villainous American crusade. The gist of "Where's Charlie" is Tim Soyars participation starting in March of 1967 as a member of the First Air Cavalry Division, one of the most famous combat divisions of the U.S. Army. Wearing the famous unit insignia of the triangular shield with rounded corners and a black diagonal stripe and a black horse's head cut off diagonally at the neck in the upper right, Soyars was assigned to "Charlie Company, Second Battalion, Fifth Cavalry Regiment" in mid March of 1967. His journey to Vietnam started in the fall of 1965, where after induction Soyars went through basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Always playing soldier as a child, and knowing his entry to the military was a guaranteed all expenses paid trip to Southeast Asia, he commented; "The thought of dying crossed my mind, I was confident and never gave it any serious consideration." Applying for Officer Candidate School during basic training and granted an appointment, Soyars next stop was at Fort Benning, Georgia. In describing OCS, Soyars remarked that it was; "The Army way on steroids." Regardless of the rigors, the author would learn during his six month training skills such as map reading and higher level infantry skills that very well played a part in his safe return. His final stateside assignment was as a second lieutenant for a basic training company in Fort Polk, Louisiana, where he met an assistant program director at an enlisted men's service club. Destined to be his wife, Jeanie would sustain him with letters and a sense of normalcy, reminding him through her writing that a life worth living was awaiting his safe homecoming. Jeanie was always on his mind, even as he foraged through the rice paddies and leech infested rivers of South Vietnam's dangerous enemy infested Central Highlands. As a harbinger of his tour, Soyars saw a rainbow as he departed the Oakland airport for South Vietnam, writing; "I felt a satisfying peace, a sense that it was a message from above to comfort me as I departed the U.S." Since he had no specific assignment, Soyars had to wait until a replacement request would come in. His first impressions of South Vietnam as he was transported from the Saigon Airport to Long Binh were as follows; "The Vietnamese population was mostly on foot or bicycles, but some drove three-wheeled, motorized vehicles and some drove automobiles. I saw several people pushing wheelbarrows with passengers; go figure. The sights, sounds and smells were so different and intriguing." At Long Binh Soyars traded his U.S. currency for "funny money," i.e. military script, played cards and drank beer. On March 11, 1967 a A First Air Cavalry Division platoon leader was wounded for Charlie Company, Second Battalion, Fifth Cavalry Regiment in a battle. A replacement was needed and Tim Soyars was to fill that role. Two days later he was sent to Camp Radcliffe at An Khe for a week of in-country training and saw his first casualty. At a grenade range, a soldier was killed in front of Soyars when his grenade prematurely exploded. The author quickly realized that there was no safety in a war zone regardless of one's whereabouts. It was there that he was taught the skill of rappelling. This would come into use later in a situation when Charlie Company flew via helicopter to a nighttime campsite without a landing zone. Although Soyars and his men successfully lowered themselves by rope to the ground, he wrote; "Well, if the NVA was there, dangling men from a helicopter would certainly flush out anyone wanting easy targets." In retrospect, Soyars realizes that in 1967 Charlie Company's objective was to engage, capture or kill the enemy. The reason why the enemy was so hard to find was as follows; "The enemy's strategy was to build up forces all over the South, avoid battles now but prepare for battles in 1968 during Tet." The reader goes with Soyars through South Vietnam's Central Highlands' villages in his quest to find the enemy. How did Charlie Company distinguish the enemy? Soyars explained how to sort out the belligerents; "We never knew how the VC might dress. The civilian population and the VC were indistinguishable. However, the NVA wore uniforms, a sure giveaway." Lots of reasons have been given to why America's military endeavors did not lead to the Communists defeat in this conflict. From failing to resist communist aggression and unsuccessful counterinsurgency to the inability to preserve the integrity of U.S. commitment, the answers vary. Tim Soyars rationale as to American military weakness in South Vietnam was right to the point; "We airlifted by helicopter into an area based on intelligence reports of enemy activity, but our arrival seldom surprised anyone. Every helicopter mission to an unsecured area was termed an air assault, and helicopter gun ships preceded all air assaults. The gun ships pounded the LZ with rockets and machine gun fire in an attempt to provide a secure landing and off-loading of soldiers. Because of the landscape and agriculture of the plains, many landings were in rice paddies and totally exposed. These landings would've made great sites for an attack if the enemy wanted to do so." Soyars details different missions, even one where he shot and killed an enemy soldier. Charlie Company's primary objective after landing in an area of the Central Highlands was to search surrounding villages for enemy activity, and sniper fire was a frequent occurrence. Soyars solution was as follows; "We'd move closer to the source of the sniping, seeking to flush him out and determine the strength of the enemy, or we would hold our position and call in artillery or aerial rocket artillery on the contact area. Often sniping occurred from the VC with the objective to disrupt our mission. The latter option was expedient and allowed us to resume our mission quickly, and if the sniping was from the VC, we foiled their objective. If NVA was present and prepared for a fight, they would not snipe. They would wait in ambush for us to move close to their positions and then open fire." Rich Watkins wrote in his book "Vietnam: No Regrets" the following comment about approaching a village and the attitude of the South Vietnamese towards our forces saving them from Communist oppression; "We passed the little village of Tra Cu, which was also coming to life. The people in the village were always up early to get their washing done in the river and take their morning bath. As we slowly made our way past them, they could care less that we were there. They hardly gave us a passing glance. Half the people in this village were the enemy, and the other half couldn't care less if we lived or died. As far as they were concerned, we were just kind of there, until we weren't, I guess. I had thought we were here to help these people or save them or something like that, but I was new and I was naive, and my attitude would change as our tour progressed. Soyars attitude would also change as his tour progressed. He also points out how different this war was compared to previous conflicts; "This war wasn't like our father's war, where they came face to face with the enemy. That seldom happened in this war. The enemy made himself known when he had the advantage and often from ambush or as a sniper. We moved quietly and slowly, stopping frequently to listen. We heard nothing but our own breathing." On March 6, 1968, the day of Soyars' departure from Vietnam, the Tet Offensive was raging. Since he was leaving the war zone, Soyars was asked to turn in his weapons. Without anything to protect himself, on the day of his "Freedom Bird" at 2 A.M. the airfield at Cam Ranh Bay was mortared by an enemy attack. Adding some humor to a potentially dangerous situation, Soyars remembered; "We halfway joked about fully armed NVA storming the bunkers as we watched helplessly, armed with only a deck of cards and some U.S. dollars. Included in this memoir are the actual text of the letters Tim and Jeanie exchanged. Within it one can catch a pulse of what Tim felt in the war zone and how Jeanie reacted to it as a newlywed on the home front. As earlier mentioned, this memoir is different than most others, where the combatant's animosity is expressed over civilian treatment upon return, Agent Orange issues, etc. Putting everything into perspective, Soyars remarked; "My experience in Nam was one of great pride and importance to my life and development, and I know that many of the men who served with me felt the same. The bond and emotion found among those who fight front line in any war is hard to comprehend by those who have never experienced it." This is an important memoir with a fresh perspective to a war that thanks to contributions such as "Where's "Charlie" will never be forgotten. A must read!

Devotions For Boots On the Ground

by James W Visel

Review Written by Bernie Weisz Historian, Vietnam War, February 28, 2012 Pembroke Pines, Florida, USA. Contact:: BernWei1@aol.com Title of review: "The More I Prayed in Vietnam, The More Trouble I Seemed to Experience!"Are there atheists in foxholes? What does a crew chief think when they are in a Huey helicopter 2000 feet above ground level at 110 knots, watching the craft they are in get all shot up, burnt and going down fast? Then who is the meanest dude in the "Valley of Death?" Look at some of the combat art on the noses of Huey helicopters, Chinooks, helmet gear of soldiers, or Zippo lighter engravings of those who served in South Vietnam. A warrior thought he had something happen when he put on his battle attire with a moniker emblazoned protecting him from death. Feeling a magical power, making one invisible or giving secret strength, mantras such as "NVA Killer, "Macho Joker," "When I die bury me face down so the whole world can kiss my butt" and "The Invader" all lost significance as NVA bullets cracked within inches. And who would know more about this false bravado than James Visel, a man who would do three tours of Vietnam during 1966-1968 as a highly decorated crew chief with the "Robin Hoods" of the 173rd Assault Helicopter Company. As Huey helicopter pilot and author of "Marble Mountain" Bud Wills said; "Throughout history, soldiers have been and will continue to be a special breed of people. Those who volunteer themselves for battle, any battle including those who failed in their attempt to become soldiers, are all in a special class. I do not exclude the men who fought against us, like the scrappy bunch we faced in Vietnam. I have personally never known a soldier who killed his enemy out of hatred; rather, they did it from a perceived sense of DUTY. And any soldier who claims not to have been scared to death while exchanging gunfire with the enemy is either a liar or a total idiot."Where does a higher power fit into this? This will definitively be answered as you read and absorb Visel's awesome account. Not for the weak stomached reader, there are some gruesome descriptions of death and carnage the author witnessed and was forced to cope with. However, Visesl tempers the horrid with the bizarre, the hilarious and the divine, eventually changing a war ravaged man into a devout Christian. Although not "Being Saved" until four years after returning to "The World," this conversion's genesis is eloquently related in "Devotions for Boots on the Ground." Shot down or crashing by virtue of a mechanical failure seven times as well as wounded twice, James Visel uses these experiences in the Vietnam War as his road map leading to his spirituality. Explaining, Visel asserts; "Possibly there is nothing more conducive to thoughts of the eternal than having one's face slammed in red, wet muck, with explosions so close your body arcs and bounces off the ground, hot shards burn in your flesh, and concussions are bright flashes of fire beating a tattoo on the light receptors in the back of your eyes. Your head aches, from visual shock waves. Time has come to an end. What's it going to be like on the other side? Is there an "other side?" For some, satisfactory answers never seem to come. For myself, may I pro-offer both scorching experience, and incredible answers learned? Then, should you ever fall into a similar adventure, you may go into it better prepared than me." These experiences are told in riveting fashion, holding the reader spellbound.Despite this review's title, magical miracles and tales of survival against incredible odds occur in his vignettes, clearly demonstrating miracles do occur. Sadly, grief is acknowledged at the beginning of this book stating Visel is bereaved of his soul mate, his late wife Susan. However, for every setback or loss, Visel gives an applicable Bible verse that enables him to carry his message, which he asserts as follows; "Now I find myself here with short stories of adventure lived, not so much a memoir, but as encouragement to others who also might find themselves in very deep, very agitated, and sometimes very hot water. Don't ever give up! If you are still breathing, keep doing right!" How did the author mentally prepare for helicopter combat in Vietnam? Before leaving for Southeast Asia he read "Stephen Crane's "Red Badge of Courage" and Richard Tregaskis's "Guadalcanal Diary." And what were the effects of these books on Visel? The author comments; "Both deeply touched, encouraged and emboldened me in different ways. I've always found myself following in large footprints left by common, but incredible people. Most often I had to jump from one footprint to the next, but they left a trail for me to follow." He would need these footprints as a member of the 173rd Assault Helicopter Company "Robin Hoods." Of his three tours, his first fourteen were spent flying with "Slicks," i.e. Hueys that carried troops, supplies, and did medical evacuations. The Robin Hoods were on call twenty four hours a day, seven days a week as "first responders" instantly reacting to any American units out in the field or in trouble.Jim Visel would eventually rack up 31 air medals, several with "V" for valor. He nonchalantly downplays this, declaring; "Medals don't really reveal what's in a man's heart anyway. They are simply a recognition of something that took place while someone higher up was watching. Most acts of courage simply go unnoticed." Jim was to meet a lifelong friend there named Doug Ward, of which these two men are still enjoying camaraderie today. Doug would feign finding a green bamboo viper snake, the deadly "seven stepper" in Visel's bed and killing it, saving the author's life. The Vietnamese called this a seven stepper because after bitten one would be dead steps later. Only Visel didn't know the snake was already dead when Ward placed it there, and after treating Ward to many drinks and later finding out the ruse, Ward would have to quickly dodge a flying beer bottle flung at him by a vexed man hoodwinked! About Vietnam, Visel recounted that death was to him a hunter, explaining; "Once in a while a stray snake, cat or monkey showed up, and a person had to stay wired, ready for anything. It seemed like everything over here would bite you, stick you or shoot you." Visel would later finish his tour as a crew chief for a gunship. Gunships were called "Charlie Models", and opposed to the "Delta Model" troop carrying Slicks were three feet shorter, faster and more maneuverable. Gunships had twin M-60 machine guns free mounted to the Huey by elastic bungee cord. Of this transition, Visel remarked; "Cool headedness and a lot of not-so-common-sense under fire here was a major priority. It was a fun transition."The Republic of Vietnam was divided into four corps tactical zones, each of which was a political as well as military jurisdiction. These military regions were broken down to 4 military regions or simply "Corps." "I Corps" was from the DMZ at the 17th parallel dividing North and South Vietnam to Quang Ngai. "II Corps" was from the Central Highlands, Dak To and Pleiku down to Cam Ranh Bay going South, "III Corps" encompassed the area from Saigon west to Tay Ninh and Bien Hoa. Finally, "IV CORPS" was the Mekong Delta area. Visel was assigned to the "III Corps" area as a first responder for the 1st, 9th, and 25th Infantry Division, Special Forces camps constantly threatened to be overrun by enemy sappers, the 199th Light Infantry Brigade, Navy Seal, Australian or Sout5h Vietnamese (Army Republic of Vietnam) operations. With Visel's Vietnam journey came the horrors of war. Whether his helicopter auto rotated into enemy infested swampland teeming with Viet Cong troops and fire aunts in the red clay or rescuing horribly shot up and disfigured 19 year old American teenagers, war was hell. Within two weeks of being there he was shot down twice, the first from Viet Cong .50 caliber fire and the second from a compressor stall. Visel recalled; "My dad was very religious; he used to stop by and light a candle and pray for me at church every morning while I was in Vietnam. I had just informed him in my last letter that he better light two; that it was impossible for God to live in hell...which of course was where we were. I was quite sure God didn't live in Vietnam."Things would alter fast. From rescuing a downed airman in an area where an imminent air strike was coming in right on top of him to another situation where a rope was dangling dangerously near the rear tail rotor of his Huey, Visel changed. Recounting, he wrote; "The ends were flopping up and down, inches below our tail rotor. One whip around, and we would be in the same trouble as the ship we had just rescued. "God help us! We are in trouble!" It was the most sincere, most visceral, and most direct prayer in my twenty two year old life." As the reader will find, God intervened many times in this memoir, even helping him cope with some of the more gruesome occurrences like medically evacuating two badly wounded soldiers, one with a sucking chest wound, the other with no face. The Lord would even be there for Visel when he unloaded a CH-47 Chinook carrying forty American corpses and one head. Of that he lamented: "Numbly, reluctantly, I bent to pick it up, and saw that it belonged to a boy barely eighteen, with light brown hair and blue eyes. Blond peach fuzz lined his cheeks, and he was trying to grow a mustache. I reached up with my thumbs and closed his soul-less eyes, and carried it outside." Between learning about and forming a deep relationship with his savior, Jesus Christ and acquiring coping skills dealing with "Survivor Guilt" with the help of Doug Ward, Visel came to this conclusion; "I certainly haven't completely, but it was only many years down the road in reliving experiences in that hellhole that I realized that God was there for me, even when I did not know Him personally yet. His incredible protection has and still does surround me, preparing me for what is yet to come. I still stumble over it and life sometimes. Yet in His incredible way He uses sometimes horrific experiences to shape our character and future." Aside from being an incredibly inspiring and an important historical memoir, James Visel makes it known that a relationship with God is the number one priority for meaningfulness of life. This is a book that will please, inspire and inform all. In short, "Devotions for Boots on the Ground" is spiritually, historically, and morally motivating and instructional! Highly recommended!

A Vietnamese Fighter Pilot In an American War

by Hoi B Tran

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Historian & Book Reviewer, Vietnam War Pembroke Pines, Florida USA Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Book "A Vietnamese Fighter Pilot In An American War" By Hoi B. Tran December 10, 2011Terms like the "Dien Bien Phu, South Vietnamese Air Force, Vietnamization and Reeducation Camps for the most part mean nothing to the average American Vietnam Veteran. However, they mean everything to an individual who was born in Hanoi, Vietnam and came of age after the end of W.W. II. This would be a person who would witness French Colonial rule end, welcome a man named Ho Chi Minh until shown his criminalizing, brutal version of Communism. He would learn about General Giap's victory at Dien Bien Phu. Based on what was resolved in Geneva, Switzerland, a decision would have to be made as to whether he would live North or South of a geographic parallel that would split ideologies and families into two separate countries. This person would know what the South Vietnamese Air Force would be as he would go South and be a member of it. He would watch the Soviets and Chinese fund and supply his Northern Vietnamese nemesis from the sidelines while the Americans would back his Southern brethren with a fighting presence. The Americans would come, fight and die and eventually leave. Between the American press incorrectly interpreting the Tet Offensive, 58,000 plus casualties and a promise to back the South no matter what made by a U.S. president that would resign within a year, the Northern Communists would prevail in 1975. Once again a decision similar to 1954 had to be made; between accepting a brutal regime and incarceration in a Communist "Reeducation Camp" or freedom 10,000 miles away in America. The spectator of these events would choose the latter. His name is Hoi B. Tran and he is the author of "A Vietnamese Fighter Pilot in an American War." The importance of this book is not to publish a lackluster historical recitation of Southeast Asian history with the author's life serving as a reference point. Instead it details the ordeal Tran faced as an individual who was born in a colonial society that ultimately lapsed into dictatorial communism. A valiant twenty one year fight to preserve democracy was made but ultimately the author was forced to flee South Vietnam fearing retribution from the impending Communist takeover.Nevertheless, this book reveals much more; the author conveys to readers his strong belief in filial commitment by virtue of taking his wife and three children as political refugees to the United States. Once in America, Tran proves that anyone can start over at any age and with perseverance and determination succeed. He quickly secured housing, transportation and gainful employment to provide for his family and become an asset to this country. Never again reentering the field of aviation despite an offer, the author had two successful careers; a four year stint as a state employee and twenty four year run as a claims adjuster. This is Hoi Tran's recapitulation of his life; the Vietnam War as he saw it, contributing to fight Communism as a fighter pilot in the South Vietnamese Air Force as well as a commercial airline pilot for Air Viet Nam. Being a participant of all of the aforementioned and coming out unscathed is one thing, writing a book about it in a second language with energetic vigor is another. In both cases, Mr. Tran excelled with flying colors. A multitude of rare lessons are learned by Americans from this memoir, among them the desperation and fear the South Vietnamese perceived should they lose the war. Other issues are their great disappointment from the results of the Paris Peace talks as well as what the American media did to influence American politicians as well as the course of the war. The author's personal reaction to President Nixon's "Vietnamization" was that he knew in his heart what the inevitable outcome of this war would be as a consequence. Also revealed is the deceiving, barbarous brand of Communistic treachery Ho Chi Minh and his band of miscreant flunkeys perpetuated on Vietnam that is guaranteed to make the most stoic reader cringe.Exposed within this memoir is the sheer, inhumane terror an inmate of the "Reeducation Camps" experienced, as well as the brutal conditions that existed for South Vietnamese citizens after the Fall of Saigon. The reader of this book will approach all future American Vietnam War memoirs with a different perspective, knowing that much of the anti South Vietnamese rhetoric that exists is based on ethnocentric prejudice, half truths or ignorance, rather than fact. There is a poignant "Advance Praise" written by Vietnam Veteran and author Phil Jennings within this memoir, asserting the following: "People like Major Tran are why America went to South Vietnam's aid, and why we should have stayed the course to their ultimate victory." Upon conclusion, the reader of this book will readily comprehend this statement. The numbers of people that were affected by the Vietnam War is staggering. The blame for the origins of this strife according to the author is singular: Ho Chi Minh. In a scathing diatribe, Tran labels the former Northern dictator as a dishonest, unprincipled mass murderer and a con artist of the worst kind who in the guise of Communism turned Vietnam into a country of abject suffering as well as one of the poorest nations on earth. From 1945 and the period ending with W.W. II to the climatic confrontation of the first Indochina War at Dien Bien Phu, close to 200,000 people were murdered at the direction of Ho Chi Minh. Tran explains that in the guise of Communistic redistribution of wealth, Ho's "Land Reform Campaign" abolished private land ownership.According to his "people's tribunals" of 1953-1956, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese land owners were accused and unjustly found guilty of being "evil landlords" in kangaroo courts. In the guise of Communist redistribution, these innocents were robbed of their legally acquired property and summarily executed in a genocidal massacre. The author's father would indirectly fall prey to this holocaust. Because of Ho Chi Minh's bellicosity, casualties and war would follow, at an even higher human toll. In the upcoming bloodshed starting with the first "Indochina War" against the French, followed by the Vietnam War (called the "American War" by the Ho's lackeys) approximately 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers were killed, 58, 178 Americans and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers lost their lives. In addition, an estimated 2,000,000 civilians on both sides perished from warfare, as well as 200,000 people after the 1975 fall of Saigon in the punitive, retaliatory "Reeducation Camps." The lethal aftereffects of Communism swallowing up the South resulted in 500,000 freedom seeking "Boat People" perishing out at sea, 100,000 South Vietnamese executed for various offenses, another 95,000 succumbed in Communist Death Camps, and 50,000 were liquidated in Ho's "Forced Labor" camps. Sadly, one of the casualties amongst the Boat People was the author's best friend. Another shameful consequence both Indochina wars, albeit not mentioned in this memoir, is those still missing in action.In his book "Unwanted Dead or Alive," Robert Pelton supported Hoi Tran’s memoir by confirming the shiftiness of the Communists. Pelton stated in regard to the disposition of French POW's following Dien Bien Phu; "The defeat of the French Army at Dien Bien Phu came on May 7th, 1954 after a 56 day siege. General de Castries and 16,000 of his men surrendered. They were marched off to brutal POW camps and abandoned by their government. When the French Forces surrendered to the Viet Minh, French troops included French regulars, Foreign Legionnaires, as well as colonial troops from North Africa that were taken prisoner by the Viet Minh. Only a very small number were able to escape after the siege, with 78 recorded as having successfully making it back to French custody by traveling onwards to Laos. " During the entire war, 39,000 French Force POW's were taken by the Viet Minh, with approximately 11,000 returned during repatriations." Where are the rest of these men? Pelton also wrote; "Robert Garwood, the U.S. POW who returned from North Vietnam in 1979 stated that during the mid 1970's he saw French prisoners being used as forced laborers in a North Vietnamese dairy farm not far from Hanoi." Going back to Dien Bien Phu, 8,280 French POW's died while in Viet Minh custody. Pelton adds: None of France's war dead from Dien Bien Phu or other battle sites in North Vietnam, and none of its war dead from Viet Minh prison camps or military hospitals were repatriated." Another issue America sought to disengage from the Viet Nam war was over its POW's.A major issue of contention at the Paris Peace Talks, aside from the absurd distraction of the shape of the table as well as the North insisting the National Liberation Front was a legitimate self entity in the South, was the return of captured American POW's. After President Johnson refused to run for reelection because of Walter Cronkite's inaccurate interpretation of the January, 1968 Tet Offensive portrayed falsely as a defeat, Nixon ran under his pledge of bringing an end to American involvement under the slogan "peace and honor," as well as the revelation of a "secret plan" to end the war. This revelation turned out to be his infamous "Vietnamization," a catch all term for turning the war over to the South Vietnamese, giving them massive equipment, training, funding, while simultaneously extracting all American troops." At this time, Tran was now flying a 727 commercially for "Air Viet Nam." He was the actual pilot that transported Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky from South Vietnam to Paris and back. The final treaty ending American involvement in Vietnam occurred in late January, 1973. Under the terms of the accord, North Vietnamese Foreign Minister Le Duc Tho and U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, along with South Vietnamese President Thieu who Hoi Tran explains how he was browbeaten into signing, U.S. military forces withdrew from South Vietnam and prisoners were exchanged. In Febuary of 1973 "Operation Homecoming," the repatriation of POW's took place. A total of 591 POW's were returned. However, Hoi Tran nor any of his countrymen were celebrating.With deep consternation, the author lamented;"While America was celebrating the homecoming of American POW's and the end of U.S. involvement in the Viet Nam conflict, in the RVN nationalist Vietnamese began to worry for their families, their lives and their future. Those of us Northerners who had fled our birthplace right after our country was divided in 1954 were even more worried because we knew the Communists too well." He had reason to worry, as author Robert Pelton commented about Hanoi's treachery in releasing the POW's; "The 591 figure represented a miniscule 12% the figure of 5,000 POW's held by the North Vietnamese as reported in the N.Y. Times. The number of POW's the U.S. Government demanded from the North Vietnamese-5000, correlates with the statement of a former employee of the National Security Agency. He gave a sworn affidavit that the North Vietnamese repatriated only 15%. In other words, according to this source, the North Vietnamese kept 85% of American POW's who were still alive after March 28, 1973. The U.S. Government officially acknowledged some 2,500 Americans lost in action, another 2,000 lost on covert "black" operations in Thailand, China, Cambodia , Burma, etc/ This is a total of at least 5,000 MIA's between the ages of 18 to 30. None of these 2,500 men were ever officially counted as MIA's, Why? Because as silly as it may seem America's leaders couldn't bring themselves to publically admit the U.S. had men in areas they weren't supposed to be in.Not one U.S. president-J.F.K, L.B.J., Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush or Clinton made any substantive effort to solve the missing POW problem. Only once did an offer surface a few weeks after Ronald Reagan took office in 1981. Word was received that the Vietnamese wanted to sell all the remaining POW's for 4 billion dollars. The number of POW's wasn’t specified. The President's staff advised him against taking this offer. Their absurd excuse? They said that buying U.S. POW's would make it appear that the U.S. was being blackmailed." As the reader of this amazing memoir will discover, Mr. Tran gives concrete examples of why feared the Communists from the North. As the aforementioned example lends testimony, the author refers to the current rulers as "Red Capitalists," citing the current epidemic of prostitution, drugs and exportation of women to neighboring countries as "sex slaves." Returning twice to his homeland to visit his family, Mr. Tran made this startling observation; "Never in the former Republic of Viet Nam did I see politicians and high ranking generals have multimillion dollar mansions or vacation houses like today's Red Capitalists. Mr. Tran, upon seeing children of high ranking NVA generals driving Rolls Royces, Ferrari's and Maserati's wonders why the U.S. press, the same people that told such distortions during the war to alter public opinion doesn't say anything now; "Why don't they come out to criticize the current cruel Communist dictators, the corrupt and immoral red Capitalists like they did during the Ngo Dinh Diem or Nguyen Van Thieu government?"It seems fitting that integrity is an important attribute to the author; "Hoi" means "boar" in Chinese, and people born in 1935, the year of the Boar, tend to be brave, giving, unpretentious, are incredibly enduring and especially trustworthy. And when it comes to Mr. Tran’s trustworthiness, he passionately warns all about the veracity of the North Vietnamese Communists; "Never trust them! They have been proven to be the worst kind evildoers through the last half of the twentieth century to present. They have transformed themselves from poor peasants before April 1975 to millionaires and billionaires through plundering and stealing after 1975. In the bottom of their souls, they are still the inhumane, immoral, deceptive , cruel, dangerous, traitorous and unpredictable communists. Do ever not trust them regardless of how sweet or conciliatory they may sound! The aforementioned explains why Hoi Tran made his decision in 1954 to go South rather than live under Ho's Communism. Specifically because of Communistic actions, Mr. Tran would be involved in a two decade long proxy war subsidized by some heavy hitters; the North by the Soviet Union and Communist China, the South by the U.S. The stakes were heavy: if Ho's henchmen were victorious, unless you were an insider within the Communist gang's elite you'd live like a slave regardless of your address.If the South was vanquished, unless one fled the continent altogether it would result in "hell on earth" for any Vietnamese family. This would loom large, especially if a family member was associated in any way with the former regimes of Bao Dai, Ngo Dinh Diem, Nguyen Van Thieu, et. al. The political factionalism that ultimately lead to intense bloodshed, carnage and armed conflict was not a phenomenon solely facing Vietnam's inhabitants. The identical anxiety and dilemmas faced by the Tran clan would be geographically contagious, manifesting itself in neighboring Laos and Cambodia, equally traumatizing to all. The exception would be Pol Pot's Cambodia, changed after 1975 to Kampuchia. Horrified, the international community observed Pot's deranged fanaticism of Communism taken to another level. Taking his cue from Ho's death squads, Pot conducted a genocidal policy that ruthlessly killed over two and a half million Cambodians. Making a mockery of human rights, all private property was confiscated, religions, banking, finance and currency all were abolished. Similar to the burgeoning Vietnamese "Reeducation Camps," Pot attempted to create a purely agrarian society by forcing mass relocation of all inhabitants from urban areas to collective farms. All of Kampuchia's intellectual elite were murdered, thereby eliminating anyone he considered a capitalist or hypothetically capable of undermining him. Certainly a frightening possibility that South Vietnam's new masters could emulate Kampuchia's unfolding holocaust, Hoi Tran and his family faced a frightening future if he stayed there.Few Americans, particularly the 3,403,000 that served "In Country" from 1945 until the fall of Saigon had any cognizance of the aforementioned concerns the average South Vietnamese citizen or soldier faced. Mr.Tran clues the reader in to those nuances, countering the myriad of misconceptions, skewed philosophies and omnipresent biases endemic to most Vietnam War veterans as well as the literature they produce. There are but a few scant memoirs authored by former South Vietnamese military personnel, nonetheless that possess the equivalent degree of skillful articulation Mr. Tran demonstrates with this book. In all likelihood few American soldiers that entered a South Vietnamese village while executing a "search and destroy" mission realized that similar to the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865, the Vietnamese families were equally torn apart. With forced Viet Cong recruitment, brothers fought brothers in a nasty conflict involving the entire population. Another analogy Tran intelligently identified was that Ho Chi Minh was given a free hand by his Communist masters of Red China and the Soviet Union to conquer and subjugate the South without their interference or direction. In contrast, South Viet Nam defended itself from Communist encroachment by fighting side by side in a subservient role with their American, and to a lesser degree, Australian, New Zealand and South Korean counterparts in a strange alliance that could have won all the marbles if the variables were tweaked.That is one of the reasons why Tran mentions that Ho Chi Minh viewed this free world alliance as a "paper tiger." This is illustrated by quoting one of Ho's highly indicative comments, made in 1945 as he prepared to wage guerrilla warfare against French imperialism; "They will kill many of us, and we will kill a few of them. They will grow tired." Author Hoi B. Tran gives readers a rare glimpse into this carnage, and uses his second language of English to give Americans an introspective examination of the often misunderstood mind set of a democratically inspired Vietnamese patriot. Another reason American troops had no empathy for the South Vietnamese plight was due to the fact that the majority of U.S. troops had no idea why the South was fighting the North. Sure, they "answered the nation's call" to arms and most U.S. citizens responded patriotically, voluntarily enlisting. However, few knew the inner political dynamics of Southeast Asia aside from a rudimentary understanding of the "Domino theory." The author explains that for one thousand years, Vietnam was under Chinese Domination. The area became a French Colony in 1885, dubbed "French Indochina" by its imperial masters. In May of 1940, France was overrun by Nazi Germany, and was incorporated into Adolf Hitler's "Third Reich" as "Vichey France." During World War II, the colony was administered by Vichy France while under Japanese occupation.Beginning in May 1941, the Viet Minh, a Communist army led by Ho Chi Minh, began a revolt against French rule known as the First Indochina War. Hoi Tran was born in Hanoi, and at age seven watched American fighters that were escorting bombers engage Japanese Zeros in spectacular dogfights. He credited this with creating the desire to eventually become a fighter pilot, a dream he would eventually accomplish. In his memoir, he explained a Vietnamese sentiment most American soldiers were ignorant of; "The hatred of foreign domination and brutal colonial rule, coupled with aspiration for freedom and independence for Viet Nam germinated a fanatically powerful patriotic sentiment among almost all Vietnamese. On March 9th, 1945, Japan launched a country wide coup de etat, terminating their Vietnamese Colonial rule. Japan granted Vietnam its independence within its Greater East Asia Co Prosperity Sphere with Emperor Bao Dai as its leader. Enter the main culprit of this memoir, Ho Chi Minh. Born in 1890 in Vietnam, he lived all over the world. According to William Duiker in his book "Ho Chi Minh; A Life," Ho came to the U.S on a ship as a cook's helper. He then went on to England and later France. From 1919-1923, while living in France, Minh embraced communism, and at the Versailles peace talks concluding W.W. I he petitioned the Western powers for recognition of Vietnamese civil rights in his homeland, but was unrecognized.He then petitioned U.S. President Woodrow Wilson for aid in removing the French from Vietnam, using the American Declaration of Independence from Great Britain as an example of his ideals but once again was rebuffed. He then turned to the only other major power existing, the Soviet Union. Relocating in the Soviet Union in 1923, he studied and embraced Communism. He bounced around the world, where in 1931 he was arrested in Hong Kong and incarcerated. According to Duiker, Ho returned to Vietnam in 1941 to take the reigns of the Viet Minh, a Communist Vietnamese independence movement. During the Japanese occupation, Ho led guerrilla raids against both the Vichy French and Japanese, secretly being funded by the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner to what is now the C.I.A. The Chinese Civil war had been raging since 1927, and Ho went there to help out Mao ZeDung. Caught by Chiang Kai-shek's henchmen, Ho was imprisoned for a second time. Rescued by Chinese Communists, he returned to Viet Nam for good in 1943. Two big radioactive bangs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 9th of 1945 ended Japanese involvement and hence, W.W. II. The article of surrender was inked on August 9th, and immediately following this, Vietnamese demonstrations and uprisings against French colonial rule broke out throughout Vietnam.To antagonize the French, Japanese forces still stationed in Indochina turned a blind eye to this and allowed groups demanding independence to commandeer public buildings throughout Vietnam. While the Japanese allowed these nationalist groups to roam unrestrained, thus keeping former French officials under captivity, Ho Chi Minh made his move. According to Hoi Tran, on August 18th, Ho's armed propaganda group covertly entered Hanoi poised to seize power the next day, which would come to be known as the "August Revolution." Throngs of patriotic Vietnamese gathered at Ha Noi's municipal theater for a ceremony that would see Ho Chi Minh installed as Premier of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Interestingly enough, the author would be one of them. Tran was a ten year old member of the "Bach Mai Vanguard Youth Group. Ironically, on August 19th, Tran sang "Who loves Uncle Ho Chi Minh more than us children" while the group waved small versions of the official flag of the newly created "Democratic Republic of Vietnam." By the conclusion of that day, his oppressive forces seized complete control of Hanoi, and forty eight hours later, Bao Dai abdicated. Tran wrote that despite other nationalistic leaders knowing Ho's narcissistic personality and complete disregard for democratic principles, when presented with a choice between him and French colonial rule, he was seen as the lesser of the two evils. Ho soon after ordered Viet Minh death squads to aggressively murder any of his opponents.Remembering his arrest and subsequent incarceration by Chinese nationalist authorities, Ho was very nervous when Chaing Kai Shek sent General Lu Han to North Viet Nam to disarm the Japanese. General Han was sympathetic to a rival competing nationalist party, the Viet Quoc. Tran was in Ha Noi and notes in his memoir that Lu Han and his men were vicious criminals, despised intensely by all Vietnamese. Ho showed a pattern of unpredictable deceit he would exhibit the rest of his life. Uncle Ho organized "Gold Week," collecting gold from all citizens under the false pretense that it would buy weapons for Vietnam's defense, and then turned around and gave it to the General as a bribe, buying Lu Han's loyalty. Then, in one of his greatest acts of treachery, he invited the French back, signing an agreement that would allow 25,000 French troops to return to Vietnam for five years. Considered by most as a complete sell out, this deal would break down, and consequently Ho and his band would resume guerrilla operations against the French. Explaining his rationale, Ho remarked: "The last time the Chinese came, they stayed a thousand years. The French are foreigners. They are weak. Colonialism is dying. The white man is finished in Asia. But if the Chinese stay now, they will never go. As for me, I prefer to sniff French feces for five years than to eat Chinese feces for the rest of my life." It would take the defeat at Dien Bien Phu to finally rid Vietnam once and for all of the French.After his father indirectly passed away as a result of Ho's guerrillas waging destructive warfare, Tran vindictively enlisted with the Vietnamese Air Force when he matured, then was assigned to a French subdivision as a mechanic. In 1954 French attempts to maintain their colonial hold evaporated, and Tran decided to flee South. On May 7, 1954, under Chinese tutelidge General Vo Nguyen Giap's forces besieged and ultimately overran a trapped French Expeditionary Force garrisoned at Dien Bien Phu, nestled within the mountainous hills of Northwest Vietnam. Consequently, the world community attempted to restore peace in Indochina by convening in Geneva Switzerland. An agreement was struck whereby Vietnam was temporarily divided into two zones, a Communist ruled northern one under Ho, and a southern zone to be governed former emperor Bao Dai. General elections, supervised by an International Control Commission that later proved to be impotent, were to be held by July, 1956. to create a unified Vietnamese state. This election never occurred, with intense mutual Northern and Southern distrust of each other. The Communists in the North viewed the South Vietnamese as a former French colonial puppet regime now supplanted by America. Southerners viewed the North Vietnamese regime as totalitarian and oppressive, devoid of human rights, free speech, and therefore free elections could ever occur. Consequently, a large migration of 450,000 North Vietnamese, Hoi Tran included, moved South. The U.S. replaced the French as a Southern backer, ever fearful of the Cold War's "Domino Theory," and Ngo Dinh Diem replaced Emperor Bao Dai. Ho sent Communist agitators and spies southward among the migration, later to conduct guerrilla activity under the name of the "National Liberation Front" or Viet Cong, and the Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War as on.Hoi Tran's French unit was moved South, disbanded and reformed as the fledgling South Vietnamese Air Force, of which he was an original member. Tran would go on to train several times in the U.S, to become a fighter pilot. He would see the genesis and death of South Vietnam, from the early days of Ngo Dinh Diem's leadership and assassination to the coups and political instability that followed. With the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin resolution, Tran beheld American military might flex its muscles, the watershed of the war, the Tet Offensive, and the yellow journalism that followed as well as Vietnamization and on the last day his nation's existence, the "Fall of Saigon." He would observe Ho Chi Minhs' lies and manipulations frustrate and roil Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford. Tran's aviation career would transition from a fighter pilot to steering a 727 commercial airplane for Air Viet Nam. However, Tran is one of the lucky ones, as he avoided the cruel and inhumane Communist "Reeducation Camps" or being a "Boat Person," successfully fleeing along with his family to the United States. He attributes his luck to faith, collective karma, and the fact that he was born in 1935, the Asian zodiac sign of "The Boar." The hallmarks of this sign are incredible confidence, perseverance, sincerity and fortuitousness. As this book will testify, Hoi Tran experienced all of this historical tumult and came out smelling like a rose without so much as a scratch. One facet of this book is that Hoi Tran provides a link in filling in all the inaccuracies presented in American Vietnam War literature. Most American soldiers that went to South Vietnam knew nothing about the country, their culture, their government or the intricacies of the war. Here are some examples. Christopher Ronnau, author of "Blood Trails" commented on the Vietnamese Character; "There weren't many structures as we reached the outskirts of Saigon. The sight of a Chase Manhattan bank made me feel nostalgic for a moment. The sight of two ARVN soldiers holding hands as they walked down the street made me stare like a shocked child. The driver laughed and said that guys sometimes held hands over here or sometimes walked along with their arms around each other even if they weren't gay. It made me wonder if VC or NVA soldiers held hands. Maybe they did, but somehow I couldn't picture it." President Nixon promised to end American involvement in Vietnam with honor and a secret plan that later became known as Vietnamization. This was his plan to simply thrust tons of military supplies and money at the South Vietnamese while slowly withdrawing first all land troops, then all air forces and the last to go were naval forces in the South China Sea. How did American Vietnam Veteran authors react to it? Richard Geschke was in South Vietnam in 1971, right at the height of Vietnamization. His anger at being in Vietnam seethed through his description of the war; "If I had to guess as to the percentage of high-market items that ended up with the ARVN, it would be at 95 percent."Rich Geschke continued; "It got to be downright embarrassing when the ARVN became so demanding that they would not take a jeep with a slight crack in the windshield. It became the modus operandi that the ARVN were to be treated on a higher plain. That's when I knew that our so-called allies were nothing but spoiled brats. They had no concept of their mission or how they were to accomplish it! In the scheme of things, we could have given the ARVN the world, but never in one hundred years would they be able to rid themselves of the hostile actions of the North Vietnamese and the VC-no way." John Trotti in "Phantom Over Vietnam wrote: "We were newly embarked on what was euphemistically referred to as the "Vietnamization Program," according to which anything the Vietnamese wanted, and that we were not using at the moment, was to be turned over to them-never mind what they intended to use it for. We were told that because the South Vietnamese had come so far so fast on the road to self determination, they would soon be able to do with nothing from us but a little material help. What was actually going on was that the smart Vietnamese were grabbing and selling everything in sight so they could afford to get out of the country with some cash before we pulled the plug. Many South Vietnamese simply wanted us, our money, and our war machinery out of their country-particularly the civilians in I Corps. It wasn't a matter of politics; they understood all too well that whoever ran the show-be it Saigon, Hue or Hanoi-was going to steal them blind."John Trotti added: "It mattered not what our motives were-whether or not we were committed to self -determination or free elections. To them America meant dismemberment and death, not prosperity and opportunity. They watched us from the fence line in silence. The depths of their baleful stares was the knowledge that in time, American presence would amount to no more than the blood of its soldiers left to fertilize the hills and rice paddies of a people who no longer gave a damn who won." Hoi Tran explains that the South was not allowed to fight its own war. It was their fight. The Americans were there to assist, not bully, dictate and control, which turned out to be the case. The South Vietnamese Air Force was not even allowed to go past the 17th Parallel. The U.S. gave the South Vietnamese Air Force T-28 and A-1H Skyraider W.W. II airplanes while the North Vietnamese received MiG’s. How did the South Vietnamese react to that, knowing the U.S. was way more affluent than either the Soviet Union or Red China? How did the South's political and military leaders, who were mostly schooled in France or the U.S. react to being treated with derision by their American counterparts, especially when they had the same rank? And what about the North's commanders? What level of education did they have? Sorry, you'll have to read this book to find out! Rich Watkins in "Vietnam:No Regrets" wrote; The people were so much smaller than we were, and not to be mean, they were not very good looking either. What struck me most, though, were all the young teenage boys we saw along the way. I thought, If we are here to help these people fight for their freedom from their enemy, and we had come 12,000 miles to do so, then why aren't these guys in uniform fighting for their own country?Rich Watkins also remarked: " We were always looking for "payback"-the more the better. The feelings of the men that actually fought the "Vietnam War" was that the more of the enemy we could kill, the less of them there would be to kill. I know that thinking sounds kind of weird now, but at the same time it made complete sense to us." What Rich Watkins did not understand was the fact that Ho Chi Minh did not care how many of his own men he killed as long as he won. That is why Hoi Tran quoted the Northern leader as saying; They will kill many of us, and we will kill a few of them. They will grow tired of it." Tran also explains that the North constantly sent down the Ho Chi Minh Trail fifth column agitators, saboteurs and Communist plants, of which many of the Buddhist rioters in Danang were, as well as the teenagers that Mr. Watkins observed in all likelihood were part of. Richard Geschke added; After the assassination of JFK, Johnson increased the military involvement to the point of staging a false attack of a U.S. Warship in the Gulf of Tonkin. By 1965, the first military units were fully engaged in combat. In January of 1968, the NVA and Viet Cong conducted a coordinated attack on all the major cities of South Vietnam , which is the well-known Tet Offensive. Although the attacks were major disasters to the North Vietnamese, they did in fact put doubt in the public persona of the war as it played out its horrific scenarios each night on TV screens throughout the U.S. Walter Cronkite did a special personal report from the fields of Vietnam, which in essence was questioning our mission and purpose in this faraway land. Criticism escalated, and the antiwar movement was gaining purpose and momentum."In regard to the final disposition of the war, Geschke remarked; LBJ was fully committed to winning "the war at all costs" so much that his poll numbers took a drastic dive and before the 1968 Democratic National Convention he announced with a heavy heart" that he would not seek reelection." That year, 1968, was the key year in the turn of events that would ultimately lead the U.S. to seek a negotiated peace settlement. This effort would take over four years, and to the draftees and officers who were still fully engaged in combat, the negotiations were nothing but talk." When you read Hoi Tran's memoir, pay close attention to his description of the North's methods of negotiating, which will explain quite a bit to the reader. Mr. Tran's label for this is "fight/talk-talk/fight." which unfortunately worked on Henry Kissinger at the Paris Peace Talks. In his memoir, Tran wrote about LBJ's reaction to Cronkite; "The war reporting that had the most devastating impact and eroded America's will drastically was Cronkite's report on the Tet Offensive." Most scholars agree about that point, except one-George Reedy, LBJ's biographer. In his book "Lyndon B. Johnson: A Memoir" Reedy suggested that LBJ overreacted: "Of all the LBJ weaknesses, perhaps the most important was his inability to understand the press. He was totally baffled by journalists who practiced an art that he regarded as a mystery and he never fully comprehended."Regardless, could American "Vietnamization" have made the difference in the South defeating the North Vietnamese, backed by the Russian/Chinese monolithic bloc? Dick Geschke wrote in regard to that; "Even in the short time that I was in country, I knew that we didn't belong in a place of civil strife about which we Americans should have no say. The concept of the "domino theory" was a misguided theory. Facts are facts: we had an invalid mission statement that would have essentially no bearing whatsoever on the Cold War. At that time, the war was but a concept of saving face. Such a civil war could never be won by an outside party." Family is family; all the North Vietnamese and Vietcong did was wait it out. The negotiations were accomplished, and the U.S. was nothing but an observer. We won in the battlefield, but by 1971, in our hearts, we knew we had lost the war." Family is family? If that is so, why did half a million Northerners leave everything in 1954 to come South? If anyone can see the films that the panic stricken South Vietnamese displayed at Danang when Ed Daly, owner of World Airways landed his commercial plane to rescue women and children from the fast approaching North Vietnamese Army, or on April 29, 1975 at the U.S. Embassy the day before the fall of Saigon, certainly the realization that this is not one happy family would set in. In Jay Mallin's book "Terror in Viet Nam" he informed readers; "Terror is a weapon as real, and sometimes more deadly than a gun. For it can kill not only the body, but the spirit of whose lives it touches with fear. It sets friend against friend, family against family, and even children against parents."Jay Mallin offered this appraisal of North Vietnamese psychological warfare; "To the Communists, terror is not a casual circumstance of war. Rather it is a highly-developed, highly refined political weapon designed to fester unseen from within, soften resistance to the enemy that can be seen, and set the stage for complete collapse of the target against which it is directed. Once in power, the Communists have used it routinely to control its own people." The aforementioned statement is what a lot of people do not understand. Hoi Tran's book will cut through the misconceptions. Pay attention to his descriptions of the panic and desperation that set in just before the fall of Saigon, the circumstances that led families to sell their life savings for a fraction of what it was worth just to take the huge risk of being on a rickety boat crossing the South China Sea, braving weather and pirates to get away from the Communists. Read about the 50,000 South Vietnamese including Hoi Tran's best friend that vanished out at sea, because this was not one happy Vietnamese family. Upon concluding this book, you will understand Hoi's sentiment as to why he felt it was ridiculous for America to expect South Vietnam to be able to effectively replace 550,000 American troops in 1971, a late stage of the war. Finally, when you read Mr. Tran's heartbreaking rendition of the treatment honest citizens were given in the Reeducation Camps, whose only desire was for freedom-and you will realize that what the author said is true; "Sometimes bad things happen to good people." A "must read!"

Cherries

by John Podlaski

Written by Bernie Weisz/Historian-Vietnam War Pembroke Pines, Florida U.S.A. contact e mail: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: The Price of War: Wondering One Time Or Another If You Would Ever Make It Home Alive And In One Piece!I am not quite sure where to start with John Podlaski's blockbuster book "Cherries", a fictionalized account of his 1970 to 1971 tour as a foot soldier in South Vietnam. As an avid reader of many historical memoirs, both fiction and autobiographical, rarely have I found one as in depth and revealing as Mr. Podlaski's work. Thirty years in the making, it was originally written in a first person format. "Cherries" was started in 1979 and ground to a frustrating halt ten years later. It sat dormant until 2009, where Mr. Podlaski, with renewed verve, finally took it to task to complete it. At the advice of his publisher to change the story to a third person fictional approach, and the technical computer dexterity of his daughter, Nicole, the writing was first converted from carbon paper to Atari floppy disks and finally to Microsoft Word. "Cherries" is now available to the public. Regardless of the format, Mr. Podlaski takes the reader, through the protagonist of John Kowalski, of his personal tour conveying his impressions of a war America currently prefers to forget. This historical gem will not let this happen. Through an incredible, larger than life manuscript, Mr. Podlaski reminds us that the jungle warfare against huge communist forces in Vietnam was a deadly and unique challenge to our U.S. forces. It is made clear in "Cherries" that limited American forces faced an unlimited number of Communist troops who had the incomparable advantage of a sanctuary for their replacements beyond the 18th parallel. With the memory of the 1950-1953 Korean War debacle, the U.S. government granted this sanctuary fearing that any military action beyond it would cause reprisals from Communist China.In South Vietnam, our troops could not distinguish enemy from friendly Vietnamese. Within the storyline, the reader finds that a village could be friendly by day and enemy by night. It was a battlefield without boundaries. A secret supply route in Laos, known as the "Ho Chi Minh Trail," funneled a constant arms supply to the enemy. The jungle provided the perfect cover for the Communists, constantly posing ambushes from the rear and flanks of our troops. Bayonet and gun butt, hand to hand fighting were frequent. Capture by the enemy could mean torture and a communist prison camp. The constant unbearable heat, with high humidity, enervated our troops. John Podlaski's story started in 1970, where America was in the process of what President Nixon called "Vietnamization." This was the President's policy of gradually returning the primary responsibility for conducting the war to the South Vietnamese. As US troops withdrew, South Vietnamese forces were increased in size and received additional training and equipment, with the ultimate goal being complete U.S. departure of the war. The South Vietnamese would be left to stand alone in their civil war with the Communists. Podlaski's emphasis was on this period of the war. "Cherries" described the ordeal of recently arriving American soldiers who were tasked with fighting an elusive, well trained and hard core Communist enemy force in their own backyard: the sweltering, triple canopy jungles of South Vietnam. They were naive young recruits, just graduating from high school within the past year. Dubbed "F.N.G's or "Cherries" by the veterans, these men found themselves in the middle of a situation they never imagined in their wildest dreams.As Podlaski emphatically stated in the book: "I guess you really had to be there to understand." As opposed to the ticker tape parades that U.S. servicemen were given upon their return from the W.W. II battlefields of the Far East and Europe, his terse remark in his epilogue spoke volumes upon his protagonist's return from the war; "There were no speeches or parades. One night you're getting shot at and looking at the bodies of your dead friends, and then two days later, you're sitting on your front porch, watching the kids play in the street and the cars drive by. There was no transition period." Throughout Podlaski's book, the general theme is for no U.S. grunt to be the last American to die in a war not sought for a victorious conclusion. The facts of American conduct of the war in 1970 to 1971 are interesting. Severe communist losses during the 1968 Tet Offensive allowed President Nixon to begin troop withdrawals. His Vietnamization plan, also known as the "Nixon Doctrine," was to build up the South Vietnamese Army (known as " ARVN") so that they could take over the defense of South Vietnam on their own. At the end of 1969, Nixon went on national TV and announced the following: "I am tonight announcing plans for the withdrawal of an additional 150,000 American troops to be completed during the spring of next year. This will bring a total reduction of 265,500 men in our armed forces in Vietnam below the level that existed when we took office 15 months ago."On October 10, 1969, Nixon ordered a squadron of 18 B-52's armed with nuclear bombs to fly to the border of Soviet airspace in an attempt to convince the Soviet Union, North Vietnam's main supporter along with Communist China, that he was capable of anything to end the Vietnam War. Nixon also pursued negotiations and ordered General Creighton Abrams, who replaced William Westmoreland, to shift to smaller operations, aimed at communist logistics, with better use of firepower and more cooperation with the ARVN. The former tactic of "Search and Destroy" was abandoned. Detente with the Soviet Union the Republic of China was also pursued. Easing global tensions, detente resulted in nuclear arms reduction on the part of both superpowers. Regardless, Nixon was snubbed as the Soviet Union and Red China continued to covertly supply the North Vietnamese with aid. Nixon appealed to the "silent majority" of Americans to support the war. With revelations in the media of the "My Lai Massacre," where a U.S. Army platoon commanded by Lt. William Calley raped and killed civilians, and the 1969 "Green Beret Affair" where eight Special Forces soldiers, including the 5th Special Forces Group Commander were arrested for the murder of a suspected double agent, national and international outrage was provoked and the American anti war movement gained strength. Starting in 1970, American troops were being taken away from South Vietnamese border areas where much more killing took place, and instead positioned along the coast and interior, which is one reason why casualties in 1970 were less than half of 1969's total casualties.In Cambodia, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, this nation's leader, had proclaimed Cambodian neutrality since 1955. This was a lie, as the Communists used Cambodian soil as a base and Sihanouk tolerated their presence to avoid being drawn into a wider regional conflict. Under pressure from Washington, however, he changed this policy in 1969. The Vietnamese communists were no longer welcome. President Nixon took the opportunity to launch a massive secret bombing campaign, called Operation Menu, against their sanctuaries along the Cambodia/Vietnam border. This violated a long succession of pronouncements from Washington supporting Cambodian neutrality. In 1970, Podlaski first set foot in South Vietnam., and in Cambodia Prince Sihanouk was deposed by his pro-American prime minister Lon Nol. Cambodia's borders were closed, and both U.S. and ARVN forces launched joint incursions into Cambodia to attack North Vietnamese/Viet Cong bases and buy time for South Vietnam. The invasion of Cambodia sparked massive nationwide U.S. outcry and protests. Public outrage peaked in the U.S. when 4 students were killed by National Guardsmen at Kent State University during an anti war rally in Ohio. The Nixon administration reacted indifferently to this, and was publicly viewed as callous and uncaring, providing additional impetus for the anti-war movement. In 1971 the "Pentagon Papers" were leaked bt Daniel Ellsberg to The New York Times. The top-secret history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, commissioned by the Department of Defense, detailed a long series of public deceptions. The Supreme Court ruled that its publication was legal.Although not mentioned in "Cherries", with U.S. support, The ARVN launched "Operation Lam Son 719" in February 1971, designed to cut the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos. Similar to the sham of Cambodian neutrality, "supposedly" neutral Laos had long been the scene of a secret war. After meeting resistance, ARVN forces retreated in a headlong, confused rout. Shamefully, they fled along roads littered with their own dead. When they ran out of fuel, South Vietnamese soldiers abandoned their vehicles and attempted to barge their way on to American helicopters sent to evacuate their wounded. Many ARVN soldiers clung to helicopter skids in a desperate attempt to save themselves. U.S. aircraft had to destroy abandoned equipment, including tanks, to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. Half of the invading ARVN troops were either captured or killed. The operation was a fiasco and represented a clear failure of Vietnamization. In 1971 Australia and New Zealand withdrew their soldiers. The U.S. troop count was further reduced to 196,700, with a deadline to remove another 45,000 troops by February 1972. As peace protests spread across the United States, disillusionment grew in the ranks. Drug use increased, race relations grew tense and the number of soldiers disobeying officers rose. Fragging, or the murder of unpopular officers with fragmentation grenades, increased. The phenomenon of "fragging" is mentioned in "Cherries" in a rather interesting scenario. "Cherries" is a "catch all" for all of the subtle nuances and innuendo a grunt in the jungles of Vietnam from 1970 to 1971 would experience.Mr. Jack Stoddard wrote a book about a very common cliche Mr. Podlaski included in the nomenclature that was to arise out of this war. Aside from exposing racial conflict between blacks and whites in the beginning of Stoddard's book, there is a small anecdote whereupon there is almost a fight between blacks and whites in a pool room in the States just prior to deployment to S.E. Asia. A sergeant tells the combatants the following: "I'd be willing to forget this incident if everybody just walks away and returns to what they were doing earlier. What are you going to do if we don't ? "Send us to Vietnam?" someone called out from the crowd." No history book will ever contain this, but there were reasons that many returning veterans went back to Vietnam despite the anti war movement and the lack of resolve for America to win. To quote Podlaski, he uses an example of Sgt. Larry Holmes, nicknamed "Sixpack" who returns to Vietnam rather than finish his military obligation stateside as a drill instructor training new recruits. Here is a poignant and true example of "the times"; "He had his orders changed during leave and volunteered for a second tour. Why would he do a thing like that? He told me he was fed up with the civilians and all the hippies. He said that while on leave, he was spit on and people were getting on his case because he was training soldiers to be baby killers and then sending them off to Vietnam. He said there wasn't a day that went by without someone picking a fight with him. After the cops had jailed him for a second time for disorderly conduct, he went and signed the papers. The world is filled with jerks. Too bad he had to volunteer for Nam to get away from it all."Unfortunately, the reality is that this happened in the late 1960's and early 1970's more than one would suspect! Regardless of the aspect of fiction being the backdrop, this story is so real, nothing is missed. Podlaski describes his protagonist's reactions to Vietnam more accurately than over 100 memoirs combined. The red dust of Vietnam, the insects, leeches, the heat, rats, humidity and monsoons are all covered. Podlaski's description of observing betel nut by the indigenous Vietnamese is a classic: "Everyone wore straw conical hats that helped to shield their faces from the strong rays of the sun and they were all smiling happily. All looked as if they had mouths filled with black licorice. Their lips, teeth and insides of their mouths looked like a poster advertisement from the Cancer Foundation, warning of the dangers of smoking." Podlaski's description of a Vietnamese village is incredibly authentic, only to be told by a participant: "The entire time they were there, the soldiers were surrounded by at least 30 kids at any given time. Most of them were hustlers who tried to sell them anything from pop to whiskey, to women, chickens and dope. It was like a flea market making a sales pitch." Another truism is Podlaski explaining to the reader why soldiers were glad when children came to greet them: "The villagers know when Charlie is around and are smart enough to not let their kids be in the middle of a firefight." The paradigm of a new soldier, i.e. "Cherry" is instructive: "Just don't go out there thinking you're John Wayne, because it'll get you killed."Equally telling is Podlaski's "grunt rule" of Vietnam. Objecting to the useless pre Viet Nam deployment training the military gave, Podlaski's rule was as follows; "What more do we have to learn? There's a little guy with a gun that's trying to shoot me and I shoot him first. It's as simple as that." Another classic quote in "Cherries" is Podlaski's lament of his 365 day "prison term of Vietnam"; "We're all locked up in this country for the next year and all we can do about that is serve our time." John Podlaski's book captures everything an infantry soldier would encounter. Firefights, medical evacuations, booby traps, punji pits, mechanical ambushes, Cobra attack helicopters, medical evacuations and very graphic, violent depictions of death in the sweaty jungles of Vietnam are mentioned. All of Podlaski's comments within this book mirror and complement other classic memoirs. Lost, classic quotes specific only to the Viet Nam War are permanently captured. Examples of this are of the soldier with only a few days left of his tour (usually 365 days), who would say he was "About to DEROS" (return to the states-date of return from overseas service). Another classic cliche you will find in "Cherries" is being "On the Freedom Bird" (an expression for being a grateful, surviving passenger on a commercial airplane that would fly a soldier from combat in Viet Nam to the U.S., thus resuming life as a civilian). No history book has this realism or lost history! Here is a classic quote of Podlaski's found universally in every memoir I have encountered: "They say that you can be fearless as a lion after your first month in country, but feel like a Cherry again after that last month." Another factor of "Cherries" are the soldier's apprehensions of death running rampant throughout the book.Unlike any World War II account where the only goal was annihilation of the enemy and ultimate victory, the only goal in "Cherries" was for the characters of this story to survive their tour and come home in one piece. Ironically, the expression "Victory was never an Option" was later turned into a book by Col. Robert M. Bayless. Tragically, the fact that there was neither an American end game nor exit strategy made this war very different and distinct for our soldiers as compared to either of the two prior 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 World Wars. "Fragging" is also discussed. This expression referred to the act of attacking a superior officer in one's chain of command with the intent of killing him. It boils down to the assassination of an unpopular officer of one's own fighting unit. Killing was done by a fragmentation grenade, thus the term. This was used to avoid identification and apprehension. If a grenade was used, a soldier could claim in the heat of a battle that the grenade landed too close to the target and was accidentally killed, that another member of the unit threw the grenade, or even that a member of the other side threw it. Unlike a gun, a grenade cannot be readily traced to anyone, whether by using ballistics forensics or by any other means. The grenade itself is destroyed in the explosion, and the characteristics of the remaining shrapnel are not distinctive enough to permit tracing to a specific grenade or soldier. "Fragging" usually involved the murder of a commanding officer perceived as unpopular, harsh, inept or overzealous.As "Cherries" unfolds, the war became increasingly more unpopular. Soldiers became less eager to aggressively engage and seek out the enemy. The G.I.'s in the boonies preferred leaders with a similar sense of self-preservation. If a C. O. was incompetent, fragging the officer was considered a means to the end of self-preservation for the men serving under him. It would also occur if a commander took on dangerous or suicidal missions, especially if he was seeking self glorification. Individual commanders would be "fragged" when demonstrating incompetency or wasting their men's lives unnecessarily. The facts are that during the war, at least 230 American officers were killed by their own troops, and as many as 1,400 other officers' deaths were inexplicable. Between Podlaski's tour of 1970 and 1971 alone, there were 363 cases of "assault with explosive devices" against officers in Vietnam. Finally, there are explanations about the war rarely to be told in high school nor college curriculums. John Podlaski explains that in the ranks of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army, many women served as soldiers. Caves and spider holes were rampant, and this elusive enemy rarely left their wounded and dead on the battlefield. With the exception of the "Ia Drang" 1965 battle, the Communists rarely engaged in a "set piece", toe to toe battle. The NVA and Viet Cong fought mostly at night, when they had an advantage, and were an extremely cunning, formidable foe. In regard to the enemy, Podlaski quotes: "If you don't respect them and continue to underestimate them, you'll never make it home alive."In terms of surviving one's tour, Podlaski pointed to luck as the decisive factor. Superstition and omens were also prevalent. One of his characters was named Zeke, a grunt who was "short" (less than a month left on his tour of Vietnam) and forced to go out on one final mission before going back home, as ominously asserting the following:" Training and experience don't mean nothing "In the Nam." It's all luck. And I don't feel like I have any left." Nothing is missed in "Cherries." Agent Orange is vividly brought up. Involvement of the Koreans, Thai's, New Zealanders and Australians, a fact underplayed and rarely discussed, is also mentioned. Podlaski interestingly mentions a quip about the one year tour of duty that tacitly suggests a possible reason for ultimate American failure: "You learn more about this place every day. Yeah, and just when you think you know it all, it's time to go home." There are other prophetic comments and anecdotes. In discussing a soldier's difficulty in determining whether or not a villager is a Viet Cong or an innocent civilian, he wrote: "If we had that answer, the war would have been over a long time ago." Podlaski compared humping the bush with a Halloween haunted house: "In both cases, you felt your way along, waiting for something to jump out at you. In the bush, to get surprised could very likely result in death." His comment about humping around the 100 degree, insect, snake, rat and leech infested jungle with 60 lbs on one's back was as follows: "The grunts no longer thought of the never-ending jungle as Vietnam. Instead, they imagined themselves in a large box, constantly walking, but never able to reach the other side."In regards to dealing with the death of a friend in combat, Podlaski wrote the following "There will be others so you have to learn how to block out the emotions and live with the hurt, otherwise you'll drive yourself crazy." Unlike the camaraderie of W. W. II Vets with their V.FW's and perpetual fellowship, Podlaski exposed this missing element of Vietnam Veterans. As one grunt went home for the last time and said goodbye to his fellow G.I's, Podlaski wrote the following: "In the morning, as the three of them readied themselves for their final chopper ride out of the jungle, the men hugged and shed some tears. Promises were made to be broken, and it was unfortunate, but this would be the last time any of them heard or saw one other again." Also not to be found in any history book besides the lack of camaraderie among Veterans after they came home was the fact some Veterans incredulously denied ever being in the service or talking about Viet Nam for 40 plus years afterwards! Another Wolfhound, who wrote an excellent memoir of what his tour in Vietnam was like as well as a larger than life description of the April, 1970 Cambodian Incursion that "Cherries" focuses on was Richie Watkins book entitled "Vietnam, No Regrets." Watkins chilling description validates Podlaski's account; "Snipers always sucked, because you couldn't see them by the time they saw you. I would experience this first hand later in my tour when I first became a sniper. The fact that if you were unlucky enough to be wounded in combat in Vietnam, a chopper would be available to take you out and have you on an operating table in less than 15 minutes was a miracle in itself."Richie Watkins continued; "It was one of those things in combat we all depended upon and those pilots never let us down. Those medevac chopper pilots would fly right into an active firefight to take us out, at great risk to themselves and by doing so saved many a soldier's life." Watkins also explained his reason why 58, 209 Americans died in Viet Nam; Some of the men had shrapnel wounds from the grenades the enemy had thrown; but most had bullet wounds and bullets that made one hell of an ugly wound. The caliber of bullets that were used over there was basically the same for both sides. They were both very small in size, but when they hit human flesh and bone they would tear through the body with such force that the damage was to graphic to describe. Let me just say that it was a miracle in itself that anyone could survive getting hit by one of those bullets. As "Cherries" reveals, Watkins' view of combat was almost identical to Podlaski's; "We would always be looking for "payback." The more, the better. The feelings of the men that actually fought the "Vietnam War' was that the more of the enemy we could kill, the less of them there would be to kill. I know that thinking sounds kind of weird now, but at the time it made complete sense." How did Rich Watkins deal with the war in retrospect, the waste of lives, and death? He explained as follows: "As I look back on it now, my feelings aren't any different today then they were then. It wasn't worth it one bit, I thought it stunk then and I still do today. But once the fighting begins and the adrenaline starts to flow and the willingness to kill and the desire to live kicks in, all bets are off."Watkins concluded; "We all took our chances for our country in one way or another and prayed for the best. That's all one could do once a combat situation developed. As my time "In Country" dragged on and I became more hardened and experienced, I would tune out the possibility that I too could be wounded or killed. I would just go with the flow of the situation. After a while one doesn't really believe he will be making it home anyway. We tried to survive day to day and not worry about what tomorrow may bring. Tomorrow was out of our control and was going to take care of itself one way or another. We were all at fate's mercy and there wasn't much we could do about it. For in Vietnam, tomorrow was promised to no one." The very essence of this thought pattern will surface repetitively in "Cherries." I have encountered many Vietnam Veterans as well as historians that emphatically declare: "I don't read fiction!" the Vietnam War ended in 1973, almost 40 years ago. Do you know how many Veterans wrote books in the past 10 years that refused to talk about their experiences for the previous three decades? A second question is how do you create a memoir from almost half a century ago with accuracy if you have no letters home or diary to work from? The answer to both is "historical fiction." The "fiction" label only applies because of the elapse of exact details due to faulty memory; no incidents nor occurrences are fabricated. Usually this Veteran will have a close veteran friend die, or he might have recently had a close brush with a near fatal illness himself. Some go see a war movie like "Platoon" or "Hamburger Hill," emerging from the theatre hall with a vow to tell "their side" of the story."One example of this is Rich Vnuk. I am not going to give "Cherries" away, but Vnuk corroborates the dread of death Podlaski so perfectly expressed. After seeing the movie "We Were Soldiers" about his battalion in Vietnam, the "1/7th Cavalry, Vunk ended a 35 year drought and penned "Tested in the Fire of Hell." Vnunk did not know Podlaski nor Watkins, but there is a readily identifiable thread that runs through all three books. Vnuk described his tour as follows; "I felt a pain that would not leave as long as I was away from home and in Viet Nam. This thought was rooted in the back of my mind: I might never see my family again. This was very disheartening and would be on my mind until the day I safely left for home; the fear of dying so far away with complete strangers had an overpowering effect on me. I have met death face to face and experienced it in different ways. I could feel death and it was near us all the time. I wondered if death would make a personal call. It didn't seem fair I didn't understand why some should die and others live?" What was Vnuk's greatest fear? "The most fearful sound of all was the crack of an AK-47 round flying over our heads. I t seemed as if I was always thinking about the time when one round would tear through me. I just knew the odds were so great that it would happen. I had been pushed physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally, learned to function without sleep, and go without food.About his opponent Vnuk offered; "The enemy always knew our situation because we traveled like a heard of cattle and if there was any weakness they would know and use it to their advantage. After a battle, we became conscious of the fact that every ounce of energy emotional and physical had been zapped out of us. Only our minds registered that we had friends lying dead or wounded around us. We were grateful to be alive but began to be tortured by feelings of guilt because we survived. Could we have done more?" What about atrocities and death? Vnuk responded with; "There were a thousand "My Lai" incidents that took place that were never reported. In Viet Nam there was no time to bury or even mourn the dead. We could not fall back to the rear or secure area, there were none." In regard to the psychology of war, and the John Wayne and the macho Marine image, Vnuk wrote; "Most often the dead were used as booby traps and set up to draw more soldiers into another ambush. The Americans, the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese were all guilty of mutilation and degradation of the dead. The psychological war going on both sides struck fear into men's hearts. The American military regarded tears as dangerous, a sign of a weakling or a loser. An American soldier who had wept for a fallen friend would be warned not to "lose it" and "to get your mind straight." Vnuk came home alone on a plane packed with soldiers completing their one year tours. He elaborated: "I arrived spiritually drained and completely exhausted emotionally and physically. Not much was said about Vietnam after that day. I did not talk about Viet Nam for 35 years. Now, I am tirelessly in the process of searching for answers to what really happened."John Podlaski's book is one important piece to a complicated puzzle. Another Viet Nam Veteran that wrote a tremendous memoir of the whole scene of going from a "Newbie" to a Veteran, then a three decade silence, and finally a mind numbing memoir that also validates everything in Podlaski's book is Clyde Hoch's "Tracks." Hoch was placed in a bad situation. Hoch was a Sergeant in command of an M-48 Tank unit who despondently described how he was placed in the unenviable situation in the war where a little boy's family was being held hostage by the Viet Cong. The boy was told by them to go into an American compound with explosives tied to his back to blow the compound up. If the boy refused, the VC would kill his family. Hoch was on guard when the boy came to the compound. What did he do? Hoch both answers and asks the reader; "Of course I shot him. Who was wrong? The VC? The little kid? Me?" These are situations Podlaski's men were to be faced with. Hoch also wrote his thoughts on survival; "There were so many times I went to sleep thinking that I would not last to see the morning sun come up. There were so many days where I woke up and said to myself, "This one will surely be my last day on earth." Somehow I made it through them all. There were so many close calls I don't remember them all. Someone once told me," You came back because God has a purpose for you!" Now I'm sure he was right." "Cherries," like Podlaski's tour, is broken up into two parts. Podlaski served as an infantryman in both the southern part of Vietnam as a member of the Wolfhounds, 25th Division and in the northern part of South Vietnam at the end of his tour. There he was attached to the 501st infantry Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. It was like two different wars entirely, with different uniforms and tactics used in the different tactical zones. This reality is translated into the story line. Podlaski summed up his frustration of the war with he following comment, thinking he was going home; "No more humping, ambushes, eating C-rations, and having to carry the weight of another person on my back. Goodbye Vietnam! Good Riddance! And good luck!" This comment he made when he incorrectly thought his tour with the Wolfhounds was over. Podlaski erroneously "thought" he would go with them in their redeployment to Hawaii. Instead, he was sent to the 101st Airborne Division in the northern part of South Vietnam to finish his tour. However, when Podlaski finally did arrive back home, and deplaned from the "Freedom Bird,"Podlaski had the following classic commentary about his protagonist, John Kowalski.Podlaski concluded; "Pollack (Kowalski's nickname) had changed physically, rarely paying any attention to it in Vietnam. He remembered that upon leaving for war, he weighed 196 lbs. and had a 36" waist. That day, he weighed 155 pounds and had a 29" waist. Pollock did not regret anything he did during his time in Vietnam. He was the only person from his graduating class and group of friends that went to Vietnam, so nobody could share his experiences or even have the faintest idea of what he'd gone through. Friends and family tried to understand but they weren't quite able to comprehend what he told them. He was only able to get so far before they lost interest or rolled their eyes. In their minds it was just a bunch of war stories that he was blowing out of proportion. After all, it was impossible for somebody to go through that." How sad! This is a case of PTSD just waiting to happen, and undoubtedly this scene is occurring today with veterans returning from the Middle East. There are way to many more stories, examples and paradigms to mention, but you are just going to have to read this book for yourself to understand this! By reading "Cherries" you will get the knowledge and feel of what it was like in Vietnam that many non fictional memoirs of this war collectively failed to mention! Highly Recommended!

My Grandpa's War

by David Volk; Illustrator-Jason Folkerts

Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian,Vietnam War November 20, 2011 Pembroke Pines, Florida U.S.A. Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: "Teaching Our Youngest About Vietnam: Sometimes Something Good Can Come From Something Bad!" Can a small twenty page "comic-like" book really explain what the war in Vietnam was like to our youngest generation? The answer is unequivocally "yes!" Former Vietnam Veteran, politician and now author Dave Volk has wonderfully crafted a poignant and concise book that explains very complex issues of American history in an amazingly forthright manner. Of course, this is an oversimplification of the Vietnam War. Nevertheless, this publication is designed for readership by our nation's youngest minds, penned in a frank, comprehensible manner. Vietnam remains as insignificant today for our elementary school students as it did for most of the men that were drafted right out of high school to serve as its combatants. The "Domino Theory, Communist containment and Iron Curtain" are equally trivial. There is no mention in "My Grandpa's War" of the power vacuum that was created in Indochina after the two big bangs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 settled the score of World War II. Neither is there a reason to mention the French being reinstated over the Japanese as colonial masters in Vietnam and their consequent 1954 Viet Minh served debacle at Dien Bien Phu. So is the French exodus from the S.E. Asian mainland not to be found. Explanations of the main players of this conflict and their roles are absent as well. The fact that this was a proxy war, contested between North and South Vietnam with a divider at their 17th Parallel is also omitted. And for that matter, neither is it stated that North Vietnam was supported and supplied by its Cold War communist allies of Red China and the Soviet Union thereby taking on the U.S. supported government of South Vietnam in a bitter civil war.Incidents like the "Tonkin Gulf, Hamburger Hill, Ripcord, the Cambodian Incursion and the Fall of Saigon" are irrelevant to a 10 year old audience. Dave Volk intentionally designed this book so that it would serve as a segue of knowledge from grandfather to grandchild, stimulating further clarification of what this war was about to the men that fought it. It was 1965 when America officially entered the conflict in Vietnam, an ideologically and militarily divided nation that was separated from the U.S. by eight thousand oceanic miles. With the signing of the "Paris Peace Accords" in early January of 1973, our role of upholding and supporting a democratic South Vietnamese government had officially ended with "Vietnamization," and "Peace with Honor." That eighteen year old serving in Vietnam in 1973 is now almost sixty years old. South Dakotan and "Baby Boomer" Dave Volk is one of those "sexagenarians." Of the 2,709,918 Americans that served in Vietnam, less than 850,000 are estimated to be alive today, with the youngest American Vietnam veteran's age approximated to be 54 years old. Volk is among the last one third of all the U.S. Vets who served in Viet Nam alive, making it imperative that he carries the torch of knowledge to our youth. In "Draftee," a book the author wrote before this one, Volk clarified his feelings: "History has always been one of my passions, and I have always lamented that so much history is lost before it can be recorded. The huge events, of course, are covered and recovered, but the minutiae of everyday life-the small things that make up people's existence day to day-are too soon forgotten."With an average of 390 Vietnam Veterans dying every day, only a few will survive by 2015. Volk's response to mortality and history is as follows: "Because I did not want to lose those minutiae-the stages, the plots, and the cast of characters of my incredible journey as a soldier-I have decided to try and put it down before time and old age takes it out of reach." Born in 1947, Volk grew up with four other brothers in Mitchell, South Dakota. After graduating from college in 1969, he was drafted into the Army, and spent a year of that "In Country." As previously mentioned, he has a book of his experiences as a combat photographer with the famous 101st Airborne Division entitled "Draftee." Following his tour in Vietnam, where he was awarded both the Bronze Star and Army Commendation Medal, he became at age twenty five the youngest person ever elected to state office. Serving as South Dakota's State Treasurer, he was reelected four times. Even with Volk spending an additional eight years as his state's Secretary of Commerce, Vietnam was never far from his mind. Appointed by then President Reagan, Volk served as the Chairman for the Vietnam Veteran's Volunteer Program and made it his mission to initiate and maintain an outreach program for troubled veterans suffering from war related issues ranging from PTSD to Agent Orange sickness. The genesis of this book is twofold for Dave Volk. Not only did he feel that it would be a tremendous educational aid to write an exciting, incisive story that would allow youngsters to learn about Vietnam in a more colorful manner than the current scholastically monotonous textbooks in place, but he had the spirit of a close friend inspiring him as well. Vietnam Veteran turned author Rick Eilert was a Marine who in late 1967 suffered serious traumatic leg injuries he incurred while participating in combat.Awarded a "Purple Heart," Eilert endured countless surgeries in a valiant attempt to save his legs from amputation, and in 1968 retired from the Marine Corps as a result of his wounds. The Purple Heart is an American military combat honor award given to those who are wounded or killed in any action against enemy forces. It symbolized Eilert's courage, braveness and dedication he displayed while dealing with mortal danger. Married with two children, Eilert worked at Union Oil Company until frequent surgeries on his leg wounds permanently disabled him. Tragically, in 2010 Rick's left leg was amputated, and on June 9th, 2011 he suffered a fatal heart attack. He documented his ordeal in Vietnam in his 1983 memoir entitled "For Self and Country." However, Volk modeled the "grandpa character" in this book on Eilert's travails. He was also able to bring forth qualities he learned from Eilert as well as ones he himself witnessed in Vietnam and passes on in this book. "My Grandpa's War" is a stirring story that displays a reciprocal love between a ten year old girl named Mae and her grandfather. With "Mae" as the narrator, she gives her simplistic ten year old version of her Grandpa's ordeal in Viet Nam devoid of politics and prejudices. While Dave Volk keeps this interplay of a tender grandfather explaining the deadly, brutal business of war to his little princess, some of the most sensitive issues of the war are poignantly brought forth. One of these is the draft. The fiercest years of the Vietnam War were between 1965 and 1970. In "Draftee," Volk, who served as a two year inductee between 1969 and 1971, points out how much things had changed between these time frames. His following comment in his first book sure rings true: "If life does imitate art-and I happen to think it does-then movies of the times are excellent examples."The hawkish "The Green Berets" was released in June of 1968, a watershed of this war. It played in theatres across America just when the negative fallout from the January, 1968 "Tet Offensive," Dr. Martin Luther King's April 4th and Bobby Kennedy's June 5th 1968 assassinations gathered steam. The film's theme was a tribute to the Green Berets in South Vietnam as well as both pro Saigon and anti Communist. With what was going on that summer, not to mention the August racial riots at Long Binh Stockade in Vietnam as well as the disaster at the Democratic Convention in Chicago, not even John Wayne could reverse public sentiment. America had transformed too fast to believe "The Green Berets" connotation that Vietnam was like the "Cowboys and Indians" of the Wild West." While in 1965 there was no such thing as escaping the draft by running to Canada or Sweden, by 1970 an estimated 70,000 "draft dodgers" had moved north of the border. In "Draftee," Volk added; "I think the biggest problem I had was the number of people who wanted to argue about the war and just assumed that, as a Vietnam Vet, I was pro war. Nothing could have been further from the truth. By 1970 all of us knew the war had been lost." In 1965 you could hear slogans like "My country, right or wrong," "No glory like old glory: and "America;"Love it or leave it." Just five years later popular chants were; "What are they going to do, send me to Vietnam," "One, two, three, four! We don't want your fking war!" and "Hey, hey LBJ, how many kids have you killed today?" This was not very inspiring to someone recently drafted, who must have thought that he didn't want to be the last to die in a war fought all for nothing."The whole issue of loyalty and gratitude to one's country is highlighted when "Mae," whom Grandpa called "Sarge" in honor of a close friend he served with in Vietnam, explains that she had studied up on the draft and knew of the Canadian exodus of draft evaders. A smart 10 year old, Sarge asked Grandpa what he thought of the draft. Volk could have brought up personal responsibility in this book, like what happened at the My Lai Massacre. Just like there were men in Lt. William Calley's command at My Lai that knew what they were doing was wrong but went along with the slaughter anyway, there were many people in the U.S. that felt that Vietnam was a war to make Colt and Dow rich and that the Tonkin Gulf affair was a charade. Volk handled Sarge's question to Grandpa masterfully. Using "reciprocity and obligation" as the basis, Volk's "Grandpa" answered as follows; "Sarge, this country has been very good to me and our family, and sometimes debts come due that have to be paid." Another interesting facet Volk inculcates within the framework of his story is the conditions a newly arriving soldier in Vietnam had to endure. Scorching heat, daunting triple canopy jungles, monsoon torrential rains and bugs of every shape and size are described. Another very delicate issue Volk handled adroitly was when Sarge asked Grandpa why people were allowed to protest against the war while at the same time he was serving his country and fighting. Ever the politician, Volk countered by having Grandpa explain; "When you live in a country like America, people have the right to do things that you don't understand or might not agree with." Certainly, Vietnam was different from all other wars. Never in a million years would a U.S. Citizen be able to chant in 1944 pro "Hitler or Hirohito" slogans.There are many other nuances and sentiments covered in this unique scenario Volk set up between a loving Grandfather and an adoring granddaughter, all heartwarming to say the least. Beneath these emotions, there are real issues that plagued America during a very difficult time. Bud Willis, author of "Marble Mountain," was a Huey helicopter pilot out of Danang in the early years of the war. A Southerner, Willis eagerly signed up for Vietnam in the early years of the war when most Americans believed they had a mission as the world's policeman to check communism wherever it reared its ugly head. Although a year of flying dangerous combat assault and medevac missions in I Corps would change his opinion of America's chances for success in this war, it is interesting to note what Willis wrote about enlisting in the early days of the conflict: "When you grow up in Tennessee you are likely to be taught the pledge of allegiance before you learn the "Lord's Prayer." That's just how we roll. We were raised on a steady diet of patriotism, and Douglas MacArthur had already lectured us that "no man should consider himself entitled to the blessings of freedom if he was not diligent in its creation." There may have been some crafty ways of avoiding the draft, but most of us weren't handicapped by that kind of privilege, nor did we care for the label "draft dodger." Throughout the South and in Tennessee in particular, we belonged to a culture that made us want to do our part. After all, if Elvis Presley could be drafted, anybody could! What other place in the world could claim the title of "The Volunteer State?"This was not a "Southern thing." Joseph Ward, a Marine Scout Sniper in Vietnam and author of "Dear Mom: A Sniper's Vietnam" hailed from Longmont, Colorado. Ward wrote of his enlistment in the spring of 1967 the following; "I'm from a family with a long and honorable military history, but there hadn't been a Marine in the family yet. I decided to be the first." Christopher Ronneau, author of "Blood Trails" enlisted in mid 1966. His description of that was as follows: "For me, Vietnam was better than a poke in the face with a sharp stick. I got a lot out of it. I grew there. I didn't like the giant global monolith there that was communism and, like the hawks in our government, I believed in former president Eisenhower's domino theory. If one small country in Southeast Asia fell to the Red Menace, the others would soon follow suit, falling like a row of dominos and then everyone involved would be miserable. Wanting to do my share, I volunteered for the Army. In what could only be described as a monumental attack of nearly terminal stupidity, I enlisted only after being guaranteed an assignment to an infantry unit. I had joined the infantry so I would see combat. Such was the state of my adolescent mind." Ronneau came very close to losing his life, narrowly surviving an AK-47 round to his jaw towards the end of his tour. Although it is almost nonexistent to find a memoir of enthusiasm towards enlisting after the "Tet Offensive," A.J. Billings summed up his feelings most eloquently in "Seawolf 28." Billings wrote: "In the early days of the war, bands in clubs would play "God Bless America" themes. To see these young men stand at attention and sing along with the band was something to behold. It was such a contrast from the late days of the Vietnam War, when we had to listen to all the long haired, dope smoking hippies and newspapers trash us."A.J. Billings added this as well; "When I looked at young American sailors standing there, I felt a tremendous sense of pride and at the same time sorry for the hippies. They would never know what it was like to be an American serviceman. They had nothing but themselves and a few illegal drugs to prop up their false courage, knowing full well they would never be put in harm's way. They would never understand what we shared. These men had each other, the Navy and their country to believe in. God, I loved it." Another serious issue Dave Volk dealt with was traumatic injuries due to booby traps. The overall numbers reveal the extent of this. A total of 58, 178 Americans with an average age of 23 lost their lives in the Vietnam War. Of this number, 11, 465 were less than 20 years of age. Of those in the field, 1 in 10 were casualties, with 75,000 Veterans being severely disabled. Now, pay attention to the following; amputation and crippling wounds were 300% higher in Vietnam than in W.W. II. Of the 58, 178 killed there, 51% of the deaths and 16% of the wounds were caused by small arms fire. The higher rate in Vietnam was contributed to the high velocity rapid fire weapons such as the AK47 and captured M16s. However, 36% of those killed and 65% that were wounded were caused by fragments from artillery, 11% of the deaths and 15% of the wounds were caused by booby traps and mines. Two percent of wounds were caused by insidious punji stakes.Rick Eilert was one of those wounded by a booby trap. He described in "For Self and Country" his being injured as follows: "The next few moments unfold in memory like a slow motion movie, almost frame by frame. I step off with my right foot and look down. I spot a grenade just in front of me and off to the left, where I'm about to drop my left foot. In back of the grenade a C-ration can sits in the bushes. C.L has tripped the wire attached to the grenade and pulled it from the can. It's live: I know it's too late. I'm in the middle of taking a step. My left foot is yet to hit the ground. My mind says, Run, duck, evaporate: but my body won't react fast enough. It's like sliding on ice. No way to stop and nowhere to go but in the direction gravity moves you. I feel a rush go through my body. I feel the stillness. My left foot touches the earth. I start to take a running stride. The grenade explodes. Flames spew into my face, then there's the smell of burnt gunpowder and burning flesh. My body lifts straight up. I never hear the explosion. I scream oh, God! But no one can hear my cry over the noise of the blast." Later in life Eilert had to leave a good job at "Union Oil Company" because of medical issues surrounding this and frequent surgeries made permanent employment impossible. Eilert had his leg amputated shortly after. Dave Volk deals with this in "My Grandpa's War." However, what happens to the Veteran that comes back from the war with no arms or legs and never can work, marry or participate in life normally again?Max Cleland wrote two books; "Strong at the Broken Places" and "Heart of a Patriot." In the first book, he explained that he had participated in breaking the siege of Khe Sanh during the post Tet Offensive in an operation called "Pegasus." Weeks before he was to finish his tour and rotate back to the U.S., he was dropped off from a Huey on a Combat Assault. On April 8th, 1968, he leapt out of a helicopter for the last time. Cleland wrote; "I called to the pilot that I was getting out. He nodded and held the ship steady. I jumped to the ground, ran in a crouch until I got clear of the spinning helicopter blades, turned around and watched the helicopter lift. Then I saw the grenade. It was where the helicopter had lifted off. It must be mine, I thought. Grenades had fallen off my web gear before. Shifting the M-16 to my left hand and holding it behind me, I bent down to pick up the grenade. A blinding explosion threw me backwards. When my eyes cleared I looked at my right hand. It was gone. Nothing but a splintered white bone protruded from my shredded elbow. Then I tried to stand but I couldn't. I looked down. My right leg and knee was gone. My left leg was a soggy mass of bloody flesh mixed with green fatigue cloth." Although Cleland lost both his legs and one arm, he was able to rise above it and become a U.S. State Senator. His case is an exception. World War II hero Chesty Puller's son Lewis was badly wounded when he tripped a booby-trapped howitzer round on October 11, 1968. He lost both legs and most of his fingers in the explosion. The shell riddled his body with shrapnel, and Puller lingered near death for days. His weight dropped to 55 pounds, but Puller survived. He chronicled his ordeal in his Pulitzer Prize winning memoir "Fortunate Son."Although he was able to come back, complete law school and run for Congress, he battled severe periods of depression, despondency and drank heavily. In 1981 Puller underwent treatment for alcoholism. Despite completing the treatment, Puller continued to suffer once again from severe depression and relapsed periodically with alcoholism as well as a severe addiction to prescription pain killers. Tragically, he separated from his wife in the spring of 1994, and on May 11th, of that year he committed suicide, succumbing to a self inflicted gunshot wound. In reality, he was another casualty of Vietnam, only the dates were off. A good lesion can also be learned from Frederick Downs in his trio of books. Downs chronicled his ordeal of amputation as the result of Vietnam combat in "The Killing Zone' and subsequent to that, he penned both "Aftermath" and "No Longer Enemies, Not Yet Friends." Corrine Brown showed her book "Body Shop: Recuperating from Vietnam" how serious of a problem it was dealing with broken men with broken bodies. Brown gave paradigms of Veterans who as the result of traumatic amputation from booby traps suffered in Vietnam, they had to wait for their wounds to heal. These patients were at "Letterman General Hospital" in San Francisco when this book was published in 1973, the year Vietnam officially ended for America. As an example of what these men were up against, Brown quoted in her memoir Chaplain Corbin Cherry, a Vietnam Veteran and amputee.Chaplain Cherry explained how he tried to maintain his dignity; "I went on a lot of trips. I went to New York City with some patients from Walter Reed. We were going to eat at "Tavern on the Green" in Central Park, and a little girl said, "Look Mommy, that man hasn't got a leg!" The mother slammed her hand over the kid's mouth. I went over and told her the kid was saying what she didn't dare say. We went to Shea Stadium to a ball game. I looked over and saw my friend Chet, another patient sitting there crying real hard. I asked him what was wrong, and he pointed to a sign someone had written on the wall. "Hire handicapped, they're fun to watch." I said I thought it was funny. People can be so dumb." Dave Volk also mentions in both this book and "Draftee" how people were protesting against the war, and sometimes "not in very nice ways," some even with violence. In "Draftee" Volk mentions; "Thank God this country has finally figured out how to send young men off to war and welcome them home again-regardless of what the philosophical or political feelings might be with regards to those wars. This is one of the saddest legacies of the Vietnam War. Men that risked their life, answered the call so others wouldn't have to, were taunted upon their return. It is very important that credit is given to those brave patriots, as Volk has in "My Grandpa's War." Jerry Lembcke, an associate professor of sociology, wrote a book called "The Spitting Image." On the cover of this book Lembcke placed a picture of a Vietnam veteran throwing his medals at the Capital in Washington, D.C. during a "Vietnam Veterans Against The War" protest of Operation Dewey Canyon II in April of 1971.In his book, Professor Lembcke wrote; "The image is ingrained; A Vietnam veteran, arriving home from the war, gets off the plane only to be greeted by an angry mob of antiwar protesters yelling, "Murderer and "Baby Killer!" Then out of the crowd comes someone who spits in the veteran's face. The only problem is that no such incident has ever been documented. It is a kind of urban myth that reflects our lingering national confusion over the war." There could be nothing further from the truth. Eldson McGhee in his memoir "Short Changed" described the following shameful memory upon his return from a one year combat tour in Vietnam. It was December of 1968, and the place was the air terminal at Fort Lewis, Washington. Ignominiously, McGhee recalled; "I returned to thousands of Americans angrily protesting the war I had been sent to fight. The protesters were mean with their words, and vile in their spirit." What McGhee wrote next about the protesters taunts was the straw that broke the camel's back: "They yelled out, "Baby Killers....Lackey's, while throwing bottles, sticks-anything and everything within their reach. You could see fire in their eyes, and venom seeping from their lips. Then, a protestor spat on me...I went crazy." Is this an isolated incident? Read a few more memoirs, particularly ones written after 1968 and you will find out. One particularly poignant incident is in Stephen Perry's book "Bright Light." Perry was in an elite, secretive unit called "SOG," which was an acronym for the "Studies and Observations Group." Perry chronicled the following upon his return from Vietnam: "On August 23, 1968, I climbed on a big bird and headed west to the land that I loved and to the family I left behind the year before.Stephen Perry continued; "My 17 hour flight home made stops in Australia and Hawaii and eventually landed in Oakland, California. I was processed out of the Army and left for Huntington Beach the following day. En route, I was confronted by some long haired hippy dinks at the San Francisco airport that shouted obscenities and called me a baby killer. What happened to my country when I was away?" That is painful, and hurts. Unfortunately, Jerry Lembcke doesn't realize that words said to a returning combat vet can sometimes hurt more than being spit on. John Ketwig, in his book "...And a Hard Rain Fell" wrote of an instance, where fresh from Vietnam, he was on his last leg home of a long, two day airplane trip. The year was 1969, and with an open seat next to him on the plane, a yuppie settled in next to him. The author had all his medals on and was in full uniform. Consider Ketwig's account: "The plane is smaller, the isle more congested. A guy settles into the seat next to me, Joe College. Open neck shirt, cardigan sweater, jeans, brass belt buckle. I look up from my paper to say, "Hi." He responded, "Listen, I want to get one thing straight. I got nothing to say to you, and you got nothing to say that I want to hear. Understand?" He opens a textbook forcefully. I lower my head to the newspaper, but my eyes don't comprehend the words. Why? What had I done to him? I'm the same person I always was. This never happened before. It's the uniform, Stinking army! When I get to the airport, I'll get my suitcase, and I'm gonna..."A psychological casualty Of Vietnam, Ketwig silently next to this man the rest of the flight, and after the plane landed, he was joyfully reunited with his family. Before he went anywhere else in the airport, he stepped into the restroom and wrote: "In the cool tiled men's room I lay open the suitcase, and push back the overflow. I strip the emblems and badges and ribbons off of my uniform, and walk to the basket. I speak to the clothing, inanimate objects that suddenly symbolize my 2 years and 9 months of agony. Quivering, I am looking at a shirt and pants but seeing only Fort Dix and Pleiku and Dak To and Korat. I say my final words to the army, "Screw You." And I throw them in the basket with the soiled paper towels." Richard Geschke, in his memoir "In Our Duffel Bags" shows readers how much words can hurt the returning veteran. Geschke went to a party at an all girls college soon after returning to "The World," and wrote the following insensitive, disgraceful exchange; "The party was at its apex when I arrived. I grabbed a beer and leaned against a wall. Almost on cue, a cute female from the college started to have a conversation with me. She asked all the usual questions and then asked me what I had been doing lately. I told her I had just returned from Vietnam and was pursuing an MBA at the University of Massachusetts. Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. She asked me: "How did it feel to kill women and children?" Well, let me tell you that I did everything in my power to refrain from smacking this woman.Full of righteous indignation, Geschke added; "What right did she have in even bringing up the subject? She had no clue about the environment that we were subjected to, and she had chosen to ask a question which she knew nothing. I gritted my teeth and walked away from the woman. My friend came to the rescue, and I left the party." Perhaps Al Billing, once again in "Seawolf 28" put the complicated issues about this war, an attempt Dave Volk is trying to communicate to America's youngest, in its proper perspective; "The Vietnam War was complicated and the Washington politicians and bureaucrats mismanaged everything. They were incompetent and got a lot of good men killed. They spent the next 25 years passing the blame off on anyone they could. When I came home I was a little disappointed at how the movies and the news portrayed Vietnam Veterans as dope smoking goof offs, or crazed killers with irreparable psychological problems. I knew them as brave, loyal, honest and patriotic men that would never change. I could only feel sorry for the long haired hippies who were holding the signs outside the bases calling us baby killers. BRIGHT LIGHT: Untold Stories of the Top Secret War in Vietnam They would never know what it was like to share the times we had both good and bad. The way the newspapers and movies portrayed the soldiers and servicemen was unconscionable and difficult to understand. Their motive was profit and sensationalism. It's understandable why so many of the returning servicemen had trouble when they came home."A statement Dave Volk's book conveys is that when a soldier left America to fight in Vietnam, he thought he was doing the right thing for his family, his country and himself. He did, as Volk indicated, feel he was repaying a debt for his right to live here. Unfortunately, the U.S. that he left was not the U.S. he returned to. In the last part of 1972, America had no ground troops "In country" engaging the NVA or V.C. in land battles. Combat was limited to either aerial or naval methods. Ray Kopp was a sailor aboard the heavy cruiser "Newport News," whose big guns lobbed huge, deadly projectiles at the Communists. When Kopp finished his military commitment and became a civilian again in 1973, he experienced the aforementioned phenomena. He wrote in his memoir "Thunder in the Night" the following; "The world was sick of the war in Vietnam. Upon returning home, those of us who had taken part in the final effort to "Vietnamese" the war soon came to realize that the narratives of our experiences were not appreciated. We were advised to wear neither our uniforms nor the campaign ribbons we had earned. Even more than when we left for Vietnam, it was extremely unpopular to be connected to the military. My faith in what I was doing, what I had done, and what I was capable of had been severely shaken upon returning home. Many of my peers in the civilian world seemed to despise the military-and even the U.S. itself-because of their perceptions of the Vietnam War. As had been the case with the "Forgotten War" in Korea, we found ourselves trying to put the past and our connection to the War behind us as though it was a criminal record." This never happened to W.W. II Veterans. Would it happen to the present group soon to return from Afghanistan?A.J. Billings concluded; "Many of these young men went over with high ordeals, believing what they were doing was right. To see your best buddy die right in front of you and then come home and get spit on and see yourself portrayed on the silver screen as a drug addict or someone that was too stupid to avoid serving was at best disheartening." As you can see, there are so many different experiences; however, the common denominator is pain. Interestingly enough, Vietnam Veteran Clyde Hoch, author of "Tracks" has a point when he expressed in his memoir the following; "When the W.W. II Vets came home, everyone was glad to see them. Their war was over. When we came home, our war was still going on. You couldn't get away from it. They were burning draft cards and flags. I must admit, I kind of liked it when the girls burned their bras. They were marching on D.C. and Haight Ashbury was going on. The "Flower Child." For a generation that preached peace and love, I sure felt hated and alone. I wonder why it is so popular to be a Vietnam Veteran now, when we were looked down on for so long! Hell, you even have people lying about being there!" How do we end treating our veterans of any war, regardless of the factors involved, with disrespect, never again to be repeated by future generations? The answer is by teaching our youngest the attributes of brotherhood, devotion, dedication, sacrifice, courage and compassion, all of which Dave Volk has so skillfully included in "My Grandpa's War." While this book is meant for our youngest, this can be read by anyone, with a powerful lesson to be learned regardless of the reader! Highly recommended!

Tested In the Fire Of Hell

by Richard J Vnuk

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War, Pembroke Pines, Florida U.S.A. November 10, 2011 Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: "The Sounds of Vietnam: Explosions, Cries of Pain, Bursts of Rapid Fire & the Sharp Cracking of Lead Flying All Over The Place!"The sounds of war did not bring forth in Richard Vnuk's mind songs like Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyres", Creedence Clearwater's "Suzie Q" or even the Rolling Stones' "Jumpin" Jack Flash." On the contrary, the reverberations of war made him nauseated, downright sick to his stomach, exhausting his mental faculties to its breaking point. It is as if it was just yesterday that the author heard these sounds, despite a span of forty three years elapsing since he last listened to them. Indelible impressions were being made on those American youths that answered the summons of President Johnson's war trumpet, and sadly for some these would be the last they would ever see or hear. America's involvement in the Vietnam War in the mid 1960's was running at full speed and it was an aberration of the harshest kind for a young man fresh out of high school to wonder if by this time tomorrow he would be zipped into a body bag. Vietnam proved to be a cruel assault on Vnuk's senses, as shortly after his high school graduation he would be drafted and zipped across the Pacific on a silver wing tipped, flying chariot. Instead of working on calculus, trigonometry, zoology, Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway, Vnuk would watch B-52 strikes, observe enemy artillery hurling hunks of metal over his head at supersonic speeds, and witness in horror the "death mask look" on the corpses of his fellow soldiers, whom just hours before were men he had thought of as his friends, sharing his hopes, dreams and aspirations with.Pessimistic to the utmost, Vnuk reminds the reader that throughout his one year tour he expressed thoughts like; "I thought for sure I was a dead man," as well as "I'm going to be in a body bag for sure." After watching American soldiers laying dead all around him, he incredulously mused; "I felt as if I should have died over and over, but I was alive." When Richard Vunk reached an emotional standoff where he admits he was overwhelmed with survivor guilt, extreme fatigue and drained numb of emotion, he concedes that death was an attractive alternative to the torture of war he was involuntarily a part of. While this might sound absurd, after reading "Tested in the Fire of Hell" the reader will commiserate and identify with Richard Vunk as to why he would make such a statement. You will also understand why the author described himself at an impasse; which was to either go insane and lose touch with reality or spend all his time and energy on trying to survive this war physically and pray to his higher power to empower himself to control his emotions and maintain his sanity. He chose the latter and as a consequence is here today to embody the sagacity of that choice. There is much to be said to the cover of this book. You can see Richard Vnuk with three other soldiers, all dying in the presence of the author. "Doc Peterson" was Vunk's medic, and although Vunk tried to prevent this tragedy, on October 26, 1967 Doc died trying to save another soldier on the cover, Rocky.Just moments before this, they all walked into the killing zone of an NVA ambush, with Rocky and Vnuk side by side. Even today, the author writes of Rocky during that ambush with the following wonderment; "He was killed and I was not touched and I always wonder why I was destined to survive. The last member of the ill fated quartet was Glen Williams, who died on November 4th, 1967 right after Vnuk left the foxhole they had shared together to pick up their lifeline, i.e. supplies such as food, water and ammunition. As the author went to pick up supplies, Williams tried to bury their garbage. This was necessary because the North Vietnamese were capable of turning even the most innocuous leftover refuge into a lethal weapon of war. Williams shovel struck an NVA landmine, instantly killing him. If you stare at Vunk's book cover, you realize his face is blank and expressionless, almost impossible to gauge. One simply has to find a pictorial history book of the First World War to find the identical gazes of lost souls of that war. As an example, if you look at a photo album of British soldiers that had spent time on the front lines after experiencing "trench warfare" combat, you can see almost the same countenance as the author. The conflagration of 1914 to 1918 was known by the misnomer as the "War to End All Wars." It was the last war to be fought with ground troops of each side using deep trenches embedded in the groundwork opposing each other.A similar system of warfare occurred during the U.S. Civil War, as evidenced at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. On a prearranged signal such as an officer's trumpet or a commanding officer's whistle, entire divisions would simultaneously climb out of their trenches and make a mad, lethal dash towards the opposing enemy line of trenches. The goal was to numerically overwhelm the opposing force despite being exposed to a murderous fusillade of gunfire, cannon balls and eventually poison gas. Ground troops were nothing more than human bullets and targets. In W.W. I, British casualties were so high that their doctors were deluged with soldiers claiming to suffer from mental breakdowns. Rich Vunk unintentionally described symptoms in this memoir that would identically coincide with what official British literature would deem as "shell shock." These included extreme fatigue, irritability, giddiness, lack of concentration and headaches. Vnuk claimed he was at one point so close to a mental breakdown that his only choice was prayer and to remind himself that the only way he would see his parents again was to get his act together. Many men in both W.W. I and Vietnam would not be able to collect themselves and in fact did suffer mental breakdowns. It is interesting to note that prior to Vnuk's resolve to prevail in spite of his circumstances, his description of wanting to die and his fear of insanity, correlated perfectly with the British literature of W.W. I deemed as "shell shock."However, that was where the similarities between 1918 and 1967 ended. During W.W. I, despite physicians concurring that the only cure for shell-shock was a complete rest away from the fighting, these were different times with different rules. Only British officers were given the privilege of rest and stand down. Regular conscripts suffering from shell shock thereby rendered unable to perform as an effective infantryman were castigated as cowardly malingerers. Any soldier claiming this would be sent right back to the front lines, often to the scenes of the heaviest fighting. Faced with the possibility of being killed or permanently disabled, soldiers would shoot themselves in an attempt to end their misery on the frontline. In comparison, all American soldiers in Vietnam were given at least one rest and recuperation period during their tour, where they would be taken out of the fighting completely to rest and recharge themselves. In W.W. I, a self-inflicted wound was a British capital offense if discovered by the British Army, and a man found guilty of either this or desertion faced execution by a firing-squad at the most, or prison at the least. A common British punishment for disobeying orders or self inflicted wounds was the infamous "British Field Punishment #1." This involved the offender being tied to a pole or fixed object for up to two hours a day and for a period up to three months. These men were often put in a known area of heavy enemy bombardment.In his book "A Kind of Survivor," British soldier Guy Chapman wrote about the options available to an infantryman during W.W. I besides desertion or combat refusal; "A bullet fired deliberately at the foot was the only way out. Others killed themselves rather than carry on in the trenches. The usual method of suicide was to place the muzzle of their Lee-Enfield rifle against their head and press the trigger with their bare big toe. In some cases, when men could endure no more, they stood up on the fire-step and allowed themselves to be shot by an enemy sniper." Did things like this occur in Vietnam, where it was sometimes called a "million dollar wound?" James Ebert, in his book "A Life in a Year" wrote that: "Very few men chose the extreme of desertion, but there were those who were prone to hide during combat and not take part in it. A few others chose to wound themselves so they would be evacuated safely out of the field. In one instance a man had his buddy shoot him in the calf. The other guy started jabbing himself with a punji stick. He defecated and urinated in a little thing and stirred the stick in there so it would get him infected enough to get out." No one reported the other soldier, according to Ebert, regarding it as none of their business. With no front lines and all men heavily armed, fraggings and friendly fire was a serious fear. Ebert interviewed one soldier who had witnessed another soldier shoot himself in the foot to get out of going on a combat assault.Why didn't the soldier that saw this snitch on the offender? Ebert recorded the witnesses thoughts as follows: "I was afraid the shooter would nail me one night in the near future back at the company area. Everybody's got enemies at least once in a while, and you just didn't know if he was nuts." However, Vietnam was very different war and in many ways could test the mettle of even the most hardened. Among Richard Vnuk's greatest concerns was losing his sanity and surely all of the aforementioned thoughts and options would run through his mind on the tragic days of October 26th and November 4th, 1967. In summing up the whole situation of impending combat and the possibility of violent death at any time, Vnuk commented: "Nothing could explain the density, weight, volume, or the depth of the pain and suffering that was taking place." You might be wondering why everything described in this memoir concerning his combat experiences are negative and denigrating. The author will not leave you hanging on that angle. In fact, aside from his heartwarming rendition of how in 2007 he returned to Vietnam as a volunteer teacher and atoned to the Vietnamese people and one female student in particular at the end of this memoir, Vnuk lets it be known that he felt unequivocally used, abused, and manipulated by the politicians in Washington, who in turn were completely indifferent to his survival. Ethically, morally and spiritually against his will, he was forced to kill and in turn he was almost killed by reluctantly participating in an unrighteous, unprovoked war with questionable motives. The powers in control of America manipulated Richard Vnuk by intelligently applying psychology. Compliance was assured by appealing to his moral structure, his patriotism and his love of God.There are several reasons why a Vietnam Veteran would write a memoir in 2011. Among those are to leave a legacy to one's family, to express through the written word the horrors one experienced and is unable to communicate orally, or to contribute to American history. Some think that their experiences were so unique and extraordinary that they envision their names on movie theatre marquees and newspaper periodicals. None of the aforementioned has anything even remotely similar to Richard Vnuk's designs. Vnuk gives clues to his rationale behind penning this memoir by his descriptive verbiage. He calls the masses of youth considering the righteous of America's cause in S.E. Asia as a "crisis of conscience." Vnuk juxtaposes the righteousness of taking up arms with the possibility of dying to prevent communist expansion in a foreign country that neither posed a threat nor had anything to do with American security as "facing a terrible dilemma." Serving one's country honorably, embodying patriotism and becoming effective soldiers by learning sound combat techniques to fight in Vietnam is translated by Vnuk as being "immersed in the chaos and inhumanity of preparation for the incalculable consequences of war." The conflict in Southeast Asia that America participated in amounted to: "Exposure to the inescapable evil on a mass scale." All of the aforementioned sentiments Vnuk expressed about the war as a consequence of his experiences.The author challenges readers right in the introduction of this memoir. Thinking that because he was an infantryman, readers will incorrectly assume that Vnuk is incapable of teaching anyone anything important about the war he immediately refutes. His method of doing this is nothing less than ingenious. Vnuk teaches in an abstract fashion by showing all with a touch of indignation what he was not taught. What he was not warned about, he is now doing the warning, with this book serving as his initial volley of education. Vnuk asks; who was there to warn him when he received his draft notice and when he reported for induction that this was a war not worth dying for? Who was there to tell him that this was a conflict that America would ultimately send to South Viet Nam 2,594,000 troops between January of 1965 to March of 1973 with 58, 212 to lose their lives in a war there was no "end game" strategy for? And what about the horrors of war most of these patriotic teenagers were about to be jolted by? Was it a correct policy of the Johnson administration as a result of an ambiguous naval confrontation to send American teenagers to a strange and foreign land with a hostile, unforgiving climate, fraught with booby traps, anti-personnel landmines and punji stakes? Did our leaders care that the troops they were sending would face off against hard core Communist troops who would use tunnel and guerrilla warfare to kill unprepared young Americans? We are talking about the best jungle fighters on the face of the earth whom considered warfare a way of life, traveled swiftly and light, and were unafraid to die.These hit and run soldiers were confronted by nineteen year old Americans who were not used to the terrain or climate, wore 60 lb. packs and carried insufficient water and food. Surely they were taught how to shoot a rifle, and were supplied with bullets and grenades. But in a deadly game of survival and senseless loss of life, who would teach the boy-warrior who only months before was playing sandlot softball or going to a picnic at the park to deal with impending death and destruction? Who will step forward and warn America's youth that if our nation ever again becomes involved in a senseless war that is led by generals that receive their orders from tactically inept, militarily inexperienced politicians that dictate senseless rules that this is a war not dying for? Read Richard Vnuk's book carefully , and you'll find these questions posed by just a mere foot soldier! Mr. Vnuk announces; "It is easy for those who were not personally involved in the war to forget about it." Is it a coincidence then that the 1950 to 1953 Korean War was dubbed "The Forgotten War?" Have you ever heard the cliche "the truth is sometimes stranger than fiction?" It is hard to believe that when L.B.J. asked for and was granted by Congress war powers as part of the "Tonkin Gulf Resolution," the aftermath of the Korean War was all but forgotten. As evidenced by the current standoff at the Korean 38th Parallel, the casualties of that conflagration were indeed a waste of precious human life. The sufferings of the 36,516 American, 137,899 South Korean and 215,000 North Korean soldiers who died in that war were all but forgotten in 1964 as America embarked in a conflict that would last until 1973.It is highly unlikely that this memoir would ever have been written if the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 did not occur. However, with no definitive end in sight and U.S. Forces still battling both the Insurgents and Al-Qaeda after a decade despite 4,414 U.S. troops killed in Iraq and 1,140 in Afghanistan, Richard Vnuk felt it was his time to assert himself. Since he did not know what to expect when the bullets started firing, thus leaving him and many others as well completely unprepared, it was important for the author to inform young readers that being in combat is nothing like what the movies show their audiences. This memoir is based on events Richard Vunk was a part of from 1966 to 1968 as an infantryman with Company A, First Battalion of the Seventh Cavalry. For forty three years the author, a school teacher, maintained a self imposed silence about his experiences. By writing this book, it is Richard Vnuk's way of exposing to all what war is really about, as there are no military parades, shiny swords and spit polished boots on battlefields. No amount of training can ready even the most resolute warrior to face hostile fire, violence, death and killing. Richard Vnuk reports that his life was permanently changed on November 16, 1966, the day he received his draft notice. He insists he was not prepared nor was he desirous of war, in any way, shape or form. Claiming he is nonviolent and against war per se as a means of settling a dispute, his language is strong in describing what he witnessed and participated in. Vnuk departed for the killing fields of South Viet Nam on April 28, 1967. Two days before he left, his girlfriend gave him a memento to remember her by, a diary. This memoir is a product of that diary, of which he regularly made entries during his entire tour.Four decades later, Vnuk diligently pointed out all the irregularities and aberrations in the war, the conflicts in himself, and the very essence of why Viet Nam became such a painful hurt from within. It must be noted that in writing this book, Vnuk wanted it read by the youth of America, the people who suffer the most from the effects of war. Despite foul language being endemic as well as macho to the warrior on the battlefield, his memoir is entirely devoid of profanity. There is an ulterior, deeper rationale of Vunk's, one that gives clues as to the inferno he was about to enter; "For me the profanity and the use of God's name by young people in the face of imminent death echoed in my head along with all the other sounds of war." He goes to great lengths explaining what the issues were that were so difficult to both confront and resolve, and each one presented to him a personal quandary. Although a pacifist, Vnuk was of a generation that believed that America had a divinely righteous moral obligation. Safeguarding South Vietnam's freedom from northern encroachment was a worthy American cause, and although unrealistic, he felt was a noble gesture as long as it didn't involve violence. He was also from a deeply religious Christian family, and Vunk took the fifth commandment of "Thy Shall Not Kill" seriously. However, how was America to intervene in Vietnam's civil war without violence, considering the level of fanaticism Ho Chi Minh and his henchmen possessed to see communism prevail? Another lesson he inculcates within this memoir is that is a soldier's responsibility to always learn the history of where he is being sent to do battle. How did the current status quo come about?Bud Willis, a Huey helicopter pilot, kept a diary just like Rich Vunk. A Marine, Willis flew out of Danang in 1966, considered the "build up" period of the war. Arriving in Viet Nam the last few days of February, it took him just one week to realize the course this war would take and the character of the enemy he was protecting the South Vietnamese from. In his book "Marble Mountain," Willis wrote of forcing the North Vietnamese out of mountainous areas by heliborne combat assaults. To his disgust, hard fought for areas were shortly afterwards relinquished back to the enemy despite the loss of American lives. This would later prove true in the U.S. abandonment of Khe Sanh, Hill 937 (Hamburger Hill) and Fire Support Base Ripcord. All three of the aforementioned support bases were abandoned by the U.S. after substantial casualties were suffered staving off the NVA. However, just like Vunk, Bud Willis learned the tenacity of who he was fighting when it was too late. This was an overzealous opponent that he would repetitively find tattooed slogans on their corpses asserting: "Born in the North to die in the South." However, most telling was Willis's following entry: "A couple of days later, I saw the nature of the enemy first hand. We went back to the sight after the Marines had secured the captured area and landed for a look around. A gunnery sergeant showed us a large cave entrance. There was a heavy caliber automatic weapon unlike any I've ever seen. It was mounted on wheels that had wooden spikes like something out of the Confederate War."Willis added; "This primitive apparatus had been rolled hundreds of miles to this spot. There were chains near the tree attached to the weapon. I was told that the gunners who were killed in the conflict were chained, so they couldn't run and had to stay and fight to the end. This was the type enemy I would be fighting and it made a tremendous impression on me." So the question is, if Vnuks religious beliefs were opposed to killing and he abhorred violence, why did he go, fight and kill? He explains why, in the following biblical manner: "Earthly powers have the authority to use force to bring about justice but not to exceed their authority. It is the responsibility of the authorities to use force to bring on justice, but those who do not come to the aid of the weak will have to answer to God." Going into this conflict, Vnuk truly accepted the Domino Theory and thought that protecting South Viet Nam was indeed noble. He added; "We were the forces of good battling the forces of evil and the showdown always comes down to violence. When the good guys kill large numbers of bad guys, it is a victory for justice and civilization." Although believing that "God was on our side because we lived in the light," he later conceded: "All of this was taught to me by my teachers, books, stories, magazines and movies." And this here is the crux of the book. "Tested in the Fire of Hell" is Vnuk's indignant assertion that he was drafted against his will to fight in an unpopular war that he would witness acts of violence and death for which he was entirely unprepared for.As you will read in this memoir, the repulsiveness of close combat as well as the horrific sight of friends and innocent civilians getting killed were to catch him entirely unprepared. However, it was the occurrences of extreme affronts to his conscience, morally, spiritually and ethically that did the most psychic damage, issues such as his utilitarian function in the war. Assigned as an infantryman, his military occupational specialty was strictly to kill as many enemy soldiers as possible. This was on a collision course with his prewar set of values, such as his beliefs in nonviolence, being a peacemaker and great respect for human life eliciting the greatest distress. Vnuk refused to claim "conscientious status" because he felt that was traitorous to America as well as highly disrespectful towards the troops. Religion, which ultimately would save him in his darkest hour of death all around him, initially confused him. He juxtaposed what he was taught in basic training, e.g. "What is the Spirit of the Bayonet? To Kill, Kill, Kill," vs Jesus's teachings of "Love Your Enemy." One of the most interesting parts of this book, which I'm afraid you are just going to have to buy to find out the details, is his agony as to whether reconciliation with God was possible in regard to breaking the Fifth Commandment prohibiting killing another. As previously mentioned, this author did not write this book for a movie deal, for attention or any acclaim. This is his personal attempt to explain to soldiers: "Do as I say, not as I did."A huge error on Vnuk's part was that he did not know his enemy. Upon arrival in Viet Nam, he confessed: "I did not know who my enemy was, why he was my enemy, and why we were going to fight to the death." Thinking he was there to protect the South Vietnamese, he was shocked to find the following: "It was very clear to me that when we came in contact with the locals out in the jungles, they didn't want us there!" After reading Patrick Hearden's "The Tragedy of Vietnam," Vunk began to reform his opinion. Learning that for centuries the Vietnamese had been fighting for independence from oppressive and exploitive Colonial yokes of the Chinese, Japanese, and French et. al. He now realized America did not understand its enemy and the complexity of what the Vietnamese were fighting for. Informed now about Ho Chi Minh's life as well as the atrocities visited upon the indigenous, Vnuk wrote: If I knew then what I know now, I would have been a conscientious objector for sure." Nevertheless, how did the author get to the point of traumatization he obviously was suffering from on the cover of the book? His countenance appears frozen, overwhelmed and stressed to the maximum. The answer you will find within the pages of this book, a fast, furious and fascinating read! A clue as to what contributed to Vnuk's state can be found by comparing it to the way Michael Orban described his journey in his book "Souled Out." Orban waited 37 years to explain his ordeal as a drafted 19 year old U.S. Army Infantryman in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam.As soon as he arrived "In Country," Orban's "friends" (the other men in his unit) tried to scare him by letting him know the life expectancy of a "FNG" new infantryman was one week. His description of the war remarkably parallel's Vnuk's; "I learned of the savagery, fear and panic that men created . I learned of the yells and screams of terror during combat. And I saw the tranquility of the jungle exploding in machine gun fire, hand grenades and helicopter gunships. I learned to be deeply grateful to the helicopter pilots and door gunners who heroically resupplied us as they were hovering over firefights at night, kicking out boxes of ammunition through the jungle tree tops, exposing themselves to a barrage of bullets. I witnessed the Cobra helicopter gunships and pilots courageously bringing their incredible machines, not only lifting our morale, but also giving us such great advantage to stay alive." It looked like Orban would breeze through his tour. One night at a Fire Support Base deep out in the jungle, Orban heard an explosion. Then he heard a helicopter coming in and screams. Thinking it was a VC sapper attack, he grabbed his M-16 and went to where the explosion was. Orban explained; "There was no attack! It was a fragging! I kept my position on my bunker and was sickened to my soul. The explosion was a claymore mine intentionally set off to kill the soldier in that bunker. There was nothing that could live or even be recognizable after that blast. Something had passed between the soldier and an officer; a threat, an insubordination, something serious or threatening. I lost much respect for the military that night, and the truth of war not written in history books became a heartbreaking lesson."Things became worse for Orban. A few months after the fragging, there was a firefight. The next morning, Orban describes the following: "My assignment was to go out with another soldier and count the dead bodies. We neared a corpse, face down, on the jungle floor and the soldier with me tried to turn the body over with his foot. But the body had been so badly shot up that the soldier's foot only sank into the chest as if it were mush. My heart felt sick of the sight of the dead and wounded. I knew it might be my body one day. I remember turning from that mutilated corpse and walking back to our position when a bizarre thing happened. Something left me, something that was structural. My arms and shoulders drooped, my head sank, and my spine curled forward. I would later realize that it was my soul, my spirituality that had shattered and left me." Orban watched his fellow soldiers cut ears, noses and teeth from dead enemy soldiers as war trophies after firefights, however after each incident, he lost more and more of his soul until his indignation came to a peak. Then the following incident happened: "I remember rolling up dead bodies on our rain ponchos. We tied them to long sticks and carried them out of the jungle as dead animals on safaris. I could not believe the nice guy I had been raised to be was carrying dead human beings tied to poles...human beings we had just killed." Then the insanity of it all hit Orban all at once; How could they let us go on killing and being killed while they argued over a useless war or the shape of a table at the Paris Peace Conference?"Orban questioned; "How could God allow this thing called war? If he was all powerful, why did He let these terrible things happen and why didn't he soothe my soul? Orban explained his look, that would later be photographed. His countenance was remarkably identical to Richard Vnuk's photo on "Tested in the fire of Hell." Orban wrote: "Was there really a God? It didn't feel like it. After all these experiences and various others, my soul felt totally exhausted, and the facade or mental barrier I had developed to developed to protect myself was just about all that was left to show the world. The icy, empty look, the "1000 yard stare" was all I held in my eyes. I cannot explain the disgust, hatred, and lack of trust I developed for the U.S. Government, the military, and human beings. We might have been as great as any generation of fighting soldiers, had we been given a legitimate reason to defend home and family." Michael Orban eventually completed his hitch, and upon settling back home, he pulled out photos of before he left for Viet Nam and as he was now, just returning. He noted that before his deployment to Viet Nam, the photo showed his eyes alive with expression, set in a tanned, healthy face, with a well fed body. The second photo was right before he left Viet Nam and came back to the U.S. Here is his description: "The second photo has little resemblance to the first. They are not of the same human being. War, its traumas, its minute to minute vigilance needed to stay alive, the stress to not be responsible for another American's death or dying, had reduced my physical state by over thirty pounds. My face was gray, with a vacant expression, my cheeks sunken in. But my eyes were so noticeably different. My eyes are green, but not in this photo. They are black and empty, sunken into the dark shadows that surround them; so empty one can see the void I call my soul.Finally, there is the subject of losing a buddy in war. Someone you talk to every day, tell jokes to, play pranks on. There is no training to prepare a soldier to deal with the death of another of his own. The photo on the cover of this book also represents Richard Vnuk's traumatization and tremendous despair over the death's of Doc Peterson, Glen Williams and Rocky. Perhaps Richie Watkins, author of "Vietnam No Regrets" puts this type of a loss in its proper prospective; "As my tour progressed I became a lot closer to a couple of the guys I was with. You really didn't want to get too close to each other. I really don't know why; I guess it was in case one of you got killed; the other guy wouldn't mourn as much. But that really wasn't it, because all of us were so close that we that we would've done anything for that to not happen. There's a saying that there is no bond greater than that forged by men who have faced death together in combat and I believe that is true. When a fellow soldier went down, it would hurt, and hurt a lot. It wouldn't be something you would never completely forget; just when you thought that memory was fading into the past it would come and visit you during the night, more vivid than ever, and would never completely release its ugly grasp on you." Finally, "Tested in The Fire of Hell," which almost never surfaced, shows us that despite the passage of 43 years, the incredible pain, despair and anguish has not diminished one iota for Richard Vnuk. His description of his comrades deaths, his close brush with the grim reaper, and his faith in God to bring him home so he could be with his family again in spite of the odds is nothing less than a nonstop, page turning, riveting read! Even the most emotionally stoic will be affected by this historically important, well written memoir! Highly recommended!

In Our Duffel Bags: Surviving the Vietnam Era

by Richard C. Geschke; Robert A. Toto

Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War October 15, 2011 Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Pembroke Pines, Florida USA Title of Review: "Vietnam Was The Steady Whop, Whop, Whop of Incessant Choppers, Rain & Artillery Firing It's Version of Pain For Victor Charlie" At last, a book has come out that contains more than punji stakes, claymores, sampans and napalm sorties. Sure, a gritty war story of the hardships experienced by a soldier, marine or airman can be a gripping page turner. However, if you read enough of them eventually one blends into the next. Once in awhile a new book comes out where even those aficionados who know the most esoteric in that particular subject matter will read a new offering and be spellbound with fresh information. "In Our Duffel Bags" is one that does exactly that. If you check the literature for an existing memoir that details a soldier's experiences in the last American non-volunteer army who served in two major conflicts simultaneously, your findings will be scant. You might be wondering what those two major conflicts could be. The answer is the Vietnam War of 1964-1973 overlapping the Cold War of 1946 to 1991. This memoir draws parallels: the conflict in S.E. Asia was fought with search and destroy operations, free fire zones, and heliborne combat assaults. Equally if not more volatile was the situation in Europe, fought with super power coalitions, espionage, proxy wars and propaganda. The latter one all sides shuddered at the stakes involved, the possibility of nuclear obliteration. How important was Vietnam to America in relation to the Cold War? Consider this; while most Americans paid very little attention to the daily occurrences in Vietnam other than listening to a television rattle off the nightly 6 P.M. KIA and WIA figures, the "other war" had an entirely different, more prominent effect. The authors of this book, while trying to escape the raging war in South Vietnam inadvertently wound up with a front row seat where the forces of the Warsaw Pact and the NATO Alliance played a dangerous game of brinkmanship.All Americans would be touched from the end of World War II, when English author George Orwell coined the term "Cold War," to the crumbling of Berlin Wall's in 1989. Vietnam would reach America's citizenry by virtue of being the first "television war." But other than those directly affected, the 8,000 oceanic miles from America to South Vietnam accented its minimal intrusion into public conscience. Conversely, at one point during the 1950's all of America was subject to air-raid drills, elementary school students were hiding under desks and families built personal bomb shelters. Although this level of apprehension subsided after the Cuban Missile Crisis, movies such as "Planet of the Apes, Dr.Strangeglove and The Day After" reinforced national awareness. Richard Geschke and Bob Toto were part of the 80 million children born during what was deemed the "Baby Boom." This was a group that from 1946-1964 grew up with Vietnam, John and Robert Kennedy, Woodstock and the Apollo 11 team of Armstrong and Aldrin landing in the "Sea of Tranquility." While Geschke and Toto uniquely experienced both wars, they also were participants in the last phase of the Vietnam conflict which became a fervent American quest to disengage itself . With the Anti War Movement fueled by a succession of events starting with the 1968 Tet Offensive and continuing on with President Johnson deciding not to run for reelection, the riots in Chicago at the Democratic Convention and the assassinations of both Kennedy and King, the " Domino Theory" became an anachronism. The Cambodian Incursion and resulting deaths at Kent State, My Lai, and the most damning, the "Pentagon Paper" leakage resulted in an unstoppable national obsession to desperately extract our troops and simply forget about Vietnam. Containing Communism had now become an anomaly,These are the basics of what the authors would also witness in S.E. Asia, a program called "Vietnamization." This novel word came from President Richard Nixon's Secretary of Defense, Melvin Laird. Henry Kissinger, the President's National Security Adviser and Secretary of State wrote a book in 2003 entitled "Ending the Vietnam War" explaining the word's origins. He revealed that in a National Security Council meeting that took place on January 28, 1969, the topic at hand was making the Vietnam War a conflict strictly fought by Asians minus any involvement of U.S. ground combat forces. Henry Kissinger wrote that during this meeting Melvin Laird remarked: "What we need is a term like "Vietnamizing" to put the emphasis on the right issues." Nixon immediately liked Laird's word." The term was promptly put into use, and both Geschke and Toto, freshly uprooted from a 18 month tour in West Germany would witness what would develop into an American exodus and a complete take over by the South Vietnamese of all their own military responsibilities and operations. However, all of these occurrences were forty years ago, and like most Vietnam Veterans experiences, these memories were buried in the back of Geschke's and Toto's minds. What changed this? A dream of Geschke's! Let's backtrack a little, and explain the genesis of this memoir. Dick Geschke was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated in the ROTC program from Kent State University in August of 1969 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve.While he claims he could have become a teacher thus being granted a deferment, he acted on his desire to gain experience in leadership as well as pure curiosity. Certainly a peculiar time to be inquisitive, 1969 held perils quite unfriendly for an American stationed in Vietnam. Geschke was ordered in November to Fort Benning, Georgia for Infantry Officer Basic Course. There, placed into class "IOBC 10-70," he would receive ten weeks of training all geared towards placing him squarely in the gun sites of the North Vietnamese Army. In January of 1969, Operation Dewey Canyon began. This was a major operation by U.S. Marines in the Da Krong Valley between South Vietnam and Laos. Now, the U.S. was breaking the "Rules of Engagement" and illegally entering a supposedly neutral country militarily without its permission. In March, President Nixon authorized "Operation Menu," the secret bombing of NVA sanctuaries in Cambodia by B-52s. In May, 46 men of the 101st Airborne died during a fierce 10 day battle at the infamous "Hamburger Hill' in the A Shau Valley, near Hue. If Geschke didn't notice this, he must have wondered why his IOBC instructors continuously issued this warning during every lesson: "If you don't do this, you will die in Vietnam." Nevertheless, after arriving at Fort Benning and settling into his assigned barrack, he noticed a fellow second lieutenant struggling with his baggage to find his quarters. Dick felt sorry for him and went to help Bob Toto, a Massachusetts native. This resulted in an unbreakable relationship that 42 years later continues to last, with the co authorship of this book as evidence of its durability.While Geschke and Toto were trained at Fort Benning with the old M-14 rifles, despite the fact that M-16's were being used at their intended destination, it is interesting to note Christopher Ronnau's comments about this rifle while in Vietnam. In his book "Blood Trails, he made this disturbing remark:" "More than a few grunts in the company had already experienced problems with an M-16 jamming in combat situations and thought that we should be using AK-47's or something more reliable. Because the Brass couldn't contradict the official party line publicly, most of them favored the M-16. It would have been easier to teach a pig how to fly than it would have been to undo a multimillion-dollar contract between the Pentagon and the arms industry." In regard to the war per se, Geschke mentions that as 1970 approached, the nation as a whole was divided. The My Lai Massacre made headlines, and while Lt. William Calley was being held at Fort Benning awaiting his trial, the two authors saw Calley walking with his entourage to the dining hall. The Army's plan for Geschke and Toto was to serve at a domestic station for 6 months and head straight for a 12 month tour of South Vietnam. However, Geschke and Toto were enticed to sign up for an Army program called "voluntary indefinite," a "bait and switch" program that they would 18 months later call a "time bomb." The deal was that by signing up, they were guaranteed a 1 year assignment to anywhere that there existed U.S. Army infantry units. Geschke's tour of Europe would last from February of 1970 to August of 1971, with 14 of those months spent with a line unit at Graves Kaserne, West Germany.Both Geschke and Toto spent one month in Fort Bliss, Texas at the "Redeye Missile School" and then shipped out to West Germany. Gescke wrote: "It was our hope that during this one year span, Nixon would withdraw combat forces and our tours would be completed in the non combat zones of the friendly confines of West Germany. However, he had not counted on inept, vindictive commanding officers standing in the way of fulfilling his hope. It was at this point that the two authors separated, as their only time together was while at Fort Benning and Bliss, and for a brief period in Panama, after their little gamble of "vol indef" did not pan out as expected. Once in Europe, Geschke actually wrote a profile of different officer types that existed in the zone of West Germany, such as ROTC, Officer Candidate and West Point Officers. He mentions that aside from confidence, leadership qualities and knowledge of all facets of their commands, these leaders needed to possess "a large ego with a noted military swagger." There are situations where this can be a negative trait, as it worked against one military commander noted for this. In Bud Willis's book "Marble Mountain," the author relates a story about "The Little Giant," General Victor Krulak. Upon realizing his name in Mandarin Chinese was "Chu Lai," Krulak named the area after himself. He excessively possessed the "military swagger" that Geschke referred to, even carrying a "swagger stick." The story in "Marble Mountain" is about Brooke Shadburn, Krulak's personal Huey pilot assigned to transport him about South Vietnam.Bud Willis asserted: "Shadburn told us Krulak has a collection of swagger sticks. He carries a different swagger stick with him each day. Swagger sticks were discouraged in 1959, and are considered by most Marine Officers to be the epitome of attracting attention and intimidating others. One of Krulak's favorite sticks is a riding crop, commonly used to whip racehorses down the stretch. When he talks to Brooke, he sometimes unconsciously taps him on the shoulder with this riding crop. Unbelievable!" What follows is a fascinating development of what it was like as an American officer with the tense background of the Cold War, ever present. While in what Geschke called "Training in Hitler's Playground, he mentioned the poverty suffered by East Germans, drug and alcohol abuse, favoritism, carousing and womanizing antics. Nevertheless, the stark reality of his presence in the Seventh Army set in. American forces were outnumbered by Warsaw Pact troops six to one, and if attacked by them, he asserted: "We were mere cannon fodder and pawns in the grand Cold War Strategy of Armageddon. American tanks, should Soviet forces go on the offensive, were directed to point their guns and fire East, but flee West. This attitude is corroborated in Flint Whitlock's Historical fiction account of his tour of duty. Similar to Geschke and Toto, Whitlock wanted to serve his country, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant through the ROTC. He entered active duty in December 1964. After attending the basic Air Defense Artillery officers' course (ADA) at Fort Bliss, Texas, Whitlock earned his jump wings at Airborne school at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was then posted to a Nike Hercules battery in Baumholder, Germany.After two years in ADA, in 1968, Flint was transferred to South Vietnam, arriving one day before the Tet Offensive in January, 1968. He served for six months as a supply specialist at 1st Logistical Command Headquarters at Long Binh, northeast of Saigon, before being transferred to the 14th Inventory Control Center at the same post. As Dick Geschke would discover, inventory control and transfer would be a critical element in Vietnamization. In his book "Internal Conflicts," Whitlock uses his protagonist, Peter Luton, to explain the anxiety that all American troops faced in West Europe. Training to man the "Battery Control Center" that launched missiles aimed at the Soviet East German border, he was being taught by Lt. Stiles, his commanding officer. Whitlock penned the following: "The green, sweeping line of the radar scope illuminated Peter's face with an unearthly glow as he scanned the blips that brilliantly bloomed as the sweep passed over them , then faded to nothingness until the next sweep. "That's commercial traffic around Frankfurt, said Lieutenant Stiles, the Battery Control Platoon Leader, as he pointed to a half-dozen slowly moving blips. "Down here, that's military traffic around Ramstein Air Base. And over here is Weisbaden Air Base. Peter noticed a diagonal, jagged line that had been drawn in red grease pencil across the upper right-hand quarter of the round scope. "What's this line?" "That's the border between East and West Germany," Stiles answered. "Every so often, we'll see a dozen or so blips in formation heading our way-probably MIG's-but they always turn back before they reach the border." What happens if they don't turn back?" Then, Pete, "Stiles said, the proverbial balloon has just gone up." Peter gulped. World War Three would be minutes away would be just minutes away if ever those advancing blips did not reverse course and re-cross the red, grease-penciled line."Bob Toto was assigned to the "Berlin Brigade" to be a central accounting officer. He had it "too good." With his own fully rigged apartment, the social milieu at that time offered an overabundance of single, aggressive females. This was a result of an overabundance of German WW. II deaths. Although they never were together in West Germany, events were about to conspire, reuniting the two. Vietnamization was affecting American combat units in Europe, with 90% of all brand new equipment going to S.E. Asia, earmarked for the use of the Army Republic of Vietnam's use. Toto and Geschke would soon follow. In May of 1970, Geschke was assigned to a mechanized infantry platoon of the line. His commanding officer was constantly disappearing to the Bavarian countryside with his fraulein for days at a time, with everyone covering for his unexcused absences except Geschke. Animosity developed between the two, and this commander in an act of vengeance treacherously gave Dick incorrect coordinates during a field exercise. Humiliated, hostilities mounted, and in asking for a transfer Geschke was about to jump from the frying pan into the fire. An opening developed in his Division Company Headquarters for a motor pool officer, and when offered this opportunity, Geschke jumped on it, a move he would live to regret. His new commanding officer had a character flaw of excessive braggadocio, prompting Dick to regard him as follows: "A small minded sycophant who thought he commanded the legions of Napoleon."After a few days of vigorous field exercises in May of 1971, Dick Geschke was exhausted. He decided after a long hard day to head for his tent. have a meal and catch some sleep. After laying down and dozing off, his commanding officer, with no sense of propriety, decided to inconsiderately awaken him with invented tales of; "How he single handedly put the Vietcong in their place during his one year tour of Vietnam." For Geschke might as well have guzzled a bottle of Nouc Mam sauce when he rejected this officer's boasts with this rebuff; "It's late. I wish you would take your war stories to another tent." His transfer was cowardly rescinded, and in the middle of June he received his permanent change of station notice. What was his reaction? Geschke scornfully commented: "I was mad, feeling that the military was nothing but a political battlefield played by small-minded people who took advantage of their subordinates. If the subordinates did not "play ball," the ball would be taken away, no matter how good or competent they were." He was to report to dual hells, the blistering jungle training school in Panama called "Fort Sherman" followed by the hell of Vietnam. His reaction? Typical of Dick, he lamented: "The bastards got me." He wasn't alone; they "got" Bob Toto too. There was no intrigue or backstabbing in his case. Under the impression that Vietnamization was flowing along at a rapid pace, Toto was given a leave and took a vacation in both Switzerland and Italy. As soon as he returned, a phone call from a staff officer have him the news. Numb, he went with his friend on his pre Vietnam training jaunt, of which he would later deem the Panamanian instructors there as "snake eaters."Geschke and Toto were about to find Vietnam to be a vacation when compared to the Panamanian hell embodied in Fort Sherman. This was where the Army prepared one prior to Vietnam deployment with core jungle training. Despite the distracting climate constantly hovering at 100% humidity without it raining, soldiers were expected to become novice botanists and entomologists. Geschke and Toto received instruction on the dangerous plants and wildlife of Panama, learning that the needle like points of the Panamanian Black Palm Tree will stick into one's flesh, and should that occur they will break off and cause a nasty infection. The two authors learned how to kill a chicken bare handed, how to rappel from cliffs and identify which snakes, spiders and ants can be harmful, if not fatal. Finally, they were taught to learn jungle land navigation, as well as recognition and avoidance of enemy mines and booby traps. Toto's warrior training paid off. Thanks to the instructors at Fort Sherman, Bob successfully vanquished what he deemed "a henhouse" of prostitutes that after making sexual advances "aggressively" attacked him. His tactic to ward them off was by bravely burning their hands with his cigarette. Geschke's training was inconsequential. He did not travel with Todo, but detoured with crutches under his arms and Black Palm points embedded in his palms as he was sent to the Army hospital at the Presidio in San Francisco. While walking through the jungle, he had twisted his ankle.Between the two slimy commanding officers in West Germany, going from the possibility of ending his Army career in West Germany as the Vietnam War ended to having a permanent change of station redirecting him to a combat zone in Vietnam, what more could go wrong with Dick Gesche's tour? With his palms riddled with Black Palm Tree points and a hairline fracture of his anklebone maybe, just maybe his ankle was so badly damaged that a sympathetic doctor would deem his leg injury a "million dollar wound," and he could finish out his tour with a nice, comfortably air conditioned stateside desk job rather then do battle with Ho Chi Minh's minions. Thinks looked up as he walked in to the Presidio and found out the doctor, being from Cleveland, the hometown of both, might cut him a break. He wondered how he could perform as an infantry officer in Vietnam walking through wet rice paddies and triple canopy forest with a cast and crutches! That wonderment would slowly turn to vexation, then indignation, followed by haughtiness. After a medical work up, the doctor came back with earth shattering news. Informing Geschke that his malaise was a sprained ankle was one issue that rankled him. However, when the good doctor told him he would be going to Vietnam with a letter in his profile stating he was an invalid, Dick blew a fuse. He stormed out of the hospital, flipped the letter and crutches in the trash, and recorded his annoyance forty years later as he rushed to get on a plane bound for 'Nam asserting: In retrospect-it was a matter of personal honor. They told me I was an infantry officer, and by golly I would proceed."This is the point of the book where everything would start to click for Dick Geschke. This would result in of the most unique and amazing memoirs this conflict has ever produced. "Vietnamization," and its implementation is examined, as well as the last few months of U.S. involvement in an unpopular war most chose to forget about. Geschke rationalized; "Here I was, 24 years of age, well trained, and heading for the ultimate two-way rifle range. Where I was headed was in fact the vernacular of a rifle range, only this range had targets that shot back." Now it was a fait accompli that the military careers of both authors would end with their Vietnam service. There is only one other memoir I know of that covers "Vietnamization" and the very last few months of America's presence before the 1972 Christmas bombings of Hanoi and the January, 1973 inking of the final Washington-Hanoi peace treaty signed in France.. Although it is from a Huey helicopter pilot's vantage point, just the title alone that Tom Marshall chose for his memoir is indicative of its revealing content. Many Vietnam Veterans that read this book and were "In Country" in the early years of "The Build Up" (1965 to 1967 or immediately before, during or after the "Tet Offensive," considered by most historians as the watershed of this conflict will have a hard time believing the veracity of this memoir. For those "Doubting Thomas's," I have checked every one of Geschke's and Toto's facts, and have found them to be flawlessly accurate. For any American that served In Country, the war was seen in a particular manner that depended on the year they were there, the branch of service they were in, and where in South Vietnam they were stationed.Certainly a Marine that was in "I Corps" and Phu Bai in 1967 is going to have a different perception of this war as well as of reading "In Our Duffel Bags" compared to a "Brown Water Sailor" who spent his tour on a swift boat in the Mekong Delta in 1970. However, you are simply going to have to buy this book if you want the full account of Gerschke's and Toto's enthralling descriptions elucidating how America started its trek out the back door of a failed American crusade. Ultimately, the South Vietnamese would be left to fend for themselves, which after June 4th of 1973 became necessary with the U.S. Senate passing the Case-Church Amendment. This prohibited any U.S. military activity anywhere in S.E. Asia regardless of any NVA encroachment. Perhaps Nixon knew something was in the air about his political future, and tried to rush massive amounts of aid knowing Hanoi's supplier's, the Soviet Union and China would not. It would eventually amount to Vietnamization being too much, too fast, and too late. Once Nixon was out of office, an unsympathetic Gerald Ford showed Saigon an Isolationistic American administration that was indifferent to Southeast Asia, with military supplies, replacement parts and funding a thing of the past. In 1975 there was a video made in South Vietnam where Ed Daly,owner of World Airways, sent a Boeing 727 aircraft to Da Nang, which was surrounded by the fast approaching North Vietnamese in their final push that would end in the surrender of Saigon and the South as a whole. The airplane was there to pick up stranded woman and children. As soon as this plane landed, the aircraft was swamped by panic stricken, desperate ARVN military personnel climbing on the aircraft, all afraid of being murdered by the fast approaching NVA contingent. Let's not forget the "Reeducation Camps" the North punished the South with, or the "Boat People" exodus; all consequences of our departure.Knowing what the North Vietnamese were capable of with their barbaric murdering spree of innocent citizens at Hue during the Tet Offensive, most American personnel including Geschke and Toto must have felt some degree of remorse in forsaking our ally. What Richard Geschke gives the reader starting from October of 1971 through March 30, 1972 is priceless and simply must be discovered on your own. As I mentioned earlier, this whole book was the result of a dream Geschke had. This dream brought back vivid memories of an incident that occurred in 1971 when he took a trip from Phu Bai to Danang. Geschke claims this dream was so real, so vivid, that he almost felt like it was happening for the first time. When first arriving in South Vietnam as a senior first lieutenant in the Fall of 1971, he paired up with another OOBC 10-70 graduate, Tom Stickney. They were ordered to Phu Bai as typhoon "Hester" slammed into the South Vietnamese countryside. Considering he was outside in a tent trying to sleep while the storm hit, this could very well be the source of his dream. Nevertheless, his mission was to command a contingent of unruly soldiers to build and secure an area slated for turnover to the ARVN as an ammunition supply point. Recruited as engineers with no prior knowledge or experience in construction, Geschke was given an uncompromising completion date and a rag tag group of "short" soldiers, all unmotivated with less than 90 days left in country to achieve this. The story of how he accomplished this is nothing less than amazing, as his efficiency in this miraculous achievement was to win him a Bronze Star Medal.Although Geschke speculated who was in the helicopter overhead checking the progress of his work every day, he later learned it was his commanding officer, General Arthur H. Sweeney, who passed away in 1999. After this job was completed, he was ordered to Danang. When after reading Geschke's classification of soldier's living conditions, you will understand why he jumped for joy when ordered there. This classification system of Geschke's gives the reader a sense of class structure and just how one lived during their tour of duty in the combat zones of S.E. Asia. Everything from who had air conditioning, running water, security, staff servants, hot food, etc. was assessed. Geschke devised a four tier strata, with the best being 1 i.e. generals, diplomats, etc., to 4, which was the worst. Usually it was the grunts in the field that received the bottom ranking. Nevertheless, Geschke was so desirous of upgrading his living conditions and getting out of Phu Bai that he couldn't leave soon enough. Phu Bai might of been "okay" for Hanoi Hannah, but Dick had enough and wanted out. Hanoi Hannah was the radio voice of the Communists who would try to scare American forces with threats, instigative taunts and attempts to foment racial unrest. All her utterances were ignored by Geschke except when she bellowed "Phu Bai is okay." Certainly it was, as it was never attacked the whole two months the author was there.Danang is approximately 50 miles from Phu Bai, only accessible by Highway 1 via the Hai Van Pass. Highway 1 was nicknamed the "Street Without Joy" by the French in the 1946-1954 "First Indochina War," and that moniker was later adopted by Bernard Fall, the famed author, for the title of a book he wrote. This highway runs the entire length of both North and South Vietnam, and during the war the Army invested substantial effort in keeping it open, especially when bad weather made aerial resupply of American troops in certain areas impossible. The Hai Van Pass, with its hilly cliffs and dense foliage lent itself to a natural haven for NVA and VC snipers. On the day he was to leave Phu Bai, he was awaiting the outgoing convoy, with gun trucks and security. However, two U.S. advisors, bizarre characters indeed, offered Geschke a ride in the back of their jeep. If you look up the Hai Van Pass on the internet, think of a jeep driving at breakneck speeds with a sniper shooting at you no less! Read this book for the insane description on Geschke's torturous ride to Danang. Maybe it was the Black Palms, maybe the crazy doctor at the Presidio, or those two sadistic advisors that gunned through the cliffs of the Van Hai Pass laughing hysterically at Geschke's panicky expressions when sniper shots rang out. Something gave him this dream, which prompted him to write about it. This task turned into what is now Chapter 18, called "Going My Way."Upon going through his memories, which Geschke symbolically called his "duffel bag," he wrote a second chapter. Stimulating further thought, he contacted Toto, and after many conversations, they had enough material for a book. Geschke wrote the majority of these chapters, but this book would never be what it is without Bob Toto. Intentionally left out of this review, his input is from another dimension. Bob has a way of putting things I can't even think of a way of labeling or describing it. It makes this book complete, however, and adds a delightful, enhancing tilt to every single anecdote that is thoroughly augments this memoir and enhances the historical content. There is content that also is very telling as to what some consider myths and others say it is an absolute fact. The movie industry in Hollywood has picked up on this facet and certainly exaggerated it. This is the issue of drug use, particularly of heroin. Dick Geschke makes one thing perfectly clear: during his tour he personally saw heroin addiction and it was unequivocally a serious problem. Many soldiers that were in Vietman during the build up years and just after Tet (1965-1969 believe that drug use, particularly of heroin is a laughable myth. What they fail to understand is that it simply was not the same war in 1967 as it was in 1971. Although it is beyond the scope of this book, it does support Geschke's observations. After the Tet Offensive, the American anti-war movement gained strength. Jeff Stein's book "A Murder in Wartime" details how public revelation of the 1969 "Green Beret Affair," whereupon eight Special Forces soldiers, including the 5th Special Forces Group Commander, Colonel Robert Rheault were arrested for the murder of a suspected double agent Thai Khac Chuyen. This, along with "Operation Speedy Express" and the incident at My Lai provoked national and international outrage.In Operation Speedy Express, the 9th Infantry Division claimed a body count of 10,889 Communist guerillas with only 40 U.S. KIA's from December of 1968 to May of 1969. However, only 748 enemy weapons were found. Something had to be done, and starting in 1970, U.S. troops were shifted away from the border areas where much of the killing took place. Instead, they were repositioned along the coast and interior of South Vietnam. The result: there were 11,614 U.S. KIA's in 1969, and 6,082 KIA's in 1970, almost 50% less. With troops now in urban areas, boredom set in, and drug use soared. A look on the Internet will reveal the severity of this problem, which started after the 1968 Tet Offensive and peaked in 1971, a year that revealed an estimated 37,000 American heroin addicts in South Vietnam. In another study conducted the same year under the direction of the U.S, "Special Action Office on Drug Abuse Prevention, Dr. Lee Robins conducted an investigation of heroin use among U.S. troops. Robins surveyed a representative sample of enlisted Army men who had left Vietnam in September of 1971--the date at which the U.S. Army began its policy of mandatory urine screening Geschke includes a discussion of two urinalysis tests given before leaving among his unit, and 9 men were caught and not allowed to leave. Geschke added: "It was a known fact that the local mama sans were selling pure heroin on the base.The Robins team interviewed veterans a year later. What were the results? Dr. Robins found that 50% had used either opium or heroin at least once during their tour of duty, 25 % tested positive for opiates on the way out of Vietnam and reported that they had been addicted to heroin at some point during their term of service overseas. Dr. Robbins, trying to sugarcoat this miscalculation, noted that the military had vastly underestimated the problem. In 1971 one out of every 5 soldiers in Vietnam had logged some time as a junky. As it turned out, soldiers under the age of 21 found it easier to score heroin than to hassle through the military's alcohol restrictions. The "gateway drug hypothesis" that marijuana led to stronger drugs didn't seem to function overseas. What about the target of Vietnamization, aiding our allies, the ARVN as well as the war itself? Some of Dick Geschke's assertions are a macrocosm of the attitudes of most Vietnam Veterans. As an example, the author stated: "If I had to guess as to the percentage of high market items that ended up with the ARVN, it would be at 95 percent. It got to be downright embarrassing when the ARVN became so demanding that they would not take a jeep with a slight crack in the windshield. That's when I knew that our so-called allies were nothing but spoiled brats." In all fairness to the South Vietnamese, Lam Quang Thi, a prominent ARVN General that fled South Vietnam on April 30th, 1975, the day South Vietnam surrendered, wrote a book entitled "The Twenty-Five Year Century."While General Thi himself knew about corruption among his own people, he added that there was American complicity by stating the following: "Although I agreed that corruption must be rooted out, what disturbed me more was that there were indications the corruption drive was supported or at least encouraged by U.S. Officials in Vietnam. It was ironic because U.S. Officials were partially responsible for the corruption practices in Vietnam: their patronage system of buying obedience in exchange for favors had, in fact, nurtured and legitimized corruption. Now, in my opinion, these same U.S. officials were trying to use corruption and political instability to justify the U.S. disengagement from Vietnam." On the possibility of the ARVN winning the war on their own after the U.S. pullout, Geschke opined: "They had no concept of their mission or how they were to accomplish it! In the grand scheme of things, we could have given the ARVN the world, but never in one hundred years would they be able to rid themselves of the hostile actions of the North Vietnamese and the VC. No way! Bud Yost, a retired U.S. Army Major, winner of the "Distinguished Army Cross" and author of the memoir "Hard Core" had this to say about ARVN's fighting prowess: "We integrated the Vietnamese units into our company; augmenting the American squads and platoons with Vietnamese squads and platoons. This proved to be a very unwieldy method of operation. First, there was the problem of the language barrier as we did not have enough interpreters, but more importantly, was the lack of discipline and this was terrifying for the squads on ambush. When in ambush the Vietnamese would chatter incessantly and light up cigarettes throughout the night. Many of the soldiers would walk off during the day to return to their villages and not return until nightfall."During Lam Son 719, Tom Marshall was a Huey helicopter pilot who flew ARVN infantry troops on a combat assault insertion into Laos. Heavily outnumbered, it turned into an ARVN debacle. It was Marshall's job to extract these Southern soldiers. In his book "The Price of Exit," he remembered this: "March 20, 1971 will be remembered as the worst ever day of army combat aviation. Pickup zones around Fire Support Base Brown were the day's objectives. And as ARVN's were dropping their weapons, too panicked to fight, the NVA carefully hugged the perimeters, waiting for a shot at the U.S. Army helicopters attempting to evacuate the ARVN's. It was a shooting gallery for the NVA, who were just yards from the landing zones. When a Huey came to a low hover, the ARVN's clambered aboard, many becoming casualties of AK-47 fire. It was a nightmarish, very real rout under direct enemy fire. Risking U.S. aircrew lives repeatedly for the ARVN forces was not justified because the ARVN were dropping their weapons and refusing to fight, which only made the Pickup Zones more dangerous for U.S. air crews. Terrified of dying at the hands of the NVA, the ARVN's crowded aboard the helicopters as they landed, creating a volatile, lethal environment. An overloaded Huey could easily be stuck on the ground if too many troops leapt aboard. The Huey's single turbine engine had a carefully measured weight capacity. However, the ARVN's in the landing zone were mobbing each ship that landed. They nearly trampled one pilot and his crew. He had to fire a burst from his M-60 machine gun into the ground in front of a landing Huey, which kept the ARVN's away from the next ship. Another Major called me on my radio warning me: "I've got about 15 ARVN's on board, 2 fell off my skids, and I still am flying with 3 on my skids. It's bad down there!"You will also read Dick Geschke's story about a bizarre incident involving an ARVN captain and his involvement in the "Black Market." This cemented his opinion of the ARVN, declaring afterwards; "The government and its own military, which are supposed to be our allies, are nothing but a corrupt regime trying to live off the aid that we, their defenders, were providing. From that point on, I wanted nothing to do with a government so blatantly corrupt, and our command most certainly knew what was transpiring around them." Regarding the War itself? Geschke declared: "Never in a million years would the U.S. have won in Vietnam-which was nothing but a huge cesspool in which we Americans never belonged. And to put "In Our Duffel Bags" in perspective, what regrets did Dick have when it was all over? Aside from going to a party at a college and being asked by a very immature, brash girl the universally stupid, most insulting and insensitive question one could possibly ask of a returning Veteran, e.g., "How did it feel to kill women and children?" he voiced an opinion that ended with a question. This is a query that one can only hope the entire populace of America could hear. In the near future all of our forces presently deployed in Afghanistan will be returning. It is a shame when a Veteran returns home, after both risking their life and patriotically answering our nation's call to arms, thus ensuring a perpetuation of our democratic society, to be warned that it is not safe to be seen in a military uniform. It is an even greater travesty when a Veteran returns from a war zone and vocalizes this sad commentary that Geschke expressed: "Not only did we not have a welcome home, but we were also treated as a disease-a boil upon the populace. What had we done to deserve this treatment? I thought we had been serving our country. The country was trying to forget our participation. People went to work with the blasé attitude of an uninterested observer. Vietnam was an inconvenient blip in history. Tell that to over fifty thousand people that gave their lives!" If you chose one book to read about the Vietnam War, and there are a great many, DO NOT MISS this one! It is a gem!

Casualties Of War

by William Koch Jr

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Historian, Pembroke Pines, Fl, USA Contact, BernWei1@aol.com Sept. 27, 2011 Title of Review: " Their Spiritual Presence Is Eternal: Two Immortal Souls From A Bereaved Family Refuse To Abandon Their Loved Ones!" "Casualties of War" is a new 2011 release, by a first time writer, Mr. William Koch, Jr. Those two facts are the only items about this book that are new. The unfortunate consequences presented in Koch's book are a result of a national catastrophe that occurred a decade ago. However, the painful and heart wrenching essences of this book are the feelings and issues the remaining survivors of a nuclear family are forced to confront, deal with and overcome if they are to survive. These are repercussions of man's inhumanity to his fellow man that are ancient, found even in surviving cave man hieroglyphics. This is not an easy book to read, especially if you are not used to the subtle intrinsic meanings that are built into poetry, which at times are ambiguous to interpretation. Perhaps it was the only way a suffering father could describe the unrelenting sorrow he is continually dealing with. I have read stories of Nazi Concentration Camp victims, prisoners of war that have survived the Japanese "Hell Ships," Americans languishing in the "Hanoi Hilton" and even unfortunate souls that endured an indescribable hell of internment in a sub zero Siberian gulag. While this is not a contest of who had the worse torment of the aforementioned lot, certainly this is a story that affects every American, as well as every husband and father. For I cannot think of any greater despair more severe then when a father and mother outlives their son and daughter, respectively. Despite Koch's brevity of 205 pages, most of which are lyrical twenty line poetic compositions, the subjective feeling of tormenting heartbreak and mid boggling agony of inconsolable bereavement are a disquieting theme present from cover to cover. It is hard to imagine anyone remaining stoical while reading "Casualties of War."William Koch's story will most significantly affect those readers that have already experienced the debilitating effects of death's familial dismantling. It will also equally evoke powerful feelings of concerned apprehension for those with a family member in the Armed Forces that is susceptible to or currently deployed in the omnipresent battlegrounds of Afghanistan. Barely a citizen of this country emerged psychically unscathed from the events that occurred on September 11, 2001. Those most sensitive to this traumatic recollection will also feel the hypnotic effect of William Koch's prose. All of the aforementioned groups will invariably be mesmerized in their struggle to interpret the authors poetical lines into their own level of comprehension. September 11th is a day that many argue even outranks the trauma our nation endured on what President Franklin D. Roosevelt deemed "A Day of Infamy." National shock, indignation and rancor arose as a consequence of Japan's carefully-planned and well-executed December 7th, 1941 early morning "sneak attack" on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After just two hours of bombing, more than 2,400 Americans were dead, 21 ships had either been sunk or damaged, and more than 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed. The attack at Pearl Harbor so outraged Americans that the U.S. abandoned its policy of isolationism and declared war on Japan the following day, officially bringing the United States into World War II. Ironically, it was particularly the citizenry of America that was stunned, as F.D.R. and his cronies knew this attack was only a matter of time in coming. The Second World War would drag on until 1945, where in Western Europe the end of hostilities would be heralded with Adolf Hitler's suicide on April 30, followed by the entire German military capitulation on May 7th.Despite the Nazi perpetration of "The Holocaust," America's acrimony was more vengefully focused on "The Rising Sun." Two big bangs would end this conflict, manifested by history's only usage of two nuclear weapons called upon in the course of warfare. On August 6th, 1945, the U.S. dropped a uranium bomb code named "Little Boy" on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, on August 9th, a plutonium implosion-type bomb code-named "Fat Man" was exploded over Nagasaki, Japan. These two bombings resulted in the deaths of approximately 200,000 Japanese people, mostly civilians that would perish as a result of acute injuries sustained from the explosions. On the surface, the facts appear as if the foreign attack on Pearl Harbor was more significant then the ones in the 911 incidents. If you look strictly at the casualties, this assumption is correct. There was a total number of 2,977 Americans combined that perished on the four September 11, 2001 attacks. In the resulting "War on Terror", which includes operations in Afghanistan, the start date is officially recorded as October 7th, 2001. This demarcation of America's foray into Afghanistan and elsewhere in that region of the world that harbors, sponsors and gives sanctuary to terrorists and their organizations has the dubious distinction of being the longest war in American history, even eclipsing U.S. involvement in Vietnam. It is currently ongoing, resulting in a total of 5,921 Americans to date killed. At Pearl Harbor, American mortality figures were 2,402 dead. However, that was a small part of the overall U.S. casualties in both theatres of W.W. II, which at war's end would total 416,800 military deaths. Coinciding with William Koch's title, it is interesting to note that The Civil War of 1961-1865 still resulted in the highest number of American casualty totals of any conflict this country has ever engaged in.Just as a side note, other "casualty of war" ironies involve the way some past wars were viewed. For example, W. W. II resulted in more American deaths than the 116,708 that perished in W.W. I, despite President Woodrow Wilson calling the latter the "War to End All Wars". Sadly, the Korean War was designated the misnomer "The Forgotten War" despite 36,516 combat deaths. In the Second Indo-China War, more commonly known as the Vietnam War, 58,220 of our nation's finest went to their final resting place. Sadly, many Americans upon their return turned their backs on these brave men willing to risk being a "Casualty of War." In its first 100 years of existence, over 683,000 Americans lost their lives, with the Civil War accounting for 623,026 of that total, a staggering 91.2% of America's "Casualties of War." Just to illustrate how costly the War Between the States truly was, in the 100 years after the Civil War, i.e. 1865 to 1965, another 626,000 Americans were killed, with W.W. II representing 65% of that total. While these figures are enlightening, and do fit in with the author's title, they are also extremely deceptive. As evidence, the September 11th attacks resulted in an unprecedented terrorization of every single member of the U.S., from Air Force One shuttling President Bush to an underground command center in Nebraska to the mania surrounding the anthrax scare. No other war has done this, regardless of the casualties. There are other differences between the two "surprise attacks." Although the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor came as a profound shock to all American citizens, few people know that Japanese motives were actually defensive in nature.Historical evidence dictates that the Japanese attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with their upcoming military actions planned in Southeast Asia. Japanese imperialistic action against the overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States was the Nippon objective. Called "The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere," the Japanese desired to create a self-sufficient "bloc of Asian nations led by the Japanese Empire and free of Western powers. Prior to Pearl Harbor, the Japanese had already had incorporated Manchuria and French Indochina. Aware of this, F.D.R. forbid the exportation of U.S. oil to Japan, a nation entirely dependent on outside sources. Without this commodity, Japan targeted military seizure of the oil rich Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, Singapore, et. al. Their plan of ensuring noninterference by U.S. Naval assets by eliminating them worked. While Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, they simultaneously invaded the aforementioned areas successfully, with virtually little American opposition. Another difference between 911 and Pearl Harbor was that in Hawaii, only the U.S. Naval base was attacked, and the majority of Americans killed that day were Naval personnel. In contrast, the September 11, 2001 attackers did not return like the Japanese did in 1941 to offshore awaiting aircraft carriers, These were one way suicide attacks, consisting of a series of four different coordinated strikes upon the U.S. in both New York City and Washington, D.C., area.On that Tuesday morning, 19 terrorists from the Islamic militant group al-Qaeda hijacked four different passenger jets, intentionally crashing three planes. The flight crews of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were both overpowered, and the planes were flown as commercial missiles with horrified, strong armed passengers aboard into both of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Both towers collapsed within two hours. A third plane was also pirated, with hijackers cowardly crashing American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth and final jet, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers attempted to take control before it could reach the hijacker's intended target in Washington, D.C. With deeper scrutiny, the differences between the sneak attacks of 1941 and 2001 continue to grow. America knew that at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attacking armada was composed of a task force of six aircraft carriers commanded by Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. In the September 11th Attacks, the attackers were quickly identified, but who they were sent by could only be strongly suspected. Highest on the list was a global Sunni Islamic militant group that was founded by Osama bin Laden in approximately 1988. This was confirmed in 2004, when bin Laden, who had initially denied involvement, claimed responsibility. In the Sept. 11th attacks, defense experts postulated that Bin Laden's motives were one of, or a combination of several different causes. Most popular was America's support of Israel, the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq as a consequence of the Gulf War. Why all the history? Simple, this is the very reason for this story in the first place. The primary consequences of warfare have an inevitable and tragic result: human loss of life.There is not much written of the author's early life, and for the purposes of this story, it is not really needed. The Koch Family, before all this madness occurred, was initially a happy, hearty family of five. The patriarch was and still is William Koch, a quiet, unassuming man from East Brunswick, New Jersey. He is a professional electrician. He fell in love with and married Christine, a registered nurse. Like most young couples, they went about building a family. Their first child was a girl, born on January 21, 1981 who was named Lynne. The Koch's would have two more, Steven, born three years later on October 25, 1984, and finally to round out the trio, William. The author only details the most basic information about Steven, such as the fact that he was highly sociable, interacting strongly with his siblings, schoolmates and friends. In addition, he was exceptionally athletic, involved in all forms of organized sports such as little league baseball as well as basketball. This was balanced by an even higher sense of allegiance he held to his family, rooting for his sister Lynne in her cheerleading endeavors as well as skateboarding with Bill, the youngest. William Koch points out that Steven went to Our Lady of Lourdes elementary school in Milltown, New Jersey and East Brunswick high school. At the center of this trio was Lynne, the oldest, who felt an obligation to keep a watchful eye out for her two younger brothers. The author in pointing out her nickname of "little mommy" shows the inseparable, overly protective bond Lynne felt for her brothers, which would be unbearable to her when it could only present for one brother. If you read the authors poetry real carefully, you will see that he explains that his daughter was always in the center of her two brothers, constantly sharing her kindness. Lynne was able to split in half her affection and overly protective bond right down the middle. A perfect analogy of this relationship is a stereo system. Lynne was like the component to it, and Steven and Bill were speaker A and B, giving the Koch siblings a stereo relationship, all in tune with each other. If you permanently take away one speaker from that setup, the system will never sound right again. Events were about to conspire to do just that.On that fateful Tuesday morning of September 11th, the youngest of the three siblings, William, was working across the street from the World Trade Center at the time of the catastrophe. Although William was unhurt, the overprotective instincts of "little mommy" was seized upon by Steven. To put his younger brother in such grave danger was an unpardonable affront, and when reflecting on what happened, he became both indignant and vengeful. Steven realized that the hijackers of American Flight 11 and United Flight 175 had no respect for their own lives, the passengers lives that were on those planes or the people working in the Twin Towers. Mohammad Atta, the main hijacker and his cohorts had gone too far. What they did was so contemptible that Steven felt obligated to contribute in insuring that this transgression would not go unpunished. William Koch does not mention what the final straw was that motivated his son to join the army. Surely Steven must have processed the anthrax attacks which occurred over the course of several weeks beginning on Tuesday, September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 attacks. Letters that contained anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and two Senators, killing five people and infecting 17 others. Terrorist events kept occurring, like the arrest of Richard Reid in December of 2001. Reid, a follower of Osama bin Laden, hid explosives inside his shoes before boarding a flight from Paris to Miami and attempted to light the fuse with a match. If detonated, the explosives would have damaged the plane. The next year saw Jose Padilla arrested at O'Hare Airport in Chicago as he returned to the United States from Pakistan. He was initially charging as an enemy combatant and for planning to use a "dirty bomb" in an attack against America and later sentenced to 17 years in jail.In June of 2006, seven men were arrested in Miami and Atlanta for plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and only one month later, the FBI discovered a plot to attack underground transit links between New York City and New Jersey. The American way of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was being challenged. William Koch mentions that in Steven's drive to protect our country and others who could not protect themselves, he joined the U.S. Army. Making a statement as to what was important in life, Steven signed on the dotted line of the U.S. Army recruiter, and joined Uncle Sam's bandwagon on stamping out terrorism and its adherents wherever it raised it's ugly head. With his competitive instincts unleashed, Steve did his basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia and easily flew through airborne school in Louisiana, qualifying himself in the use of parachuting as a means of combat deployment. In developing leadership, self-confidence, and an aggressive spirit through mental and physical conditioning, the proud author wrote that his warrior son was awarded the "Excellence Medal" outperforming everybody. There are very clear photos to show this period in Steven's life. The anxiety that rifled the entire family upon the January, 2007 deployment of Steven to Afghanistan is palpable to the reader. William adds that as a member of the 82 Airborne 508th Infantry, Steven "lived and worked hard to keep others out of harm's way. The tension is cranked up another level when William mentions that Steven's missions were covert and classified, on a "need to know" basis only. In recalling those last few calls home, his son's messages would be succinct and laconic. In reminiscing, the author laments:" How I wish he would call right now and tell us how we are making too much of what he did." Like past baseball stars Kirk Gibson with two ailing knees blasting a home run and grimacing, barely able to circle the bases, or Curt Schilling's World Series pitching masterpiece, mowing down hitters with an ailing ankle, Steven soldiered through pain, never complaining."Casualties of War" is not a combat book. There is no description of Steven's reaction to seeing dead bodies, being shot at or of shooting, being attacked or ambushed, or even Steven's reactions to knowing someone was killed or seriously wounded. These are all events he undoubtedly experienced. Afghanistan is a land-locked Asian country of 251,825 square miles that is bordered by Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and China. The topography is a mix of central highlands and peripheral foothills and plains. Except for a few minorities, all inhabitants are Muslim. The Taliban control most of the country. Their government is recognized only by Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. The Taliban rule without a constitution, relying on the Koran. Steven Koch was facing an elusive enemy that fought strictly guerrilla style; on their terms with the use of booby traps and ambushes. It is not an army in the sense of past wars, like German Panzer Divisions or English Commandos. In a sense a comparison could be made to the fighting Americans faced in South Vietnam's jungles, mountains and rice paddies. There, the Viet Cong was an elusive opponent that blended in with the population using booby traps, underground tunnels and stealth. They were well trained from fighting the French before the U.S. arrived en masse. Similarly, The Soviet Union tried out their military might, deploying their forces in December of 1979 under Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev in a nine year war they were destined to lose 14, 453 of their own troops. Their leader in 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev, would bring the troops home in February of 1989 without accomplishing anything except causing between 200,000 to a million Afghani "Casualties of War." Although this was a proxy war of the super powers, Steven's opponents sharpened their lethal guerrilla style method of combat. In this instance, the Soviet Union was there to support the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The ironic part is that the U.S. supported both economically and militarily the "Afghan Mujahideen" and foreign "Arab-Afghan" volunteers, who would later become their opponents.Before the war with the Soviets, Afghanistan was already one of the world's poorest nations. The prolonged conflict left Afghanistan as one of the least developed countries in the world. One chief factor of anti-American sentiment that is cited is that once the Soviets withdrew, US interest in Afghanistan ceased completely. Deciding to go back to a policy of isolationism, leaders in Washington decided not to help with reconstruction of this country and instead handed over Afghani interests to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, American allies. A bizarre combination of individual Warlords and the Taliban seized power, and a decimated economy took to opium agriculture as a primary means of income. Jumping ahead to September 11, 2001, it was the caves of Afghanistan that Osama bin Laden sought and found refuge, and the stomping grounds Al-queda had its training camps in. Refusing to hand over public enemy number one or oust Al Queda from it's borders, the Taliban was toeing a perilous line with Washington. Before the U.S. attacked, it offered Taliban leader Mullah Omar a chance to surrender bin Laden and his top associates. As a stalling tactic, The Taliban offered to turn over bin Laden to a neutral country for trial if the U.S. would provide evidence of bin Laden's complicity in the attacks. President had enough, responding: "We know he's guilty. Turn him over!" Soon thereafter the U.S. and its allies invaded Afghanistan, and the Taliban government, although deposed, fought a war of subterfuge and booby traps using a cowardly tactic of "improvised explosive devices," known as the infamous acronym "IED." These are homemade bombs. These bombs are not constructed and used like regular bombs such as an artillery shell or what a fighter bomber aircraft would drop on a target, although it could be constructed from the parts of one with simply a detonating mechanism attached to it.This insidious usage of IED's is the weapon of choice the "Insurgents" use to combat American and Coalition forces, and these have caused over 66% of the coalition casualties from the 2001 to the present Afghanistan War. These "Insurgents," a ragtag collection of Taliban, al-Qaeda and Haqqani militia, use these IED's, which can be anything from a car or truck bomb to begin an attack. Following this, their typical campaign commences, using direct-fire weapons such as machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades to continue the attack. Currently the fighting is primarily concentrated in Southern Afghanistan. The scene was set, as Stephen Koch was less than two months from coming home to his family. He had taken a wife, Amy, and had a three month old daughter, Zoe, eagerly anticipating his homecoming. Koch, aside from being in communications, rode as a Humvee gunner, meaning he had all the firepower directly in his hands, from a TOE missile to an M2 heavy machine gun as well as a grenade launcher. A HUMVEE is a military four door "High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle" which has become the vehicular backbone of U.S. forces around the world. Unfortunately, "little mommy" back in East Brunswick could not protect him on March 3rd, 2008 when his unit entered the northern part of Khost Province, Afghanistan, known as the "Sabari District." Although William Koch was sparse on the details, a building Steven was in collapsed after a truck containing an IED exploded. He was killed along with another soldier, Sgt. Robert Rapp. Although younger Koch and Rapp were the only fatalities, the entire platoon suffered wounds in this incident. You would think everyone had suffered enough, and would try as best they could to put one foot in front of each other and carry on the best way they could. However, the stereo was not working right without one of it's speakers, and it never would work right again. On May 6th, 2010, "Little Mommy" who dad explained "kept the boys so safe and cool" reached for "peace of mind." William Koch, interpreting Lynne's motives, speaks for the rest of his family in finishing the last part of that sentence: "In a way that the three of us understand completely, as will others that have been there. There are times that it gets to be too much to take, and now with Lynne also a casualty of wartime, it becomes even more important to look for Jesus to carry us through the pain. The words and guidance of Christ are what get us through. This spiritual connection with our Lord has helped me to internally deal with the questions of life and now death." Amen, William Koch!I am sorry if I have been too technical or have included too much historical background. You see, not that it is an excuse, but the author is 100% correct, I have been there. Although not exactly like William, Christine and Billy, but then again everybody's experience is different. I only wish I had a fraction of the strength and empowerment that William Koch displayed in writing such a bold, courageous and vital book. You, the reader, will find every answer that my review has brought up in reading William Koch's empowering verses. He discusses in depth raising the children, his feelings of loneliness upon losing Steven, which magnified infinitesimally upon Lynne's passing. The author writes: "My answer to some people asking how we can go on-Life minus a brother, sister, daughter, and a son-Daily routine is hard to function to make thoughts go away-Missed love in our hearts can't save us from the brutal day. " There is incredulously a sense of humor intermixed with drenching, soul searching despair in the ruckus Steven and Lynne are creating in the "Pearly Gates." William writes: God got his hands full with this pair-Bill, Mom and I are left with a tear-Days go by slow like that of a year-Hours of pain with too much wear-Her spirit still flows, my daughter dear-Our love for her will never disappear." William Koch's "Casualties of War" is a book that shows courage, perseverance of the strongest kind, love, faith and incredible coping skills in a situations trying to the highest degree. As I have already stated from the beginning, this is the hardest, yet simplest book I have ever read or reviewed in my life. It is also one book out of thousands I will never, ever forget, so powerful was this author's words. Even more important was his deeds, of continuing today his role of being a loving and devoted husband to Christine, a supportive father for Bill, a solid father in law for his daughter in law, Amy, and a proud grandfather for the up and coming Zoe. This book's title is about casualties. However it is actually about survivors, life, sticking together regardless of outside circumstances, and what made it possible to do this. Incredibly, William Koch unwittingly left readers with an invaluable survivor's guide in defiance of insurmountable odds. Do you want to learn these lessons? Read "Casualties of War" and don't forget the box of tissues!

Marble Mountain

by Bud Willis

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War, Pembroke Pines, Fl USA Sept.,15, 2011 Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: Winning The Hearts & Minds of People Who Chain Themselves To A .50 Cal Machine Gun Is Going To Be A Tough Sell! Is "Marble Mountain" a humorous book, a memoir, a personal legacy, or a war story regarding the author's plight as a Huey helicopter pilot in the early stages of the Vietnam War? The answer really depends on who is reading it. Regardless of who that is, Bud Willis's book revealed disturbing futuristic trends of a war America was only seeing, metaphorically speaking, the tip of the iceberg as to its unavoidable climax. In making this statement, there are several factors to consider. Willis selected the May 7, 1954 French surrender at Dien Bien Phu to Ho Chi Minh's forces, known then as the "Viet Minh," as his starting point. It should also be noted that within two years of this, America's casualties would commence. For the historically uninitiated, the author's history lesson is concise, arming the reader with reference points whereupon everything that followed makes sense. Two months after this French debacle, an accord was reached in Geneva, Switzerland whereby both North and South Vietnam were partitioned into two zones at the 17th Parallel, used as a demarcation point. Elections were to scheduled to occur within two years of this to determine Vietnam's fate, with its indigenous population selecting either Uncle Ho's Northern Communism, or opting for leadership from the former Emperor of Vietnam, Bao Dai. Considered a French and Japanese puppet, it was taken for granted Dai would lose and Vietnam would become Communist. Eisenhower already had developed his version of the "Domino Theory," prompting the CIA to quickly step in. Next, they installed Ngo Din Diem as the South's Prime Minister, and Dai was quietly ousted. It is with regret that Willis did not publish his book at the conclusion of his 1966 tour. Between the next decade following the fall of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 to the August, 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, which would be used as a pretext to commit U.S. troops en mass, 401 Americans would be killed on Vietnamese soil. The next year saw 1,863 fatalities and in 1966, the year Willis wrote this memoir, 6,143 Americans would lose their lives. The worst was yet to come, as in 1967 the number would jump almost 50 percent to the demise of 11, 616 soldiers. The following year was considered the war's zenith with the infamous "Tet Offensive." This event spelled the beginning of the end for American involvement, with 16,592 of our nation's finest taking their "last ride home." Sadly, "Marble Mountain" unintentionally contains powerful hints as to why this war would inevitably turn into an American catastrophe, regardless of our forces zeal, technological or military superiority. Willis conveys this early enthusiasm by using his hometown as an example,a small, but fiercely patriotic area in the south central part of Tennessee called Tullahoma. This unpretentious beginning takes you with him straight to South Vietnam, where he served as a Marine pilot flying numerous missions in the latest helicopter, a Bell UH-1 Gunship, affectionately known as a "Huey." Willis's missions were varied, from medical evacuation of wounded troops that were in areas inaccessible to anything but a vertical landing by helicopter, usually surrounded by hostile enemy troops shooting at his aircraft. Willis also flew other missions, serving as a fighter escort for "combat assaults." His helicopter could prepare an LZ for a landing, blasting the area with machine gun fire and rockets, thus making sure the enemy kept their heads down. Equally important, Willis would perform security by policing the area for enemy soldiers as he accompanied a gaggle of troop carrying helicopters called "slicks." These helicopters were without protective weaponry, designed solely for rapidly inserting or extracting troops, usually from "hot" landing zones. Other lesser performed missions were inserting or extracting Special Force operatives on covert missions tasked with snatching for intelligence purposes an enemy "prisoner of war," or undertaking reconnaissance and sabotage in inaccessible, behind enemy line areas. These were extremely dangerous missions that were undertaken in unmarked helicopters, with Willis and his crew wearing uniforms without insignias. These were generally in the no man's land of the DMZ or Laos, an area America officially denied ever being in. One common factor that was omnipresent from the minute Willis set foot in South Vietnam until his departure was the threat and fear of imminent death. He makes it clear that there was no safe place regardless of where he was in that country, with this threat only evaporating after his commercial airplane, known affectionately as the "Freedom Bird" lifted off and departed Vietnamese soil. It is interesting to note that most Vietnam War memoirs that have come out the past two decades are labeled "historical fiction." This is because despite the author's attempt to deliver a true and accurate rendition of what occurred almost a half century ago, names, places and the exact sequence of events can easily blur for even authors with vivid memory recall. Willis was smart, as without any future intention of publishing an account of his unfolding tour, he faithfully kept a daily journal of his impressions and emotions, diligently adding to it from the early days of his tour to its final conclusion. He also recovered the letters he wrote home to his family. While Bud Willis qualifies that he was married with a two week old son when he left for Vietnam, he notes that his recovered letters home had to be taken with a grain of salt. While they complimented his journal in jogging his memory for material, he points out that in writing home, he did his utmost to avoid the carnage he witnessed. By doing this, he would prevent and shield his loved ones from worrying about the very dangerous occupation he was involved in, dealing with death on a daily basis in a variety of situations. An important subject he prefaces this memoir off with is the issue of relationships. A common concern to all those who are deployed for long periods of time overseas is maintaining a relationship with a significant other while separated and successfully resuming them upon return. While the blow of the initial separation was trying enough, Willis unequivocally wrote that receiving letters from his wife and photos of his son was the brightest part of his day. There are many Vietnam War memoirs that exist explaining the importance of mail and communication from home to the deployed soldier out in the remote jungles, mountain tops and rice paddies. Separated from home and subjected to extensive combat, those letters provided the only link of normalcy left, psychologically connecting these combatants to their peaceful past filled with pleasant memories. The phenomenon of the "Dear John" letter is well documented, particularly in this genre. Not only did men change from combat, but women who were exposed to the massive domestic unrest and antiwar rhetoric of this period changed as well. Issues of infidelity arose. There were soldiers in Vietnam whose significant other would turn against the war, cruelly breaking up by sending him an insensitive "Dear John" letter, a formal notice that the relationship was over and that they have moved on and met someone else. This can be disastrous, especially when a soldier, already in a precarious state of mind from the daily grind of war heard this, no less was flying a helicopter or was armed with an M-16. As the reader will discover, Willis was exposed to incredible stress on a daily basis, constantly flying missions in a sleep deprived condition regardless of the day, time or weather. He saw wanton slaughter, death, and destruction of both the enemy and his fellow Marines. As a young eyewitness to the inevitable aftermath of combat, Willis reluctantly had a front row seat to something Hollywood tries to portray but never can quite duplicate the horrible repugnance of. Admitting that he returned from Vietnam a changed, emotionally unavailable spouse, his marriage sadly failed. Another challenge the author faced, less obvious to the reader, is the issue of the passage of time. "Marble Mountain" was put together in 2011. Bud Willis was born in 1941. He was 68 years old when he assembled this memoir, working with material he wrote at age 24. Clearly seeing the difference in mentality, he had to make a choice to alter his words of 1966 to fit his 2011 maturity level or leave them as he wrote it 45 years ago. He elected the latter, preserving it exactly as written. This memoir was almost not written, as Willis had decided to put his past, particularly the subject of Vietnam as far out of his mind as possible. There are reasons for this. Unlike the W.W. II Vets who in 1945 triumphantly came back from the war together on massive troop ships where they consoled each other for weeks while out at sea, the Vietnam Vet had a completely contradicting experience. While the returning hero fresh from battling Hitler and Hirohito was greeted with ticker tape parades, camaraderie and later reconnecting VFW halls, the majority of Vietnam Veterans came home on a twenty four hour commercial flight, often alone. With the political climate focusing on "peace with honor" after the media falsely convinced America that the "Tet Offensive" was an American defeat, LBJ's decided not to run again. Richard Nixon was elected, and distrust with anything attached to the government ran high among this nation's citizenry. Incidents like the 1968 My Lai Massacre and the 1969 "Speedy Express" Operation extended this suspicion to the military. In this instance, the Ninth U.S. Infantry Division swept the Mekong Delta of enemy Viet Cong, and in the process claimed that they killed 10,889 of the enemy, while only losing 40 of ours. The problem was that along with announcing a kill ratio of 272 to 1, only 748 enemy weapons were recovered. Not only did a Veteran return alone from S.E. Asia, but he had to worry about being assaulted by his own countrymen, unfairly accused of being a "baby killer" and "homicidal drug addict." There are ample memoirs that will attest to this, making the likelihood of this disrespectful phenomenon unlikely of being an isolated incident. The early 1970's only made it worse to be a Vietnam Veteran. Schisms broke out, with the emergence of the G.I. Anti-war coffee houses and the "Vietnam Veterans Against The War" both becoming vocal. Watergate saw Nixon booted out, and along with his ouster from the executive office went his pledge to support South Vietnam through thick and thin. Saigon fell and some Vietnam Veterans started to get sick, claiming this was a consequence of being doused by Agent Orange. Saigon was renamed "Ho Chi Minh City and Veterans of that war were now labeled "losers" by their W.W. II piers, and as a consequence their silence upped to a new level even among each other. Bud Willis was no exception, claiming that he had no contact with virtually anyone he served with after coming home. He justified this by citing that his memories, most of which are within the pages of this book, were simply too exacting to recall. The reader of "Marble Mountain" can thank Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando for its existence, for without their portrayal in the Vietnam War movie "Apocalypse Now," this excellent account would never have seen the light of day. Taking his painful memories of his past into consideration, Willis decided in the late 1970's to go with a group of friends to see the movie "Apocalypse Now," where Martin Sheen portrayed "Captain Willard." He was a Special Forces operative sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade Green Beret played by Marlon Brando, who had set himself up as a God among a local tribe. Willis claimed that he was only able to last one hour before he had to bolt out of the theater, the fear factor of combat gripped him so intensely. Acting as his own therapist, he decided to desensitize himself by going to re-watch it again and again until he could successfully watch the entire movie. Each time he lasted longer and longer until finally after five trips Willis was successfully able to view this movie from beginning to end without interruption. This exact same scenario recently occurred with Richard Vnuk, a Vietnam Veteran and author of the new memoir entitled "Tested in the Fire of Hell." Thirteen years had passed since he flew from Danang to Okinawa on a 707, his last day in South Vietnam. Ironically, there is a picture of this in the book for the reader to view of Willis at the airport right before boarding his "Freedom Bird." Needless to say, Bud Willis was now able to talk about his one year in hell. He began doing research for the purpose of writing this book, and because of the Internet this eventually lead to the author reconnecting with old friends he served with. Bud Willis unequivocally asserts that while ninety percent of this book is about his experiences as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, his intentions were for "Marble Mountain" to be a "coming of age story," explaining how pilots were caught between their compassion for the troops on the ground and global politics. His second intention was to expose to the general public what he deems "the human side of combat." He clarifies this by using this memoir to communicate "what goes on in a young man's mind when he knows he is being asked to give up all he has for his country." Both of these points are very cogently expanded within the pages of this book. In describing the level of patriotism he was surrounded with as a child, he recalled his upbringing in Tullahoma, Tennessee. In that part of the South, one would learn "The Pledge of Allegiance" before "the Lord's Prayer." Citing Elvis Presley's draft into the military, Willis made two statements to prove his point. In regard to "The King of Rock 'n' Roll," Willis put forth: "If Elvis could be drafted, anybody could." In regard to backing up the rationale behind his native state's moniker of "The Volunteer State" being embossed on all license plates, Willis added: "I'll wager that none of the 70,000 men who fled to Canada to avoid Vietnam were from my home town." While there are no Tullahoma statistics to deny or support this, there is this undeniable figure: As of June, 2011 there were 58, 212 Americans killed in action in Vietnam. Of these, 17, 725 were drafted, and 40,484 that enlisted! Brimming with American ardor, Willis recalled that in 1961,when he was in his junior year at "Tennessee Tech University" his rehearsal for re-enacting King Henry V in a Shakespeare play was interrupted. Three men burst in to his classroom, asking for "a few good men" to join the Marine Corps as an Officer. These were the school quarterback, the commander of the ROTC Drill Team and the student body president. Willis must not have heard one of Murphy's Laws, particularly the one that warns "Never Volunteer for Anything" as he asked the accosting trio: "How many men are you looking for?" He was shocked at their answer: "Just one more, You!" The rest was history. The author was off to ROTC training, where he quickly realized that between the grueling forced marches and humiliation, being an infantry soldier was not for him. This was probably the genesis of his later compassion for the troops on the ground. This class went from 350 down to 50 candidates upon completion, and in May of 1963 Willis graduated from college, bound for flight school in Pensacola. Strangely, he described himself as a man "dressed like an ice cream salesman with a sword," with a fever blister on his lower lip the size of a dime from all the stress. If he only had a crystal ball as to stress and the future! Upon entering flight school, a Marine gave him a taste of this by warning the group of 50 candidates that only 2 would graduate from flight school, 1 would be killed, leaving only 1 standing. After hearing this admonishment, Willis remembered that once one starts the habit of quitting, it's a tough habit to break, and consequently was both one of those two that graduated and the one that survived the war. However, in his fifth month there, worldly events started to gather warheads. On November 2, 1963, South Vietnamese President Diem and his brother were assassinated, and three weeks later, ex-Marine Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy. Prior to his death, J.F.K. publicly stated he was disenchanted with the corruption of the South Vietnamese elite and wanted American advisers withdrawn from Vietnam. Willis graduated from flight school, and reported to the "New River Air Facility," known as VMO-1 in Jacksonville, NC. With the first generation of Bell UH-1 Huey's being delivered to New River, this flight group Willis was part of was to be their pioneer pilots. The Tonkin Gulf Crisis had passed in August of 1964, and on February 26, 1965, Willis boarded a plane with three other officers from VMO-1. The small group flew from California to Danang, South Vietnam, with a brief one night stop in Kadena, Japan. A Lieutenant with combat experience in Vietnam warned him shortly before departing in regard to what might be expected. Aside from plenty of flying, Willis was told to be ready to "hit the ground running." The Marines had landed and established bases outside of Danang, at "Marble Mountain" (VMO-2) and Chi-Lau (VMO-6). While I will leave the large volume of individual combat anecdotes to be discovered by the reader, this Lieutenant's warning would turn out to be an understatement. The Huey would change the face of warfare, shuttling Marines directly into combat on an hourly basis. This would be unlike any past war in history, catching Willis and all those who trained at VMO-1 completely unprepared. New River failed this first group of pilots in Vietnam, neglecting to teach their students everything there is to know about the Huey and its armaments, as well as code names, landing zones, descending in pitch black darkness, radio frequencies, and memorization of the assigned tactical area of operation (TOAR). The cockpit would prove to be Willis's new classroom, and by the three week point, he was considered a veteran. However, as stated in the beginning, Willis noticed that there were ominous signs that this early enthusiasm of an easy American victory would be a false illusion. While studying at New River, he came to the frightening realization that while American soldiers were trained to fight against Communism, the North Vietnamese showed an entirely different mentality, that is they were prepared to die for communism! "Marble Mountain" is full of examples of North Vietnamese tenacity, proving them to be an unrelenting opponent that would pick the time and place of most engagements. The North Vietnamese degree of fanaticism to prevail included propelled them to unimaginable feats like digging miles of underground tunnels that rendered their soldiers invisible to American satellites, helicopters and spotter planes. They had anti aircraft heavy caliber automatic weapons that had to be rolled hundreds of miles from the North on primitive wheels that looked to Willis like something straight out of the Confederate Army. These big guns were operated by gunners that when killed, their corpses were discovered chained to their weapons so they couldn't run away. There was no emergency extraction from a Huey; they fought to the death! Willis made some other statements in this book that foretold the way this conflict would shape up. In assessing their method of fighting a first rate power, Willis remarked: The North Vietnamese have a cockroach mentality and almost always prepare an underground escape route before exposing their position. We own the skies, and they own the underground." Willis also made an excellent critique in examining the official reason given to the world community as to why we were in Vietnam in the first place, vehemently asserting that the premise of the "Domino Theory" was completely flawed. President Eisenhower justified funding the French with 400 million dollars and two atomic bombs (if only they would drop it themselves) prior to Dien Bien Phu. However, after this defeat, both JFK and LBJ would pick up the Domino Theory torch, while carefully eyeing the fertile Mekong Valley rice production as an asset subservient to American whims. Would men really fight a war and risk death over Communism, Socialism, Buddhism, Capitalism, or any "ism?" Willis concluded negatively, instead asserting that wars are fought over useful things that can be loaded on trucks and shipped around the world with price tags attached. The issues the politicians used as a rallying cry to whip up American war fever were smokescreens for their real designs of backing the "Military Industrial Complex." The real reasons wars are fought are to acquire land, natural resources, regional necessities such as food and water for free by placing an occupying force on it and asserting control. However, Willis went way further then this, and he only saw this once he was in South Vietnam. He observed the American Military machine completely confused, with no singular strategy agreed upon to win the war. The Supreme Commander and Army General was William C. Westmoreland. He believed the path to victory was to wage a war of attrition, simply killing more of the enemy then they could replace, until they gave up. As a method to accomplish this, he ordered endless "Search and Destroy" missions, instituted "body counts" and in the process arrogantly missed the response Ho Chi Minh issued when asked how he planned to defeat a power as great as the U.S. Uncle Ho simply stated: "They will kill many of us, and we will kill a few of them. They will grow tired of it." In 1966, Ho was considered a foolish man and his answer completely preposterous. By 1968, this line of thinking began to make sense and would ultimately prove to be right on the money. Willis also cited the other two top Marine generals, who disagreed completely with Westmoreland. General Walt Lewis believed in winning the hearts and minds of the people with far reaching civic programs. Finally, the man with the intimidating "swagger stick," General Victor Krulak, believed the only way to stop the North Vietnamese was to mine the port of Haipong, which he called "the mouth that was feeding the war." Willis shows the reader that this divisiveness went all the way back to the U.S., with politicians disagreeing on the conduct of the war, and even the American people, who for the most part displayed an almost unbelievable lack of interest during the first nine years of this conflict. In conclusion, aside from the combatants, those involved in the Anti-war movement and those that fled to Canada, the Vietnam War had little impact on Americans, except for the few who were for the most part from the least privileged elements of our society. To a large extent these were the ones who were called upon to do the fighting and dying. Willis gives countless examples throughout his memoir of how the American military was linked inextricably to the incompetent Army Republic of South Vietnam (referred to by the acronym ARVN). The very same troops that were supposed to be our allies were mockingly referred to by our troops as "The Friendly VC." According to Willis, they were not trusted, unreliable and corrupt. This author joins a long list of Americans that went to Vietnam overconfident and filled with thoughts of an easy quick victory, until they saw many of the issues and false premises this author has clearly pointed out! I will end this with a very telling comment Bud Willis made within the first month of his tour. At the time, he was flying missions out of Marble Mountain, watching his fellow Marines guard the DMZ against NVA infiltration into the South. He lamented: "Taking over a piece of land is a concept that every Marine can wrap his head around. We were trained for that. Sitting around playing defense to protect it is someone else's job. Now, we've been inserted in the middle of a great civil war, playing political ping-ping with no clear-cut objectives." It is truly a shame that Bud Willis did not publish this invaluable, well written and priceless memoir in 1967!

Tears Of Tay Ninh

by Thomas a Hutchings

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War, August 30, 2011 Pembroke Pines, Fl, USA Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: "U.S. Troops in Vietnam: Tricked to Fight A Senseless War Based On Enhancing Political Careers & Enriching Business Interests!" Undoubtedly, the title of this review is guaranteed to cause unrest to the families of the 58, 212 Americans that lost their lives in the Vietnam War. It will be equally painful to any of the 153,452 wounded still around to read this intriguing novel, and even more so to the families of 1,7111 Americans still missing. Is this another in a long string of conspiracy theories that should be dismissed as hogwash? Unfortunately, there are too many truisms involved in "Tears of Tay Ninh" to ignore. The problem of credibility lies in the fact is that America has been so inundated with plots of secret cabals that point to the wealthy few that make decisions for the masses, assassination schemes as well as political and military perfidy to the point that the average person scoffs instantly at any suggestion that this country would be so treacherous as to send 3,403,000 troops to S.E. Asia from 1955 to 1973 for financial and political gain. It is even more irksome that out of the aforementioned number, 2,594,000 men and women were sent to serve in South Vietnam only to line the pockets of the military industrial complex with incredible amounts of wealth. However, "Tears of Tay Ninh" goes one step further, as the ingenuous storyline Hutchings devised is a metaphor for many other issues, insinuating that the Vietnam War was the proving ground for both the military brass to further their careers as well as the politicians that developed their savvy for the upcoming decades. How far are these premises from the truth? Out of those approximately two and a half million Vietnam Veterans that were in Vietnam, find one of the estimated 850,000 still alive today, hand him a copy of this book, and ask him what he thinks after he has finished reading it! Thomas Hutchings is one of them, qualifying himself in the first page of this book as follows: "February 1970 was my first arrival in Saigon at the age of twenty during the Second Indochina War-called "The American War" in Vietnam.That significant event of my life was a milestone, particularly as a young man flying on intelligence combat missions." It certainly makes one wonder that many Vietnam Veterans have had a veil of silence over their roles in this conflict, as only in the last ten years have we seen a significant outcrop of newly published memoirs from these very participants. Conspiracy theories abound, some so absurd that just the utterance of them brings rebuke from the poor individual unfortunate enough to be forced have to listen to such foolishness. The early 1900's saw the theory put forth regarding Jews and banking, including the myth that world banking was dominated by the Rothschild family, Jews controlled Wall Street, the U.S. Federal Reserve, Hollywood and the news media. A maniac in Germany named Adolf Hitler listened to this, twisting this to his interpretation. He sold his version of anti-Semitism to his countrymen, claiming that a "Jewish plot" existed whereby Karl Marx, the Bolshevik Revolution and the Jewish bankers, physicians and landowners of Germany were all interrelated and responsible for Germany's defeat in W.W.I. Then there was the "Bible Conspiracy," whereby there are those that insist that much of what is known about the Bible, in particular the New Testament, is a deception. Books exist alleging that Jesus really had a wife, that a group such as the "Priory of Sion" had secret information about the bloodline of Jesus, as well as the one about Jesus not dying on the cross and that the carbon dating of the Shroud of Turin was part of a conspiracy by the Vatican to suppress this knowledge. However, conspiracy theories are not limited to religion. There are claims that AIDS is a human-made disease, that the CIA deliberately administered HIV to African Americans and homosexuals in the 1970s via tainted hepatitis vaccinations. Lets not forget extraterrestrial conspiracies, the Bermuda Triangle, and Area 51. How about Bush's allegation of Iraq's "Weapons of Mass Destruction" or Barack Obama's birth conspiracy theories? While there are many more, such as who really assassinated John and his brother Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, the idea put forth that a programmed "Manchurian candidate" may have been used for ulterior motives is indirectly addressed in "Tears of Tay Ninh." The issue of "who benefits?" from these murders is indirectly addressed, as Hutchings starts his novel with six powerful members summoned at a moments notice by their leader, i.e. "The Chairman" to address the elimination of an individual that could threaten their status and livelihood. The issue at large was discussing the elimination of someone in Vietnam that held such adverse information. This is in line with conspiracy theorists who assert that insiders often have far more powerful motives than those to whom the assassination is attributed to by mainstream society. Until one reads Thomas Hutchings book, the future reader is warned not to scoff off Hutchings proposition. Going back to that secret cabal meeting, Hutchings included that when these six leaders flew in and flew out for this meeting, all air traffic was completely suspended out of this airport as the grounds were heavily patrolled by roving security. Is this far fetched? Juxtapose this with the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. How was it that while U.S. airspace was completely restricted, airplanes were sanctioned by the George Bush administration to fly about the U.S. for the purpose of gathering up 140 high-ranking Saudi Arabians? Even more troublesome was the fact that this group included relatives of Al-Quaeda chief Osama bin Laden, all spirited out of the country within a week of the terror. As a symbol of Hutchings thesis, he used two characters, Hugh Campbell and Whitman Emerson. This duo was selected in 1966 from Army Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia for the infamous "MACV-SOG," an acronym for Military Assistance Command, Vietnam - Studies and Observations Group. Sent to South Vietnam in 1966 as part of SOG, they were given a highly classified, special operation in covert unconventional warfare. They were selected to carry out a "Black Operation," ordered to conduct a highly clandestine assassination of a North Vietnamese Army Intelligence Officer in an area outside of standard military protocol between Cambodia and South Vietnam known as "COSVN." This was the term for the political and military headquarters during the Vietnam War of the communist effort in the southern half of the Republic of Vietnam which involved the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong. Campbell and Emerson were told that this NVA officer was supposedly carrying tactical and strategic operations plans directly from Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap to COSVN which would provide the strategy for the Communists to win the war, end the hostilities, and reunify the country. Ho Chi Minh was the Communist North Vietnamese president from 1945 until his death in 1969 as well as a key figure in the formation of the Viet Cong in the South during the Vietnam War. Still alive today, General Vo Nguyen Giap is a retired Vietnamese officer in the Vietnam People's Army and a politician. He was the most prominent military commander, beside Ho Chí Minh, during the first Indochina War against the French, resulting in the Franco defeat at the 1954 Battle of "Dien Bien Phu" as well as in the Vietnam War. He was responsible for major military operations and leadership such as the 1968 "Tet Offensive" and the final 1975 capture of Saigon, overseeing the North's ultimately successful effort until the war ended. Thomas Hutchings sets up the reader of this seemingly perplexing story by jumping from situation to situation. Added to that is the twist that Campbell and Whitman returned forty years after the end of the war to visit Vietnam, with the latter being murdered under suspicious circumstances. From the 1966 secret American meeting rooms of cabal leaders making decisions to support the status quo of the military industrial complex, to Hugh Campbell and Whitman Emerson's interplay in South Vietnam both during the war and in their 2005 return trip, none of these anecdotes initially make any sense nor connection. Hutchings inter-spaces this with someone apparently blind describing what it is like to be trapped in a world dominated by tactile sensory input only, begging the reader to keep reading further and further. Each chapter is like building a puzzle, with the author continually adding seemingly non-related facts one on top of another until almost "a light" comes on in the reader's mind and everything makes perfect, crystal clear sense. Ultimately, upon conclusion of this novel, one can only wish and pray that this story is really only contrived, and God help us if it is not! Nothing prima facie turns out in the end as it is first presented. Hutchings, prior to describing Campbell and Emerson's mission, intentionally includes a peace initiative by Ho Chi Minh to President Nixon to end the war before any more senseless deaths occur or Agent Orange is doused on an innocent population. This later makes flawless logic, as the story concludes. The reader also wonders why after the two SOG officers successfully carried out their assassination and attempted to return back to American lines, the pair found themselves directly under an intense B-52 carpet bombing. This bombing suspiciously occurred immediately after Campbell radioed to his superiors that the mission was completed and that he was both unable to destroy the slain NVA officer's documents and in fact was still in possession of them. Would American forces actually order an assassination of their own, under any circumstances? How far fetched is this? Consider the following passage out of Michael Orban's 2007 memoir "Souled Out." Drafted in 1970 at the age of 19, Orban found himself as an Army infantryman in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. If you pick up this memoir, you will come upon this disturbing section that reads as follows: "When the Australian Army surprised an estimated five thousand NVA Regular forces lodged up in a huge and well fortified jungle bunker complex, we were told (after listening to the raging sounds of that battle for two days) that the NVA were retreating by cover of night. We were assembled in small units and were carried by helicopter into the jungle to set up an ensnarement. After arranging a huge arc of ambushes, we were positioned in the NVA's supposed path of retreat. There was no way we had enough ammunition so we realized that if every bullet we fired killed one of them, we would still be overrun and annihilated. A retreating Army would be desperate and not allow a dozen guys to stop them. We finally understood that we were there only to identify the NVA position so heavy guns and air strikes could be brought in to obliterate them. Before help could get to us, we'd be overrun and dead. We were "expendable," the "price to be paid." I have never had such a sinking and despairing feeling as I did that moment. Other human beings had no right to offer our lives for their meaningless goals!" Orban's following comments embodies the very essence of "Tears of Tay Ninh." Upon realizing that he was nothing but sacrificial bait in the eyes of American military leaders, he angrily asserted the following: "How could our lives be that useless and unimportant? I was at once emptied of shock and filled with fury. I wanted to get to those who were sending us to do this and drag their butts out to where we were. I wanted to make them suffer and endure the same fear, humiliation, and degradation of life that they were dealing out. But there was no escape, nowhere to run: Our only choice was to face death. We prepared to die for a war we knew had no purpose, no legitimate goal; we knew our country was in no danger, However, the NVA, being knowledgeable jungle soldiers, evidently sent out a scout who spotted our ambush, and so they avoided us and disappeared into the jungle. We never saw them." Needless to say, the novel continues with several twists. Prior to departing on their covert mission, Campbell had met a beautiful 18 year old girl, Vo Thi Thu Lan, who worked for the Colonel he reported to at the Tay Ninh Special Forces compound. Falling in love with her, he would meet her again during the mission, as a Viet Cong soldier. However, She would save his life, leading him to safety as B-52 bombs mercilessly rained down, almost obliterating him. Although Emerson and himself would leave Vietnam at the conclusion of their tours, Campbell was able to hide these documents in a "Cau Dai Temple" in Tay Ninh, where it stayed, beckoning his return for four decades. Prior to the near fatal bombing, Thu Lan would tell him something about her country that would embed itself in his mind, a remorse that served as a partial motivating factor for his return forty years later. As a member of the Viet Cong, yet desiring an American Special Forces operative, she reasoned: "The constant discord inside her underscored the conflict that was taking place between the superpowers Soviet Union, China and the U.S., all using Vietnam to assert their global positions towards dominance of a certain economic and political system. Rather than fighting between themselves, they used and exploited the Vietnamese who simply wanted a reunified country." Campbell carried this secret of the hidden documents with him, even though Emerson would chide him that he was hiding them. Although denying this knowledge,Campbell would have upsetting, reoccurring dreams plaguing him every night, always involving a subconscious effort to recall Thu Lan. In addition to wanting to solve this mystery of his nightmares, he knew one day he would return to this Vietnamese temple to retrieve the documents. Little did he know that there were others that would go to any lengths to prevent this. Needless to say, as an ex intelligence officer who lived in Vietnam until recently relocating back to the U.S, Hutchings made daring statements that can be vicariously interpreted to represent the author's sentiments for many suffering Vietnam Veterans, both Vietnamese and American alike within this novel. For the indigenous Vietnamese War Veteran of this conflict, Hutchings sums his collective experience up as follows, using Campbell to substitute his own views: "Hugh thought of the human misery, beneficiaries of a war long over, ever collecting their monthly entitlements in the form of twisted limbs for simply being born in a country used as a pawn between the superpowers of the day. Presidents, Prime Ministers, Commissars oblivious to the horrors they would unleash; Johnson's Christmas bombing of Hanoi, Nixon's incursion into Cambodia and the secret war in Laos. Hugh returned his thought to people's suffering. His mind returned momentarily to napalm, Agent Orange and Agent Blue, White Phosphorous and eventually to suspected enemy agents being pushed out of helicopters at fatal altitudes." For the American Vietnam War Veteran, Hutchings used his main protagonist once again, explaining Campbell's thoughts as follows: The returning U.S. service personnel came back to the states to face their own battles of unemployment and many carried with them deep psychological scars. Some Vets Hugh knew became suicide statistics, others returned to the uniformed life, although it was a prison blue; sentenced for their inability to assimilate in American society once more. Hugh felt that after a year of being ordered to kill people, military or civilian, the guys who returned were simply messed up in their minds. They returned to a culture they had no more emotional contact with; a culture, they thought, had wanted them do to those horrible things but did not support them upon their return. They were taught to be killing machines, but were never told how to turn those switches off by the trainers. Their fathers were welcomed as heroes after World War II and even Korea. But the Vets who served in Vietnam were spit upon and called names, such as "Baby Killer" and other epithets that Hugh had since put out of his mind." How did Thomas Hutchings use this story to display his feelings for the ones responsible, i.e. Robert McNamara, William Westmoreland, Lyndon Johnson, et. al.? Once again Hugh Campbell was his surrogate spokesman: "Hugh would get invariably angry when he thought about the absolute lack of psychological support from the U.S. government and the military that sent them to Southeast Asia. Hugh was fond of calling the nameless and faceless "cowards" in Washington, D.C. Cowards with the courage to order others to kill and be killed while safely eleven thousand miles away. Cowards for their practice of ordering deaths one moment and ordering martini's for themselves and their mistresses the next." How about the teenager that was plucked out of high school or college and dropped off in a Vietnamese rice paddy, with AK-47 shells buzzing within earshot? Hutchings commented: "The opportunity to finish his university degree, find a steady girl to get married and have a house with the white picket fence had been interrupted by the war, a war he believed, and later discovered, was absolutely senseless." There is plenty of innuendo to support Hutching's claim that the Vietnam War was purely a money making enterprise to support the military industrial complex. It is widely known that J.F.K., should he have lived, would have pulled American forces out of S.E. Asia. It is now blatantly obvious that the "Tonkin Gulf" lie launched the Vietnam War. In the supposed August, 1964 NVA patrol boat attacks on two U.S. destroyers, Secretary of War Robert McNamara later reported he had given L.B.J. false, inconclusive information that the president overreacted and ordered retaliatory strikes on. In fact, in 1965, L.B.J commented privately: "For all I know, our Navy was shooting at whales out there." There are several comments in this book that summed up Hutching's feelings on the Vietnam War, whereas the author felt American soldiers were like intricate marionettes with strings pulled, perhaps by those in Washington, D.C. The second one was that American soldiers in Vietnam were nothing more than prostitutes for the brass and politicians, and finally he felt that the troops in Vietnam were sent by politicians and domestic corporate business concerns to their senseless deaths primarily to protect American business interests overseas. Who were the winners? "Root and Brown" later renamed "Haliburton, Bell Helicopter Company, Lycoming Turbine Engine Division, Armalite, Inc., Colt Manufacturing Company, Dow Chemical Company and others. And the ones that suffered? The numbers are countless. This book is a fascinating exploration of a seldom looked at fact: war that is for profit has an incalculable price associated with it, casualties in the bodies, minds, families, later generations of both sides of combatants. This should always be taken into account and made clear to all that this is a very poor reason to kill someone else! This is an important book that speaks in many different ways for all that were involved in this woeful conflict almost a half of a century ago! flag

Before the Dawn

by Mickey / Kmball, William Block

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War, May 6, 2009 Pembroke Pines, Fl USA Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: Is This A Scathing Memoir of A Valorous Navy Seal in Vietnam or Empty Bragadoccio? Presented by "Reader's Digest" as: "The powerful true story of a Navy Seal-from elite training to top secret missions in Vietnam," it would appear that this is an account not to be missed. After finishing the entire book, "Before the Dawn" came across as a highly tragic personal account of the Vietnam War. Author Mickey Block traced the painful odyssey he made through the horrors of coming very close to dying in Vietnam and it's torturous aftermath. Block also asserted that this is a true memoir of how as an elite Navy Commando, he was involved in covert combat missions and as a consequence was "emotionally and physically shattered by the bestial insanity of the conflict in Southeast Asia." Block takes you through a vicarious journey with him, encountering the pathetic and sorrowful ordeal of countless adolescent men that came of age in Vietnam. Inarguably, most returned to a world that forced them to face the sobering reality that their youthful innocence had been lost before it's time. However, for all of "Before The Dawn's" graphic, brutal frankness, it renders a story that has its question marks. According to B.G. Burkett's book "Stolen Valor," the author claims that: "It is obvious that Block never took SEAL training and did not graduate from the various schools that a potential SEAL must attend." While Block clearly and correctly identifies the tragedies and traumas of that painful period in American history, Burkett asserts that Block admits in one sentence in this book that he did not complete SEAL Training. Furthermore, Burkett accuses "Daring Books," Block's publisher, of exaggerating his military accomplishments to sell his book. While not saying Block is fabricating his entire Vietnam ordeal, Burkett prefers to point culpability at his publisher. In its attempt to sell books, Daring Books exacerbated Block's traumas and blew out of proportion his accomplishments forcing a self fulfilling prophesy on the author: Block had to live up to his billing. Block currently lectures to a broad audience on his Vietnam experience, even wearing the Navy SEAL badge lapel pin. Burkett researched this and went to the "National Personal Records Center," which clearly indicated that Block never earned this badge. Needless to say, even if the book is pure fantasy, it still represents a generation's suffering, and in light of what is occurring currently in Iraq, as it offers hope and healing for those who bear the scars of the Vietnam War and for those with PTSD, whose scars don't show. Mickey Block wrote this book in 1988, twenty years after he claimed he was critically wounded by friendly fire while serving with the U.S. Special Forces in 1968 and 1969. His coauthor, William Kimball, was highly qualified to assist Block in writing this memoir, as he himself had firsthand experiences as a mortar man with the 1st Air Cavalry Division and had his own personal ordeal when he was medically evacuated from Vietnam in 1968. Even if this book is fantasy, it certainly had the feeling of authenticity. One thing for sure, "Before The Dawn" is not for the faint hearted. Block's description of his near death experience, the torture and other atrocities of war he described witnessing and became calloused to are graphically recounted. Sadistic torture and murder perpetuated by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese to intimidate the country folk into cooperating with their Communist cause is chronicled. Block also relates his ordeal of parental abuse, losing his girlfriend from the toll of war as well as his dismay of almost being killed at the hands of his own men. Other realistic issues most Vietnam Veterans can identify with are Block's battle with PTSD and this country's ungrateful reception to a returning and severely wounded veteran. Steve Robinson, authored a book in 2002 entitled "No Guts No Glory, Unmasking Navy Seal Impostors." This author expressed himself as follows: "Those who undertake to impersonate US Navy SEALs, for whatever purpose, are a disgraceful insult to every man and woman who ever served honorably in any branch of America's armed forces." Because of the issue of this book being questionably factual or mostly fiction, "Before The Dawn" is troublesome, ruining an enjoyable read that otherwise would carry import with the current body of Vietnam War literature available. The truth, please!

Us Army Helicopter Names In Vietnam

by John Brennan

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Historian and Book Reviewer, Vietnam War August 8, 2011 Pembroke Pines, Florida USA Contact: BernWei1@oal.com Title of Review: "Army Chopper Names During The Vietnam War: A Clue Into The Crew's Mindset!"American involvement in the Vietnam War went through phases, and the mindset of participants at each particular period reflected this. John Brennan's "U.S. Army Helicopter Names in Vietnam" will show you through the changing nature of aircraft personal naming, how the attitudes of Army aviators changed during different phases of the war. Although the U.S. had advisers in Vietnam in the early 1960's, the war was in its genesis. The president at the time, John F. Kennedy sent inept South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem limited military advisers and Green Berets, but became so frustrated by Diem's incompetence that he turned his back on him upon learning of a coup being planned to remove him and from office. In early November of 1963, Diem's own generals kidnapped him, shuttled him and his brother to a basement in the Cholon section of Saigon, murdering them both. Twenty-two days later, JFK was assassinated in Dallas. Shortly before his assassination in November of 1963, Kennedy had begun a limited recall of U.S. forces.The true era of what one would call American involvement in Vietnam started after Lyndon Johnson took office, and the Tonkin Gulf Incident supposedly occurred in August of 1964. In regard to the North Vietnamese torpedo attacks on two U.S. warships, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara failed to inform LBJ that the naval task group commander in the Tonkin Gulf had changed his mind about the attacks he had reported earlier that day, and the result was the famous Tonkin Gulf Resolution that gave LBJ the power to conduct military operations in Southeast Asia without declaring war. From this, went a frantic period of men and supplies shipped from American shores to S.E. Asia in what was called "the build up" phase of 1965. The next two years,1966 and 1967 was the "escalation phase" involving search and destroy ground operations as well as devastating aerial bombardment of the North. The apex was 1968, the "Tet Offensive" period, and the final, or deescalating phase referred to as "Vietnamization," which occurred from 1969 to 1973, signifying America's swan song.Without exception, every make and model of Army helicopters that served from 1962 until the end of the war was ornamented by either a personalized name and affixed illustration. John Brennan's book has a lot to do with these periods, as his book shows that the visuals on these propeller driven war birds reflected the mood of the times. A piece sign painted on a "Huey Slick" was non existent in 1965. "U.S. Helicopter Names in Vietnam" gives the reader an in depth breakdown of these personalized abstractions, where America's primary war chariot was indeed the helicopter. Why would someone even care about that? A lot of reasons. Many Vietnam Vets, particularly helicopter crews during their one year tour had formed a deep camaraderie with each other, a bond formed out of the exigencies of combat. They would never again experience the esprit de corps the conditions of South Vietnam presented. These men formed an unbreakable loyalty to each other, sharing intense friendships with painful losses.At the end of their tour, departing Vets always promised to keep in touch with the men staying, and good byes were emotional. Most Veterans going back to what they called "The World" had painful feelings of abandonment and separation issues, however their vows of communication disappeared upon leaving Vietnam. With new relationships, careers and responsibilities, the months after DEROS'ing back into society turned into years, which turned into decades. Many Vietnam Veterans that were in helicopter crews have lost touch with their buddies over the years. A former Gunship pilot might be wondering: "whatever happened to my door gunner," while the design or the motto on his old helicopter's nose is the only strong memory he is left to search with, Brennan's book might very well serve as the magical key. Another issue that this book can resolve is the fate of those still missing in action. After the conclusion of the 1973 "Paris Peace Accords," 591 American prisoners of war were returned during "Operation Homecoming." The U.S. listed as prisoners of war or missing in action about 1,350 Americans and another 1,200 men were reported killed in action, their bodies not recovered. Most were aviators that were shot down over North Vietnam or Laos.Subsequent Investigations of these incidents attempted to determine whether these men survived their shoot down, and if not, a continuing effort was made to recover their remains. Currently, the remains of over 700 Americans killed in Southeast Asia have been returned and identified. Unfortunately, there are nearly 1,800 Americans who still remain unaccounted for. By this thorough documentation of helicopter names, if a search of the area in S.E. Asia turns up a helicopter part with only the artwork still identifiable, this book might solve cases and help the families still suffering with closure issues. Furthermore, the socialist and particularly the historian can use these names as a basis of historical research. Prior to the 1968 "Tet Offensive," helicopters were more apt to have very different names than after its occurrence. The Tet Offensive was a Viet Cong surprise attack that began on January 31, 1968. Their intention was to strike South Vietnamese military and civilian command and control centers in the hopes of inciting a general uprising among the indigenous population that would then topple the Saigon government, thus ending the war. This offensive was the largest military operation yet conducted by either side up to that point in the war, with more than 80,000 VC troops striking more than 100 South Vietnamese towns and cities, including 36 of 44 provincial capitals.While the South Vietnamese citizenry did not rise up and rebel, and over 100,000 Communist troops were killed. While in reality it was a Communist trouncing, the U.S. press presented it to the nation as a staggering Allied defeat to the American public. With massive domestic antiwar sentiment, LBJ refused reelection, and the decision to extricate from the war was permanently forged. However, if one pays attention to Army helicopter names before this offensive, you found monikers such as "Miss Fit, The Octopus and How Do We Look." All represent hedonism, unconcern with misfortune or for the consequences of war. The Tet Offensive was not the only malaise of 1968. Aside from the February 1st televised incident where a South Vietnamese police officer executed a VC suspect with the cameras rolling, the My Lai Massacre occurred on March 16, and two weeks after that, Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot dead at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Riots erupted nationwide, lasting for several days afterwards. On June 5th of that year, U.S. presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed in Los Angeles by Sirhan Sirhan. In July, the CIA officially started their "Phoenix Program" in Vietnam, which ultimately killed 40,000 civilians between 1968 and mid-1971. In August, antiwar demonstrators clashed with police at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. There were approximately 10,000 demonstrators.Bystanders and press were beaten by police officers in a melee depicting graphic police brutality. After 1968, the names of Army helicopters took on a dark hue, reflecting the times. Appearing on Cobras and Hueys were characterizations like "For God, Country & Body Count, Patience My Ass and Short, Don't Shoot Me." The war had changed to these aviators, and these tags stood for subtle announcements translating that nobody wanted to be the last to die in a war America had given up on. However, this book does more than just help the plight of MIA families and those studying the climate of the times. What about the aviation enthusiast? Despite the fact that this book is about helicopter names, the reader learns about the different helicopters, and their role in the Vietnam War, the first real helicopter war. The number one helicopter workhorse of the Army was made by a company called "Bell" a manufacturer headquartered in Hurst, Texas. In March, 1960, the Army ordered into production an aircraft that was powered by a single, turboshaft engine, with a two-bladed main rotor and tail rotor. The designation of "HU-1" led to the helicopter's nickname of the Huey, and eventually the manufacturer modified the helicopter according to its use.Hueys used for ground attack or armed escort roles were outfitted with rocket launchers, grenade launchers, and machine guns, and promptly called "gunships." If they were for troop transport or medevac, they were called "slicks." In the course of the conflict. the UH-1 went through several modifications. The UH-1A, B, and C models had a short fuselage and a Bell 204 single-engine, capable of lifting a maximum weight of 8,500 lbs. or 10 passengers. The UH-1D and H models had a more stretched fuselage and a Bell 205 single engine, capable of lifting a maximum weight 9,500 pounds or 14 passengers. The UH-1B and C performed the gunship, and some of the transport duties in the early years of the Vietnam War. UH-1B and C gunships were replaced by the newer "AH-1 Cobra" attack helicopter after 1968, necessitated by the increased intensity and sophistication of NVA anti-aircraft defenses. AH-1 Cobras, and ever improving models of "H, D and finally G," Cobras provided fire support for ground forces, escorted transport helicopters and formed "hunter killer" teams by pairing with OH-6A scout helicopters. Another common helicopter was the "CH-47 Chinook." This was a twin-engine, tandem rotor heavy-lift helicopter made by the Boeing Corporation. Its primary roles included troop movement, artillery emplacement of batteries in perilous mountain positions that were inaccessible by any other means, as well battlefield resupply of food, water and ammunition.Finally, the "OH-6A" Light Observation Helicopter, or "Loach." was a single-engine light helicopter with a four-bladed main rotor made by the Hughes Corporation. It was used for personnel transport, escort and attack missions, as well as scout observation. Finally, another valuable use of Brennan's book is for those that go to helicopter "Boneyards." Currently, the "309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group" is the largest "Boneyard" in the U.S. Located on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, the Air Force has its aircraft and missile storage and maintenance facility. This is where scrapped Chinooks, Hueys, etc. go for storage. In the event that an old helicopter needs to be identified, an insignificant item like a name or other artwork painted on it's body can go a long way in assisting identification. How did the author go about collecting all of this information? He undertook a meticulous study of Internet reference resources, unit history photo books, memoirs, and military association archives. Brennan took the burdensome task sending of innumerable e mails to Vietnam Veteran Army helicopter crews in a quest to identify and chart the personal names and artwork affixed to every helicopter model in Vietnam from JFK's adviser period of 1962 all the way to the Paris Peace Accord settlement of 1973. There were four areas called "Corps" that the U.S. delineated their forces in Vietnam. "I Corps" was the northernmost military region in South Vietnam, "II Corps" was the Central Highlands military region in South Vietnam. The densely populated, fertile military region between Saigon and the Highlands was called "III Corps" and finally, "IV Corps" military region was located in the southernmost marshy Mekong Delta.Brennan collected information equally from all four areas of Army Helicopter usage without prejudice. Out of the myriad of outgoing inquisitive e mails, he would try to garnish as much information as he could from what came back to him. . Eventually, he received back over 10,000 e mails with personal information, photos of artwork on helicopters, names of who drew the artwork, etc. If he received a photograph, of say, a Huey, the art work had to be placed with an assigned crew, the dates the helicopter was in service. Through incredible detective work, Brennan was able to break all the information down into an organized system, of which this book is the result. Seventy five percent of the information in his book came from the mass of e mail correspondence and photos attached. The other twenty five percent of data contained in this publication came from web sites, memoirs, reunions and interviews. The final result is over 3000 helicopter names correctly cross -referenced with the helicopter unit that it served with, the type of model the helicopter was (Huey "A,B,C,H or H"), etc. Furthermore, wherever possible Brennan was able to find the helicopter's serial number, it's function ("slick vs gunship") the crew member's names, the artist that drew the name on the helicopter, and the location of the name on the chopper, i.e., the nose, pilot door, etc. An additional bonus is that the book is attractively laced with 40 rare shots of different helicopters with their names clearly displayed. This is an incredible book, simple to understand that will appeal to many groups!

The Cross Eyed Spitting Cobra - the Life & Loves Of an Australian Mercenary Pilot

by Noel Vonhoff

Review Written By: Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War, Pembroke Pines, Florida USA Contact: Bernwei1@aol.com August 10, 2011 Title of Review "An Elusive Memoir of An Aussie Cobra AH-1 Attack Helicopter Vanishes Forever!" This book gets 5 stars..for FRUSTRATION!!!!! I've never read it! Am I crazy? No, rather mad ! I am angry that the used bookstore shelves are packed with mushy romances, pulp fiction and fictional detective stories by the dozen! However, try to find an important historical book...as Donnie Brasco used to say: "forget about it!" This is an important book by an Australian Cobra pilot. The Cobra helicopter, now remodeled and used in Iraq and Afghanistan under the new name "Apache" was the most feared weapon the NVA soldier ever went up against! Does anyone even know that Australians, New Zealanders, South Koreans and Thai soldiers also fought as out allies against North Vietnam? How would you know this, as nothing is out to inform you! In fact, the only way you can read this book is if you want to fork over $200 to some 3rd party book dealer for a car payment! You might...I'm not! And that's sad, because the main lesson history teaches us is: History Repeats itself! Those that forget the past...are doomed to repeat it! How are we supposed to remember Vietnam, study and learn from it if only a few Veterans of that war, are willing to talk or write about it? And can you blame them? When the troops came back from Nixon's "Vietnamization" in the early 70's they were greeted by the hippy dippy flea bag war protesters by some very nasty names! These Jane Fonda followers had the audacity to live in a free country but were absent of the courage to contribute militarily when called. Okay, I see their point...The Gulf of Tonkin was staged, no NVA patrol boats attacked the 2 destroyers in August of '64. And no, Vietnam did not threaten American national security. The "domino theory" proved in the end to be exactly what it was...only a theory. When the troops came back form S.E. Asia, shortly after stepping off their "freedom bird," they were spit on, called "baby killers," homicidal heroin addicts, only good for security jobs....basically belittled. So, they shut up, not even admitting that they were there. That silence continues. I would love to read this book, but I will never pay 2 Benjamin's for it, so that's not happening. OK, so forget the Aussie. There's plenty of Vietnam Vets here, right? Wrong! Of the 2,709,918 Americans who served in Vietnam, less than 850,000 are estimated to be alive today, with the youngest American Vietnam veteran's age approximated to be 54 years old." The ones around are among the last 1/3rd of all the U.S. Vets alive who served in Vietnam. So, don't take your memories and experiences with you to the pearly gates, write your memoirs! I don't know about you guys, but that kind of gives me the chills, considering this is the kind of information I'm used to reading about WW II and Korean War Veterans. So, in the last 14 years Vietnam Veterans are dying way too fast, Therefore, only the few will survive by the year 2015...if any. If that is true, 390 VN vets will die a day. That means that in 2,190 days from now, we will be lucky to find a Vietnam Veteran alive! That's only 6 years from now! Therefore, let's get the ones still alive to write books, and I want to buy and read them! I still want to read this darned book! Anyone got one to spare? Cheers, Bernie Weisz BernWei1@aol.com

The Cross Eyed Spitting Cobra - the Life & Loves Of an Australian Mercenary Pilot

by Noel Vonhoff

Review Written By: Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War, Pembroke Pines, Florida USA Contact: Bernwei1@aol.com August 10, 2011 Title of Review "An Elusive Memoir of An Aussie Cobra AH-1 Attack Helicopter Vanishes Forever!" This book gets 5 stars..for FRUSTRATION!!!!! I've never read it! Am I crazy? No, rather mad ! I am angry that the used bookstore shelves are packed with mushy romances, pulp fiction and fictional detective stories by the dozen! However, try to find an important historical book...as Donnie Brasco used to say: "forget about it!" This is an important book by an Australian Cobra pilot. The Cobra helicopter, now remodeled and used in Iraq and Afghanistan under the new name "Apache" was the most feared weapon the NVA soldier ever went up against! Does anyone even know that Australians, New Zealanders, South Koreans and Thai soldiers also fought as America's allies against North Vietnam? How would you know this, as nothing is out to inform you! In fact, the only way you can read this book is if you want to fork over $200 to some 3rd party book dealer for a car payment! You might...I'm not! And that's sad, because the main lesson history teaches us is: History Repeats itself! Those that forget the past...are doomed to repeat it! How are we supposed to remember Vietnam, study and learn from it if only a few Veterans of that war, are willing to talk or write about it? And can you blame them? When the troops came back from Nixon's "Vietnamization" in the early 70's they were greeted by the hippy dippy flea bag war protesters by some very nasty names! These Jane Fonda followers had the audacity to live in a free country but were absent of the courage to contribute militarily when called. Okay, I see their point...The Gulf of Tonkin was staged, no NVA patrol boats attacked the 2 destroyers in August of '64. And no, Vietnam did not threaten American national security. The "domino theory" proved in the end to be exactly what it was...only a theory. When the troops came back form S.E. Asia, shortly after stepping off their "freedom bird," they were spit on, called "baby killers," homicidal heroin addicts, only good for security jobs....basically belittled. So, they shut up, not even admitting that they were there. That silence continues. I would love to read this book, but I will never pay 2 Benjamin's for it, so that's not happening. OK, so forget the Aussie. There's plenty of Vietnam Vets here, right? Wrong! Of the 2,709,918 Americans who served in Vietnam, less than 850,000 are estimated to be alive today, with the youngest American Vietnam veteran's age approximated to be 54 years old." The ones around are among the last 1/3rd of all the U.S. Vets alive who served in Vietnam. So, don't take your memories and experiences with you to the pearly gates, write your memoirs! I don't know about you guys, but that kind of gives me the chills, considering this is the kind of information I'm used to reading about WW II and Korean War Veterans. So, in the last 14 years Vietnam Veterans are dying way too fast, Therefore, only the few will survive by the year 2015...if any. If that is true, 390 VN vets will die a day. That means that in 2,190 days from now, we will be lucky to find a Vietnam Veteran alive! That's only 6 years from now! Therefore, let's get the ones still alive to write books, and I want to buy and read them! I still want to read this darned book! Anyone got one to spare? Cheers, Bernie Weisz BernWei1@aol.com

Seawolf28

by Al Billings

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War, August 6th, 2011 Pembroke Pines, Florida Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: "22 Years in the Navy, 4 Tours of Vietnam, 600 Missions, 9 Engine Failures & The D.F.C., I've Gone From An Asset To A Liability!," How is it possible that a "Silver Star and Distinguished Flying Cross" winner, a promising Naval Commanding Officer and Helicopter Aircraft Commander with 600 missions flown with the Seawolves during the height of the Vietnam War could have a career that ended with disquieting misfortune? Al Billings in "Seawolf 28" explains that albeit he was destined to implode sooner or later based on his personality traits, in the end none of his accomplishments mattered. These personality traits were radically opposed to the attitudes, constitutions and values of the officers and commanders he served with and described in this memoir, and in that regard Billings would not compromise his positions to bridge this. According to the author, the top echelons of authority in the United States Navy seemed to be a place inhabited by officers that received choice assignments, gave each other reciprocally glowing fitness reports and were more concerned with the advancement of their career as opposed to the safety and welfare of the enlisted man, who were the people that made it all possible. The author's assessment does seem to agree with historical events the U.S. military faced, both on a war and later peace setting, and is an issue of ethics rarely brought up by others. The time period Billings set foot in Vietnam was in 1968, a year unlike anything America ever had or will experience again. It seemed that worldly trends had become unconventional and offbeat, with the hippie subculture undergoing a metamorphosis. Originally a youth movement that began in the U.S. during the early 1960's, it now globally proliferated, with its fundamental ideals being harmony with nature, communal living and artistic experimentation in music and drugs. Billings did not associate with any form of hippie style, and in fact stayed fit by religiously working out. It was his individuality that was so at odds with other Naval commanders, admirals, captains etc., that a series of confrontations between Billings and the authorities he worked with was inevitable. As a consequence, a naval grapevine of false hearsay and malicious derogatory gossip evolved giving rise to a stigmatizing blemish on his character, one that he never could shed regardless of his spectacular accomplishments.The author's origin is from Los Angeles, and in 1968 the "City of Angels" was notorious for its nonconformist, free spirited hippie scene and vibrant beat culture. Images of Billing's antecedents brought to mind the Venice coffeehouses, Hollywood's "Sunset Strip" with its innovative rock clubs like the "Whisky-a-Go-Go" and the "Troubadour." Los Angeles and 1968 became synonymous with famous rock bands like "The Doors, Buffalo Springfield," and a Hollywood produced show that made its debut on January 22 of that year. Graphic images of America's first "television war" showing the nation a soldier's widow, baby in arms, reading one of her husband's last letters from Vietnam competing for air time with "Laugh In," a new show that boasted shapely chicks in acid-colored bikinis and mod flowered body paints. America now had a prime time choice of watching reports of Marines using "Zippo" lighters to burn suspected Viet Cong civilian huts on "search and destroy" operations juxtaposed with wildly costumed pranksters spouting sexually hip one-liners, hosted by two swinging bachelor types, the comedy team of Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. Out of this background the legend emerged of an ungovernable, cigar chomping Al Billings, forever forward known as "Hollywood Al." In reviewing this memoir, it becomes readily apparent that while Billings did fly heroically for the Seawolves in Vietnam and ultimately go on to a distinguished naval career for 22 years, this memoir really has nothing to do with the Navy, Vietnam, engine failures nor medals won. Rather, this is a work of a man who, in struggling through a terrible childhood feeling both unwanted and unloved, went in the military and fought valiantly simply to find who he really was. When Billings did discover the answer to his quest, the engine failures, medals and awards and even his wartime service paled in comparison to the confrontations he was destined to continually face with disagreeably patronizing senior officers. Regardless of the issue, or the scandalous small talk and backstabbing, his detractors discovered that Billings was steadfast; what he discovered about himself was uncompromising. The values and core beliefs that Billings found he held he would permanently adhere to and wouldn't change for anyone, regardless of the consequences.The author elaborates that his self discovery began his first day in the Navy as an aviation cadet. After enlisting, twenty year old Al Billings started his quest by flying five hours cross country from Los Angeles to Pensacola, Florida. It was January of 1965, six months after the North Vietnamese regime supposedly conducted two deliberate attacks against U.S. naval vessels operating in the international waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. U.S. President and Commander in Chief Lyndon B. Johnson was determined to take what he deemed: "All necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the U.S. and to prevent further aggression." Johnson, the consummate salesman, had his infamous "Johnson Treatment" working on August 7th, 1964. This was the same method he used to persuade Congress to approve legislation of his version of FDR's "New Deal," calling his 1965 agenda the "Great Society." These were laws he designed upholding civil rights, public broadcasting, medicare, medicaid, and his self declared "War on Poverty." That wasn't the only war LBJ wanted, and after the two alleged naval engagements, LBJ addressed Congress once again employing this manipulative approach. Calling on his domineering personality and his blend of coercion, LBJ successfully pushed, pulled, cajoled and rammed the "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution" past Congress. However in this case, the ultimate price would turn out to be incalculable, resulting in 58,212 Americans killed, 153,452 wounded, and 1,711 unaccounted for. This resolution, while it gave him the exclusive right to use military force without consulting the Senate, he would later confess was based on a false pretext. By the end of 1964, there were approximately 23,000 U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam, and 1,278 wounded. With LBJ's resolution, America's direct involvement in the ground war in Vietnam commenced. By the time Billings arrived in February of 1968, over 550,000 American soldiers were in country and were being killed at the rate of over 1,000 a month.One thing LBJ didn't include in his "Great Society" was the Naval Cadet Program Billings reported to, and the author admits that if it hadn't been for this conflict, this program would have gone by the wayside. While not knowing who he was as a person, Billings explained that college just didn't cut it for him, and his sole focus became as follows:""Becoming a naval aviator was what I wanted, and I was willing to make whatever sacrifices were necessary to achieve that goal. The skills and concentration required to land a high-performance aircraft aboard a pitching carrier deck in the black of night seemed to be the challenge I was looking for." Unfortunately, to do this would force him to associate with double dealing, under handed superior officers that acted in collusion to achieve and maintain advancement, regardless of the expense. In his first week at the Naval Academy, the first ten days were a period of indoctrination, with all cadets being tested. Billings had one particular cadet officer that excessively rode him until he snapped. Admitting that he did have a bad temper, Billings qualified it, asserting the following: "Even back then, I had trouble with people abusing their authority." With the moniker of irascibility being the first of many bad reputations to follow him, this officer warned Billings that he would never graduate the Naval Academy if couldn't control his temper. His reaction was far from being intimidated: "Nothing was going to stop me from becoming a naval aviator. I had never failed at anything, and I was not about to start." Other incidents happened. The standard discipline an officer would use for an infraction of a cadet was "PT", or physical training. "Drop and Give me Twenty" was a favorite phrase heard, used as both a control method and for discipline. While Billings wrote that it seemed like he did an inordinate amount of push ups at the academy, his superiors could not discipline him with this: "It got to the point where I had picked up a reputation for being able do an exceptional number of push-ups, sit ups, and whatever else they threw at me." The "maverick" designation was in its genesis for Billings. Told to stand at attention during room inspection and to control his emotions, Billings noted: "Back then I was full of life and every day was an adventure. I even smiled a lot, sometimes too much. You weren't supposed to smile. I can remember one time during a room inspection I got put on report for breaking out in uncontrolled laughter." If nothing else, the nine engine failures, the ocean burials of some of his friends and Vietnam would put quite a damper on his sense of humor.Al Billings was about to find out about human error and that by following an officer's orders that didn't sound right could cost one their life. While still at the Naval Academy, Billings noticed a chasm in rank: "Some officer candidates felt that it was beneath them to listen or even speak to the cadets." Throughout this memoir, Billings insists throughout his career he treated all men, enlisted and officer alike with respect, completely lacking any pretentious airs of superiority. Several instances in this memoir he was warned by different officers about his fraternization with enlisted men under him, a warning which Billings simply ignored. Billings saw that sometimes it was necessary to disregard a superior officer's commands. When do you draw the line between common sense and obedience? If Hitler's Concentration Camp guards had refused to obey the Fuhrer's orders, the Holocaust might never have happened. Ditto with The "My Lai Massacre" where the men of "Charlie" Company, 1st battalion, 20th infantry, 11th infantry brigade, of the Americal Division listened to and obeyed Lt. William Calley's orders. The result: the mass murder of 347-504 unarmed citizens in South Vietnam. In the Naval Academy, Billings noticed that there were officers that felt it was inappropriate for them to listen or even speak to new cadets. Billings illustrated the dangers inherent in putting uncommunicative superior officers in charge in an anecdote he recalled when he was on a cross country flight with 5 other students, 6 aircrafts and a flight instructor practicing the newly acquired navigation skill of "dead reckoning." This was a method of using both a map and visual ground references to navigate, as opposed to instrument training. As Billings was flying back to base, he noticed that there was an unanticipated crosswind that had caused the squadron to veer off course. Should they continue, and not correct, he realized that they would run out of fuel and possibly crash. Thinking of the five Navy Grumman Avengers of the ill fated "Flight 19" that disappeared in December of 1945 off Florida's coast near the Bermuda Triangle, Billings contacted by radio the Officer Candidate, who twice ignored him. Finally the Officer responded arrogantly to Billings: "Cadet, I don't need you to teach me how to navigate!" Out of desperation, Billings contacted the control tower and explained the situation. Within a minute, Billings recalled: A voice came over the radio, "Lead pilot, this is your flight instructor. I suggest you listen to what the cadet said and right your squadron to a different heading." Billings concluded: "Later in my career I would see this same type of egocentric mentality cost lives."Graduating from the Academy with Billings was 13 other pilots. If a pilot was at the top of his class, he could select his preference of fixed wing jets or rotary aircraft. However, this was the summer of 1966, and Vietnam was in the "build up" period of troops and supplies. Early year offensive U.S. ground operations such as "Crimp, Masher, and Birmingham paled in comparison to the March 9-10 "Battle of A Shau," which was considered an outright victory for the North Vietnamese. It was a costly battle, one that cost the NVA 800 killed out of an initial force of 2000 men. U.S. loses were 8 killed, 12 wounded and 5 missing. The most important event, at least for Billings, was a message the Navy sent fleet-wide in early 1966, asking for volunteer Naval Aviators to man a new squadron that was just being formed entitled "Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron Three" known as the acronym HA(L)-3. Consequently, eighty Aviators were chosen to be in the first wave of "Seawolves" and transferred to Vietnam. That summer, the Navy borrowed and manned eight UH-1B Hueys from the Army, and to decrease the chance of enemy ground attack, built specifically configured, helicopter capable "Landing Ship Tanks" (LST's) to be were used as their landing platform bases. This ensured their mobility and proximity to their own area of operations. This group was paired down into four detachments, with each one containing both 8 aviators and crewmen obtained from "Helicopter Combat Support Squadron One ("HC-1), located in Imperial Beach, San Diego, California. On April 1, 1967, HA(L)-3 was officially commissioned in South Vietnam under the command of LCDR Joseph B. Howard. It was the only all volunteer helicopter attack squadron in the Navy, and was created specifically to deny the VC use of the Mekong Delta's waterways while at the same time ensuring that the local population had unfettered use of it. Additional responsibilities were to launch search and destroy patrols, enemy reconnaissance, medical evacuations, and both SEAL Team insertions and extractions, of which Billings gives lucid descriptions of in "Seawolf 28." From 1967-68, six Seawolve detachments were deployed from various South Vietnamese bases, but the one Billings eventually was assigned to, Detachment II out of Nha Be, had the most vital assignment. Their area of operation was the Rung Sat "Special Zone," which was a maze of swamps and canals that surrounded the vital shipping channel leading from the city of Saigon to the sea. As Mr. Billings would soon find out, this area was a favorite target of VC ambush and mine booby trapping activities.The identity crisis Al Billings grew up with was about to be answered. Because of the Navy's pressing need for helicopter pilots, the prior choice of self determination of jets vs helicopters no longer existed; 13 out of 14 Naval Academy graduates were assigned without volition to fly helicopters. Billings was one of 13, and his reaction was less then joyous: "Helicopters? They still don't know how they get up in the air. The joke was, they shake and shutter so bad, the ground rejects them." The author also gives the reader insight as to what he thought Vietnam would give him: "I was not a war monger. At this point, I didn't know what type of person I was, or would be and I wanted to know. I feel the experience would help me find out. It was worth the risk to find out the man I would be." Who was the author's idol and now at age 22, what were his morals and ethics at this point in his career? Billings used the following beliefs to govern his reactions and decisions every time he ran into a immoral, hypocritical commanding officer and his corrupt, malicious entourage obsessed with opportunism: "I grew up watching John Wayne movies and probably didn't know it at the time, but what he seemed to stand for, set in motion many of my beliefs. I thought if you were honest and straightforward with people they would respect you for it and respond in kind. I believe that if you were strong and stood up for what was right, you would be admired. If you were to lead men you would have to win their respect, and set the example." If you carefully juxtapose the aforementioned passage Billings elaborated on with each upcoming situation in this memoir he was destined to face, you will understand why he was unfairly labeled as a maverick as a deceptive diversion by the very people that should have been dishonorably discharged. After Billings graduated from the Naval Academy on June 19, 1966, he left to his next destination with "Navy Gold Wings." This was an unrestricted designation, meaning he could fly anything, i.e. either a jet fighter pilot or helicopters. On his inevitable passage to Vietnam, his first duty assignment was "HC-1," at Imperial Beach, San Diego. With few exceptions, the majority of upcoming experiences and personalities Billings ran into one wouldn't wish on their worst enemy! For starters, the Navy gave Billings 30 days to move from Pensacola to the West Coast, and having what he thought was a girlfriend in Michigan, he jumped in his candy apple red Mustang and embarked on his cross country trek.Halfway on his trip back to California, Billings pulled into a Detroit gas station to ask for directions. Local Motown police spotted him and mistook him for someone else with an identical looking vehicle that had just shot someone a few blocks away. To make things worse, Billings had a .22 caliber pistol on him. You have to wonder what was going through "Hollywood Al's" mind as the police brought him to jail and gave him their version of street justice. Billings recalled: "When they found the automatic pistol, you would have thought they just captured Al Capone. On the way in, they told me that if I was innocent of the shooting, I would probably get only 3-5 years for having a loaded gun." After finally being released, Billings tried to explain to his girl, a stewardess, why he was late. She quickly blew him off, and Billings made a beeline to San Diego. Once at HC-1, Billings thought that if he could just get into "Search and Rescue," helicopters might prove to be worthwhile and exciting to him. Any thought of still wanting fixed wing aircraft evaporated when Billings came under the tutelage of Mike McCormack, a man known as "Mr Combat SAR." A very professional, low key, highly proficient pilot, Billings saw in Mr Combat SAR everything in a pilot he wanted to be. He learned a lesson indirectly from McCormick, one that would define his future. Heard as a tale from another pilots, Billings was told that McCormack was once standing by for a search and rescue assignment as he flew his helicopter off North Vietnam's coast. Soon after an American fighter bomber was shot down over the Communist mainland the pilot safely ejected. McCormack received an emergency signal from the downed pilot and had a perfect fix on his position. A favorite ploy of the North Vietnamese was to use downed pilots as bait. They would intentionally hold back from capturing the downed pilot so they could set up around them and wait for the rescue crew to come in, ambushing both. The NVA rarely took prisoners, and McCormack, knowing any delay could have tragic results, desperately sought permission from the Commodore and his staff on "Yankee Station," a prerequisite on any rescue operation. Impatiently encountering one delay after another, McCormick grew more frustrated, and after being told to wait some more, he feigned static, turned his radio off, and on his own volition went in and quickly grabbed and rescued the pilot and returned to the ship. This incident, along with an upcoming rescue situation in South Vietnam Billings would successfully accomplish, left the author very confused about honesty. Similar to McCormack, Billings without permission from his Officer in Charge went on a rescue mission and medevaced with his Huey two very severely wounded "River Rat" Sailors off their immobilized PBR during a VC ambush, both of whom would not have lived if Billings was unsuccessful.Although Billings would later win both the "Silver Star and Distinguished Flying Cross" for his gallantry, after the mission was over he flew back to Nha Be, wondering how he could be the only helicopter pilot in Vietnam to pull a rescue of this magnitude off and get in trouble for it. He watched with incredulity the next day when a group of reporters came looking for him. Billings' "Officer in Charge" heard this group's clamor and presented himself to them with the misleading announcement: "I was the aircraft commander of the rescue helicopter." Confused, Billings wrote: ""I could get philosophical here and say that it really didn't matter, but as a young man and still to this day, the truth was very important to me. I never understood the truth could be considered a character flaw in real life." The rest of "Seawolf 28" begs to be read, showing us that Billings fought an every day battle to do the right thing while everyone around him wasn't. Next, Mr. Billings was assigned to "Detachment Lima," aboard the U.S.S. Bon Homme Richard, where he was about to find out this was a match made in hell. His commanding officer was an arrogant, insolent and tactless individual that Billings quickly saw was readily apparent he suffered from a "Napoleonic Complex." To make matters worse, he was in a group of fliers, a member of which existed an unqualified, inept Officer that simply could not control a helicopter. When Billings warned the C.O. of this, he was rudely rebuffed. This would ultimately result in tragic and fatal consequences. Prior to departing on his first tour in Vietnam, Billings was once again let down as he experienced the frustration of trying to escape when no one else wanted to from "Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape" training at Warner Springs,California. He spent a frustrating week with a cowardly group of junior officers that let themselves get captured and took him along with them. Then, in mock POW camp, he was betrayed by these mercurial J.O.'s that first promised to help Billings escape, then hypocritically reneged as a result of being ordered by the erratic imprisoned Commander. So disappointed was Billings with the result of S.E.R.E. school, he accused this commander that the reason he easily broke when interrogated and "washing out" of S.E.R.E. and the Navy, of having the ulterior motive of avoiding Vietnam. Billings also alerts the reader of the following: "I would learn more about human nature and would lose a roommate and a very close friend. Burials would become commonplace." This Western Pacific Tour" of 1967 turned out to be full of death and tragedy, as while he dealt with a deranged C.O. gone mad with Napoleonic Complex, Billings would take part in a search and rescue operation that tested the limits of his sanity.With the Bon Homme one day away from sailing into Hawaii, the detachment was informed that two destroyers had collided out at sea with casualties. Billings was ordered to fly his helicopter 78 miles to the damaged destroyers, pick up two of the wounded and them transport them via his "H2B Sea Sprite" to a hospital in Hawaii. The medevac went without a hitch. However, upon landing at the hospital, an ambulance driver carelessly shot up to Billing's Sea Sprite, almost colliding the ambulance with his helicopter's rotor blades. Thoughtfully, Billings quickly raised up the helicopter to avoid this. Things would quickly get worse, as the author took off again and landed at a nearby refueling point, desperately needing fuel without which they wouldn't be able to fly seaward back to the Bon Homme. When the guy running the fuel truck learned Billings didn't posses the right form he required for gas, he refused a refill. Billings, packing a pistol with his face an inch away from the driver's nose, responded as follows: "You see this pistol? This .38 tells me that if you don't give us the damn fuel, I'm going to take it, and you'll have nothing to say about it!" The driver relented and quickly succumbed to Hollywood Al's temper. Billings would witness another four officers would lose their lives on the Bon Homme before the next calamity, the July 29, 1967 U.S.S. Forrestal disaster. This tradegy would claim an additional 134 sailors lives, and severely injure 161. The description of the rescues Billings flew, as well as his recollection of the odor of burning flesh he was forced to inhale left an indelible mark on his senses and even today is a very hard read. This memoir includes Al Billings tour in 1968 with the Seawolves. This took place during and after the most important incident of the Vietnam War, the "Tet Offensive." This most publicized and controversial battle began on January 21st, 1968 at the Khe Sanh combat base. Eight days later, on January 30th, the North Vietnamese Army played their trump card. While Al Billings went to Helicopter Gunship Training school at Fort Benning, Georgia, the Communists pulled off one of the greatest surprise attacks of all time. Viet Cong forces, in a desperate attempt to inspire the civilian population of South Vietnam to join them in their military efforts of overthrowing the South's government, unifying the country and forcing the withdrawal of U.S. Armed Forces, violated the previous day's agreed upon cease-fire. The VC were made up of South Vietnamese civilians and NVA advisors who lived in the cities and villages throughout South Vietnam. They were subordinate, yet part of the NVA in its ultimate goal of reuniting the two countries as one.The previous week's battle at Khe Sanh was the curtain-raiser for the Tet Offensive of January 31, 1968 and was similar to the 1954 battle of "Dien Bien Phu" in which the Viet Minh (now called the NVA) had surrounded their enemy and cut off all land routes for supplies and evacuation. Khe Sanh was an NVA diversionary tactic to draw the American military spotlight towards them and away from the South Vietnamese cities while the Viet Cong fought the Tet Offensive. On January 31, the V.C. initiated their offensive when approximately 84,000 of their troops attacked along the entire length of South Vietnam every major allied airfield and 64 Southern district capitals as well as scores of smaller towns. With the focus on Hue and Saigon, the former, in the northern part of South Vietnam, was taken over by the V.C. and executions of over 2,300 pro American city officials and their families occurred. In Saigon, the center for most news agencies that covered the war in South Vietnam, rear support personnel and MP's did the initial fighting by American troops until reinforcement from the regular infantry and armor could arrive. Unfortunately for the military establishment, the news media was able to capture this street fighting as well as the attack on the American Embassy on tape and was immediately brought into the homes of American families by television and the press. The sensationalism of this reporting resulted in a misrepresentation of the actual facts that occurred. In November of 1967, the commander of all American forces in Vietnam, General Westmoreland, had declared in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. the following: "We have reached the point when the end begins to come into view." Some of these films, the most spectacular of the war, included footage on NBC and ABC of General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, the chief of the South Vietnamese police executing a captured VC officer after a street battle. This scene would later adversely affect American public opinion to the point of no return in regard to the desire to end the war.According to the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Clark Clifford, the reaction of the U.S. military leadership to the Tet Offensive "approached panic". Westmoreland made himself look foolish by continuously maintaining his belief that the NVA attack on Marines besieged at Khe Sanh was the Communist's real objective and that the VC Tet Offensive was a diversion! Washington Post reporter Peter Braestrup belittled the General more by asking: "How could any effort against Saigon, especially downtown Saigon, be a diversion?" The beginning of the "good old boy club" i.e. the closed, overprotective military elite went into overdrive and any rogue that spoke out against it or deviated, particularly within its own ranks was considered a maverick. Hollywood Al's nonconforming personality saw him stand up to any Naval superior that acted towards his men or himself with impropriety regardless of the situation or consequences. The Tet Offensive had other deleterious consequences on the U.S. Military. The negative coverage gave the citizenry of America the false impression that the U.S. was losing the war in Vietnam and that it was a major Communist victory. In reality, the VC suffered such high casualties that they were no longer considered a fighting force and their ranks would have to be replaced for the rest of the war by NVA regulars. The civilian population of South Vietnam, for the most part indifferent to both the Northern and Southern regimes, did not as predicted join with the VC during the Tet Offensive. This was ignored by the American media, with the most conspicuous comment coming from Walter Cronkite, who declared on February 27, 1968 that: "We are mired in stalemate and the time had come for negotiations to end U.S. involvement in the war." Al Billings discusses this, angrily asserting that what was actually an NVA military defeat was convoluted by way of domestic news media sensationalism and seditious anti-war demonstrations into a political victory for them. Cronkite's call for disengagement did influence the President, with Johnson lamenting: "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost the country." On the last day of March, 1968, as Al Billings flew his UH-1B Gunship out of Nha Be, South Vietnam as an Aircraft Commander for the Seawolves, President Johnson made an announcement.On national TV, millions of television viewers learned that LBJ now sought negotiations to end the war and would not run again for president. The North Vietnamese interpreted the U.S. reaction to these events as the weakening of America's resolve to win the war and correctly predicted that victory could be theirs, if they stayed their course. Billings voiced his opinion that America had won the war on Vietnam's battlefields but lost it back home on the college campuses and city streets. History shows us that from 1969 until the end of the war, over 20,000 American soldiers were killed in a war that the U.S. did not have the resolve to win. At the Paris Peace Conference, the NVA "stayed their course" following L.B.J's declaration by the intentional use of delaying tactics as a weapon to inflame U.S. politics. This delaying tactic worked as it spurned further anti-war demonstrations and gave the NVA renewed optimism. However, in 1968 the military became vigilant for malcontents within its ranks for other reasons. After the Tet Offensive, the war became increasingly unpopular and as a consequence soldiers became less enthused about going into harm's way. Most ground units in the field desired commanding officers with similar sentiments of wanting to come home alive. If a commanding officer was incompetent, fragging him was considered a means to an end of self-preservation for all serving under him. Fragging might also occur if a commander freely took on dangerous or suicidal missions, especially if he was deemed to be seeking glory for himself. For most REMF's, the motive of individual self-preservation was often obstructive to the goals of the overall war effort, and since their neck wasn't on the line, they couldn't care less. Officers that were out in the field listened carefully to identify dissenters. Another phenomenon after the Tet Offensive was a rapid increase in incidents of "combat refusal," resulting in at least ten major mutinies and perhaps hundreds of minor ones, many unreported.Before deployment to Vietnam, there were barracks-full of guys in Camp Pendleton waiting their court-martials for refusing to fight. Feeling it wasn't "worth it," they queried, "What are they going to do, send me to Vietnam?" That year, there were 68 recorded combat refusals alone. Al Billings inadvertently picked 1968, the wrong year to pick up a false label he would never shake, with distrust of commanding officers at an all time high. Aside from the February 1st televised incident of the South Vietnamese police officer executing a VC suspect, the My Lai Massacre occurred on March 16, and two weeks after that, Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot dead at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Riots erupted nationwide, lasting for several days afterwards. On June 5th, U.S. presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed in Billings home town at the Ambassador Hotel by Sirhan Sirhan. In July, the CIA officially started their "Phoenix Program" in Vietnam, which ultimately killed 40,000 civilians between 1968 and mid-1971 and in August, antiwar demonstrators clashed with police at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. There were approximately 10,000 demonstrators. Bystanders and press were beaten by police officers in a melee depicting graphic police brutality. While America had gone mad, Al Billings flew missions, and Americans were hurt, taken prisoner and killed. Equal to this injustice was the false branding of Al Billings that ruined his career. The very system that this author cherished would so ungraciously turn its back on him, supporting an incompetent clique of ruling officers that hopefully this memoir will prevent from ever occupying such high levels of authority again. In order for America to stay militarily strong and cohesive, "Seawolf 28" should be required reading for any professional military organization's cadets to graduate. This book should be included in the curriculum for any Annapolis, West Point or U.S. Air Force Academy cadet, ensuring that their core values of "Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in All We Do" transcends into action. This is indeed a well written, excellent memoir!

Internal Conflicts

by Flint Whitlock

Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War Pembroke Pines, Florida, U.S.A. January 13, 2011 Title of Review:"What Good Is Fighting For People When The People You Are Fighting For Hate Your Guts? And By the Way, Welcome to Vietnam!" Flint Whitlock has done come in with a superb historic lesson about many issues in "Internal Conflicts." On the surface, this is a novel about a young, Army officer who while joining the Army in an attempt to discover his manhood by way of wearing "army greens, sexual conquests and love," searches for the meaning of life in the tumultuous 1960's. Although Whitlock throws to the reader a novel of varied themes, i.e. eroticism, romance, sibling rivalry, mortality, murder, war, and peace, his protagonist, a Vietnam bound Officer named Peter, Luton, sums up his personal "Internal Conflict" best in this book with his following lament: "My mother is not really my mother, my brother is not really my brother, my father was not really my father, I am not who I always thought I was." The title chosen by Flintlock is appropriate, as Luton, an awkward, graceless youth matures into adulthood in the shadow of his older, athletically adroit brother Jack. Full of negative self poise and overly sensitive, Peter is forever plagued by self-recrimination, indecision and self doubt. As the reader will discover through what Whitlock deemed "The Incident," Luton's impulsive behavior precipitate negative repercussions that cause self doubt and insecurity that plague him nearly to the end of this story. Yet, the reader need to be forewarned: when it came time for Luton to step to the plate and prove his prowess and fortitude in the face of death, he smashed a grand slam home run. Unfortunately for Luton, his base clearing blast was in an unforgiving place that was not a John Wayne film, devoid of makeup, fake blood, flags and bugles. This was in Vietnam and in the watershed year of this conflict, where he was to ultimately find out that he was deceived by his drill instructors with the following admonition: "The more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed in wartime."The reader needs to be forwarded that it is once in a while a book will come along where the majority of occurrences one reads about can be identified vicariously. I myself experienced identical or similar incidents and experiences that Whitlock's protagonist encountered and experienced. It brought back poignant memories of my youth and my own voyage of self discovery. If the reader of this novel went through the 1960's, the whole scene of Vietnam, the search for manhood, sexual conquest, masculine identity, adoption, sibling rivalry, post traumatic stress syndrome, etc., this book will certainly churn both your head and stomach with emotions perhaps dulled with the passage of time. I did not expect this book to end as violent and abrupt as it did. Being Whitlock's first foray into fiction, I did not even expect this to be anything more than a marginal regurgitation of historical facts coated by a flimsy storyline. Needless to say, this book turned out to be a plot I simply could not put down until the last page was turned, and even then I was shaking my head as to "why?" I will not be a plot spoiler and let on to why I say this. I can promise anyone, man or woman, that there is something in this book that you will identify with and have you thinking about for weeks after you have finished it. One wonders if Whitlock is veiling his own biography through fiction. The writer of almost 10 best selling historical books that effectively convey the emotional and physical aspects of the soldier's experience, Whitlock's past parallels his protagonist. A college graduate in ROTC, Peter Luton, a Chicagoan, tearfully finds out the circumstances of his adoption late in life. Witnessing the death of his friend through a suspicious incident in basic training, Luton underwent a grueling ordeal of learning to be a soldier at Fort Benning, Georgia. Luton spent two years in Germany as an Officer for the Nike Hercules Missile Battery prior to his involuntary deployment to Vietnam at the height of the 1968 "Tet Offensive." His real father and mother perished in a fatal car accident and his adopted father vanished in a downed B-17 Bomber, shot down over Germany's skies during the Second World War.Flint Whitlock graduated from the University of Illinois in 1964 with a degree in Advertising Design. Whitlock's father, James, served with the famed 10th Mountain Division in World War II. With Vietnam escalating after the August, 1964 "Gulf of Tonkin" incident, Whitlock wanted to serve his country, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant through the Reserve Officer Commission Training Program and entered active duty in December 1964. Similar to his protagonist,after completing basic Air Defense Artillery officers' course at Fort Bliss, Texas, Whitlock received his jump wings at Airborne school at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was then posted to a Nike Hercules battery in Baumholder, Germany. After two years in Air Defense Artillery, he spent an additional year in Zweibruecken, Germany, where he was promoted to captain as part of the Supply and Maintenance Agency. In 1968, Flint was transferred to South Vietnam, arriving one day before the Tet Offensive in January, 1968 just like his protagonist. He served for six months as a supply specialist at 1st Logistical Command Headquarters at Long Binh, northeast of Saigon, before being transferred to the 14th Inventory Control Center at the same post. Although Whitlock never saw combat, he chronicles his protagonist's self recrimination and guilt at being a noncombatant, euphemistically called a "REMF," while his compatriots sweat, fought, were wounded, and died in the sultry triple canopy jungles of Vietnam. I have read and reviewed other men's memoirs of serving in the rear lines of Vietnam. Most have a complex called "survivor guilt." Whitlock makes an interesting statement at the beginning of this book, where Jack Luton's brother tells him this admonition: "Never expose your weaknesses to someone else, unless you want him to use your weaknesses against you." Possibly Luton exorcises Whitlock's impotence of his non involvement in the Vietnam conflict by this novel. Definitely, Whitlock hits, and hits hard at the major facts and issues that affected everyone unilaterally growing up during the Vietnam era.Needless to say, Flint Whitlock, former child of the 1960's, ex Army Officer, ex Vietnam Veteran, and current historian, has come up with a gem here that only a conglomeration of the following roles could produce. Incredibly, this book is a primer on the major issues of the era and the Southeast Asian conflict America became enmeshed in and eventually concluded in a debacle. Whitlock stated out early in this novel by including actual events cleverly included in a realistic storyline. In his last year of college, Luton mourned the fact that a lot of his classmates dropped out of college and joined one of the branches of service as part of the "Cold War" fervor as a reaction to the "Bay of Pigs Invasion." This was an unsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the U.S. government, in an attempt to overthrow the Communistic Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The conflict started in April 1961, less than three months after John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency in the United States. It ended as a U.S. embarrassment, as the Cuban armed forces, trained and equipped by the Soviet Union, defeated the invading combatants within three days. The failed invasion severely embarrassed the Kennedy Administration, and made Castro wary of future US intervention in Cuba. At the beginning of September 1962, U-2 spy planes discovered that the Soviet Union was building surface-to-air missile (SAM) launch sites in Cuba. J.F.K. complained to the Soviet Union about these developments and warned them that the U.S. would not accept offensive weapons 90 miles off U.S. shores. The National Security Council and the CIA recommended a U.S air-attack on the missile sites. Remembering the poor advice the CIA had provided before the Bay of Pigs invasion, J.F.K. decided that by doing that it would lead to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.It was finally decided to blockade Cuba in a naval manner, disabling any Soviet nuclear hardware to reach the island. As well as imposing a naval blockade, Kennedy also told the Air Force to prepare for attacks on Cuba and the Soviet Union. The army positioned 125,000 men in Florida and was told to wait for orders to invade Cuba. If the Soviet ships carrying weapons for Cuba did not turn back or refused to be searched, a war was likely to begin. Kennedy also promised his military advisers that if one of the U-2 spy planes were fired upon he would give orders for an attack on the Cuban SAM missile sites. The world waited anxiously. A public opinion poll in the United States revealed that three out of five people expected fighting to break out between the two sides. On October 24, 1962,J.F.K. was informed that Soviet ships had stopped just before they reached the U.S. ships blockading Cuba. On October 26 and 28th, Khrushchev sent J.F.K. two letters. The first proposed that the Soviet Union would be willing to remove the missiles in Cuba in exchange for a promise by the U.S. they would not invade Cuba and the second one demanded that the U.S. remove their nuclear bases in Turkey. J.F.K. accepted the terms of only the first letter, and Khrushchev agreed and gave orders for the missiles to be dismantled. However, The Cuban Missile Crisis was the first and only nuclear confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The event was used in Whitlock's book to show how frightened people were of the Cold War. Incidentally, three months after the Cuban Missile Crisis the U.S. secretly removed all its nuclear missiles from Turkey, 1,113 prisoners captured during the Bay of Pigs invasion were exchanged by Castro for $60 million from the U.S. in food, drugs, medicine and cash, but most significantly, the U.S. became convinced that the Soviet Union would not go to war over another communist country which encouraged the U.S. to help attempts to overthrow the communist government of Ho Chi Minh in North Vietnam, and later in Nicaragua and Grenada.Whitlock ingenuously included American sentiment over the assassination of J.F,K. and it's after affects, on November 22 1963, Luton's callous girlfriend could not understand why he had no libido on that night. Not being able to empathize why Luton, with images of the Zapruder amateur video tape of the Kennedy shooting in his mind, thus incapable of sexual performance, she used that as an excuse to break up with him. Luton also had school that day and watched students walk out of his ROTC class. Luton stayed, "internally conflicted" by his professor's advice: "Gentlemen, there's a lesson to be learned here. In the not too distant future, you will be on active duty. Some of you may even see combat-Europe, the Middle East, Africa, maybe even Vietnam-who knows where. your best friend may get killed right in front of you, his blood and brains splashed all over you. Are you going to start bawling your head off and run home to mommy? No. The real officer sticks it out, no matter how rough it gets. The real officer sets an example for his men, because, if he runs away, then his men are going to run away, and then the mission is lost." After Kennedy's death, his successor, Lyndon Johnson, took a steadfast policy of gradual escalation. While Jack Luton attended his Airborne training at Fort Benning, he realized units at Benning were alerted to go and were later placed on stand-by status for Vietnam. Luton mused the following during the training, echoing millions who similarly endured identical anxiety: "I wondered which ones would be going off to Vietnam, which ones would lose legs and hands and faces and genitals, which ones would return home in body bags and which ones would never be found, and I suddenly knew why we were all being hardened." An incident with racial overtones resulted in the murder of Luton's friend, and Jack's suspect, a bigoted drill master named Sergeant Krieger, is targeted for fragging. Soldiers serving under Lieutenant William L. Calley Jr., the culprit of the My Lai Massacre, secretly considering fragging him after he marched them into danger. "Fragging" referred to the act of attacking a superior officer in one's chain of command with the intent to kill that officer and was most commonly used to mean the assassination of an unpopular officer of one's own fighting unit. Killing was effected by means of a fragmentation grenade, hence the term.Flint Whitlock cleverly included this ugly aspect of the Vietnam War, as throughout the course of conflict, fragging was reportedly common. There are documented cases of at least 230 American officers killed by their own troops, and as many as 1,400 other officers' deaths could not be explained. Between 1970 and 1971 alone, there were 363 cases of "assault with explosive devices" against officers in Vietnam. Although Luton agreed that it was important to be "hardened," one Black soldier was mistreated, insulted and unfairly abused by Krieger that resulted in him quitting. There is another book, written by Joel Russell, entitled "Escaping Death's Sting" that also shows unfair mistreatment as part of basic training. However, another issue of the war, also dealt with in this book, is avoidance of the Draft, by going to graduate school, or even absconding to Canada or Sweden. Although he ultimately dropped out and was promptly drafted, Luton's friend back in college, Marty "Frog" Randall was used by Whitlock to illustrate those that went to war, and those that were against it and stayed. This issue broke up friendships, families, and marriages. Luton goes to a party prior to his deployment to Germany, and see's Frog in a different light. The underground usage of marijuana, the drug per se an anti-war, counterculture statement receives treatment in "Internal Conflicts." Hundreds of thousands of American soldiers served in West Germany during the Vietnam era, and Whitlock, since he was there, included his observations through Luton, of the Germanic vision of our occupation as a couple looked at him and smiled: "He couldn't help wondering, though the smiles masked a hatred of him and his uniform-a symbol of the conquering Army that had occupied their country for twenty years. Or did they view him as a valiant warrior, ready to die to keep the Russians from swarming across the border? He wished he could speak German so he could converse with them; he promised himself he would learn the language."Despite the fact that this is a novel, very real issues were brought up, particularly of the U.S. military in Germany in this period of time. Luton, trained to watch a radar grid of possible Soviet ballistic incoming missiles, is warned by lieutenant Stiles Van Dellen, a later casualty of Vietnam, the dangers of the Battery Control Center. Showing Luton how to work the radar, Van Dellen instructs the following: "Every so often, we'll see a dozen or so blips in formation heading our way-probably MIG's-but they always turn back before they reach the East and West Germany border." "What happens if they don't turn back?" "Then Pete," Stiles said, the proverbial balloon has just gone up." Peter gulped. World War Three would just be minutes away if ever those advancing blips did not reverse course." Aside from war games, Whitlock showed how the military could easily change one's "Military Occupational Specialty" at whim and even if one had a week left in their tour of duty, re-designate them for combat duty. During the Vietnam era, this was referred to as being "curtailed," although now with Iraq and Afghanistan in the background, it is referred to as "Stop Loss." This amounts to the involuntary extension of a service member's active duty service under the enlistment contract in order to retain them beyond their initial end of term of service date and up to their contractually agreed end of obligated service. It also applies to the cessation of a permanent change of station move for a member still in military service. There has recently even been a major motion picture of this issue. Peter Luton, thinking that he is safe from being called to Vietnam because he is in air-defense and the North Vietnamese had no planes, is corrected once again by Stiles as follows: "Pete, the Army can do whatever it damn well pleases, including sending you or me to anywhere." Yeah, but they guaranteed-" Army guarantees don't mean squat, Pete." In a memoir about Vietnam, written by James A. Daly entitled "Black Prisoner of War: A Conscientious Objector's Vietnam Memoir," Daly, a Jehovah's Witness, joined the Army under the promise of being made a cook and designated a permanent rear echelon job, was deceived, sent to the front lines as part of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade, captured and spent over five years as a North Vietnamese prisoner of war.Flint Whitlock also included an incident where Peter Luton, on night patrol of his own men, discovered two men having sex. This is significant, considering the 1960's view of homosexuality in the military, the subsequent "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" term policy restricting the U.S. military from efforts to discover or reveal the sexuality of closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while barring those who are openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual from military service, and it's current repeal. Nevertheless, Luton did meet an Army nurse, Meredith, whom he eventually wed, had a daughter with, and then it happened. His worst fears were realized, as he was shipped to Vietnam, no less on the first day of the "Tet Offensive". Contrary to W. W. II, there was no enthusiasm of going to combat, and unlike any previous conflict the U.S. has ever been involved with, his war chariot was a commercial airplane, a Boeing 727. Given a short leave between Germany and Vietnam to visit his new bride's family and his own in America's Midwest, he was given this little speech by his new father in law: "We either stop Communism over there or we try to stop it when the Russians or Red Chinese parachute in to Milwaukee. That's our choice, Pete. Far as I'm concerned, I'd rather we stopped it over there, in Vietnam. I just want you to know that I'm damn proud that you are going over there." "Well sir, I guess it's my duty. When I joined the Army, I knew that was part of the bargain, he lied. "Well, I'm just proud of you. And my daughter, too, for being an Army nurse, Too many of these long haired hippies are running around, burning their draft cards and American flags and smoking pot, are just spoiled brats, if you ask me. The kids today are as soft as marsh mellows they need to go into the service to toughen them up, and learn some discipline and respect. That's what my generation did. We gave up our jobs and our schooling and our families to serve our country. When they called us up, we all went. There were no protests or demonstrations back then. Draft dodgers were few and far in between. In fact, guys who were underage or were four-F and unfit for service did everything they could to get in. It took almost four, years, but we licked those Japs and Krauts. That's the problem today-nobody's willing to sacrifice. Everybody just wants everything handed to them on a silver platter."Regardless, the "internal conflicts" of Peter Luton continue. After a two week stay in Milwaukee, Luton flew to Vietnam, via San Francisco and the Philippines, a common passage during the war. However, an interesting tract was included by Whitlock, which speaks volumes, in terms of ambivalence: "Luton landed in San Francisco, was bussed across the bay bridge to Travis Air Force Base, near Oakland, where he spent the night at the Visiting Officers Quarters. early the next morning, Peter, along with twenty other officers, was loaded onto a 727 in which now he sat, along with ten dozen other worried, frightened, and confused soldiers, to continue their westward journey. A brief refueling stop in Hawaii, and then they were airborne again, flying in a wide arc over Pearl Harbor, where Peter looked downward could see the submerged hull of the U.S. S. Arizona, and he though sadly of the noble men still entombed within her. Now that had been a war-a war to embrace fervently, a war to get excited about. He wondered why he-or anyone else he knew-wasn't excited about going off to war." Anyone that has experienced the Vietnam ordeal will immediately identify. Luton landed at Bien Hoa Air Base and Whitlock wrote: "Even though it was two in the morning, the heat and humidity swamped Peter like a soaking wet electric blanket turned up high." The day was January 31, 1968, the first day of the Lunar New Year, as well as the infamous "Tet Offensive." As promised, I am not going to spoil the outcome, but this is where this book travels at the speed of light to it's earth shaking outcome. Several key events happen that influence the outcome of this book. Luton goes on an emergency bereavement leave following several months "In Country" after he is informed that his mother without warning drooped dead of a heart attack and through a chance of fate gets caught in the 1968 Democratic Convention riots. "Internal Conflicts" continues as he is both tear gassed and bashed in the head by Mayor Richard Daley's goons,and assailed a "baby killer" by the protesting, unruly crowds. Like most Vietnam Vets that became "adrenalin junkies," as he couldn't resist the call of Vietnam to return, where ironically he felt at home. Luton cried "What are they doing to our country?"The major events in Vietnam were the meeting of Jack Luton with Captain Todd Gorman and Australian Army Captain Graham Birdsong, both of whom played vital roles in propelling the novel to its shattering, inevitable conclusion with an emotional impact that few readers will be able to ever forget! Gorman knocked America's role of world policeman and showed Luton, given a safe, air conditioned desk job, the realities of the war. Pulled to an evacuation hospital, Gorman showed Luton both KIA and WIA victims, some dismembered, some burned beyond recognition. While Luton sat behind a desk, Gorman explained that every promise and guarantee the Army made to him had been broken. Warning Luton, Gorman exhorted: "If the Army says we are winning this war, head for the bomb shelter. The generals don't want this war to end. It's their profession, their livelihood, their whole reason for being. If peace talks are ever held and the fighting stops, the generals will be out of work. They'll be stuck at the Pentagon, making chains out of paper clips." Luton also saw the false, inaccurate reporting of the Tet Offensive. A complete American route of the enemy, the men with the pens and microphones reported this as a U.S. military defeat, while in reality it was a shattering blow to the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. The final internal conflict was when Luton met a "Digger"(A soldier in the Australian Army) named Captain Birdsong, who albeit inebriated, hit a sensitive nerve in Whitlock by questioning his manhood and calling him a coward. Birdsong sent Luton over the edge by telling him: You should be out in the boondocks with us, mate, mixing it up with Charlie, not pushing a pencil back at your cushy headquarters. Oh sure, you can say, "I'm in Vietnam, but you aren't really, are you? This is just like being in the States, isn't it, with a bit of shelling thrown in from time to time-just enough so that you don't have to feel guilty about collecting your hazardous pay duty. You and your fellow REMF's are more than willing to take the credit and the glory and the medals that will come your way for being in a war zone without actually taking part in the war itself. You're content to stand on the fringe of the battlefield, handing food and ammunition to those of us who are doing the real fighting, just as long as you don't get any of the mud or blood on you, You truly do believe in stopping communism-as long as it's someone else who has to do the actual stopping. Am I right?" I promise what happens next will never leave you and will be read over and over again. If you read one historical novel about the Vietnam War, make it "Internal Conflicts."

In This Man's Army

by Stan Sutherland

Written By Bernie Weisz Vietnam War Historian Pembroke Pines, Florida USA April 30, 2010 Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: "Our professionalism As Australian Soldiers Is Worth More Than The South Vietnamese Will for A Free Country!" Very rare is it that I come across a memoir that I mourned finishing. I simply wanted more! Stan Sutherland's "In This Man's Army" is exactly what I am referring to, and I have no doubt that any reader will agree with my thumbs up conclusion. From historical research on the conflict in S.E. Asia, I knew that after John F. Kennedy's assassination, incoming President Lyndon B. Johnson had recruited South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, and both New Zealand and Australia to join the fray. This endeavor he labeled his "More Flags Program." However, I had never before read any memoirs from soldiers that fought in Vietnam other than American. Searching on the Internet, I discovered Stan Sutherland's gem, and was able to contact him. He sent me a complementary copy to read, and after devouring his stimulating book, I lamented how there was no vendor that carried this, conversely there existed no venue to review it. After many Transatlantic e mails, I convinced Stan to have more copies of his book printed for American distribution, using "iUniverse" as his publisher. "In This Man's Army" was written by Stan as a catharsis, to leave a written legacy of history frequently ignored. It is truly my sincere hope that this continent will eagerly scoop up this amazing story, seeing Vietnam through a "Digger's eyes". It is interesting to note that I found many interesting juxtapositions written by Sutherland comparing the Australian and American military. In terms of stealth, Stan found the "grunt" to be noisy and careless about his movements and volume in the bush, while the professional "digger" paid close attention to being quiet and incognito, especially in the jungle. In terms of resting at a defensive night position (D.N.P.), Sutherland mused: " It is not unusual to doss down at night sometimes wondering if the enemy is going to creep up and slit your throat. The more quiet you are the better your chances.". He also closely compared Aussie verses American food rations, with interesting conclusions. In that regard, Sutherland wrote: "Australians were fortunate because we were able to mix our combat rations with the American ration packs. each country's pack is deficient on it's own. The Americans stack plenty of food into their packs and they have a number of delicacies like canned peaches, fruit salad and pound cake. You won't go hungry on American rations but the downside is no tea bags and poor quality instant coffee". For digger rations, Sutherland asserted: "they're very nutritional and will certainly keep you alive. But they are short on niceties. Apart from the fruit tingles and the high energy chocolate,there are no other frills. There is one aspect , however, in which they're good, and that is the sachets of tea and sugar". Sutherland concluded that by having access to both U.S. and Aussie rations, a digger had the best of both worlds. Mr. Sutherland also compared the alertness of the Australian soldier compared to his American counterpart, particularly when it came to manning one's own weapon in dangerous enemy territory. Sutherland's conclusions are noteworthy: "One discipline that has saved the lives of a lot of diggers is the strict removal and banning of rifle slings. Each man carries his rifle in the ready position all the time. There was no exception to this. Your ability to bring your rifle into action immediately is the difference between life and death in a lot of instances. This contrasts starkly with our American allies. They carry their rifles or machine guns on the shoulder, behind the neck across their shoulders and in any other manner that strikes their fancy. The South Vietnamese soldiers also carry their weapons any way they like. It looks and is extremely unprofessional, slack as hell and really serves to highlight the difference in standards between the Australians and everyone else". There are more comparisons, less overtly expressed. With racial tensions, discipline, drug problems, fragging and other rivalries between U.S. commanders and their different branches of service, tensions culminated in a violent and deadly American riot that occurred in Long Binh Jail on August 29, 1968. Sutherland surely must have noticed this during his tour, and without pointing the finger directly at American disunity, he wrote the following about digger solidarity in his memoir: "The men are always together in the boozer, in the lines and ,more importantly, when out in the jungle, they are always in close proximity to one another, working as a highly trained team. The camaraderie and mateship is particularly strong. This is true of the whole Australian army, but those of us in infantry see ourselves in the aura of a special light. Together, and at the same time, we get soaked to the skin, covered in leeches, get boils, foot rot, fungicidal crotch, stink to high heaven, get hungry, thirsty and get shot for good measure". Sutherland also made an interesting observation about U.S. convoy drivers and the way they drive. To this, he asserted as follows: "Convoy protection is interesting in so far as most times we're mounted on APC's. The American drivers in the convoy are mostly African American and without exception, as far as I can see, the fuel tankers are all driven by African Americans. They hurdle along flat out. Nobody can keep up with them and, as a general rule, we position ourselves at strategic points along the road." There are noteworthy comparisons found in this memoir and American ones. Read enough books of grunts in the bush coming back to "the world" and you will come across accounts of veterans shredding off their military uniforms at airport terminals. Fearing being accosted by hippies, war protesters or Vietnam Vets against the war, there are anecdotes of Vietnam Veterans fresh out of Vietnam being spit on, called "baby killers, druggie homicidal killers and lackeys" for an unappreciative government. Rarely would a Vet brag that he had just returned from a tour of Vietnam in the U.S. However, Sutherland wrote a totally different account when he came back to Australia after his first tour. Returning by boat, Sutherland wrote the following: "The Sydney (the name of his ship) berthed at Fremantle to let the West Australian diggers disembark on leave. Sailing into Fremantle, the Battalion lined the decks-it was a magnificent sight and the men, seeing the first Australians waiting at the wharf, waving their Aussie flags to welcome us home, felt a deep sense of pride." There is also an interesting segment that Mr. Sutherland wrote about diggers voting out in the jungles of Vietnam and the feeling they had about choosing their Australian candidates. This was a time where many U.S. grunts drew caricatures of President Nixon on their helmets picturing him as "Tricky Dick." Confidence in U.S. leaders and morale at that time (1968 to 1970) was at an all time low, with the shooting of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the violence at Kent State, the Cambodian Invasion and Vietnamization. I might add that Nixon later was the only U.S. president to ever resign from office. His vice president, Spiro T. Agnew, was caught in an investigation that had uncovered a kickback scheme that he'd been profiting from while he had been Governor of Maryland, and was continuing to profit from while serving as Vice President, but for which he had not been paying any Income Tax. He also later pleaded no contest to one charge of income tax evasion and resigned as Vice President, in exchange for the government not seeking any criminal charges against him. With this in mind, Sutherland remarked: " We made the rendezvous in time. The reason why we had to make sure we arrived in time was to vote in the federal elections. Not long after we arrived the re-supply choppers came in carrying ballot boxes as well. All the diggers were given voting papers to complete and place in the boxes. After I'd voted I lay back against a tree and thought to myself, what a great country Australia is, democracy at it's best. Here we are, fighting a war out in the jungle somewhere in a foreign land, and the system gives us an opportunity to vote." However, not everything was "peaches and cream" with Australia's war effort in this memoir. Mr. Sutherland wrote of a Platoon Commander that had been killed with a hand grenade placed on his mosquito net while he slept. Called "fragging" by Americans, Sutherland had the following to say about this incident: "Jeez, I know this sort of thing happens in the American army quite a bit-they've even got a name for it-but in the Australian army it's virtually unheard of, I said". Ultimately, Stan Sutherland realized that regardless of Australian pride and digger unity, the Vietnam War was an exercise in futility for all involved. After witnessing a U.S. B-52 air strike and thinking he was going to find countless dead enemy soldiers, Mr. Sutherland came to a strikingly different conclusion. To that, he wrote: The depth of the crater seemed to be approximately 20 feet and it strikes me that you could easily lower a house of average suburban size into the hole and the top of the roof will still be below ground level. We clambered over the jungle debris and found another crater and then another, and so on. The bombs have peeled back the jungle from around each crater and stacked it up in tight circular walls, making movement through the area difficult. We patrolled the area for 3 days and found nothing with the exception of a couple of contacts with the enemy, resulting in 2 enemy dead and another wounded. The whole exercise has just been one great expensive waste of time and effort. The cost of the B-52 strike alone must have been enormous." There is one part of this memoir that is truly telling about what I referred to before in regards to winning the "Hearts and Minds" of the Vietnamese. Mr. Sutherland wrote a small story where his platoon had to search the entire Vietnamese town of "Cape St. Jacques" for the presence of Viet Cong. Searching from house to house, he truly captured the futility of trying to teach democracy to a group of people over 100 years back in time. As such, he tellingly wrote the following: "The cordon was put in before daybreak to ensure no one entered or left town. After daybreak, the townspeople were instructed by megaphone to assemble at the eastern edge of the village. Once the townspeople had all assembled under armed control, 6 platoon was given the task of searching all the houses. Going into each house with our rifles in one hand and bayonets in the other, we methodically searched for weapons, ammunition or stores, which looked as though they could be of use to the enemy. Most of the houses are single room dwellings, but some have two rooms. Definitely no running conveniences like running water or power though. Vietnamese village people live a life of hardship that we can scarcely imagine. After I searched 3 or 4 houses I entered the next to find an old lady with no teeth confined to her bad. Dressed totally in the standard black pajama style of dress, she looked to be a hundred years old. A smile crossed her face revealing a lifetime of blackened betel nut gums. I wondered what was behind the smile. Placing myself in her position, I thought about how I would feel hack home in Australia if an armed foreign soldier with total control over me simply walked in to search my home and basically do anything he wanted. I concluded that I would have an enemy for life, and no doubt it is the same here...especially as they have had to deal with the French, then Japanese, French again and now the Americans and Australians. How can it be otherwise? How can we win a war when we're compelled to search the houses of ordinary people?" Finally, there is a most telling story Mr. Sutherland wrote about his impression working side by side with our ally during the conflict, the South Vietnamese Army. It this case, it was the "Regional Forces." During the war, the South Vietnamese "Regional Forces" were roughly akin to militias. Recruited locally, they fell into two broad groups - Regional Forces ("R.F's") and what was called "Popular Forces" (The RFPF's, called Ruff-Puffs by American forces). During the early 1960's the Regional Forces manned the country-wide outpost system and defended critical points, such as bridges and ferries. There were some 9,000 such positions, half of them in the Mekong Delta region. In 1964, the Regional Forces were integrated into the "Army Republic of Vietnam" (ARVN) and placed under the command of the Joint General Staff. After Vietnamization (when U.S. forces began to withdraw from South Vietnam during 1969) the R.F's/ARVN began the task of fighting the communist main force units. However, Stan's memoir portends the eventual communist victory in his description of attempting to train the "R.F's". For the first day of Australian training of their Vietnamese counter-part, Stan recorded the following observations: "They play around a lot amongst themselves. One can liken it to teaching 13 and 14 year olds back home. It seems strange to teach such serious matters as the art of warfare in an environment where every man, woman and child is affected by the war and they're like kids. They're aware that the average Australian soldier is far more capable and more highly trained than most of their senior officers." Stan Sutherland had more to say, far damaging in terms of the South's will to win. He continued about the ARVN: "The NCO's have absolutely no control of the men under them. They much prefer to be friends, than to actually lead them. We've told them that we'll be taking them out to actually put in an ambush after dark tonight. They make their feelings be known. They tell us that they don't like to do this. It's too cold and wet. Furthermore, why go out of our way? If the VC attack us in our compound, we'll fight, but we don't go out looking for them after dark. Daylight training to them is a bit fun and falls within their comfort zone but night work is disagreeable. In the Company there are about a dozen ethnic Chinese. It's very apparent the Chinese are more intelligent. Our observation is that the Chinese are more reliable and trustworthy and we've made up our minds that when we leave the compound we'll always have a number of Chinese with us for our own protection. It's known that the Vietnamese in the past have shot their American advisors and simply ran away from the battle if the going gets a bit rough. We always leave a couple of diggers back at the compound because if we didn't we'd have no gear left when we returned. Everything would be pilfered." There is a final comment that Stan Sutherland wrote in his memoir, which I actually used part of to title this review. It is a sad commentary which makes the reader of this memoir, as well as the student of this conflict feel that all Allied forces that were wounded or perished gave their lives for a cause that never could be accomplished. You, the reader, will have to judge for yourselves as to whether or not, under the circumstances I am about to quote, this war ever had a chance to be victorious. Mr. Sutherland wrote this ominous foreboding during his training of the "R.F's", on September 12, 1968. Stan noted: "We conducted a normal day of training and then we put in another ambush during the evening. The Vietnamese don't like working at night and there's a bit of disharmony as a result of it. Lt. Bin, the "R.F" commander, asks for a pay off, in other words, to get his cooperation, we have to bribe him. One day it's the stretcher, the next it's a lantern, the next a box of C-rations. We find this extremely disappointing. Here we are Australians, over here in Vietnam, trying our hardest to assist them remain free and out of communist control and it's hard to deal with the fact that, in order for them to cooperate with us and assist stave off a communist victory in their own country, we have to bribe them. This is the turning point in the war for me. Our professional-ism as Australian soldiers reflected in our work ethic is worth more than their will to keep their country free". This is a book that needs to be included as part of any serious study or consideration of the war in Vietnam...an absolute "must read"!

Men, Stress, and Vietnam

by Peter G Bourne

Review written by Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War, May 19, 2008 Pembroke Pines, Florida USA Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: "A psychiatrist's view of the Vietnam War""Men, Stress, and Vietnam" by Peter Bourne is a fascinating book that records Bourne's personal experiences and impressions in South Vietnam from Oct. 1965 to Oct. 1966. Bourne, a psychiatrist, covered areas from his specialty to other branches of medicine, as well as anthropology and sociology. One center of my own concern when I review books about the Vietnam War is to try to find statements that point out our folly in being there in the first place. With Bourne's book, it popped out on page 1. The author made a comparison of America's ill-fated involvement in the Vietnam War with an old Oriental fable that was worded as follows: "Once upon a time a fish and a monkey were caught up in a great flood. The monkey, agile and experienced, had the good fortune to scramble up a tree in safety. As he looked down to the raging water he saw the fish struggling against the swift current. Filled with a desire to help his less fortunate fellow, he reached down and swooped the fish from the water. To the monkey's surprise, the fish was not very grateful for this aid."This oriental fable colorfully illustrated the way in which the altruistic efforts of advanced countries to render their assistance to less fortunate ones are frequently received with both indifference and ingratitude. This seems to be happening in Iraq now. Blinded by our own intentions, our technologically advanced country is incapable of adequately comprehending any culture but our own (Democracy vs. a Muslim ruled society that for the most part views Americans as "Infidels") and is unable to accept the fact that the changes we seek in Iraq might be inappropriate to a social framework we do not understand. Since the aid we offer is done in a generous and humanitarian spirit, it is difficult for America to accept the prima facie ingratitude of this Muslim country we wish to help. The involvement of the United States in South Vietnam was a classic example of the kind of relationship that the aforementioned fable warned against. It led to the spending of over 500 billion dollars of squandered taxpayer dollars and shamefully wasted the lives of 58,212 men and women, wounded 153,452 and left another 1,711 still unaccounted for. Only rarely mentioned are the Vietnamese, both North and South, who also lost their lives in that war. According to the communist government in Hanoi, 1,100,000 North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong military personnel died. The Army of the Republic of Vietnam ARVN lost about 266,000 killed from 1959 through 1975. Furthermore, the Vietnamese communist government in 1995 estimated that 2,000,000 Vietnamese civilians on both sides died in the war. In addition, 5,241 dead are rarely mentioned from other countries that also fought in S. Vietnam alongside U.S. troops from 1962-1973.Robert Blackburn, in his book "Mercenaries and Lyndon Johnson's More Flags" notes: "The free world countries which sent ground troops to South Vietnam and their totals killed in action were: Republic of Korea, 4,407, Australia and New Zealand 475, Thailand 350, Philippines, 9". Other areas of interest Bourne touched on is combat psychiatry and the study of stress, a paradigm of 4 different individuals that lived in Saigon that had 4 different views of the war. These were pro, con, indifferent and opportunistic. Also examined was American and Vietnamese psychiatric casualties and how they were dealt with, how dust off helicopter ambulance crew members dealt with life and death, hair raising stress of flying into hot and hostile combat zones to extract the dying, dead and severely wounded. Bourne also conducted psychological studies of 3 groups in Vietnam. They were the 20,000 Australians and 5,200 Korean troops, the Montagnards (they were nomadic, hill-people that were indigenous to the countryside and pro-American) and the Special Forces troops that went out into the boondocks of Vietnam and set up remote bases that went on "hunter-killer" and assassination missions. Bourne's chapter on the Special Forces is extremely violent, brutal, graphic and memorable. However, for my purpose, the most interesting part of the book was Bourne's treatment of the war itself.Bourne points out that the Vietnam War was unique because of the technological refinement of destructive tools science provided for men to kill each other. The highly efficient M-16 and later AK-47 rifles elevated the individual soldier to a new status as a formidable agent of destruction in his own right. Bourne compared the impact of the helicopter with it's rapid mobility in transporting men from highly secure areas into the most intense jungle combat and back to security again in minutes with the chariot that transported Roman Legions into combat for the first time 3,000 years ago. Another interesting topic Bourne explored was how exceptional news coverage deluged the public with up to date information about the ("living-room") war demanding that citizens form personal impressions on all aspects of our involvement.This is also occurring now with our war with Iraq. A more sophisticated and informed public asked Kennedy, L.B.J. and Nixon about the reasons for this war, which were never satisfactorily answered. Undoubtedly, Bourne explained that the major reason for the development of the anti-Vietnam war movement in the U.S. had been the decision of the government to permit it to exist. Currently, the American public scorned Bush about the issue of "weapons of mass destruction" and how they never turned up in Iraq.As in Vietnam then, and Iraq now, the effects of administration policy on the civil population in regard to lies and deception about the conduct and goals of the war is one of a negative impact on the attitudes and morale of the fighting man. In Vietnam racial tensions, combat refusals, the practice of "fragging" and heroin use amongst U.S. forces occurred, particularly after the January, 1968 "Tet Offensive." Bourne presented an interesting argument with his discussion of the odd way the U.S. became heavily involved in the Vietnam War with the "Tonkin Gulf Incident." Supposedly, 2 Vietnamese Patrol Boats "attacked" 2 destroyers, the "Maddox" and the "Turner Joy" in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam in August,1964. North Vietnam was known for not having a navy,and a patrol boat was highly unlikely to attack a destroyer, as it is 1/100 the size, not to mention it's capacity of extremely limited firepower. Members of the radar team aboard the 2 destroyers "weren't sure" this actually happened. This false pretext that resulted in 58,000 dead Americans is chronicled in Joseph C. Goulden's book "Truth is the First Casualty:The Gulf of Tonkin Affair-Illusion and Reality" as well as documented in a video called "The Fog of War." This is about the former Secretary of War under Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert S. McNamara. With Iraq, what set this country off was the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon and World Trade Centers. Bourne noted that when a war starts in America, like Pearl Harbor and W.W. II, or even Iraq, the leaders of this country ask the population to regress to a childlike role, trusting the leaders with omnipotence to deal with the danger at hand. The greater the crisis, the more willing the regression.If the survival of the society is genuinely threatened, the people will virtually relinquish all their rights to the leaders. If the danger is not clearly apparent than there will be more open resentment to the imposition of such restrictions. What was the danger to the U.S. in our war with Vietnam? Was Ho Chi Minh threatening world conquest like Adolf Hitler? How about Eisenhower's "Domino Theory? Later furthered by J.F.K., it was suggested that if we allowed Communist North Vietnam to swallow up South Vietnam, other countries between Vietnam and the United States such as the Philippines, Guam, Hawaii, and finally onto the shores of California, will all fall like domino's to Communist rulership. Bourne also explored from a psychological point of view how the transition from a "peace set" to a "war set" was immeasurably facilitated and more readily accepted if it was sudden and clear cut. Examples were declarations of war by the U.S. after:the mysterious explosion and sinking of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor by Cuban insurgents in the "Spanish American War" of 1898, the torpedoing and sinking of the "Luisitania" in international waters by German U-boats resulting in the death of innocent U.S. citizens thus bringing the U.S. into W.W. I in 1918, the sneak attack of Pearl Harbor by Japan signaling America's entry into W.W. II in1941, and the North Korean surprise invasion of South Korea igniting America's entry into the "Korean War" in 1950.Accomplishment of such a transition from peace to war in the aforementioned examples is the primary internal function of a nation's official declaration of war. This never occurred in the Vietnam conflict. Prior to Vietnam, after a declaration of war there was the imposition of harsh repressive measures for any citizen of America to protest or speak out against the war effort. Examples were the immediate incarceration of political dissidents and the conviction of critics of our government or it's policies. Bourne explained that thousands were jailed during W.W. I and II for often trivial criticism of U.S. policy. During the Vietnam War, incidents of the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968 reflected this governmental intolerance. In this altercation, Chicago Mayor Richard Daly had his police "goons" severely beat up protesters objecting to the conduct of the Vietnam War on national TV. Two years later, 4 innocent students at Kent State University, Ohio were shot dead when the National Guard opened up with "live ammunition" at college students protesters voicing their opposition to the Vietnam War. Clearly, the failure to impose similar strong governmental suppression of dissent in connection with the Vietnam conflict was an innovation and a significant departure from the traditional and expected behavior of our government under those circumstances. Bourne concluded with 2 reasons why he felt the U.S. was unsuccessful in Vietnam. First, the involvement in Vietnam developed over the course of 3 administrations, i.e. Kennedy, L.B.J., and Nixon, none of whom wished to take full responsibility for having initiated our commitment. With the escalation occurring incrementally over many years, there was no decisive point at which a declaration of war was legitimately called for. Secondly, and most important, from 1964-1968, a genuine belief existed that victory in some form was imminent. This all changed with the January 30, 1968 "Tet Offensive." It was incomprehensible to entertain the belief that our immense military capability could be stalemated by the combined efforts of a disgruntled peasant society and a seemingly minor military power such as North Vietnam. Unfortunately, this false notion led to the premature death of 58,000 Americans whose only tribute today is a wall honoring them in Washington, D.C. And what about the 4,000+ U.S. servicemen killed from our effort in Iraq? The basic lesson of history is:"history repeats itself:those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it." Is this happening now? Bourne's book, almost impossible to find, but is well worth the search. It is a very informative, satisfying read! It is a shame that such an important book has disappeared from America's bookshelves.

Slow Dance On the Killing Ground

by Lenox Cramer

Review Written By Bernie Weisz Historian, Vietnam War Pembroke pines, Fl USa Contact: BernWei1@aol.com July 24, 2011 Title of Review: "Slow Dance On The Killing Ground"....Fiction or Fact?" "Slow Dance on the Killing Floor," authored by Lenox Cramer (a pseudonym) is a story that the reader will continually ask himself: "did this really happen?" The stories contained within the 272 pages are so fantastic, one really questions the authenticity of these anecdotes. It is for good reason any reader with a critical eye starts out early noticing the implausibility of this book, as we shall soon see. Supposedly, Lenox Cramer grew up on the rough streets of Detroit, Michigan. It states in this book that as a teenager Cramer fought with a member of a motorcycle gang that bothered him and demanded that he pay for protection. Cramer shot the gang member in the leg, was arrested and promptly sent to a juvenile detention center. As Cramer related: "Dad made a deal with the judge. In return for a clean slate, I would enlist in the Army for three years." Serving for three years with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and then joining the Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol element of the 173rd, he finished out his tour and returned to the U.S. shortly after the Tet Offensive of January, 1968. Why did Cramer decide to go back and become a Green Beret? Cramer wrote upon returning from Vietnam: "Outside the perimeter fence of the airbase, a huge crowd carried signs on sticks. Most were dressed in multicolored clothes. Their signs read "peace", "love" and something about baby killers. As our buses pulled out of the front gate of the base, the people in the colorful clothes went crazy. Raw eggs splattered the bus. Since it was late summer and hot, most of the soldiers had opened their windows. Everything that was being thrown by the crowd came into the bus, hitting the guys that were fresh out of the killing grounds". The Green Beret sitting next to me said that these people were hippie war protesters. A couple of them ran up to the bus and threw bags at us. The bags were filled with human feces." How tragic it was to treat returning soldiers that had just put their lives on the line in the defense of democracy and this country. Once back in the real world of mundane civilian life, Cramer realized that he enjoyed war, killing, and the rush that went with it. Choosing to reenlist, Cramer wrote: "I knew there was nothing for me in the U.S. at that time. The only real ties I had to anyone or anything was in the Special Forces. I was one of their professionals now, like it or not. And the bulk of professional soldiers were where the action was, in 'Nam. I was a highly trained killer. I belonged in 'Nam, with men like myself who would accept me for who and what I was right then. When I returned to Ft. Bragg, I volunteered for the 5th Special Forces Group, Vietnam". Cramer claims he was a part of covert operations into countries we were not supposed to be in (Laos and Cambodia), assassinations of undesirables, i.e., both American and Vietnamese, both Southern and Northern. Cramer also wrote that he had involvement with the Central Intelligence Program in the war effort. Cramer initially qualifies this book as fiction. He explains: "This is a work of fiction. It is based on my experiences while serving in Southeast Asia. The names, dates, times and places have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty alike, as well as to protect me from violating any National Security Act. The author continues his qualification: To the best of my knowledge, all of the missions of the Studies and Observations Group (SOG) are still classified. Everything has been kept as close to fact as possible, even the gist of conversations. Special Forces operatives were the finest the Army had to offer during the S.E. Asian conflict They paid for their courage, training, dedication, skill and motivation with blood, wounds, death and ultimately the loss of the cause for which they had so valiantly fought. Still, they fought it well. For us, the warriors, it was our "raison d'etre", or as the Japanese warrior-mystics put it, "The mission is everything." We danced the slow dance on the killing grounds, to the tune called by others, obedient to the end." Cramer made some very important observations about the camaraderie of "SOG". that unparalleled any other military group. Cramer explained: "There was a bond, a camaraderie among those men that is nearly unparallel elsewhere. The green hat (the green beret) became our bond, our symbol. We knew we could depend on each other, no matter what. And everyone else was suspect. The CIA were treacherous, the grunts or infantry soldiers were sloppy, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) was undependable, and the North Vietnam Army (NVA) the enemy. All of them could get you killed. Green Hats, on the other hand, were friends." Other books echo this. One in particular, "Across The Fence-The Secret War In Vietnam" by John S. Meyer basically echo's similar sentiments. Stryker wrote: "You can't tell your girlfriend, your mother, no one. If anyone asked about our assignments, we were to simply say that we were with the 5th Special Forces Group in Vietnam. The agreement was binding for 20 years. If anyone violated this agreement, that individual could face federal prosecution, resulting in stiff fines and incarceration, and ruin any future government or security employment opportunities. We were prohibited from writing anything about the operation, forbidden from keeping diaries, taking photos, making drawings or tape recording notes of any sort. No identification papers (on SOG members), no dog tags, no diaries. Everyone would wear sterile fatigues, with no company insignia, no nametags, no unit designators or combat infantry badges. Why? Because Laos and Cambodia were neutral, the U.S. Government could publicly proclaim that the U.S. respected that "neutrality". Thus, if we were killed in Laos, Cambodia or North Vietnam, the U.S. Government would deny having anything to do with us. The U.S. Government would explain that no Americans were stationed in Laos or Cambodia, which was technically accurate. The U.S. Government had "plausible deniability" if we were captured or killed." Stryker's book is a historical memoir. Is Cramer's? The author has several stories of being deep in enemy territory grabbing important human targets with fellow SOG members. These stories are very similar to ones found in John L. Plaster's book "SOG". Plaster asserts: 'The SOG mission that most demanded ingenuity and audacity was snatching enemy prisoners. By hook and crook, by trickery and device, by technology and technique, SOG men aspired to perfect their kidnapping craft, developing more skill in this artful science than at any time in previous military history. Rewards and accolades were heaped upon successful snatchers, and with good reason: there is no intelligence source so fruitful as a freshly snatched prisoner. Taking a prisoner meant a free R & R to Taiwan aboard a SOG Blackbird on a maintanence rotation, a $100 cash bonus for each American and a new Seiko wristwatch and cash to each Nung or Montegnanrd. A snatch meant initiating contact in dangerous areas, against forces that usually outnumbered your team. And when you grabbed someone, the prisoner slowed your pace while other NVA chased all the harder, knowing you had one of their own." Finally, Cramer writes about laying secret motion sensors in the ground that detected enemy movement deep in hostile territory. This was an innovation of the Vietnam War, a technology that is now commonplace. Cramer's description of his view of the Vietnam War sounds credible and realistic. Cramer explained: "Nam was a rock 'n' roll kind of war. It seemed incongruous to me that professional killers like us were rocking to the same music as the hippies, who obviously hated us. But a lot of the younger green hats were. And when I say I was "into" rock, I mean to the point that I could name every song on any given album, knew the words to most of them by heart and knew the name of every band member for every band I liked and their history. All of us had our little vices, but they were never talked about as long as they didn't interfere with our performance on a mission. I drank, smoked weed on occasion and ate benzedrine in the field when I needed it. It was issued to us. Some of the others did the same and some didn't. As long as I didn't get drunk on a mission, light a joint in the field or become addicted to anything other than the combat itself, no one cared what I did to survive between ops. It was an unwritten rule of the war". The violence in this book is extremely brutal and graphic, and it is questionable as to whether this was intentionally played up to insure credibility. Why do I say this? It is a fact that time distorts all stories. The Vietnam War ended in January of 1973 for America. That is almost forty years ago, enough time for someone to take this conflict and sadly twist the truth of it for their own financial gain, and this seems to be the case in this instance. Apparently, there were four books in all released by Lenox Kramer. The first was in February of 1991, and was entitled "War With Empty Hands:Self Defense Against Aggression." This was to be the first part in a succession of books known as the "Shadow Warrior Series," issued by Alpha Publications. "Slow Dance on The Killing Floor" was authored by Kramer in July of 1991 and month later, "War With Empty Hands:Self-Defense Against Aggression" Supplement 1 hit the book stores. What proved to be the last Cramer release came out in October of 1991, entitled "War With Empty Hands:Field Craft" seeing distribution. Unfortunately for Lenox, Colonel Abraham, president for the "Special Operations Association" saw a copy. Knowing that author B.G. Burkett was working on a book that would expose liars, fabricators and phoney heroes trying to flood the major publishing houses with false tales of heroism in Vietnam, he told the author about "Slow Dance on the Killing Floor." Abraham did not want to see an individual misrepresent a former Vietnam Veteran with a fraudulent book resulting in a best selling biography. Burkett took one look at "Slow Dance on the Killing Ground" and without even reading it realized this book was a sham. In a desperate attempt to legitimatize the fact that the author was a bona fide war hero, Cramer inserted at the beginning of the book a copy of his "DD-214." This is an official separation document of the United States Military, and it it represents the complete, verified record of a service member's time in the military, awards and medals, and other pertinent service information, such as promotions, combat service or overseas service. The one in the book indicated that Cramer had worked with the Special Forces, with his name whited out. It also alleged that the bearer of this DD-214 had won the "Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, 2 Bronze Medal Stars for Valor, 5 Purple Hearts and the Combat Infantry Badge." Being an expert at examining these forms, Burkett saw all the typing errors and knew this was a fake. Working with Abraham, Burkett sought out Cramer in an attempt to find out his true name. The director of Alpha Publications, John Straub, sent a letter to Abraham informing him the author's real name was "Michael Eric Cramer," along with a copy of his real DD-214. Realizing he was busted, Cramer, along with admitting he was incarcerated in Kentcky State Prison, sent a letter to Abraham, insisting that his book was based on: "Actual experience and in part on stories related to him by participants. I was unsure of what might still be classified, so to be safe in that regard, and again for the sake of "dramatization," I altered the who, what, when, and where significance." He added that because he was in jail it was necessary to use a "nom de guerre." Burkett started to do his own homework. Checking with the authorities at Kentucky State Prison, he found out that Cramer had lied to Abraham about his name so that he couldn't check his military records and that his real one was in fact "Lenox Eric Cramer," Now everything this author said was in doubt. Burkett shuddered when he found out two things. First, Kramer was incarcerated for the brutal and sadistic murder of a hitchhiker. Second, Kramer had been the star pupil of a prison run creative writing class, and finally, Cramer's claim of being an ex Green Beret was an abject falsification, The only service Cramer saw was as a clerk typist probably typing up fake orders, promotions and requisitions. He had been thrown out of the Army by court martial, with AWOL and narcotics violations. Upon learning this, Staub dumped Cramer's book, selling it to Avon Books. This publisher, indifferent to whether this book was true or hogwash, saw only big sales receipts and ignored the reality of the situation, that "Slow Dance on the Killing Floor" was a fraud. The author was nothing less than an imprisoned charlatan writing farcical tales about Vietnam. As a side note, Cramer was released from Kentucky State Prison and in no time at all trouble found him. Burkett reported that Cramer had been convicted of murdering two people on a contract hit, and would never again see daylight. In the end, it is apparent that books like this really denigrate the service, patriotism and gallantry of some of the best warriors America has to offer, those in the Green Berets and Studies and Operations Group. It is a sad fact that these authors have no respect for those special people that go above and beyond the call of this country. Once exposed, books of this sort need to be exempt from sale and authors permanently banned.

Death Dealer

by Primo Levi, Andrew Pollinger, Steven Paskuly Rudolph Hoss

Review Written By Bernie Weisz Historian, Pembroke Pines, Fl USA Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: A Disturbing Description by a "Super-Sociopath" This is a memoir that exemplifies the true meaning of a sociopath, a man who kills without conscience. Rudolf Hoess was history's greatest mass murderer, the architect and SS Commandant of the largest killing center ever created, the death camp of "Auschwitz" (located in Poland), whose name has come to symbolize humanity's ultimate, abject descent into evil. Responsible for exterminating over 2.5 million people (primarily Jews, as well as Gypsies, Homosexuals, and Russians), he was a mild-mannered, happily married man who enjoyed normal family life with his five children despite his view of the crematorium chimney stacks from his bedroom window. At peak efficiency, Auschwitz had the capacity to murder 10,000 people in 24 hours, as Hoess would testify during the War Crimes trials at Nuremburg after World War II. Witness after witness, as well as mass documents produced irrefutable evidence of the crimes committed, and no witness was more shocking than Rudolf Hoess, who calmly elucidated how he had come to exterminate 2.5 million people. He further expounds upon this in "Commandant of Auschwitz". Rudolf Franz Hoess was born in 1900 and joined Adolf Hitler's Gestapo (the "SS") in 1933. In 1934 he was attached to the SS at Dachau. Then, on August 1st, 1938, he was adjutant of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp until his appointment as Commandant of the newly built camp at Auschwitz in early 1940. This was located near the provincial Polish town of Oshweicim in Galacia. In May, 1941 the SS Commander Heinrich Himmler explained to Hoess that Adolf Hitler had given the orders for the final solution for the Jewish question. The "Final Solution' was Hitler's plan to implement Aryian racial purity and rid the continent of any contaminants of Germanic, pure blood Nordic origins, particularly by killing Jews. Hoess details in his book how he converted Auschwitz into an extermination camp and installed gas chambers and crematoriums. Auschwitz became the largest killing center where the greatest number of European Jews were slaughtered. Detailed in this story, Hoess explains how after an experimental gassing there in September 1941 of 850 malnourished and ill prisoners, mass murder became a daily routine. By mid 1942, mass gassing of primarily Jews utilizing "Zyklon-B" gas commenced at Auschwitz, whereupon extermination was conducted on an industrial scale with 2.5 million innocent men, women and children were eventually butchered through mostly poison gassing, but also through barbaric methods such as starvation, disease, shooting and burning. At Auschwitz "so called" camp doctors i.e. German physicians and scientists performed vile and potentially lethal medical experiments on concentration camp inmates, tortured Jewish and Gypsy children and many others. "Patients" were put into pressure chambers, tested with drugs (lethal gasoline injections), castrated, sterilized, frozen to death and exposed to various traumas. In late 1943 Hoess was appointed chief inspector of all German Concentration camps and worked hard to improve the efficiency of them all. At the end of W.W. II, with Germany's eminent collapse, Hoess describes how he fled at the approach of the Russian Red Army and went into hiding in Germany under the name "Franz Lang". He was arrested by British military police on March 11, 1946. His wife had told the British where he could be found, fearing that her son, Klaus, would be shipped off to Russia. Handed over to the Polish authorities, he was tried in 1947. While awaiting sentencing, Hoess penned this book. He was sentenced to death, and was returned to Auschwitz to be hanged on the gallows outside the entrance to the gas chamber. John J. Hughes, in his book "A Mass Murderer Repents:The Case of Rudolf Hoess" wrote that four days before he was hung, Hoess sent a message to the state prosecutor. His emotionless veneer cracked as he sent the following message to the state prosecutor stating: "My conscience compels me to make the following declaration. In the solitude of my prison cell I have come to the bitter recognition that I have sinned gravely against humanity. As Commandant of Auschwitz I was responsible for carrying out part of the cruel plans of the "Third Reich" for human destruction. In doing so I have inflicted terrible wounds on humanity. I have caused unspeakable suffering for the Polish people in particular. I am to pay for this with my life. May the Lord God forgive one day what I have done". The execution was carried out on April 16, 1947. Although never executed, compare Hoess's aforementioned statement with the following. William Calley, the convicted commander of an American fighting unit that on March 16, 1968 entered the South Vietnamese hamlet of "My Lai" and massacred 400 unarmed women children and old men during the Vietnam War, had this to say about his guilt and conscience. This is quoted out of his autobiography. "As a professional soldier I had been taught and instructed to carry out the orders that were issued by the superiors-my lieutenant, my commanding officer, the captain. At no time did it ever cross my mind to disobey or to refuse to carry out an order that was issued by my superiors. I felt that they (Charlie Company) were able to carry out the assigned task, the orders, that meant killing small kids, killing women, because they were soldiers, they were trained that way. I feel that we carried out the orders in a moral fashion, and the orders of destroying the village, of killing the people in the village, and I feel we did not violate any moral standards." Was Calley a sociopath like Hoess? Hoess was also following orders, issued by Adolf Hitler. Were was his conscience? What happened to God's commandment "Thy Shalt Not Kill? Where was Hoess and Calley's guilt? Another mass murderer, Ted Bundy, a sadistic monster and mass manipulator whose grisly killing spree left at least 30 innocent young women dead, had this to say about guilt: "Guilt? It's this mechanism we use to control people. It's an illusion. It's a kind of social control mechanism-and it's very unhealthy. It does terrible things to our bodies. And there are much better ways to control our behavior rather than the extraordinary use of guilt. Now, some people could listen to what I just said and say "see, he's a sociopath." or whatever term they use. I feel sorry for people who feel guilt." Killing another human being is wrong any way you look at it. Whether it is done on a mass scale such as was done by Hoess and the Nazi's during the Holocaust, or by a serial killer like Ted Bundy, or even using the excuse of a "Holy War", i.e. flying commercial airplanes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11th, 2001 and killing all those innocent occupants of the Twin Towers in N.Y.C. Regardless, Hoess's book is an examination into the mind of a cold, sterile killer, a deed that history, or myself will never forgive nor forget. Do yourself a favor, read this book objectively and pray that this never occurs again for eternity's sake!

Souled Out

by Michael S Orban

Review written by Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War July 9th, 2011 Pembroke Pines, Florida U.S.A. Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: "Why Would Anyone Expect An 18 Year Old To Go To Vietnam, Witness People Being Napalmed or Blown Up, Then Coming Home Normal?" Michael Orban was born in Wisconsin in 1950, the fourth oldest of ten children in a Catholic middle class family. Growing up as a happy, healthy child, pictures in National Geographic fascinated him, particularly the remote people and cultures of Africa. With the simple joys of reaching his teenage years, Orban had dreams typical of an American youth growing up in America: a new car, money, a new stereo, going to the movies, sporting events, and girls. Unfortunately for Orban, the Cold War would conspire against him, conscripting him as a participant in a war where no one believed any longer that if Communism was not stopped in Asia, it would appear in California and spread throughout the Americas like a forest fire out of control. After President Kennedy was assassination in Dallas, the problem of how to proceed in Vietnam fell squarely into the lap of his vice president, Lyndon Johnson. Not even ten months later, Orban turned fourteen and the "Gulf of Tonkin Incident" occurred. Supposedly, on On August 2, 1964 North Vietnamese PT boats fired torpedoes at the USS Maddox, a destroyer located in the international waters of the Tonkin Gulf, some thirty miles off the coast of North Vietnam. A second, even more highly disputed attack, allegedly took place two days later. An event that would impact Orban for the rest of his life happened next; The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was approved by Congress authorizing L.B.J. a free hand to wage all out hostilities against North Vietnam without ever securing a formal Declaration of War from Congress. The draft machinery went into high gear, battles were fought, and airplanes full of casualties came back. With half a million Americans in Vietnam in January of 1968, the Communists caught the US military off guard during the Vietnamese "Tet" holiday, sweeping down upon key cities and provinces throughout South Vietnam. Even though American forces turned back the onslaught and recaptured most areas, the "Tet Offensive" was a huge political and psychological victory for North Vietnam. The US military's assessment of the war was questioned and the "end of tunnel" seemed very far off. All of a sudden recent conscripts wondered if they would be the last to die in a war America had given up on.Massive anti war demonstrations in 1968 were seen throughout the United States, with youths burning their draft cards, fleeing to Canada, and the popular chant "hell no, we won't go" was heard from coast to coast. America's view of the war continued to sour after the Tet Offensive when On March 16, the angry and frustrated men of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americal Division entered the village of My Lai. A short time later the killing began. When news of the atrocities surfaced, it sent shock waves through the U.S. political establishment, the military's chain of command, and an already divided American public. Before the year was out, L.B.J. announced he would not run for reelection, the "Paris Peace Talks" began, Kennedy's younger brother Robert was assassinated, and America watched mesmerized with the violence at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. In 1969, Richard Nixon was elected. While he promised to end U.S. involvement in Vietnam, he ordered the secret bombing of Cambodia, conducted without the knowledge of Congress or the American public. Responding to charges that he was not moving fast enough to end the war, he announced his policy of "Vietnamization." This was his method of diminishing the role of the U.S. military in Vietnam and onto the South Vietnamese Army. This was a goal to make this an Asian war fought solely by Asians. It was in this light that Michael Orban would find himself drafted, spending the next eleven months, seventeen days and eighteen hours in a war he would emerge with deep hatred, guilt, shame and anger. He would, as the title implies, come home "Souled Out." The human soul is defined as the principle of life, feeling, thought, and action in humans. It is regarded as a distinct entity separate from the body, and commonly held to be separable from it. The soul of humans is distinct from the physical part, where spirituality and morality exist, surviving mortality and subject to happiness or misery in a reincarnated state. War, killing and senseless death subjects this part of the human psyche to psychological wounds as serious as physical ones, scooping out one's soul with permanent effects. This memoir relates both how and why Michael Orban lost his soul, the issues that were involved, as well as his ultimate final triumph over adversity."Souled Out" details Michael Orban's journey to reclaim his soul and inner peace by his use of alcohol, relationships, geographical cures via two trips to Africa, and therapy. He embodies the concept of "you can't keep what you have unless you give it away" by this book, publicly speaking, and developing graphic models for use in helping those afflicted with P.T.S.D. think about readjustment after war. Finally, Orban unequivocally conveys a poignant message of the impact of war, the irrational expectations of society on a solder placed back into civilian life, and the healing of the warrior's soul. He makes it clear that Americans do not understand the war experience. As proof, he cites America's assumption of expecting an 18 year old fresh out of high school to go to an unpopular war, see graphic death and violent carnage, and then come home unaffected as preposterous. Orban convincingly portrays the insanity a combat soldier faced in Vietnam, with a very realistic paradigm. Likening it to a game, Orban includes the arbitrary drafting of an 18 year old to go to Vietnam for 365 days flown to a land he never heard of before. There he is unable to recognize friend or foe and watches rampant death, while stifled by perplexing rules of engagement: "Imagine you are given a mandatory sentence of 12 months for having committed no offense, and are sent to live on a large island, which you cannot leave the confines of that island. Now, let's put in two teams of opposition, say of five guys each. One team of five is dressed in military dress and the other team dressed as typical islanders. You have four people with you on your team, the objective is to kill those other five men, and you must search them out as they search you out to kill you with whatever weapons or booby traps they choose. Now add an unknown number of native islanders who go about their normal activities, but you are not sure which are legitimate workers or which are out to kill you! You cannot be sure if the legitimate islanders are not suspect of helping the other side. You know only that you have to spend twelve months trying to find the other team and kill them before they kill you! The aforementioned describes every single Vietnam War memoir, with individual variation, I have ever read.It is hard to imagine a youth come out of that scenario completely unaffected and it is unreasonable to have that expectation. However, Orban played it to the end, which ultimately resulted in the loss of his soul: "You have weapons and ammunition, food and a bed roll; you must sleep on the ground and you can strike at or be struck at any time of the day or night by the other side; you can be killed any second, and you wonder why you have been given this insane sentence. Why you and what for? You cannot communicate with family or friends except by mail and you realize there is a strong possibility you will never see your wife, kids, husband or friends again." While told as a theoretical game, this is exactly what the author witnessed as a 19 year old in an infantry division patrolling the Central Highlands of Vietnam, a bitterly contested war zone. Based on the ordeal Orban experienced, it is a rare individual who could come out unscathed. Within a week of arriving as a "FNG," he was told by other soldiers that the life expectancy of an infantry soldier was less than one week. With a mandatory one year of active duty, Orban called his tour an "incomprehensible eternity" and built a protective mental shield, a facade, which did the following: "It made me cold and hard, but did its job to hold back the tears, heartbreak, fear and anger." Events conspired to erode that shield, as well as his very essence, i.e. his soul. During Vietnam's monsoon season, Orban was at a fire support base, which was an encampment that was designed to provide indirect artillery fire support to infantry that was operating in areas that were beyond the normal range of direct fire support from their own base camps. Hearing a loud explosion, he thought his position was under enemy attack. He later learned it was a "fragging," an explosive claymore mine intentionally set by an American soldier to kill another soldier in the same bunker. Learning this, Orban wrote that it sickened his soul, elaborating: "I lost much respect for the military that night, and the truth of war not written in history books."The reason for fraggings varied, but usually involved the murder of a commanding officer viewed as unpopular, harsh, inept or overzealous. As the war became more objectionable, especially in 1969 when Orban was there, soldiers became less keen to go into harm's way and preferred leaders with a similar sense of self-preservation. If a C.O. was incompetent, fragging him was considered a means to the end of self-preservation for the men serving under him. Next, Orban saw while serving as an assistant machine gunner another comrade during a firefight freeze up in a catatonic state. Orban commented: "His fear hit home with me." Two close PTSD inducing calls followed. First he was hit by enemy fire, the round narrowly being deflected by his favorite C-ration can. The second time was during a firefight when a Viet Cong soldier raced in front of both Orban and his machine gunner, firing his AK-47 wildly. The rounds harmlessly hit a felled tree. Orban wrote: "Each bullet came through that log exposing the fresh clean meat of its inside. For an instant I remember thinking how much like a movie it looked, but immediately the feverish fear of reality returned." The next day, Orban was assigned to count Viet Cong that were killed in action. Since the goal of the U.S. in this war was not to conquer North Vietnam but rather to ensure the survival of the South Vietnamese government, measuring progress was difficult.The contested territory, South Vietnam, was "held" already. Instead, the U.S. Army used body counts to show that the U.S. was winning the war. The Army's theory was that eventually, the Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army would lose due to attrition. In completing his assignment, he reflected: "We neared a corpse, face down, on the jungle floor and the soldier with me tried to turn the body over with his foot. But the body had been shot up so badly that the soldier's foot only sank into the chest as if it were mush. My heart felt sick with the sight of the dead and the wounded. I knew it could and might be my body someday. What sickness was this war? Just sickness pretending to have a higher purpose."Next, the defining moment of Orban's Vietnam experience occurred. As he turned away from the mutilated corpse and walked back to his position, he described the following: "Something left me. Something structural. My arms and shoulders drooped, my heart sank, and my spine curled forward. What had left, though not physical, had seemed to support my entire physical bearing. I would later realize that it was my soul, my spirituality that had shattered and left me. By the time it came for me to go home, my soul would be empty, barren, and seemingly destroyed." This feeling has been documented by other Vietnam Veterans. Author Terry Rizzuti wrote about his "1000 Yard Stare" in his fictional memoir of Vietnam entitled "The Second Tour." Other incidents happened. Orban lost more of his soul when he witnessed an old man and his son, i.e. two peasants searching for firewood accidentally gunned down. As he stood over the slaughtered old man, Orban mused: "What are we doing? No rational mind would ever put God's name on this insanity. More of my soul left that moment, and my posture sank further." Next, Orban and 11 other soldiers were carried into the jungle to set up an ensnarement, used as a blocking force against 5000 retreating NVA regular forces withdrawing against the might of an advancing Australian Army. Positioned in the NVA's direct path of retreat, Orban realized his unit was there only as a marker to identify the NVA position so an air strike could be used to annihilate them all. Before this unit could be extracted, the NVA would overrun and slaughter them. Recognizing his unit was expendable bait, he indignantly wrote: "Other human beings had no right to offer our lives for their meaningless goals." Even though the enemy never approached his unit, Orban felt like he was preparing to die for a war he knew had no purpose, no legitimate goal, and his country was in no danger from. His soul continued to vanish when he narrowly missed stepping on a booby trap, as well as discovering that a fellow solder who needed a souvenir had cut off a dead female Viet Cong soldier's breast as a war trophy. Orban wrote: "I felt that unexplainable disgust in the human race, and another part of my soul seemed to leave."Perhaps the most bizarre event of Michael Orban's tour, permanently shattering his belief in organized religion occurred when on Easter Sunday a Catholic Chaplain was choppered out to his position in the jungle to say Mass. In the middle of the sermon the Chaplain announced that 2 soldiers from another battalion had been killed the previous day. Orban wrote that the Chaplain told the group: "I want you to go out and get two of the enemy." Orban's soulless reaction was as follows: "I stared at him in disbelief, wanting to stuff my M-16 in his hands and scream. "If you want two of them killed, go do it yourself." Orban wrote that he felt it was wrong for Catholicism to ally itself with the Army, whose primary purpose was to kill. Testing his belief in God, Orban wrote: How could God allow this thing called war? If he was all powerful, why did He let these horrible things happen and why didn't he soothe my soul? Was there really a God? It no longer felt like it did." By the time Orban was ready to take his "Freedom Bird" to go "Back to the World," he lamented: "Nothing would make sense anymore. Only the accumulation of negativity, evil, disapproval, and hatred was left to haunt the vacant place and make its darkness blacker and blacker." As he left Vietnam he discerned why he even went there with the following rationale: "We went to war to protect those at home from knowing the insanity of warfare. If they do not fully understand, oddly enough, that is part of the goal. I would never wish those at home to experience such atrocities in order to entirely understand." Michael Orban returned from Vietnam, wed, and attended college on the G.I. bill for 2 years. Neither endeavor succeeded. Heavy alcoholism, nightmares, obsessive and intrusive thoughts of Vietnam invaded his presence constantly. His memoir chronicles his two jaunts to Africa as a member of the Peace Corps to try to run from himself, not knowing that a phenomena called "Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome existed." No matter how far he ran, he could not outrun himself. Realizing that he had come home from Vietnam empty, confused and disconnected, Africa represented an attempt to find his way into a new identity.Regardless of whether he drank himself into obliviousness or lived in the deepest part of the African jungle rubbing elbows with the Pygmies and Witch Doctors, all facts he accomplished, Orban could not outrun himself. Realizing he had a choice of either suicide or facing himself, he chose the latter and explains he restored his soul in the process. Comprehending his egocentricity, Orban knew that if he did not contain his emotions he would go insane. Orban points out that more Vietnam Vets have died by suicide then from the war, which currently is at 58,220. Orban recounts the sad tale of his best friend from high school, who as a 21 year old was one of the few Americans to survive when the North Vietnamese overran "Firebase MaryAnn." Deciding that he could not take his "survivor guilt," Orban wrote this about his friend: "He could not reconcile his mind and soul with the experience. He recounted this torment to me; later he put a gun to his head to end this suffering." Similarly, Orban met a former combat medic in charge of 12 other medics in Korea. This man was the only one to come home. This book is a tribute to both of the aforementioned. If anyone has seen the 1989 film "Jacknife," the character of "Dave," embodies men returning from Vietnam with bent minds, alcoholism and loneliness as identifying characteristics. People that rudely said: "I know a Vietnam Vet, and boy is he messed up!" angers Orban the most. As for his motives for penning this book, he elucidates: "I knew I needed to write about this if for no other reason than to honor those who still suffer; to let them know it is okay and normal to have these reactions to war; that these feelings need not be hidden in alcohol, anger, anxiety and lonely walks down dark hallways at night. And as a way to give open support to families, letting them know it is okay to talk about their concerns." Michael Orban was diagnosed with P.T.S.D. in 1992 and has fought a daily battle with it. He has not allowed it to any longer disrupt his functioning, nor its interference with his ability to meet his daily needs and perform his most basic tasks. No longer does Vietnam intrude on his life, as he refuses to relive the life-threatening experiences he suffered in the past. Gone are the visual, auditory and somatic flashbacks, as with proper therapy he has short circuited the process of reacting in his mind and body as though events 40 years ago were still occurring. A member of Mensa, Orban uses his intellect to publicly speak of his toughest battle, vanquishing his demons and reclaiming his soul. Clearly, he has succeeded!

Nilo Ha Tien

by Hl Serra

Review written by Bernie Weisz Historian and Book Reviewer, Vietnam War June 13, 2011 Pembroke Pines, Florida U.s.A. Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: An American NILO in Cambodia: Abandoned If Captured, Rewarded And Encouraged by Wishy Washy Staff On The Home Front! A Nilo? What is a Nilo? The acronym NILO stands for "Naval Intelligence Liaison Officer" and is the role Larry Serra historically utilizes in fictional form to vicariously express his ordeal performing that very function during the Vietnam War. At the age of 24, Serra was in S.E. Asia in 1970, previous to, during and after the most significant event of that year, the "Cambodian Incursion." Why did Larry Serra write this as fiction? Any trip to your local bookstore or a browsing of offerings on book seller Internet sites will reveal an abundance of recent Vietnam War memoirs being put out the last ten years. This outpouring actually exceeds published memoirs put out the first ten years after the war ended, i.e. 1973 to 1983. Why is this? Most Veterans did not like to talk about a war they considered fraught with traumatic issues, such as losing comrades, survivor's guilt, Agent Orange issues, mistreatment by an ungrateful citizenship upon return, etc. There are numerous accounts of soldiers being spit at upon coming back to "The World" or striping off their uniforms immediately upon landing on U.S. soil to avoid a traumatic confrontation with peace protesters, not to mention the stigma of feeling like they were returning from a "lost war." Possibly time does not heal all wounds, however, it sure makes it easier for a Vietnam Veteran to reflect with less pain when the tincture of time is in effect. However, any recollection, even put out as pure nonfiction, will have an element of inventive imagination, as names, dates and even events get dimmed with the passage of time. Nobody wants to read a straight, boring monologue of recollection, completely lacking novel imagery and cliffhanger inventiveness, features this novel is jammed packed with. "Nilo Ha Tien" is a historical novel. The author states right in the beginning the following admonition to the reader:"This story is told as fiction for a number of reasons: to inject a textural and sensory feel for the places, people and events; to protect the innocent and the guilty, and to allow the author a flight of fancy in undertaking the prosecution of a naval officer for his intelligence activities." Serra's last reason was why I titled this review as such. You will read with indignation the humiliating ordeal a great American patriot was subjected to by just doing what he was told to do by people concerned with personal accolades and conflicting agendas, some contrary to the goal America attempted to achieve in S.E. Asia. How much of "Nilo Ha Tien" is fiction? Serra answers this right in the introduction by asserting: "Virtually all the events described herein actually happened, and the author leaves the reader to guess which did not. He probably will guess wrong, truth being stranger than fiction." Winning the Bronze Star as well as ten other combat and campaign awards, Larry Serra was a lieutenant in the United States Navy, serving under Admiral Elmo Zumwalt as a NILO in Ha Tien, the very last outpost before Cambodia in the southern tip of the now extinct Republic of South Vietnam. His tour of S.E. Asia lasted three years, replacing Philip Babb as the Nilo in charge of this strategically important naval area. This book is loaded with very real photos, some provided by Mr. Babb, that gives the reader the picture that "Nilo Ha Tien's" labeling as fiction is certainly a misnomer. Frank Brown, one of the characters in this book, actually exists, teaching Mr. Serra what he labeled "Intelligence Tradecraft." Most navel personnel operating along the Mekong Delta as well as the Gulf of Thailand were deemed the "Brown Water Navy." For the most part unaware of NILO activities, these men operated small gun and patrol boats as well as larger ships, the PBR units, Riverines, LST's, the helicopter and Seawolf units as well as all other Naval units operating in Vietnam. Serra brings the reader into the secret world of covert operations and Navy spy networks operating in Cambodia in early 1970. Serra's protagonist, Thomas Medici, who actually is Serra's pseudonym, covertly penetrates Cambodia on U.S. Naval Intelligence missions and negotiated a secret weapons agreement with the Cambodian Navy, then foiled the annihilation of the Port of Sihanoukville, for which he was ignominiously tried at a Naval Board of Inquiry." This hearing is conveyed by Serra, a man who in real life is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Arizona Rogers College of Law. Serra's recounting of the reality that Medici faced in this Board of Inquiry truly makes the reader feel the persecution and indignation that was unjustly thrust on unselfish Americans that put themselves in harm's way. Actually, Serra took forty painstaking years to produce this thrilling novel. During this period, every small anecdote that he recalled, he meticulously recorded, as the people, places and events that he encountered all jelled together to form the basis of this book. Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. who passed away in January of 2000, was Serra's Chief of Staff, not to mention and the youngest man to ever serve as Chief of Naval Operations. Zumwalt played a major role in U.S. military history, especially during the Vietnam War. A highly-decorated war veteran, Zumwalt ameliorated U.S. Navy personnel policies in an effort to improve enlisted life and ease racial tensions as well as reshaped the Navy's effort to replace large numbers of aging World War II-era vessels with more modern and economic ones that could be bought in greater numbers. Serra based this book on missions that he was directly sent on by Admiral Zumwalt.By using Naval Historical Archives declassified records, Serra was also able to give an exact depiction of a Cambodian weapons supply deal that he brokered as well as his involvement in preventing the destruction of the Port of Sihanoukville, the only deep water port in Cambodia. During the Vietnam War, there were "Rules of Engagement," such as respecting the neutrality of noncombatant countries, i.e. Cambodia and Laos. The problem was that the North Vietnamese were covertly supplying the Viet Cong as well as bringing in arms and military supplies themselves to the South, which ran on a secret trail that snaked through neutral countries. These countries, Laos and particularly Cambodia, were NVA "superhighways," conduits of the infamous "Ho Chi Minh Trail." Although not immune to aerial bombing, land penetration of these supposedly neutral territories was strictly prohibited. Innumerable times the North Vietnamese and their Southern brethren, the VC, would come from Cambodia, attack U.S. and South Vietnamese forces in hit and run skirmishes, and surreptitiously sneak back into Cambodia. NILO's knew that the North Vietnamese audaciously trucked unlimited tons of Communist weaponry into the faltering South Vietnamese democracy, taunting Allied forces. Although eventually deposed, Cambodia's Prince Sihanoukville wavered between shifting loyalty to both the North Vietnamese and the U.S. A NILO's spy target was to discover information that would agitate and disrupt this North Vietnamese weapons infiltration through this ostensibly neutral Cambodian Kingdom. NILO's made it their business through their spy network to know how, when and where the Russian and Chinese weapons were shipped in, trucked down the coast, and ultimately infiltrated across the Cambodian border by the NVA. On 1 May 1970, U.S.and South Vietnamese units launched a ground and air offensive into farcically neutral Cambodia to eliminate North Vietnamese sanctuaries used for frequent raids into South Vietnam. The "Cambodian Incursion" announced by President Nixon, was a U.S. ground operation that took place over a 60-day period from May 1st to June 29th, 1970, and was overlapped by Allied air strikes and a 75 day South Vietnamese incursion. By combining the efforts of the South Vietnamese, devastating air power, and army ground forces, the Allied Forces overwhelmed enemy positions and supply points resulting in thousands of enemy killed and an unprecedented recovery of enemy materiel. Although the incursion is sometimes portrayed as a strategic failure, it was not. It ultimately proved to be the key event necessary for severing the North Vietnamese lines of communications and logistics in Cambodia, aiding the successful withdrawal program of American troops in an unpopular war, saving U.S. credibility. It was also a demonstration of the success of Vietnamization, a complete turnover of the war effort to the Vietnamese, which because of the way events in S.E. Asia eventually played out is an academic moot point. The U.S. only invaded Cambodia one time, however, the other supposedly neutral country that the NVA constantly violated, Laos, was invaded during "Operation Dewey Canyon." This was the last major offensive by the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War that took place from January 22 through March 18, 1969. It involved a sweep of the NVA dominated A Shau Valley by the 9th Marine Regiment reinforced by elements of the 3rd Marine Regiment. The 56 days of combat were a tactical success but similar to the Cambodian Incursion, it did not stop the overall flow of North Vietnamese men and materiel into South Vietnam. However, without giving away this fascinating story line, Serra teaches us much more about this war rarely found elsewhere. There is not much material out there on intelligence activities, aside from recently declassified "Special Operations Group" memoirs. The reader learns that similar to the Navy's NILO's, the Army had its own spy agents called the "Military Intelligence Group." Conversely, the Special Forces had their own spies, and the CIA had what they called "agents." Literally, South Vietnam was crawling with spies! Equally complicated was Ha Tien, a town in Vietnam's southwest corner, which the North Vietnamese Army called its Military Region 3, the area responsible with infiltrating communist weapons and ammunition into the Mekong Delta from Cambodia. Serra explains how the munitions were brought by sea into Sihanoukville on Soviet and Russian ships, offloaded and split half and half with Cambodian and NVA military commanders. The NVA's half was trucked down to the South Vietnamese border for infiltration in modest quantities, with smugglers traveling by obscure canals and rivers. That's where the "Brown River Army" attempted to thwart them. However, the tactical intelligence from a NILO's network, discovering the "when and where" the interceptions would occur, was their responsibility. It is interesting to note a section that Serra includes in this novel. Knowing the prohibitive nature of the "Rules of Engagement," Serra's protagonist, Thomas Medici asks his superior, Kenck, how he is supposed to find out this information. Medici has the following very telling conversation with Kenck, with the latter asserting: "From now on, we want more political intelligence from Cambodia, and you have the authority to direct your agents deeper into Cambodia to get it. The NVA have used Cambodia throughout the war, thanks to Sihanouk looking the other way. Now, we want you to hit 'em where it hurts. You tell us where." How am I supposed to find this stuff out?" Medici asked? I thought we weren't supposed to go into Cambodia because of its neutrality and the Rules of Engagement." "Right, The Rules of Engagement keeps us out of Cambodia, except under hot pursuit circumstances." He leaned closer to Medici. You'll never get a direct order from the staff, but it's up to you to do what you must to get information. That's what your post is about Lieutenant. You are not to discuss it with anyone." He smiled, "You're gonna do Cambodia, pal." Thomas Medici, in "Nilo Ha Tien" was referred to in Saigon circles as a "can do man." Paradoxically, some of his methods were called "cheeky." He also was warned by a captain the following ominous exhortation: "In all fairness to you, Lieutenant, that if you are caught up there, where no Americans are supposed to be, well, we'll treat you like the colored relative who shows up at the wedding and deny your existence." Because of Medici's ruthless methods, the NVA placed a $10,000 bounty on his head. Although SOG members also penetrated Cambodia and Laos on Black Operations called "Over the Fence" missions, they would always have a rescue mission sent after them should they get into trouble. These desperate recovery endeavors were referred to as "Bright Light" missions. Later, Medici would testify at his Board of Inquiry hearing the following: "It's my show and my risk all right-entirely mine. Staffers in Saigon won't look me in the eye when they tell me they can't help me if I continue my solo trips into Cambodia and get caught. Then they always wink and say, "But keep up the good work." There are other sensitive issues Serra brings to light. Larry Serra's arms deal to the Cambodians, as the reader will find out, prevented a Cambodian style "Dien Bien Phu." Serra also gives a preview of the grim future Cambodia would face in his 1970 description of preliminary Cambodian "ethnic cleansing." He also shows how a NILO can properly interrogate a prisoner to get the desired information, Cambodian war booty pilfered, and most interestingly, how a NILO can manipulate the press to get yellow journalism reported as desired. Finally, and sadly, Serra's comments about ill conceived and impossible missions, guaranteed to result in future American names on "The Wall, were generated by generals that: "could write each other up with medals." Larry Serra might have taken forty years to write this amazing book, however the information put forth in this expose is priceless, enhancing, and should be part of any serious study of the Vietnam War. It is easy to read, extremely well written and without error. A must read!

Reflections Of My Past!

by Jack T Hartzel

Review written by Bernie Weisz, Vietnam War Historian, Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Pembroke Pines, Florida, USA May 29, 2011 Title of Review: "America Lost A Lost of Good Men In Vietnam:Taking a Hill, Occupying It For A Week Or So, Then Leaving It And Going On To Another" If the title of this review doesn't make sense to the reader, or for that matter you don't understand what happened to America or its debacle in Vietnam, Jack Hartzel's "Reflections of My Past" is the perfect remedy. While it delivers only 110 pages, it is literally packed with eye witness information that only a Marine combat veteran can provide. Jack Hartzel spent perhaps one of the tumultuous times in America on the other side of the world, as a Marine in Vietnam during what was called the 1967 "Summer of Love." This was a social phenomenon that occurred when as many as 100,000 people in the U.S. converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, creating a cultural and political rebellion. Predominately composed of anti war hippies, they were a melting pot of music, psychoactive drugs, sexual freedom, creative expression, and antiwar politics. However, 1967 was the turning point of the war in America, with the "Tet Offensive" of the following year being the icing on the cake. While Hartzel was patrolling "I Corps" near the boundry between North and South Vietnam known as the Demilitarized Zone, domestically in April 400,000 people marched from Central Park to the UN building in New York City to protest the war, where they were addressed by critics such as Benjamin Spock, Martin Luther King. On the same date 100,000 marched in San Francisco. The previous year, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara ignominiously built an electronic "wall" around South Vietnam to remotely track the movement of supplies. This wall was given the name "The McNamara Line" ordered in conjunction with a covert U.S. Air Force electronic warfare operation code named "Igloo White." One particular combat base, Con Thien was intended to be used as a base for this line to prevent NVA infiltration across the DMZ. The firebase was strategically important because it offered unobstructed views for 9 miles east to the coast and north into North Vietnam. It equally vulnerable as it was within range of NVA artillery north of the DMZ which was largely unaffected by counter-battery fire. This multi-billion dollar program involved the implantation and monitoring of remote electronic sensors all along the Ho Chi Minh Trail to track vehicles and human movement through acoustic and seismic signatures. By 1967, McNamara gradually became skeptical about whether the war could be won by deploying more troops to South Vietnam and intensifying the bombing of North Vietnam, a claim he would publish in a book years later. He also stated later that his support of the Vietnam War was given out of loyalty to administration policy. In November of 1967, one month before Hartzel came back to "The World," McNamara recommended to freeze troop levels, stop the bombing in North Vietnam and for the US to hand over ground fighting to the South Vietnamese. President Lyndon B. Johnson flat out rejected this and took it as an indictment by McNamara that his Vietnam policy had failed. Consequently, on November 29 of that year, McNamara announced his pending resignation and that he would become President of the World Bank.It is interesting to note that although there are books that suggest that it is a myth that Vietnam Veterans were spit on upon their return by the more vociferous protesters, a careful study of self published memoirs will show this to be false, Hartzel's included. As 1968 approached, Hartzel returned to the U.S. and reported: "It was like I had arrived in a foreign land. I don't mean there were foreigners walking around. I mean the attitude of my countrymen towards Vietnam Veterans and the Vietnam War in general. They treated us as though we started the war, thus venting their opinions and frustrations about the war in our direction. Hell, most of us just did our jobs and hoped we would make it home alive. Their constant accusations and condemnations concerning the war took a toll on most of our heads." Hartzel painfully describes the damage: "Many of us became withdrawn and talked to no one; others became frustrated and lashed out at perpetrators. A number of Nam Vets denied that they had even been to Vietnam at all." Just like law enforcement officers only communicate and trust others of the same profession, Hartzel wrote: "Most of us banded together in close-knit groups and talked of Vietnam only to other Veterans or ourselves. We trusted no one, only Veterans." If you can find one still alive, it is easy to get a W.W. II or Korean War Vet to talk about his wartime experiences. However, a Vietnam Vet is a different story. Hartzel explains the reason for this reticence that persists even today. When he first came back, the first thing Hartzel noticed was: "Nobody wanted to talk to us about Vietnam; they were bored with the subject. If they wanted to hear about Vietnam they could turn on the nightly news, with all its lies and deceit. We needed to talk to someone about Nam and what we had been through, but no one was willing to listen! You can't imagine how we felt. We were called "Baby Killers" and "Drug Addicts." We were asked questions like "How many women and children did you kill while you were over there?". We were even ridiculed by other Veterans. Some W.W. II Vets said we were crybabies because we couldn't take the crap people dished out. It was real easy for them to say that because they came home to parades and treated as heroes."It is very hard to find information like this in official works of history or scholarly treatments. The true historian must dig deep down to find the real dope on the mistreatment of those brave men and women that answered the call. Jack Hartzel goes further and answers passionately as to the consequences of this egregious disrespect: "Most of us held it inside or went to the bottle to forget. Many of us like myself retreated into drugs and alcohol to kill the pain. Many times we would get drunk and sit there and literally cry in our booze. I cannot tell you how many fistfights and arguments I got into over the subject of Vietnam. I usually ended up beating the crap out of some stupid jerk that didn't know what he was talking about. I had a true hatred and distrust toward my government and all of the anti-war morons." Sometimes this antipathy never leaves. However, in "Reflections of My Past" Hartzel asserts: "I stayed medicated almost 16 years after I was discharged from the Marine Corps." Eventually entering a alcohol and drug rehabilitation center in May of 1986, Hartzel fortunately sought out sobriety and sanity, and although he has had a few relapses, today he enjoys an ongoing abstinence. The amazing part of this memoir is that Jack Hartzel didn't even need to go to Vietnam. Although he was convinced during his entire tour that he would never make it home alive, he explained: "I'm a sole surviving son and an only child. I was exempt from combat service. I volunteered to go! I was one of those patriotic fools like my father and his father. I didn't run like all those cowards that ran to Sweden or Canada." Even more incredible, when Hartzel landed in Da Nang in December of 1966, he was assigned to a Marine Air Base Security unit. There is an old adage of "never volunteer for anything." By reading this book, you will discover the zany way Hartzel actually put himself in the thick of combat, particularly at Con Thien, during the worst part of the fighting where 200 rounds of North Vietnamese Army artillery shelling and rocket attacks was the norm. Even more implausible, despite being told during training that seven seconds after a firefight starts a Machine Gunner should be dead, he volunteered just for that! In fact, it was only after he accepted the position that Hartzel discovered that the vacancy occurred in his unit because the previous gunner had been killed the day before by a sniper.In 1967 the most hotly contested area where the highest degree of combat occurred aside from Dak To and the Central Highlands, was at Con Thien, about 1.8 miles from North Vietnam. It was where most of this memoir takes place and was the site of fierce fighting from when Hartzel arrived through February 1968, two months after his tour ended. Assigned to "Echo Company, 2/9 Marines, Hartzel offered: "We would run patrols and ambushes every day to keep the NVA on the move. We wanted to make certain they couldn't build fixed positions in and around the area. It was a hard job. We would destroy a bunker complex one day; and, a couple days later, it would be rebuilt. We actually found bunkers as close as 1500 meters to Con Thien. There was not much we could do about the NVA in the area, though. We were very short-handed and had such a large area to patrol that the NVA could move around freely without much chance of detection. We would patrol an area, and they would return as soon as we were gone." Why was the author so upset about America's indifference to what he had been subjected to during the summer of 1967? His description of his experience at the "Hill of the Angels" is a rhetorical answer: "We had a couple nicknames for Con Thien. We called it "Our Turn in the Barrel" or "The meat grinder." Almost daily, we would receive at least 200 rounds of NVA incoming. I don't remember a day in which we didn't get hit with incoming rounds of some sort. We also suffered something that was almost unheard of elsewhere in South Vietnam. It was called "shell shock," and it was not unusual. The constant pounding every day could make you go Nuts. You would sit there on edge, wondering if the next round that came in would have your name on it. We caught more than our share of incoming because, every time a chopper or a truck arrived, they would shell the hell out of us. In the month of September 1967, from the 19th to the 27th, we received over 3,000 rounds of incoming."It is not hard to understand Jack Hartzel's indignation about being taunted by a draft dodger upon his return when as a 20 year old he had to witness what he described as follows: The thing about September 25th that really sticks in my mind is a picture of a Marine sitting in a puddle of blood and battle dressings, on a poncho, with his legs blown off from the waist down! He was numb from morphine and in shock from loss of blood. He was smoking a cigarette very calmly, as if nothing had even happened! He was waiting for a Medevac! He probably died in the chopper ride back! Our platoon arrived at Con Thien with 45 men; when we left, we only had 12! Now you know why we called it, "The Meatgrinder!" However, there is more to the author's recounting of the battles of Con Thien. According to Hartzel, his recounting of "Operation Kingfisher" dictates that the official history of American KIA's (23) and WIA's (251) is incorrect, with many more casualties than reported. This operation was a U.S. sweep into the southern half of the DMZ to show, as Hartzel describes as follows: "a spoiling attack into the DMZ. Our leaders thought we would march up to the Ben Hai River, flex our muscles, and return to the South-no problem! it is rumored that LBJ and his cronies sent us up there to show that we could, hopefully bolstering his failing administration. The NVA had other ideas." Aside from Hartzel's horrific description of American death and carnage, there were far more casualties than was actually reported. As the reader will discover by reading Hartzel's account, you will understand the meaning of Hartzel's final comments of "Operation Kingfisher": "I believe Marines died and were wounded because of poor reconnaissance and overzealous commanders." Hartzel also shows the reader the utter barbarity and reasons why the NVA were so contemptible in his description of how the NVA, knowing Americans never leave anyone behind, would use slaughtered POW's as "ambush bait" to lure unsuspecting Marines. Disturbingly, Hartzel wrote: "We could hear an Echo Company platoon leader, a lieutenant on his radio who was caught inside the ambush telling us not to resupply them anymore. His Marines were fighting so fierce he said, "they'll go to Hanoi."Hartzel was in for a frightening discovery: "The next morning at daylight we moved out heading north tracing our route from the day before. The lieutenant whom we had heard on the radio and several of his men had been caught in the open and were captured. The NVA hog-tied them with communication wire and bayoneted them and eventually murdered them in their attempt to draw Corpsman and Marines into their killing zone. When memoirs like this are read, it makes it even more difficult to forgive the actions of Jane Fonda, who visited the North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi in July, 1972. Among other pro North statements, she was photographed seated on an anti-aircraft battery. During this visit she also visited American POW's and brought back messages from them to their families. When cases of torture began to emerge among POWs returning to the U.S., Fonda called the returning POWs "hypocrites and liars." Fonda further stated that the POWs were "military careerists and professional killers" who are "trying to make themselves look self-righteous, but they are war criminals according to the law." One simply has to juxtapose Fonda's sympathies with Hartzel's description of discovering the aftermath of an NVA ambush of Green Berets only 24 hours after they walked out of his encampment: "The next day we took a Company sized patrol in the direction they had headed. We walked about 3000 meters (1 3/4 miles) and found them, should I say what was left of them! The NVA had caught them out in the open and slaughtered them. They killed some of them immediately and hog tied the rest of them. They cut some of their genitals off and sewed them into their mouths with communication wire. They slashed others stomach's so that their intestines were hanging out. They poked the eyes out of others. They left most of them there to die slowly." Any consideration of compassion for Jane Fonda's cause went out the window with that description which is substantiated by countless others!Hartzel's recollection of the deadly impact of a B-52 air strike can only be found in individual memoirs. The true lethality of war rears its ugly head in Hartzel's following recollection: "Well before we approached the area we could smell the sickening sweet smell of death filling our nostrils. The smell of rotting flesh! There were at least 50 dead NVA soldiers in various forms of carnage.. In the intense heat rigor mortis had begun and some of the bodies had begun to swell. There were chunks of human flesh and body parts everywhere! There were bodies half burned in churned up mounds of dirt. There wasn't a tree left standing in the entire area. The B-52 bombardment had literally rearranged the terrain." Juxtapose this with Bud Yost's account in his book "Hard Core" and you can see the parallels: The company withdrew several clicks and called for a B-52 air strike to prevent the NVA's escape. The strike was devastating. All night long the ground trembled from the impact of the bombs and the sky was lit up red. from the explosions. Even from the several thousand meters away the noise was horrendous. At first light the battalion was sent into the strike area to search for survivors. The bombs cleared an area of probably 10 square miles of all foliage. Nothing remained of the area except splintered stumps, the area was saturated with bomb craters and nothing remained but dirt. It was hot, dusty and miserable. Body parts were scattered throughout the area. In that any NVA survived is beyond any comprehension, but some did. They were dazed, in shock and would walk right up to us and surrender. Blood running from their ears, noses, mouths, and every other orifice of their bodies. How many were killed would be impossible to determine. One thing that did seem to survive were the red ants. These ants were everywhere and ferocious." Obviously, there is no exaggerating on Hartzel's part, and one can only expect that witnessing this will result in some form of future mental trauma.The aforementioned gives testimony as to why Jack Hartzel reacted so vehemently when he was condemned by hippies and peaceniks upon returning, no less being called a crybaby by W.W. II Veterans. Our troops answered the call when the trumpets summoned them, and with the horrors they witnessed and took part in, they are to be given their acclaim, accolades and compensation, not condemnation. One really understands the horrors Hartzel reluctantly witnessed while at the Da Nang Children's Hospital early in his tour being an eyewitness to the following: "We got to see kids in every state of carnage known to man. Trouble is, these kids were still alive. These were kids that were burnt by napalm and parts of their bodies were burnt off. There were kids with no legs and crawling around on the dirt floor with their hands." Jack Hartzel also explains the insanity of the war, as with the NVA and the VC all dressing alike, it was all but impossible to distinguish friend from foe aside from when the enemy wore pith helmets and waved the NVA flag. Part of the frustrating "Rules of Engagement" were areas where U.S. troops regardless of sightings could not fire unless given permission by superiors. Reflecting, Hartzel wrote: "Our last operation had been a "No Fire Zone" which was frustrating. You really didn't know who the bad guys were and if you did know, you couldn't shoot at them anyway." Hartzel also comments on the absurd military emphasis on enemy attrition, body counts, conquering land with American loss of life only to relinquish territorial gains, and even adds his frustration at how early in the war, malfunctioning M-16's cost U.S. lives in the heat of mortal combat. In terms of the rash of Vietnam movies during the last two decades, Hartzel laments: "The Hollywood producers fail to mention or recognize the less glorious details of war." In terms of the carnage, death and destruction Hartzel witnessed, he concludes: "This was the real "blood and guts" of the war! It was a nasty job, but somebody has to do it." The author makes his peace with himself, other Veterans and America at the conclusion of this incredible memoir, ironically at the site of the 1968 Democratic Convention riots, the 1986 Vietnam Veteran's Parade in Grant Park, Chicago. There are no history books even remotely as accurate and telling as Jack Hartzel's memoir. It is the only way to find out what really happened in America's most painful war!

Nilo Ha Tien: A Novel of Naval Intelligence in Cambodia

by Serra, Hl

Review written by Bernie Weisz Historian and Book Reviewer, Vietnam War June 13, 2011 Pembroke Pines, Florida U.s.A. Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: An American NILO in Cambodia: Abandoned If Captured, Rewarded And Encouraged by Wishy Washy Staff On The Home Front! A Nilo? What is a Nilo? The acronym NILO stands for "Naval Intelligence Liaison Officer" and is the role Larry Serra historically utilizes in fictional form to vicariously express his ordeal performing that very function during the Vietnam War. At the age of 24, Serra was in S.E. Asia in 1970, previous to, during and after the most significant event of that year, the "Cambodian Incursion." Why did Larry Serra write this as fiction? Any trip to your local bookstore or a browsing of offerings on book seller Internet sites will reveal an abundance of recent Vietnam War memoirs being put out the last ten years. This outpouring actually exceeds published memoirs put out the first ten years after the war ended, i.e. 1973 to 1983. Why is this? Most Veterans did not like to talk about a war they considered fraught with traumatic issues, such as losing comrades, survivor's guilt, Agent Orange issues, mistreatment by an ungrateful citizenship upon return, etc. There are numerous accounts of soldiers being spit at upon coming back to "The World" or striping off their uniforms immediately upon landing on U.S. soil to avoid a traumatic confrontation with peace protesters, not to mention the stigma of feeling like they were returning from a "lost war." Possibly time does not heal all wounds, however, it sure makes it easier for a Vietnam Veteran to reflect with less pain when the tincture of time is in effect. However, any recollection, even put out as pure nonfiction, will have an element of inventive imagination, as names, dates and even events get dimmed with the passage of time. Nobody wants to read a straight, boring monologue of recollection, completely lacking novel imagery and cliffhanger inventiveness, features this novel is jammed packed with. "Nilo Ha Tien" is a historical novel. The author states right in the beginning the following admonition to the reader:"This story is told as fiction for a number of reasons: to inject a textural and sensory feel for the places, people and events; to protect the innocent and the guilty, and to allow the author a flight of fancy in undertaking the prosecution of a naval officer for his intelligence activities." Serra's last reason was why I titled this review as such. You will read with indignation the humiliating ordeal a great American patriot was subjected to by just doing what he was told to do by people concerned with personal accolades and conflicting agendas, some contrary to the goal America attempted to achieve in S.E. Asia. How much of "Nilo Ha Tien" is fiction? Serra answers this right in the introduction by asserting: "Virtually all the events described herein actually happened, and the author leaves the reader to guess which did not. He probably will guess wrong, truth being stranger than fiction." Winning the Bronze Star as well as ten other combat and campaign awards, Larry Serra was a lieutenant in the United States Navy, serving under Admiral Elmo Zumwalt as a NILO in Ha Tien, the very last outpost before Cambodia in the southern tip of the now extinct Republic of South Vietnam. His tour of S.E. Asia lasted three years, replacing Philip Babb as the Nilo in charge of this strategically important naval area. This book is loaded with very real photos, some provided by Mr. Babb, that gives the reader the picture that "Nilo Ha Tien's" labeling as fiction is certainly a misnomer. Frank Brown, one of the characters in this book, actually exists, teaching Mr. Serra what he labeled "Intelligence Tradecraft." Most navel personnel operating along the Mekong Delta as well as the Gulf of Thailand were deemed the "Brown Water Navy." For the most part unaware of NILO activities, these men operated small gun and patrol boats as well as larger ships, the PBR units, Riverines, LST's, the helicopter and Seawolf units as well as all other Naval units operating in Vietnam. Serra brings the reader into the secret world of covert operations and Navy spy networks operating in Cambodia in early 1970. Serra's protagonist, Thomas Medici, who actually is Serra's pseudonym, covertly penetrates Cambodia on U.S. Naval Intelligence missions and negotiated a secret weapons agreement with the Cambodian Navy, then foiled the annihilation of the Port of Sihanoukville, for which he was ignominiously tried at a Naval Board of Inquiry." This hearing is conveyed by Serra, a man who in real life is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Arizona Rogers College of Law. Serra's recounting of the reality that Medici faced in this Board of Inquiry truly makes the reader feel the persecution and indignation that was unjustly thrust on unselfish Americans that put themselves in harm's way. Actually, Serra took forty painstaking years to produce this thrilling novel. During this period, every small anecdote that he recalled, he meticulously recorded, as the people, places and events that he encountered all jelled together to form the basis of this book. Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. who passed away in January of 2000, was Serra's Chief of Staff, not to mention and the youngest man to ever serve as Chief of Naval Operations. Zumwalt played a major role in U.S. military history, especially during the Vietnam War. A highly-decorated war veteran, Zumwalt ameliorated U.S. Navy personnel policies in an effort to improve enlisted life and ease racial tensions as well as reshaped the Navy's effort to replace large numbers of aging World War II-era vessels with more modern and economic ones that could be bought in greater numbers. Serra based this book on missions that he was directly sent on by Admiral Zumwalt.By using Naval Historical Archives declassified records, Serra was also able to give an exact depiction of a Cambodian weapons supply deal that he brokered as well as his involvement in preventing the destruction of the Port of Sihanoukville, the only deep water port in Cambodia. During the Vietnam War, there were "Rules of Engagement," such as respecting the neutrality of noncombatant countries, i.e. Cambodia and Laos. The problem was that the North Vietnamese were covertly supplying the Viet Cong as well as bringing in arms and military supplies themselves to the South, which ran on a secret trail that snaked through neutral countries. These countries, Laos and particularly Cambodia, were NVA "superhighways," conduits of the infamous "Ho Chi Minh Trail." Although not immune to aerial bombing, land penetration of these supposedly neutral territories was strictly prohibited. Innumerable times the North Vietnamese and their Southern brethren, the VC, would come from Cambodia, attack U.S. and South Vietnamese forces in hit and run skirmishes, and surreptitiously sneak back into Cambodia. NILO's knew that the North Vietnamese audaciously trucked unlimited tons of Communist weaponry into the faltering South Vietnamese democracy, taunting Allied forces. Although eventually deposed, Cambodia's Prince Sihanoukville wavered between shifting loyalty to both the North Vietnamese and the U.S. A NILO's spy target was to discover information that would agitate and disrupt this North Vietnamese weapons infiltration through this ostensibly neutral Cambodian Kingdom. NILO's made it their business through their spy network to know how, when and where the Russian and Chinese weapons were shipped in, trucked down the coast, and ultimately infiltrated across the Cambodian border by the NVA. On 1 May 1970, U.S.and South Vietnamese units launched a ground and air offensive into farcically neutral Cambodia to eliminate North Vietnamese sanctuaries used for frequent raids into South Vietnam. The "Cambodian Incursion" announced by President Nixon, was a U.S. ground operation that took place over a 60-day period from May 1st to June 29th, 1970, and was overlapped by Allied air strikes and a 75 day South Vietnamese incursion. By combining the efforts of the South Vietnamese, devastating air power, and army ground forces, the Allied Forces overwhelmed enemy positions and supply points resulting in thousands of enemy killed and an unprecedented recovery of enemy materiel. Although the incursion is sometimes portrayed as a strategic failure, it was not. It ultimately proved to be the key event necessary for severing the North Vietnamese lines of communications and logistics in Cambodia, aiding the successful withdrawal program of American troops in an unpopular war, saving U.S. credibility. It was also a demonstration of the success of Vietnamization, a complete turnover of the war effort to the Vietnamese, which because of the way events in S.E. Asia eventually played out is an academic moot point. The U.S. only invaded Cambodia one time, however, the other supposedly neutral country that the NVA constantly violated, Laos, was invaded during "Operation Dewey Canyon." This was the last major offensive by the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War that took place from January 22 through March 18, 1969. It involved a sweep of the NVA dominated A Shau Valley by the 9th Marine Regiment reinforced by elements of the 3rd Marine Regiment. The 56 days of combat were a tactical success but similar to the Cambodian Incursion, it did not stop the overall flow of North Vietnamese men and materiel into South Vietnam. However, without giving away this fascinating story line, Serra teaches us much more about this war rarely found elsewhere. There is not much material out there on intelligence activities, aside from recently declassified "Special Operations Group" memoirs. The reader learns that similar to the Navy's NILO's, the Army had its own spy agents called the "Military Intelligence Group." Conversely, the Special Forces had their own spies, and the CIA had what they called "agents." Literally, South Vietnam was crawling with spies! Equally complicated was Ha Tien, a town in Vietnam's southwest corner, which the North Vietnamese Army called its Military Region 3, the area responsible with infiltrating communist weapons and ammunition into the Mekong Delta from Cambodia. Serra explains how the munitions were brought by sea into Sihanoukville on Soviet and Russian ships, offloaded and split half and half with Cambodian and NVA military commanders. The NVA's half was trucked down to the South Vietnamese border for infiltration in modest quantities, with smugglers traveling by obscure canals and rivers. That's where the "Brown River Army" attempted to thwart them. However, the tactical intelligence from a NILO's network, discovering the "when and where" the interceptions would occur, was their responsibility. It is interesting to note a section that Serra includes in this novel. Knowing the prohibitive nature of the "Rules of Engagement," Serra's protagonist, Thomas Medici asks his superior, Kenck, how he is supposed to find out this information. Medici has the following very telling conversation with Kenck, with the latter asserting: "From now on, we want more political intelligence from Cambodia, and you have the authority to direct your agents deeper into Cambodia to get it. The NVA have used Cambodia throughout the war, thanks to Sihanouk looking the other way. Now, we want you to hit 'em where it hurts. You tell us where." How am I supposed to find this stuff out?" Medici asked? I thought we weren't supposed to go into Cambodia because of its neutrality and the Rules of Engagement." "Right, The Rules of Engagement keeps us out of Cambodia, except under hot pursuit circumstances." He leaned closer to Medici. You'll never get a direct order from the staff, but it's up to you to do what you must to get information. That's what your post is about Lieutenant. You are not to discuss it with anyone." He smiled, "You're gonna do Cambodia, pal." Thomas Medici, in "Nilo Ha Tien" was referred to in Saigon circles as a "can do man." Paradoxically, some of his methods were called "cheeky." He also was warned by a captain the following ominous exhortation: "In all fairness to you, Lieutenant, that if you are caught up there, where no Americans are supposed to be, well, we'll treat you like the colored relative who shows up at the wedding and deny your existence." Because of Medici's ruthless methods, the NVA placed a $10,000 bounty on his head. Although SOG members also penetrated Cambodia and Laos on Black Operations called "Over the Fence" missions, they would always have a rescue mission sent after them should they get into trouble. These desperate recovery endeavors were referred to as "Bright Light" missions. Later, Medici would testify at his Board of Inquiry hearing the following: "It's my show and my risk all right-entirely mine. Staffers in Saigon won't look me in the eye when they tell me they can't help me if I continue my solo trips into Cambodia and get caught. Then they always wink and say, "But keep up the good work." There are other sensitive issues Serra brings to light. Larry Serra's arms deal to the Cambodians, as the reader will find out, prevented a Cambodian style "Dien Bien Phu." Serra also gives a preview of the grim future Cambodia would face in his 1970 description of preliminary Cambodian "ethnic cleansing." He also shows how a NILO can properly interrogate a prisoner to get the desired information, Cambodian war booty pilfered, and most interestingly, how a NILO can manipulate the press to get yellow journalism reported as desired. Finally, and sadly, Serra's comments about ill conceived and impossible missions, guaranteed to result in future American names on "The Wall, were generated by generals that: "could write each other up with medals." Larry Serra might have taken forty years to write this amazing book, however the information put forth in this expose is priceless, enhancing, and should be part of any serious study of the Vietnam War. It is easy to read, extremely well written and without error. A must read!

No More Tears For the Dead!

by Jim Albrigtsen

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Vietnam War Historian, Pembroke Pines, Florda May 25, 2011 Contact: BernWei1@aol.comTitle of Review: I Am A Vietnam Vet Outcast; Trying To Fit Into A World That Just Doesn't Care If I Do Or Not!Jim Albrigtsen, the author of this scathing denunciation of the treatment afforded to Vietnam Veterans upon their return, spins a 527 page outrageous tale that will bring you to places rarely visited by most. The reader goes with Albrigtson from Vietnam's adrenalin rush to a monotonous stand down non-combat unit, to various women, marriages, divorces, using heroin and smoking angel dust, sniffing gigantic amounts of cocaine, to riding with outlaw motorcycle gangs and rotting in a jail cell. For good measure, Albrigtsen throws in what he calls "the jazz," i.e. sleeping with 80 women in ten months, not wanting to leave jail because he is embarrassed at his haircut, strippers and strip joints, battles with VA doctors, crooked cops, dealing coke, guns, etc. However, this is all in an attempt to cover the wound of being rejected by every single person he meets upon his return from Vietnam. This long list includes former girlfriends, his parents, potential employers, army personnel that had never been to Vietnam, VA doctors, etc. Yes, the book is long, and no, Albrigtsen is not a professional writer, so despite the typos and the length, there is not a dull page in this book. Albrigtsen also writes exactly like he is talking to you, many times challenging the reader by asking outright: "I know what you are thinking, but let me explain further." The book's dedication reads: "This book is dedicated to a certain few that did make a difference in my life and to all the living members of the 187th Assault Helicopter Company and especially the 46 men who made the ultimate sacrifice, along with all the men and women who served their time in hell." Albrigtsen's respect and ironclad admiration for those he served with is displayed here. However, the author's disrespect and animosity towards the American public that shunned him upon coming home, which is the motif of this book, can be found right on the 187th Assault Helicopter Company's web site dedication, asserting: "The American fighting force left Vietnam in 1972. We did not leave because we were loosing in Vietnam by any stretch of the imagination. If we lost anything it was the support of the United States Government that sent us over there and the United States civilians who sat securely at home in a "Free Country" cursing the American fighting force. Cursing the very people that would be the first to die to protect their freedom and their right to act like morons. To all of you who hid in colleges and ran to Canada, you will never understand what it means to be a winner in the defense of our country, our freedoms, our way of life. You will never know what true honor and courage is or understand why we offered our lives for what we believe in."The prospective reader will wonder before reading this book why Albrigtsen feels the American public is his enemy, and the reason why he would never fight for this country again, regardless of the cause. Whether you agree or disagree with him, by the last page of this book, besides all the violence, jails, outlaw motorcycle gangs, drugs and promiscuity, all used to distract and dull his pain, you will have some compassion and empathy for Jim Albrigtsen's plight and comprehend why he feels as such. If you are looking for a war story, forget it! Jim returned from Vietnam in 1969, and the first thing he noticed was that no one wanted to talk or ask him about it. In that regard, Albrigtsen both explains and asks the reader: "No one wanted to hear about the pain and anguish of seeing friends torn apart by pieces of hot jagged metal flying through the air. Or how one minute you could be talking to someone and the next second a flash of light and an explosion, such as smoke and clear dust, you find a few body parts. Nothing else, a living breathing person a few minutes ago and in seconds gone forever. Maybe you'd find a boot with a foot still in it or a smoldering body part that you can't tell what part of a person it is, only that you know it belonged to your friend. Or, seeing someone shot in the head and they still have the same expression on their face as they did in the middle of a sentence they were in. So now, tell me how you tell someone those things." Treated like a pariah, Albrigtsen saw the indifference, ingratitude, as well as the occasional morbid curiosity seeker. He commented: "Some people asked me out of morbid curiosity, questions that sounded as if they were pertaining to me, but there was no real concern for me or the truth. I learned early who those types of people were and when if asked anything about Vietnam, all I would say was, "It was bad," and leave it at that. I was soon learning fast who really wanted to know the truth and who didn't. I could see I was leaving myself open to other's opinions then, like how they would win the war or how America didn't belong in Vietnam. We had too many "sofa soldiers."This total lack of America's regard and disrespect for our soldiers plight has led to Albrigtsen's silence about the war that is shown in his book. The first thing Albrigtsen learned upon returning from his tour in Vietnam was who his real friends were. Explaining, Albrigtsen wrote: "The one thing from Vietnam that I did learn was that when young men go to war they build a bond that can be stronger than blood. This is what I called "brothers of blood!" These men I fought and cried with and laughed over things that would turn most people's stomachs, they were my family. Albrigtsen lamented that if he went to a restaurant or stood in line, people gave the "baby killer" a wide birth. People were intimidated and didn't want to talk or get near him, thinking he was crazy. Albrigtsen asserted: "I have heard people say, "watch out for him, he just came back from Vietnam!" or "Since he came back from the war, he isn't right in the head," or the best one, "He wasn't like that before he left, was he?" In regard to why the author refused to tell "war stories" in this book, Albrihtsen explains that when it comes to the subject of the plight of Vietnam Vets and cliches such as "time heals all wounds" and "closure," he retorts: "If after 40 years the healing hasn't happened, then what is going to make it start now? Some wounds heal, but those to the mind are more often not healed." If anything bothered Albrigtsen, it was his guilt after he came back to the world, finishing his tour as a door gunner of a Huey. Albrigtsen took part in some of the most heaviest fighting of the war, participating in countless combat assaults near Tay Ninh and what was considered the "Parrot's Beak of South Vietnam. "Survivors guilt" is a mental condition that occurs when a person perceives himself to have done wrong by surviving a traumatic event when others did not. It may be found among survivors of combat, natural disasters, epidemics, among the friends and family of those who have committed suicide, like those that survived the Holocaust, or the September, 2001 World Trade Center attack. Sufferers sometimes blame themselves for the deaths of others, including those who died while rescuing the survivor or whom the survivor tried unsuccessfully to save.The author, upon reaching his DEROS, was placed in a non-combat unit in Maryland. Aside from withdrawing from the ever present adrenalin of Vietnam, which he found impossible to replace, he was told by his superiors that he was stricken with PTSD from combat, and was not allowed to return to Vietnam. Upon learning this, Albrigtsen wrote: "I couldn't understand at first why leaving my brothers behind was tearing my insides apart. Here I was safe from rocket attacks, being shot at, getting sick from jungle diseases, and not seeing my friends die, but tortured by this guilt of being glad to have made it back. I really think this was the worst feeling for one to have to admit that you are thankful it was him that got shot and not you, which adds more guilt on top of what is already going inside. "How can you dare be so selfish?" you ask yourself. But you do and so the cycle is never broken , you go back and forth with this guilt and nothing can make the pain go away." Give credit to Albrigtsen for trying. Riding at 100 MPH on his motorcycle on icy January roads, bedding countless women, bouncing and fighting at strip bars, displaying his colors with outlaw motorcycle gangs, using angel dust, cocaine, heroin, then VA Hospital prescribed anti depressants, the pain never went away. Aside from the survivor guilt, Albrigtsen also suffers from Agent Orange poisoning, explaining he had been sprayed with the deadly Dioxin in Vietnam. No one would listen, however. Desperate to get back to combat, the author went to Washington to talk to a legislator as well as agreed to convert to Judaism and join the Israeli military, all for naught. This book also explains Albrigtsen's biggest demon, flashbacks, which he interprets as such: " I can be sitting in a room reading or even talking to someone, and then with no warning I am in Vietnam. It is so real, I can taste it and smell the burning residue of gun powder, the sensations of explosions all around me and the sights and other sounds are as real as anything I had been through before. Then, as fast and as furious as it came, it is gone. By that time I am totally drained and exhausted and scared. It becomes harder each time to distinguish what is real and what isn't."However, the main theme of "No More Tears For the Dead" is how after Jim came back from Vietnam, his world was neither recognizable nor welcoming. Although it might seem unpatriotic to make the statement that he would rather die than fight for the U.S. again, consider Albrigtsen's perceptions: "I knew I was different when I came back from the 'Nam. I guess I should have taken the hint when most of my friends wanted nothing to do with me. I was still the same teenager as before I went to Vietnam, or at least that was what I was telling myself. Yet, it was as if I had some communicable disease and everyone was afraid of catching it. I was really starting to see that I didn't fit in or belong back here. I was learning that most Americans just wanted to go about their business and the hell with the past and the government at the time wasn't any better. Government officials made all kinds of speeches and promises and pretended to care about those of us that returned. But, they also looked at those of us that fought and came back as if we were lepers. Sure they made all kinds of promises about our health and welfare and about returning back to our families and friends, or getting jobs and living with the American dream. Truth is, it was all a ploy and when the camera lights went dim, so did the promises and everything else. The way the country treated 'Nam vets was, to say the least, that we should go somewhere and die. We represented an ugly truth and it was becoming an ugly truth that no one wanted to admit. Because of this, many in America treated returning soldiers as if we started the war and were the cause for all that was wrong." This is not empty dialogue, as Albrigtsen take the reader on job interviews, whereupon as soon as the potential employer found out he had been in Vietnam the position became mysteriously filled, or how he was only offered security jobs, as if he was only good for violence, enforcing security. You will also go with Albrigtsen to the VA, where foreign doctors look at their watch as Albrigtsen talks uselessly to them about his flashback problems and his fevers, inexplicable rashes and boils on his body. When you complete this book, you really have to ask yourself how you would feel if you were treated this way. And what about the returning soldier that was told to fly military standby in civilian clothes so that they wouldn't be spit on, pelted with feces and urine upon their arrival stateside from their tour? Would you still have confidence in this country? This book raises many disturbing questions and issues rarely discussed in open forum when the subject of Vietnam comes up.Jim Albrigtsen's memoir is aimed at the majority of Americans who neither wanted to talk or think about their nation's longest and most debilitating war, the only war the U.S. ever lost. Albrigtsen espouses his belief that the Vietnam veteran took the blame for the humiliating defeat imposed on the U.S. by a "fourth-rate power" which resulted in a loss of pride and self-confidence in a people that like to think of the U.S. as invincible. And what about today's economic crisis? There was an estimated $167 billion spent on the war. President Lyndon B. Johnson's decision to finance a major war and "The Great Society" simultaneously, without a significant increase in taxation, launched a runaway double-digit inflation and mounting federal debt that ravaged the American economy and eroded living standards from the late 1960's into the 1990's. Who do you think unfairly shoulders a portion of that malfeasance? Vietnam continues to creep into America's conscience today. Before America endeavored to go into Panama, Kuwait and the Persian Gulf, the Vietnam remembrance of the "Domino Theory," and the aftermath of the Tonkin Gulf Incident ensure that America has to be careful that truth is never the first casualty. Because of Vietnam, the U.S. should ideally use military force only as a last resort and only where the national interest is clearly involved. Other lessons from Vietnam are to engage in armed conflict when only when there is strong public support and only in the likelihood of a relatively quick, inexpensive victory. In the final analysis, this book would have never been written if Jim Albrigtsen came home from the war prior to 1968. History teaches us that after the My Lai incident and the Tet offensive, anti-veteran sentiment rose throughout the country. Prior to those two events returning soldiers were subject to different experiences. In all the memoirs I had reviewed, after 1968 the negative experience of the returning Vietnam Veteran is unanimous. Because of the media's interpretation of the Tet Offensive (which in reality was a clear cut military victory) the U.S. was destined to lose the war in Vietnam, and nobody wanted to believe it. The country's ego had been dealt a blow that would prove to be difficult to overcome, and the war protesters and politicians made sure there was a scapegoat, which would prove to be Vietnam Veterans.Things would get worse for Jim Albrigtsen and his fellow Vietnam Veterans. Two decades after the war ended, the media bombarded America with visions of the Vietnam Veteran as exactly what Albrigtsen wrote about. Disturbing images of a drug induced, crazed or excessively violent, unpredictable Vietnam Veteran were shown on films such as "Born on The Fourth of July, Hamburger Hill, The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now." Prior to My Lai and the Tet Offensive, the media offered John Wayne pro military films such as the W.W. II "The Longest Day" or even the patriotic "The Green Berets." All of these films added to it becoming taboo for the Vietnam Vet to discuss what went on there. While I will not give away Jim Albrigtsen's incredible story in this book, he did have some final thoughts on being cheated by the VA, spit on by peace protesters, denied jobs and treated as if he was a criminal for defending America. In finishing this book, one can empathize with why Jim asserts the following: "As for myself, I will not display the flag, the true meaning of it has been being lied to, spit on, cursed and trampled on and not by a foreign power, but by many of this very country. They have never shed a tear for those that gave all they had for this flag and I truly doubt they ever will for those who are dying now for it. When I started on this story, I was told by some that I had to watch what I said or that I shouldn't editorialize in it or tell you, the American people what I think of many of you in fear you won't read this book. Ever since I came back from Vietnam, the vast majority of people and government have made my life a living hell. You took all your anger out not at the enemy or even our government. No, you took your wrath out on those that did the fighting in Vietnam. You protested against us, you spit on us when we came back. You mocked, labeled and discriminated against us and told us you didn't care or even want us. Yet. you seemed to forget that we were Americans and we answered the call to duty, whether right or wrong. The majority of young men and women that fought in Vietnam volunteered and the heroics of those that answered the call cannot be slighted."And what about today, 2011, where a softening of attitudes has occurred and now Vietnam Veterans are looked at in a more dignified, heroic light. Albrigtsen feels that it's too late, the damage is done, and the insult is unpardonable. As such, he wrote: "Today, there are some Americans that when or if they know you're a 'Nam vet, they will say, "Welcome Home." Some even say, "thanks for your service." However, this is 40 years after and where were you in 1969? There have been parades held and Vietnam Veterans march in them, but for myself and many other veterans, parades just don't get it." Albrigtsen feels that recognition for the Vietnam Vet today is all because of collective American guilt over unjustifiable and shameless mistreatment of those patriots that answered the call to arms. His sentiment is: "It is far too late. You ignored our plea for help when we fought the government and the chemical companies and you told us that Agent Orange and the other herbicides were safe. You allow those in power to cut our medical care and benefits, but you refuse to see that when they do this to those who fought for all of these, they in turn see it as a starting block and then take it from you. You practically deleted a war that raged on for 10 years right out of nearly all high school history books and you still give praise to Hanoi Jane for her acts of treason and others that led to protests." Jim Albrigtsen has a point there, and this is a small sample of what he presents as clear and lucid arguments of disgraceful actions toward those that answered what U.S. President John F. Kennedy asked of Americans in his only inaugural address in 1961, immediately after taking the presidential oath of office. The Presidents' impassioned plea was "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" and "Let the word go forth.....that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans." What happened when this "new generation" came back from Vietnam will go down in the annals of history as one of the most ignominious and reprehensible periods of American history. This book is an absolute must read for any Vietnam Vet or anyone interested in this war.

Swift Boat Down the Real Story Of the Sinking Of Pcf-19

by James Steffes

Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War May 9, 2011 Pembroke Pines, Florida, USA contact: BernWei1@aol.comTitle of Review: The Sinking of Swift Boat PCF-119. A Confused , Disorganized, Multi-Unit Screw-Up Resulting In Friendly Casualties. What is friendly fire? This is a military term which refers to the discharge of a weapon which results in death or injury among fellow soldiers or allies. Since the inception of warfare, friendly fire incidents have been a part it, however with the development of more sophisticated and deadly weapons it has made the problem increasingly rampant. In the Vietnam War, the definition of friendly fire excluded incidents in which members of the military deliberately fired on their allies, the South Koreans, Australians, New Zealanders, et al., as well as fellow soldiers. For firing on one's own troops a special term came about, called "Fragging." Fragging referred to the act of attacking a superior officer in one's chain of command with the intent to kill that officer. It was most commonly used to mean the assassination of an unpopular officer of one's own fighting unit. Killing was effected by means of a fragmentation grenade, hence the term. There were several factors that brought about friendly fire in Vietnam, such as the wild terrain and visibility during the monsoon season. When soldiers fought on land, sea, or air with which they were not familiar, or when being fired upon by enemy troops, the direction from which the shots were coming from were confusing, it can be explained why this may have occurred. With the addition of poor weather conditions, combat stress, when a soldier mistakenly believed that he was shooting at the enemy, and when a leader issued unclear or ambiguous orders, this was problematic when combined with conditions that prevented soldiers from using their own judgement. A prime example of this was the tragedy that occurred at Mi Lai on March 16, 1968. As Jim Steffes book will reveal, there were situations where it was difficult to determine whether a soldier or sailor was killed by friend or foe, and soldiers due to chagrin or fear of punishment have been known to conceal incidents of friendly fire. The American military provided extensive training to their soldiers to try and prevent the tragedy of friendly fire, which could have had a negative impact on troop morale, mission success, and public image as well as causing death or injury. The impact could be even more deleterious if death occurred because of hostile fire, and for some peculiar, difficult to comprehend reason, it was indeed blamed on American friendly fire, which appears to be the case in the story of "Swift Boat Down."This is a story quite unlike anything I have ever come about. Jim Steffes was an engineer on a Swift Boat in Vietnam participating in "Operation Market Time," which he describes in his book as such" "It was a mission to stop the infiltration of men and material by sea along the entire South Vietnamese coastline; to provide gunfire support to friendly ground units; and to provide psychological warfare operations as needed. A system of patrol areas was set up to enforce the security of the South Vietnamese coastline to deny them to the enemy. Since the majority of friendly commerce moved by water using the coastline intermingling with a large commercial fishing industry, the problem of detecting enemy movement mixed with friendly watercraft became a complicated task. This was an advantage, which the enemy exploited, in the early days of the war. The patrol areas extended from the Demilitarized Zone at the North and South Vietnamese border all the way south, around the Ca Mau Peninsula and then northwest to the Cambodian border. PCF's, also known as "Swift Boats" were assigned to areas from the coastline to approximately 2 miles out at sea." Steffes was part of a six man team, usually cross trained to know each others jobs, that patrolled South Vietnamese waterways making sure that the vast array of sampans were not smuggling weapons, ammunition, or any contraband from the North to the South, in the enemy attempt to make the South China Sea a "Ho Chi Minh Waterway." He described his boat's duties, the PCF-12, as follows: : "Once on station, we began to check out the area for boat traffic and look for suspicious looking junks and sampans. Sometimes while proceeding toward a group of fishing sampans, one will break off and head away from the group. Immediately, the crew springs into Action Stations, the engines roar to life, and the fighting Swift Heads for the evading sampan." While it would make an interesting book per se about his ordeal on the high seas maintaining surveillance during "Operation Market Time," Steffes saved that for a second book he wrote three years later. Instead, this book focuses on the sinking of PCF-19, of which Steffes asserts: "For this author, the story that has whirled around in my head for all these years and the yearning to tell this story may be fulfilled."Jim Steffes arrived in South Vietnam in April of 1968, two months after the Tet Offensive, which was a series of surprise attacks by the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese Army on distinctive cities, towns, and hamlets throughout South Vietnam. It was considered to be a turning point in the Vietnam War. The combined forces of the V.C. and the N.V.A. were about 85,000 strong, and began on January 31, 1968, the first day of the Lunar New Year, Vietnam's most important holiday. It took weeks for U.S. and South Vietnamese troops to retake all of the captured cities, including the former imperial capital of Hue. Despite the offensive being a flagrant military failure for the Communists, it turned into an ironic political and psychological victory for them as it dramatically contradicted optimistic claims by the U.S. Government that the war was all but over. On the night of June 15-16, 1968 Jim Steffes, as a crewman on PCF-12, was involved in an incident where a Swift Boat, PCF-19, was sunk with five crewmen perishing. Although it was later deemed "friendly fire, at the time it was two rockets fired from an unidentified aircraft that did the dirty deed. Close to the DMZ's nineteenth parallel, Steffes gives credible testimony in this book of both survivors and eye witnesses observing a lighted aircraft that maneuvered identical to that of a helicopter that was in the area of the attack. Steffes himself watched as his PCF -12 arrived at the sight of the sinking and observed the following: "I saw a round clear nose with what appeared to be two men sitting side by side in an aircraft. a red light under the aircraft was blinking and other lights were steady red and green. Mr Snyder (the Captain of PCF-12)was sitting on the edge of the gun tub when he saw the helicopter to starboard fire a rocket. I walked back to the stern as I passed the after control position, I felt a rush of heat and the hair on my neck stood up. I turned my head to see a small explosion in the water off our port beam. Apparently, the other aircraft fired a rocket that passed between our antennas and exploded in the water. Mr. Snyder must have heard it as well as PCF-12 jumped to max speed to clear the area. We drove at this speed making zigzag patterns so as to not be a clear target." Later, after Steffes boat returned to port in Danang, he was asked to describe the helicopter he saw, which the artist drew based on this. The result drawn of Steffes description? A Soviet built M14 "Hound" helicopter!"Swift Boat Down" is the story of how this attack was wrongly convoluted into a friendly fire incident, with bodies missing from the morgue in Danang, paperwork botched, a sailor unfairly deemed missing in action, and most ignominiously, the subsequent investigation findings of friendly fire being strictly based on exclusion, i.e. the absence of wreckage incorrectly combined with a real event of friendly fire twenty four hours later. Because U.S. jets fired at one American Cruiser and one Australian Frigate within a short time span of the sinking of PCF-19, the events were incongruously linked. In the ladder event, the Aussie Frigate had 2 KIA's and 11 WIA's, but the crucial element was that pieces of U.S. missiles were found on both ships. The twisted logic, despite all evidence Steffes painstakingly documents throughout this book, from Vietnamese witnesses, divers that were on the wreck, the medic on the scene that processed the bodies, pilots that flew in the area, experts in Russian avionics, and even a trip back to Vietnam a decade later, still has this event incorrectly in the record books as a friendly fire incident. Although the authors investigation has not changed this ruling even today, Steffes writes: I was determined to write this story regardless of the fact that the official findings will never be changed. In the political climate of 1968 with America's thoughts of war and ending it on most of their minds it is easy to bring a quick closure to this incident by calling it "friendly fire: and moving on. The media was satisfied and a war weary public felt that it was"just one of those accidents in war. I took the facts as I know that, coupled with testimony from other Marine, Navy, Coast Guard, and Air Force Veterans that were there and told the story as all of us believe it really happened I make the argument that given the proper atmosphere and time to investigate all areas of this incident a different finding may have been reached."This faulty U.S. Government conclusion of the sinking of PCF-19 being attributed to friendly fire is attacked throughout the book. Steffes quotes a Major Stefannson, who when he tried to report his sightings of North Vietnamese helicopters existing over South Vietnam, was castigated as follows: "I too saw one of the NVA choppers up real close. It was reported to Division, but like many other things, I don't think we were believed. When we first reported seeing helicopters at night, an Army team from Saigon flew up to Battalion and took our observers into "custody." They tried to break our report, even accusing us of being influenced by funny cigarettes. I found the visitors from the South to be disgusting." Steffes points out that there were NVA sapper swimmers that were dropped off in the water by enemy choppers near these Swift Boat operations, and he believes PCF-19 ran into one of these swimmer drop-off missions. Why was this classified as friendly fire? Air Command repeatedly claimed no U.S. Aircraft was in the area of the sinking of PC-19 on the night of this tragedy. The author insists that the key to this mislabeling was the events of June 16/17, with the attacks on the two allied warships. The attack of PCF-19 and the 2 warships both occurred within twenty four hours of each other, were both after midnight, both involved aerial attack on a sea vessel. Steffes postulates "It appears that higher commands wanted to give the impression that both events were related once the decision had been made to declare it 'friendly fire." This quick, 160 page read is packed with facts, evidence, maps and photos that will truly make you ruminate as to what the truth was with PCF-19 and question why even today this is still wrongly classified as a "friendly fire" incident. Unquestionably, this book is an eloquent revelation that events are not as they appear to be, calling for justice awaiting the crew of PCF-19, for which they so righteously deserve.

Given Up For Dead

by Flint Whitlock

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Historian, Pembroke Pines, Florida April 22, 2011 Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: U.S. POWS In A Nazi Concentration Camp:Described As a Million Dollar Experience Not Repeatable If Offered 2 Million!Flint Whitlock has done it again! After reading and reviewing "Internal Conflicts" I was glad that the conclusion of that book was based on historical fiction. Quite the contrary, I was horrified that the contents of this book are very real and lurid, with such inhumane acts being inflicted to American prisoners of war that were doled out by barbaric men who in the end were given a slap on the wrist. The history of W. W. II is well known. After swallowing up large parts of Europe starting in 1938 which included Poland, Czechoslovakia, France, Belgium, Greece and Yugoslavia, et al, in the last six months of 1941 Adolf Hitler launched an aggression that would ultimately cost him the war, his life and the obliteration of "The Third Reich." First he attacked the Soviet Union on June 22nd, and by years end, four days after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, he made another major blunder. President Franklin Roosevelt and his administration received the following communication from Hitler: "The Government of the U.S., having violated in the most flagrant manner and in ever-increasing measure all rules of neutrality in favor of the adversaries of Germany and having continually been guilty of the most severe provocations toward Germany ever since the outbreak of the European war, provoked by the British declaration of war against Germany on September 3, 1939, has finally resorted to open military acts of aggression. Although Germany on her part has strictly adhered to the rules of international law in her relations with the United States during every period of the present war, the Government of the United States from initial violations of neutrality has finally proceeded to open acts of war against Germany. The Government of the United States has thereby virtually created a state of war. The German Government, consequently, discontinues diplomatic relations with the United States of America and declares that under these circumstances brought about by President Roosevelt, Germany too, as from today, considers herself as being in a state of war with the United States of America."Flint Whitlock would prove that the only law Adolf Hitler would adhere to was of his own machinations. From sending in the Wheremacht and Luftwaffe into Russia, expecting them to survive nevertheless victoriously prevail with little petrol and light winter clothes, to taking on Britain, the U.S. and Canada, to attempting to implement his "master race" demented Aryan philosophy, it was only a matter of time until the world found out what Adolf Hitler was capable of. 1942 would give universal flavor to the aforementioned. Lidice is a village in the former Czech Republic just north-west of Prague. As part of the 1938 "Munich Agreement," The Czech state was now part of the Third Reich. Reinhard Heydrich, also known as "The Hangman," was a high-ranking German Nazi official who chaired the 1942 "Wannsee Conference," of January 20, 1942, which discussed plans for the deportation and extermination of all Jews in German-occupied territory. In an operation named "Operation Anthropoid," he was attacked in Prague on May 27, 1942 by British-trained Slovak and Czech agents who had been sent to assassinate him there. He died approximately one week later due to his injuries. Lidice, as per orders directly from Heinrich Himmler, the Reich Leader of the dreaded Gestapo from 1929 until 1945, was completely destroyed by German forces in reprisal for the assassination of Heydrich in the late spring of 1942. The world was getting a minor taste of the future . On June 10, 1942, Himmler ordered all 192 men over 16 years of age from the village murdered on the spot and the rest of the population of Lidice sent to Nazi concentration camps where many women and nearly all the children were killed. Six weeks after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers initiated the "Manhattan Project" to develop an atomic bomb, on July 22, 1942 Germany began deporting hundreds of thousands of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka concentration camp for the purpose of the "Final Solution."The Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust. Himmler was the chief architect of the plan, and mass killings of about one million Jews occurred before the plans of the Final Solution were fully implemented in 1942, but it was only with the decision to eradicate the entire Jewish population that the extermination camps were built and industrialized mass slaughter of Jews began in earnest. This decision to systematically kill the Jews of Europe was made, as previously mentioned, at the "Wannsee Conference." However, Hitler's initial luck would soon wane. On November 8, 1942 the Allies invaded North Africa, beginning "Operation Torch." U.S. forces landed in Algeria, Oran, and Casablanca, and on May 12, 1943, the Axis forces in North Africa surrendered. Hitler's stock continued to fall, where on January 31, 1943, over 90,000 German troops at Stalingrad surrendered to the Soviets. It was a significant turning point in the war against Germany. On April 19, 1943 the world saw with repulsion the way Hitler dealt with the Polish Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, where German troops attempted to deport the ghetto's last surviving Jews, and about 750 Jews fought back the Germans for almost a month. German troops would slaughter thousands of Jews there, the rest were sent to the Treblinka concentration camp to die. However, in July of 1943, the Allies landed in Sicily, and by month's end Benito Mussolini's fascist government was overthrown in Italy. In September Italy formally surrendered, and on Oct. 13th declared war against it's former partner, Nazi Germany.It was the next year, particularly the winter of 1944-45 that Whitlock's story centered on. Nazi fortunes continued to plummet. For it was that year that the Nazi siege of Leningrad, which began in September 1941 finally ended, sending the Soviets westward in a vengeful pursuit which would not cease until they met the Anglo American forces at the Elbe River on April 25, 1945. In February, the Allies began their massive bombing campaign of Germany, and the beginning of the end started on June 6, 1944, "D-Day" or "Operation Overlord." This was the Allied invasion of German-occupied Western Europe that began on the beaches of Normandy, France and ended similarly with Allied and Soviets shaking hands in Berlin. Seeing what was going on, Hitler sped up the extermination camp killing machinery, tried terrorizing Britain by launching "V-1" flying-bombs, nevertheless the handwriting was on the wall. Proof of this was the July 20, 1944 German military leaders failed attempt to kill Adolf Hitler in the Rastenburg Assassination Plot. Allied armies were now invading German-held Europe from all sides. From August on, the Allies retook France, the Netherlands, and October 21, 1944, they captured Aachen, the first city to be taken in Germany. On a steady diet of constant injections from his doctors, in a morphine and amphetamine induced euphoria, Hitler issued a "stand and fight" edict. Hitler proclaimed that although the once vast Nazi empire had diminished, the Fatherland could never be penetrated. He created the "Volkssturm," the German militia created to defend the German homeland in the last months of World War II. Nazi Germany's last-ditch effort to defend the fatherland fell on the Volkssturm, or "Peoples Army." Drafted were any able body, man or boy, ages 15-65. In most cases the Volkssturm were elderly men and Hitler Youth fanatics. This group, along with whatever remained of his Wheremacht, would coalesce together in one final effort to reverse the impending German defeat.Code named "Wacht-am-Rein" or the "Battle of the Bulge," it started on December 16th, 1944. Delusional thinking convinced Hitler that the alliance between Britain, France and America in the western sector of Europe was weak. Concluding that a major attack and defeat would break them up, he ordered a massive attack against what were primarily American forces. The attack was strictly known as the "Ardennes Offensive," but because the initial attack by the Germans created a bulge in the Allied front line, it became more commonly known as the "Battle of the Bulge." Hitler's goal was to launch a massive attack using three German armies on the Allies . This would, in his mind, destabilize their accord and also enable his forces to capture the huge port of Antwerp, through which a great deal of supplies reached the Allies. In theory, it was a preposterous plan, especially as Germany had been in retreat since D-Day, her military was depleted of supplies and was facing the awesome might of the Allies. Regardless, Hitler, as commander-in-chief of the military, decreed that the attack take place. He intentionally focused on an area in the Ardennes held by the 99th and 106 Divisions, mostly freshly trained, untested recruits of 80,000 Americans. Although in comparison it seems meager to his "Operation Barbarossa" (in the 1941 invasion of Russia, Hitler sent 3 million troops) he was able to muster almost 300,000 troops, thinking a miracle would occur. It almost did. The battle started with a 2 hour bombardment of the Allies lines that was followed by a huge armored attack with the majority of the German armored might based at the Schnee Eifel. The Germans experienced great success to start with. Even through British Intelligence experts, who broke the high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications of the Germans (called "Ultra") had warned the Allies of this impending attack, this was ignored resulting in them being caught totally off guard. Before the attack started, Hitler deceptively sent Otto Skorzeny to lead 1000 English speaking German soldiers dressed in American uniforms covertly behind the Allied lines causing havoc by spreading misinformation, changing road signs and cutting telephone lines. Climate was also in Hitler's favor. In December, snow, low clouds and fog meant that the superior Allied air force could not be used, similarly to the Vietnam War where the initial North Vietnamese assault on the U.S. base at Khe Sanh was successful. Though the weather was typical for the Ardennes in winter, the ground was hard enough for military vehicles, especially 1,083 German tanks to cross and thus initially meet success.However, "Given up For Dead" is not about the war, politics or the "Battle of the Bulge." It is about the American prisoners Hitler's forces took in their initial success at this battle, specifically 350 of them. The seven main protagonists that Whitlock used were Morton Brooks, Gerald Daub, Anthony Acevedo, Norman Fellman, Joe Mark, William Shapiro, and the only non Jew, Peter Iosso, who, as Whitlock would later write: "By Christmas (1944-45) they would be fighting for their very lives in struggles of great magnitude. And their fates would be intertwined in ways they never could have imagined." The Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle fought by the Americans in World War Two. 600,000 American troops were involved in the battle. The Americans lost 89,500 men while the Germans lost 100,000 killed, wounded and captured. 19,000 Americans were killed, 47,500 wounded, and 23,000 captured or missing. This book chronicles how Hitler's stooges treated Americans, particularly Jewish G.I.'s in captivity. Hitler's attack was so fast and furious, that many soldiers were captured without even their boots on. Immediately, the Geneva conference was flaunted by the Germans. Joe Mark reported after surrendering: "After capture, we were assembled by the road and Krause shared a K-ration with me. While waiting, the Germans prepared their anti aircraft weapons for transport. A German officer told one of the Americans to help. The American said it was against the Geneva Convention to help. The German said "Ja, Geneva Convention" and shot him." There are several books existent of how Germans were treated as POW's in this country, distributed in camps located in Wisconsin, Texas and New Hampshire, et al. There is no American equivalent as to the beastly treatment American G.I.'s were accorded in Nazi Stalag's, or Nazi sentiment if one was Jewish, Catholic,or "an undesirable" in Concentration Camps, used for slave labor.Eleven years after W. W. I ended, the Geneva Convention was first adopted, although significantly updated after 1949. Spelling out the treatment meted out to prisoners of war, it defines humanitarian protections for prisoners of war. This treaty's most significant provisions are that people who took no active part in the hostilities be treated humanely (including military persons who have ceased to be active as a result of sickness, injury, or detention)and the wounded and sick be collected and cared for and treated with diligence. From initial captivity, it dictates what information a prisoner must give (name, rank and serial number only) and interrogation methods that the detaining power may use. No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion can be used for interrogation methods by the captor. It dictates what private property a prisoner of war may keep and that the POW must be evacuated from the war zone immediately. Proper housing, food, clothing, hygiene and medical attention are to be upheld by the captor, and to be both allowed and respected are religious, intellectual and physical activities of the POW. Articles 49-57 covers the type of labor a POW may be compelled to do, taking such factors as rank, age, and sex into consideration. Anything that is unhealthy or dangerous can only be done by POW's who volunteer for such work. The author clearly articulates that for many of the American POW's taken during the "Battle of the Bulge," particularly G.I.'s of the Jewish faith, none of the previously mentioned applied to them: "Although Germany had signed the Geneva Convention on July 27, 1929, four years before Hitler came to power, it was still legally bound to abide by the provisions. But like so many other treaties, conventions, and other agreements he broke, Hitler felt free to observe or ignore the Geneva convention as it suited him." Whitlock further succinctly added: "The loophole, of course, was that if Hitler and his Nazi minions wanted to make life miserable for the enemy prisoners-and they most assuredly did-there was no agency on earth that could enforce those sanctions."Although they were scattered all throughout Axis territory, Whitlock focused on the aforementioned group that was transferred to Stalag IX at Bad Orb, 30 miles east of Frankfurt. At it's height, it held 4,000 U.S. POW's. Right after capture, captured U.S. G.I.'s, average age 20, were marched to a railroad station for transport to hell, devoid of food, water or heat in the middle of winter. Whitlock wrote that the POW's soon found themselves herded into boxcars like hogs headed for the slaughterhouse and rolling eastward. Locked in these trains, they were targets of constant Allied Bombing, and were packed in 70 men to a boxcar, without toilets nor the ability to sit down. For food at Bad Orb, the first week they received a meager ration of potato soup, and for the last four months of captivity up to liberation only sugar beets and turnip tops. Being a potential gold mine of intelligence to the Nazi's, Private Owen Chafee noted the following Nazi interrogation methods: Some men who were ahead of me refused to fill out anything but their name, rank , and serial number. The German officer got mad and called 2 guards over. The guards hit the Americans with their rifle butts and made them stand outside for 3 or 4 hours in the snow. I saw this happen to 25 men. Many of those so treated came down with severe frostbite." However, the fanatical Gestapo had special plans to single out any Jewish POW's. Although not Jewish, POW Peter House wrote the following when questioned about his religion: "A German corporal interrogated me. He was a mean spirited man. He was very upset when all I gave him was my name, rank and serial number. He asked my religion. I refused. He asked how would they know what type of service to provide if I died. This seemed reasonable at the time, so I said "Protestant." Another POW, Leon Horowitz, asserted: "In those days, your religion was imprinted on your dog tags so that, if you were killed in action they would know what kind of burial service to give you. I threw my dog tags away shortly after I was captured. In retrospect, the Germans would have quickly suspected that anyone who didn't have dog tags was Jewish."Conditions grew worse for the U.S. POW's at Bad Orb. In order to distract oneself from starvation and the severe cold, POW's dreamed up escape plans and were preoccupied with killing rampant body lice. Body heat was the only source of warmth, and sleeping on filthy, vermin infested, straw filled sacks, they spent horrible nights in barracks with broken windows, leaky roofs and no toilet facilities. Whitlock pointed out that on the starvation diet of less than 1,000 calories a day, if one worked, they died. Furthermore: "Not surprisingly, food quickly became a burning obsession among the POW's. They thought about food, dreamed about food, and talked about food constantly." Just like cigarettes are a commodity in U.S. prisons, so was food at Bad Orb, with an antisemitic extortionist twist to it. According to POW Joseph Mark: "A guy from my own company called "Blackie" came up to me one day and asked if he could borrow some bread. I said, "I don't lend bread." He threatened me; he said, "then I'm going to tell them you're a Jew." POW James Smith continued describing the mistreatment: "Every morning we'd go out-we didn't actually have a roll call;it was just a head count. During this twice a day routine, camp personnel spent hours counting and recounting the prisoners and often spewing vitriol into their captives faces, screaming at them for minor infractions, beating them with sticks, whips, clubs and rifles; threatening them with vicious dogs, humiliating them in any way possible."In the first week of February, 1945, Hitler's henchmen decided that underground armament factories had to be carved out of solid ground in the final defense of the Third Reich. Shifts were to be 12 straight hours for 40 days straight, using pneumatic drills to carve out the caves. This was to be done with no protective garments for the elements, on 400-600 calories a POW. Selected from Bad Orb Stalag IX-B would be 350 POW's, all to be sent to "Berga" a stone throw from Buchenwald. POW Tony Acevedo wrote of the Nazi selection process to work the tunnels: "They wanted to do that with Jews, but they couldn't find enough. so they went down the line; if you looked Jewish or your name had a Jewish sound to it, they pulled you out. If you looked Catholic or they assumed you were Catholic, you were also pulled out. Of the 350, only about a third were actually Jewish; the rest were either Catholic or they were troublemakers in the camp-people they caught stealing, etc." African Americans were involved as well. Although they were not fully integrated into the U.S. armed forces until 1948, POW Fred Koenig recalled It was sometime in February 1945 that a Corporal Schulz, a German guard at IX-B, beat up a colored American Soldier: "I witnessed this assault. Named "Shorty", his crime was walking past a group of German soldiers without saluting them. Schulz stopped him and said something in German which the American did not understand, so Schulz hit him several times with a bayonet scabbard, knocked him to the ground, and kicked him. Shorty was a bloody mess." POW James Smith quoted about Black POW's the following: The camp commander suggested that we put them in the MP barracks for their own protection. He said, "We've got a lot of fanatical idiots," which was an understatement. He was afraid that if we didn't keep them in there for their protection, some Germans might do harm to them."The stories told at Berga in the last part of Whitlock's book are nothing less than spell binding. Witnessing hangings of fellow POW's, threatened by German Shepard dogs, frozen, beaten, and starved, POW Joe Mark quipped: "Dying was of no great consequence, but being hungry was." The families of these POW's were notified that these men were "MIA" (missing in action), but other from that, they had vanished off the face of the earth. Unfed, full of body lice, working 12 hours a day for 40 days straight in the elements digging tunnels, POW's began dying. Shaving with broken glass, being fed only bread made of sawdust, ground glass and sand, camouflaged with barley, POW Medic William Shapiro, commenting on the horrid conditions at Berga, wrote that many men turned inward just trying to survive, cutting contact off with their fellow POW's. Afraid of Nazi "plants" among the POW's, no one dare complain. Shapiro had the following to say: "Food would activate the POW's into a frenzy, but after the distribution of the food, they would go off, climb into their bunks, and disassociate themselves with other men...I would learn the beginning signs of the "giving up" syndrome. This book is so disturbing that I am grateful that Whitlock had a few humorous stories to break up this unimaginable tale of human degradation. One was told by POW Joe Mark, right after German capture: "They marched us back to a town and searched me. I had a tin of aspirins, Bayer aspirin, and this German who was searching me thought I had taken them off a German because Bayer is a German product and he was going to shoot me, but a sergeant told him that Bayer was commonly distributed, so I wasn't shot."POW Gerald Daub wrote about the constant underground drilling in the caves the following entry: "The air was just totally filled with stone dust. Everything coated with it, including your lungs filled with it. And we had no bathing facilities, so you can picture that, after a day or two, we just looked like cement statues walking around." Then there is the humorous story of Private William Thompson, a POW assigned to a German officer's quarters for housekeeping duty. With no one else there, he discovered a plate of cake and a bottle of brandy. Unable to resist, he imbibed the brandy and wolfed down the cake, finding himself completely inebriated. Thompson recalled: "The cake was almost gone and I was drunk as a sailor. I finally had to lie down on the commandant's freshly made bed. I was rudely shaken awake by an enlisted German guard who was shaking with fright at the sight of a drunken, lice-infested POW sleeping in the captain's bed after having consumed a cake and most of his fine brandy. I soon found myself on the operating end of a bucksaw, cutting logs for firewood. I had difficulty keeping the saw blade taut and was receiving a tongue lashing when I was saved by the flyover of a 1000 plane raid. The sky was filled with contrails, and P-47's weaved back and forth. We were looking up. I told my guard, "All is kaput-you're going to lose." He said, "When, for God's sake?" How many of the original POW's made it home? Who liberated them, and how? During the war crimes trials, were the Nazi's that were guilty of atrocities receive punishment commensurate to their crimes? How much did the "Cold War" of the late 1940's affected the outcome of those trials? Were any of the POW's allowed to testify? Since Flint Whitlock did a follow up of the originally mentioned 7 POW's, did any in this groups suffer from "Survivor Syndrome" or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?" You will have to read "Given Up For Dead" to discover the answer. I guarantee you will not be disappointed!

All For Nothing

by Raney, Clair A

Review Written by Bernie Weisz , Historian, Vietnam War March 4, 2011 Pembroke Pines, Florida EMail:BernWei1@aol.comTitle: "Pan Am 707's Dispatched With Hired Killers For An Unpopular Government:Brand New Grist For The Vietnam Death Mill"Clair Raney's book "All For Nothing" is disclaimed in the beginning as follows: "Although most of the following events occurred, the book is a work of fiction." Aside from the characters Raney used to express history, there is very little, if any fiction in this book. Clair Raney ingenuously weaves an intricate plot using a brilliant recollection of history to explain exactly what happened in Vietnam as well as the United States from 1967 to 1968 in regard to the war in Southeast Asia. The book is long, but necessarily needs to be as Raney intelligently covers the U.S. troop build up to it's half a million man watershed, The Tet Offensive, it's ramifications, corruption in the South Vietnamese and American military structure, the U.S. Peace Movement, and many other true tidbits to explain how this war went from an American crusade to a haunting pariah. This book is actually a primer on how America slowly lost the war for itself, with Raney cleverly choosing "All For Nothing" as the book's moniker not as a coincidence. From the first to final page, why this war amounted to a waste is discovered. The reader is left with an answer to the question of "Was the War worth tens of thousands of lost American lives and the expenditure of hundreds of billions of dollars?" A clear description through historical fiction is given through the background of several characters, American Advisors going through their one year tour, some completing it, some psychologically maimed, and some dying. The scenario is set from the beginning, and despite the length of this book, Raney forces the reader to push to the end to see what happened to whom. The suspense is cleverly maintained throughout the book by jumping from one soldier's ordeal to the other, only to be tied in to at the very end. The book's title answers an old Navy adage of "My country, right or wrong" implicitly by the title. The lie of the "Domino Theory," is dispelled.The politicians were cagey in convincing Americans that the little, backward country of South Vietnam, 9000 miles away from us constituted "a threat" to our national security. However, they never answered Americans with what constituted final victory. Raney points that out and shows the reader that Washington actually orchestrated it's own defeat by allowing politicians to dictate to the military ridiculous rules of engagement, from the farcical Tonkin Gulf incident to the long drawn out Paris Peace Talks and POW releases. Raney boldly proclaims that there is nothing so screwed up that Congress could not make worse. While the storyline tries to follow how the Raney's advisors passed their time and helped each other survive, Raney subliminally tells readers the truth about this war: it was indeed all for nothing! One character, a Naval Academy graduate whose father was a prominent admiral, is the captain of a PBR boat in the Mekong Delta. Accidentally killing 12 civilians and severely wounding a small girl as collateral damage, he writes a letter to American newspapers explaining that civilians are being killed as a matter of course. He creates a fund to collect money for one of the victims, a small girl he drops off in a Catholic Convent which the Navy eventually finds out about. The development of his character speaks historical volumes of the conduct of this war. There are other characters in this book which Raney adroitly used to explain misappropriation of funds, stealing military supplies, the incompetence of the ARVN, and the pessimistic view the people of South Vietnam had toward both their corrupt government and their depraved, untrustworthy military.Clair Raney eloquently describes how America became embroiled in this conflict. Citing Bernard Fall's three books, the author shows Washington's mentality after the French defeat at "Dien Bien Phu" in May of 1954. After the Vietminh overran the French, America became involved with the Geneva Accord, which was designed to fail. This agreement, a product of the peace treaty of Dien Bien Phu, created two Vietnams, the North under Ho Chi Minh and the South as a Republic under Bao Dai and later President Ngo Dinh Diem. Claiming free elections would decide whether the North or South would rule the whole country take place in 1956, Washington knew the country would go Communist. Raney wrote: "The Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (GVN) seemed to do all in it's power to alienate it's people. Convinced that it was helping to halt the expansion of International Communism., The U.S. became the principal supplier and benefactor of the new GVN. To the U.S., South Vietnam represented a tremendous opportunity to stop the spread of Communism in the area and to establish a foothold on the Asian Continent. In short, the greatest democracy in the world refused to allow democracy in Vietnam because it knew the people would cast their votes against U.S. wishes and throw out it's puppet GVN." Raney points out that Ho anticipated this, and knowing the elections would never occur, flooded the South with infrastructure later to involve into the Viet Cong. Explaining that both President Kennedy and later President Johnson ignored the lessons of history, Raney explains that Washington was wrong thinking it's military muscle was prepared to fight an Asian war on an Asian continent where guerrilla warfare ruled the land. Raney insists J.F.K would have eventually pulled the U.S. out, with advisors being the maximum American contribution to this civil war. However, with J.F.K's assassination, Raney wrote the following: "L.B.J" was sold a bill of goods by Ngo Dinh Diem and his wife Madam Ngo, and ill-advisedly began a U.S. takeover of the war dispatching an escalating number of U.S. forces in an effort to defeat the so called Communists." Why the title? Raney relates it to the following comment, an eventual truism: In the early 1050's, French public opinion turned violently against the war in Indochina, and it was obvious in 1966 that U.S. public opinion was doing the same. Americans are an impatient people, and will support a quick end to a war even if they aren't in favor of it. But protracted, never ending conflicts with questionable national security implications are supported by very few Americans."From that historical explanation, Raney explains why this was a war that would put almost 60,000 dead American names on a wall all for nothing. The storyline shows that whatever power historically controlled the rice bowl and waterways of the Mekong Delta, controlled Vietnam. The Viet Cong seized 90 % of this area, never to relinquish it. Though the Navy roamed at will from sunup to sundown, the Viet Cong roamed nocturnally at will, forever contesting the U.S. "Riverine Forces" for ownership. However, "All For Nothing" conclusively shows that this war was not lost on the battlefields of the Ashau Valley, the Central Highlands or the Mekong Delta. It was lost in Washington, in the television blaring living rooms of America and the college campuses. To the war protest movement, the troops in Vietnam, particularly after 1967 became "simply hired killers for an unpopular government." Clair Raney, through an analogy asks readers what they would do if the Viet Cong came to the U.S. and tried to take over our country. Would we try to kill them and make them leave? Although the language was a little harsh, the author lets it be known that except for the war protesters, which he labeled "maggot infested peaceniks," nobody in the U.S. in 1967 really cared about the conduct of the war, despite being force fed KIA statistics on the nightly news. As the death toll kept increasing, the "Domino Theory" lost credibility. The Domino Theory was first developed under the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950's. It was argued that if the first domino is knocked over, then the rest would topple in turn. Applying this to South-east Asia, Eisenhower argued that if South Vietnam was taken by the Communists, then other countries in the region such as Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia and Indonesia, would follow. However, Americans questioned how this little, backward country, 9,000 miles away from the U.S. constituted "a threat" to our national security.There is way more to this book then politics. Mr. Raney chose two of America's allies to look at and make comments about. Although Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and the Philippines contributed to L.B.J's bandwagon, "All For Nothing" makes important commentary about the conduct of South Vietnam's army, known as "ARVN," and the abject ruthlessness of Korea's troops, referred to as "ROK's." Part of this story takes place in the coastal town of Tuy Hoa, which was guarded jointly by the ARVN and American forces. "Hearts and Minds" was a euphemism for a campaign by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War, intended to win the popular support of the Vietnamese people. Hearts and Minds campaigns typically refer to liberal-democratic Western governments' attempts to effect regime change in a foreign state. The program in South Vietnam was inspired by L.B.J. For the U.S., winning was not the only objective but also to win the hearts and minds of the indigenous populace for the South Vietnamese government against the Viet Cong for assistance and development programs. How would this be possible with a commentary of the citizens of Tuy Hoa feeling threatened by the ARVN? Raney wrote of these citizens: "In addition to worrying about the VC, members of the ARVN paraded up and down the streets with their weapons at the ready or drove by in U.S. supplied jeeps with nervous looking soldiers manning .50 caliber machine guns. One never knew when one of these young soldiers might consider a passerby as an enemy and begin shooting." Mr. Raney also cites that when captured, the VC would pay the South Vietnamese to let them go, and as far as the composition of the ARVN, most were impressed into service, only desiring to go home and help their family to farm. Furthermore, the ARVN would sell American supplies and tactical information to the VC, knowing all the time that America would eventually abandon the war, leaving South Vietnam to fend for itself. While the American soldier, barring reenlistment, only had to serve one year, only the end of the war would herald an end to an ARVN's tour of duty.The book continues to let the reader know exactly who America was fighting alongside. An ARVN interrogation of a prisoner of war was anything but that. Beatings, torture, executions were standard. ARVN intelligence officers would take groups of VC prisoners up in helicopters, getting them to talk by throwing one out to his death. In 1967, American officers were not reenlisting. Lesser officer, like Lt. William Calley were staying, not boding well for the future of the U.S. Military. Why? Raney explains it as follows: "Most officers simply did not want to continually risk their lives and possibly die in what most considered a lost cause. All knew they did not have a reliable ally in the South Vietnamese government and none of their own political leaders could site a goal or give a definition of what constituted the end game in Vietnam. But being loyal Americans, most made the best of a very bad situation and distinguished themselves with honor. Raney included air strikes by American fighters that required permission of the South Vietnamese as an example. Raney alleged that the South Vietnamese would warn the VC, use the "rules of engagement" to stifle America's war effort and knowing the North would one day be the rulers, purposely sabotaged U.S. missions. During the 1968 Tet Offensive, ARVN desertion was rampant. Many citizens of the South hated the VC because they represented what they had fled the North from in the 1950's. Their own government was seen as a corrupt, self serving one which cared nothing about the people. While they tried to appear neutral, they were more worried about the ARVN soldiers than the VC, as nobody knew what they would do. Proving this point was the ARVN desertion, looting and raping during the Tet Offensive, all included within this fabulous story.While there are quite a few memoirs written by Australian soldiers (known as "Diggers") during the conflict, I know of none written by Korean troops. Robert Blackburn is the only author I know of that undertook a scholarly examination of their role in the Vietnam War. In his book "Mercenaries and Lyndon Johnson's "More Flags" The Hiring of Korean, Filipino and Thai Soldiers in the Vietnam War," Blackburn shows how L.B.J. tricked the American taxpayer into footing entirely the bill for Korean participation. While most history textbooks cite both the "Domino Theory" and Korea's gratitude and indebtedness to America for the bailout in 1950 against their Communist foe as their motivation for joining the fray, Blackburn sets the record straight. ROK troops were completely underwritten by American taxpayer money, entirely mercenary in nature. All of their equipment, uniforms and bonuses were funded by America. Clair Raney includes their merciless brutality within the pages of "All for Nothing" with a small anecdote of how two sadistic ROK soldiers disciplined a small Vietnamese boy for stealing a pair of binoculars out of their jeep by shooting the child in the foot. When one of Raney's characters complained to his superior, he was told the following: "I'm sorry, but that is the way it is with the Koreans. These are cruel people. When they fight a war, they fight a war. Their officers constantly tell me that Americans just do not know how to fight an Asian war. The Koreans claim that immediate response and abject cruelty are the only lessons these people understand and respect." As far as Korean volition as America's ally in Vietnam, Raney wrote: "The U.S. purchased the Koreans as Hessians to help in the fighting over here." Americans were not the only forces to commit atrocities in Vietnam. In the village of Ben Was, ROK soldiers rounded up 430 peasants and brutally slaughtered them in November, 1966. This was one of many mass killings attributed to the ROK's. Their ferocity is mentioned in both Clyde Hoch's "Tracks" and John Culbertson's "A Sniper In The Arizona." Clair Raney sums it up best with a statement by one of his characters: "War is a cruel business. The U.S. gave the Koreans the mission of pacifying their area of operations. They're Asians and they know how to fight an Asian war. In my opinion, it would have been faster and cheaper to have hired the Koreans to do the whole ground job in this entire war and for the U.S. just to provide air support. U.S. forces do no have the stomach or leadership to become involved in such cruelty. Stop and think about it. Do you know of a more peaceful area of operations in Vietnam than the Korean zone?""All For Nothing" is a long book, 586 pages. However, such a deluge of history is covered that even with it's current length, some subjects are not fully explored. Quite a bit happened between 1967 and 1968, and Clair Raney covers most historical episodes adequately. While the main focus of "All for Nothing" remains the enigmatic and ambiguous administration of the Vietnam War by Washington's bumbling, incompetent bureaucrats and politicians, the author still catches the small nuances of this conflict rarely found elsewhere. From "Body Counts and rules of engagement" to the peace demonstrators, the student movement, L.B.J's visit to Vietnam, Jane Fonda, Tim Hardin and Senator Symington (A Missouri Democrat who at first was a staunch supporter of large military outlays then later became increasingly critical of military spending and of the war in Vietnam) Clair Raney misses nothing. The book shows how no America was safe in Vietnam, constantly living in a state of constant siege. Even if given a comfortable desk job in Saigon, troops were surrounded by an enemy who could have annihilated them at any time chosen. Even in America, this war was different. Unlike W. W. II with it's war bonds and food drives, most Americans in 1967 couldn't care less about what was going on over there. Other than a billboard campaigning for a P.OW's release or the "Students for a Democratic Society" demanding that the U.S. get out of Vietnam, life went on normally. While most of these peace demonstrators insulted returning Veterans with "baby killer" taunts, they offered no plan of how America could extricate herself from this debacle. The indicator that most affected Americans was the weekly report of MIA's and KIA's during the previous week. Unless there was concern for a loved one unfortunate enough to be serving there, life went on normally in America. Amongst the troops in Vietnam, the roll call of death was just part of life in Vietnam. The expression "What are they going to do, send me to Vietnam" could be viewed as being sent to Vietnam as a jail sentence, or the worst possible outcome of a scenario. The will to win was questionable when most troops upon arrival created a "DEROS Calendar," a day by day countdown to survive their tour and count the days remaining. In the end, Clair Raney has one of his protagonists, a forward observer who was shot down and escaped the pursuing Viet Cong, ruminating the following: "Had he made a difference in the war? No. If he and his friends had not served in Vietnam, would have made any difference? No. Was the war worth the tens of thousands of lost American lives and the expenditure of hundreds of billions of his country's dollars? No. IT WAS ALL FOR NOTHING!" This book must be included in any scholarly examination of this conflict!

All For Nothing

by Clair A Raney

Review Written by Bernie Weisz , Historian, Vietnam War March 4, 2011 Pembroke Pines, Florida EMail:BernWei1@aol.comTitle: "Pan Am 707's Dispatched With Hired Killers For An Unpopular Government:Brand New Grist For The Vietnam Death Mill"Clair Raney's book "All For Nothing" is disclaimed in the beginning as follows: "Although most of the following events occurred, the book is a work of fiction." Aside from the characters Raney used to express history, there is very little, if any fiction in this book. Clair Raney ingenuously weaves an intricate plot using a brilliant recollection of history to explain exactly what happened in Vietnam as well as the United States from 1967 to 1968 in regard to the war in Southeast Asia. The book is long, but necessarily needs to be as Raney intelligently covers the U.S. troop build up to it's half a million man watershed, The Tet Offensive, it's ramifications, corruption in the South Vietnamese and American military structure, the U.S. Peace Movement, and many other true tidbits to explain how this war went from an American crusade to a haunting pariah. This book is actually a primer on how America slowly lost the war for itself, with Raney cleverly choosing "All For Nothing" as the book's moniker not as a coincidence. From the first to final page, why this war amounted to a waste is discovered. The reader is left with an answer to the question of "Was the War worth tens of thousands of lost American lives and the expenditure of hundreds of billions of dollars?" A clear description through historical fiction is given through the background of several characters, American Advisors going through their one year tour, some completing it, some psychologically maimed, and some dying. The scenario is set from the beginning, and despite the length of this book, Raney forces the reader to push to the end to see what happened to whom. The suspense is cleverly maintained throughout the book by jumping from one soldier's ordeal to the other, only to be tied in to at the very end. The book's title answers an old Navy adage of "My country, right or wrong" implicitly by the title. The lie of the "Domino Theory," is dispelled.The politicians were cagey in convincing Americans that the little, backward country of South Vietnam, 9000 miles away from us constituted "a threat" to our national security. However, they never answered Americans with what constituted final victory. Raney points that out and shows the reader that Washington actually orchestrated it's own defeat by allowing politicians to dictate to the military ridiculous rules of engagement, from the farcical Tonkin Gulf incident to the long drawn out Paris Peace Talks and POW releases. Raney boldly proclaims that there is nothing so screwed up that Congress could not make worse. While the storyline tries to follow how the Raney's advisors passed their time and helped each other survive, Raney subliminally tells readers the truth about this war: it was indeed all for nothing! One character, a Naval Academy graduate whose father was a prominent admiral, is the captain of a PBR boat in the Mekong Delta. Accidentally killing 12 civilians and severely wounding a small girl as collateral damage, he writes a letter to American newspapers explaining that civilians are being killed as a matter of course. He creates a fund to collect money for one of the victims, a small girl he drops off in a Catholic Convent which the Navy eventually finds out about. The development of his character speaks historical volumes of the conduct of this war. There are other characters in this book which Raney adroitly used to explain misappropriation of funds, stealing military supplies, the incompetence of the ARVN, and the pessimistic view the people of South Vietnam had toward both their corrupt government and their depraved, untrustworthy military.Clair Raney eloquently describes how America became embroiled in this conflict. Citing Bernard Fall's three books, the author shows Washington's mentality after the French defeat at "Dien Bien Phu" in May of 1954. After the Vietminh overran the French, America became involved with the Geneva Accord, which was designed to fail. This agreement, a product of the peace treaty of Dien Bien Phu, created two Vietnams, the North under Ho Chi Minh and the South as a Republic under Bao Dai and later President Ngo Dinh Diem. Claiming free elections would decide whether the North or South would rule the whole country take place in 1956, Washington knew the country would go Communist. Raney wrote: "The Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (GVN) seemed to do all in it's power to alienate it's people. Convinced that it was helping to halt the expansion of International Communism., The U.S. became the principal supplier and benefactor of the new GVN. To the U.S., South Vietnam represented a tremendous opportunity to stop the spread of Communism in the area and to establish a foothold on the Asian Continent. In short, the greatest democracy in the world refused to allow democracy in Vietnam because it knew the people would cast their votes against U.S. wishes and throw out it's puppet GVN." Raney points out that Ho anticipated this, and knowing the elections would never occur, flooded the South with infrastructure later to involve into the Viet Cong. Explaining that both President Kennedy and later President Johnson ignored the lessons of history, Raney explains that Washington was wrong thinking it's military muscle was prepared to fight an Asian war on an Asian continent where guerrilla warfare ruled the land. Raney insists J.F.K would have eventually pulled the U.S. out, with advisors being the maximum American contribution to this civil war. However, with J.F.K's assassination, Raney wrote the following: "L.B.J" was sold a bill of goods by Ngo Dinh Diem and his wife Madam Ngo, and ill-advisedly began a U.S. takeover of the war dispatching an escalating number of U.S. forces in an effort to defeat the so called Communists." Why the title? Raney relates it to the following comment, an eventual truism: In the early 1050's, French public opinion turned violently against the war in Indochina, and it was obvious in 1966 that U.S. public opinion was doing the same. Americans are an impatient people, and will support a quick end to a war even if they aren't in favor of it. But protracted, never ending conflicts with questionable national security implications are supported by very few Americans."From that historical explanation, Raney explains why this was a war that would put almost 60,000 dead American names on a wall all for nothing. The storyline shows that whatever power historically controlled the rice bowl and waterways of the Mekong Delta, controlled Vietnam. The Viet Cong seized 90 % of this area, never to relinquish it. Though the Navy roamed at will from sunup to sundown, the Viet Cong roamed nocturnally at will, forever contesting the U.S. "Riverine Forces" for ownership. However, "All For Nothing" conclusively shows that this war was not lost on the battlefields of the Ashau Valley, the Central Highlands or the Mekong Delta. It was lost in Washington, in the television blaring living rooms of America and the college campuses. To the war protest movement, the troops in Vietnam, particularly after 1967 became "simply hired killers for an unpopular government." Clair Raney, through an analogy asks readers what they would do if the Viet Cong came to the U.S. and tried to take over our country. Would we try to kill them and make them leave? Although the language was a little harsh, the author lets it be known that except for the war protesters, which he labeled "maggot infested peaceniks," nobody in the U.S. in 1967 really cared about the conduct of the war, despite being force fed KIA statistics on the nightly news. As the death toll kept increasing, the "Domino Theory" lost credibility. The Domino Theory was first developed under the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950's. It was argued that if the first domino is knocked over, then the rest would topple in turn. Applying this to South-east Asia, Eisenhower argued that if South Vietnam was taken by the Communists, then other countries in the region such as Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia and Indonesia, would follow. However, Americans questioned how this little, backward country, 9,000 miles away from the U.S. constituted "a threat" to our national security.There is way more to this book then politics. Mr. Raney chose two of America's allies to look at and make comments about. Although Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and the Philippines contributed to L.B.J's bandwagon, "All For Nothing" makes important commentary about the conduct of South Vietnam's army, known as "ARVN," and the abject ruthlessness of Korea's troops, referred to as "ROK's." Part of this story takes place in the coastal town of Tuy Hoa, which was guarded jointly by the ARVN and American forces. "Hearts and Minds" was a euphemism for a campaign by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War, intended to win the popular support of the Vietnamese people. Hearts and Minds campaigns typically refer to liberal-democratic Western governments' attempts to effect regime change in a foreign state. The program in South Vietnam was inspired by L.B.J. For the U.S., winning was not the only objective but also to win the hearts and minds of the indigenous populace for the South Vietnamese government against the Viet Cong for assistance and development programs. How would this be possible with a commentary of the citizens of Tuy Hoa feeling threatened by the ARVN? Raney wrote of these citizens: "In addition to worrying about the VC, members of the ARVN paraded up and down the streets with their weapons at the ready or drove by in U.S. supplied jeeps with nervous looking soldiers manning .50 caliber machine guns. One never knew when one of these young soldiers might consider a passerby as an enemy and begin shooting." Mr. Raney also cites that when captured, the VC would pay the South Vietnamese to let them go, and as far as the composition of the ARVN, most were impressed into service, only desiring to go home and help their family to farm. Furthermore, the ARVN would sell American supplies and tactical information to the VC, knowing all the time that America would eventually abandon the war, leaving South Vietnam to fend for itself. While the American soldier, barring reenlistment, only had to serve one year, only the end of the war would herald an end to an ARVN's tour of duty.The book continues to let the reader know exactly who America was fighting alongside. An ARVN interrogation of a prisoner of war was anything but that. Beatings, torture, executions were standard. ARVN intelligence officers would take groups of VC prisoners up in helicopters, getting them to talk by throwing one out to his death. In 1967, American officers were not reenlisting. Lesser officer, like Lt. William Calley were staying, not boding well for the future of the U.S. Military. Why? Raney explains it as follows: "Most officers simply did not want to continually risk their lives and possibly die in what most considered a lost cause. All knew they did not have a reliable ally in the South Vietnamese government and none of their own political leaders could site a goal or give a definition of what constituted the end game in Vietnam. But being loyal Americans, most made the best of a very bad situation and distinguished themselves with honor. Raney included air strikes by American fighters that required permission of the South Vietnamese as an example. Raney alleged that the South Vietnamese would warn the VC, use the "rules of engagement" to stifle America's war effort and knowing the North would one day be the rulers, purposely sabotaged U.S. missions. During the 1968 Tet Offensive, ARVN desertion was rampant. Many citizens of the South hated the VC because they represented what they had fled the North from in the 1950's. Their own government was seen as a corrupt, self serving one which cared nothing about the people. While they tried to appear neutral, they were more worried about the ARVN soldiers than the VC, as nobody knew what they would do. Proving this point was the ARVN desertion, looting and raping during the Tet Offensive, all included within this fabulous story.While there are quite a few memoirs written by Australian soldiers (known as "Diggers") during the conflict, I know of none written by Korean troops. Robert Blackburn is the only author I know of that undertook a scholarly examination of their role in the Vietnam War. In his book "Mercenaries and Lyndon Johnson's "More Flags" The Hiring of Korean, Filipino and Thai Soldiers in the Vietnam War," Blackburn shows how L.B.J. tricked the American taxpayer into footing entirely the bill for Korean participation. While most history textbooks cite both the "Domino Theory" and Korea's gratitude and indebtedness to America for the bailout in 1950 against their Communist foe as their motivation for joining the fray, Blackburn sets the record straight. ROK troops were completely underwritten by American taxpayer money, entirely mercenary in nature. All of their equipment, uniforms and bonuses were funded by America. Clair Raney includes their merciless brutality within the pages of "All for Nothing" with a small anecdote of how two sadistic ROK soldiers disciplined a small Vietnamese boy for stealing a pair of binoculars out of their jeep by shooting the child in the foot. When one of Raney's characters complained to his superior, he was told the following: "I'm sorry, but that is the way it is with the Koreans. These are cruel people. When they fight a war, they fight a war. Their officers constantly tell me that Americans just do not know how to fight an Asian war. The Koreans claim that immediate response and abject cruelty are the only lessons these people understand and respect." As far as Korean volition as America's ally in Vietnam, Raney wrote: "The U.S. purchased the Koreans as Hessians to help in the fighting over here." Americans were not the only forces to commit atrocities in Vietnam. In the village of Ben Was, ROK soldiers rounded up 430 peasants and brutally slaughtered them in November, 1966. This was one of many mass killings attributed to the ROK's. Their ferocity is mentioned in both Clyde Hoch's "Tracks" and John Culbertson's "A Sniper In The Arizona." Clair Raney sums it up best with a statement by one of his characters: "War is a cruel business. The U.S. gave the Koreans the mission of pacifying their area of operations. They're Asians and they know how to fight an Asian war. In my opinion, it would have been faster and cheaper to have hired the Koreans to do the whole ground job in this entire war and for the U.S. just to provide air support. U.S. forces do no have the stomach or leadership to become involved in such cruelty. Stop and think about it. Do you know of a more peaceful area of operations in Vietnam than the Korean zone?""All For Nothing" is a long book, 586 pages. However, such a deluge of history is covered that even with it's current length, some subjects are not fully explored. Quite a bit happened between 1967 and 1968, and Clair Raney covers most historical episodes adequately. While the main focus of "All for Nothing" remains the enigmatic and ambiguous administration of the Vietnam War by Washington's bumbling, incompetent bureaucrats and politicians, the author still catches the small nuances of this conflict rarely found elsewhere. From "Body Counts and rules of engagement" to the peace demonstrators, the student movement, L.B.J's visit to Vietnam, Jane Fonda, Tim Hardin and Senator Symington (A Missouri Democrat who at first was a staunch supporter of large military outlays then later became increasingly critical of military spending and of the war in Vietnam) Clair Raney misses nothing. The book shows how no America was safe in Vietnam, constantly living in a state of constant siege. Even if given a comfortable desk job in Saigon, troops were surrounded by an enemy who could have annihilated them at any time chosen. Even in America, this war was different. Unlike W. W. II with it's war bonds and food drives, most Americans in 1967 couldn't care less about what was going on over there. Other than a billboard campaigning for a P.OW's release or the "Students for a Democratic Society" demanding that the U.S. get out of Vietnam, life went on normally. While most of these peace demonstrators insulted returning Veterans with "baby killer" taunts, they offered no plan of how America could extricate herself from this debacle. The indicator that most affected Americans was the weekly report of MIA's and KIA's during the previous week. Unless there was concern for a loved one unfortunate enough to be serving there, life went on normally in America. Amongst the troops in Vietnam, the roll call of death was just part of life in Vietnam. The expression "What are they going to do, send me to Vietnam" could be viewed as being sent to Vietnam as a jail sentence, or the worst possible outcome of a scenario. The will to win was questionable when most troops upon arrival created a "DEROS Calendar," a day by day countdown to survive their tour and count the days remaining. In the end, Clair Raney has one of his protagonists, a forward observer who was shot down and escaped the pursuing Viet Cong, ruminating the following: "Had he made a difference in the war? No. If he and his friends had not served in Vietnam, would have made any difference? No. Was the war worth the tens of thousands of lost American lives and the expenditure of hundreds of billions of his country's dollars? No. IT WAS ALL FOR NOTHING!" This book must be included in any scholarly examination of this conflict!

Unwanted Dead or Alive

by Robert W Pelton

Review written by Bernie Weisz Vietnam War Historian, Pembroke Pines, Florida E Mail contact: BernWei1@aol.com February 10, 2011 Title of Review: "Military Men Are Dumb, Stupid Animals To Be Used As Pawns For Foreign Policy" Henry Kissinger was born in Fuerth, Germany and came to the United States in 1938 and was naturalized a United States citizen in 1943. He served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1946. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1950 and received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University in 1952 and 1954. Furthermore, he was sworn in on September 22, 1973, as the 56th Secretary of State in the Richard Nixon Administration, a position he held until January 20, 1977. He also served as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs from January 20, 1969, until November 3, 1975. However, in Robert Pelton's new book "Unwanted Dead or Alive", Kissinger (referred to as "Bor") is quoted as making the statement: "Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy".Robert Pelton angrily writes of the unjust betrayal of American prisoners of war following W. W. II (1939-1945) the Korean conflict (1950 and 1953) and especially the Vietnam War. American involvement in Vietnam is historically viewed from the "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution" of August 4th, 1964 to the signing of the "Paris Peace Accords" on January 27th, 1973. South Vietnam ultimately fell into Communist control at the end of April, 1975. However, Henry Kissinger was a key player in America's exist strategy of this highly unpopular war. After the "My Lai Massacre" occurred, America's days in Vietnam were numbered. A mass murder was perpetuated by a unit of the U.S. Army on March 16, 1968. Approximately 500 unarmed citizens in South Vietnam, all of whom were civilians and a majority of whom were women, children (including babies) and elderly people, were innocently killed. Allegedly, many of the victims were sexually abused, beaten, tortured, and some of the bodies were found mutilated. This notorious incident took place in the hamlet of My Lai. While 26 U.S. soldiers were initially charged with criminal offenses for their actions at My Lai, only William Calley, a lieutenant, was convicted. Serving only three years of an original life sentence while on house arrest, Calley served as the scapegoat and the incident became public knowledge in 1969. It prompted widespread outrage around the world. This massacre, along with the events of Kent and Jackson State (student protestors were killed), the killings of Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King and the 1968 Tet Offensive debacle greatly increased domestic opposition to the US involvement in the Vietnam War.With the false hope of enemy attrition, fruitless search and destroy missions, and inaccurate body counts not equaling an American victory, the will to fight in Vietnam vanished. Indeed, military leaders themselves recognized a crisis among American soldiers in the war's last years. "Combat Refusal", where soldiers refused to obey orders became rampant. GI's objected not only to what they saw as a suicidal mission squaring off against an elusive, tunneled in enemy, but to the war effort itself. In the last few years of the war, drug use amongst U.S. troops increased, and commanding officers saw their men wear T-shirts and combat helmets with peace symbols. The general feeling of American ground forces was that they were fighting a war for a cause that meant nothing to them. "Combat Refusals" became increasingly common in Vietnam after 1969. Soldiers also expressed their opposition to the war in underground newspapers and coffee-house rap sessions. Some wore black armbands in the field. Some went further. When one American killed another American, usually a superior officer or an NCO, the term "fragging" came into use. Although the term simply meant that a fragmentation grenade was used in the murder, it later became an all encompassing term for such an action. It is known that "fraggings" did occur during Vietnam, but the precise number is uncertain.From 1969 to 1973, "fragging" e.g. the shooting or hand-grenading of a GI's NCO or superior officer who ordered him out into the field increased dramatically. At least 600 officers were murdered, and another 1400 died mysteriously. By early 1970, the Army was at war not with the enemy but with itself. Desertion and Absence Without Leave figures were off the charts. Nixon, realizing American forces in a land war were no longer reliable, switched to both Vietnamization (handing the war over to the South Vietnamese) and to American aggression against the North Vietnamese strictly conducted by air. In December 1972, peace talks between the United States and the Communist-backed government in North Vietnam began to break down. Out of frustration, the Nixon administration responded by initiating "Operation Linebacker," the so-called "Christmas Bombings" of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh's capital of North Vietnam. From December 18 to 30, 1972, waves of American B-52's dropped nearly forty thousand tons of bombs on the mostly evacuated city. Although Nixon defended his actions as essential to the attainment of a cease-fire, domestic reaction from much of the country and the world was shock and outrage. Many accused Nixon and Henry Kissinger of enacting a policy of revenge and frustration. It is interesting to note that Pelton writes that Kissinger was seen as one of the most influential "Soviet moles" in American history. Nixon's domestic approval rating plummeted, but some three weeks later, negotiations between divided Vietnam and the United States resumed in Paris. On 17 January 1973, the Paris Peace Accord was finally signed, and America's long direct involvement in the Vietnam War at last came to an end.However, this massive bombing attack on Hanoi in response to stalled peace negotiations created much shock and anger in the United States and was denounced as an immoral terrorist act against the North Vietnamese civilian population. Nevertheless, "Unwanted Dead or Alive" focuses on the plight of unreturned prisoners of war after the war was over. Following the signing of the Paris Peace Accords of January 1973, U.S. prisoners of war were returned during "Operation Homecoming" occurring from February through April 1973. Within this time period, 591 POWs were released to U.S. authorities which supposedly included a few captured in Laos and released in North Vietnam. Pelton points out that this is false, as no POW's (especially SOG forces, Air America and "Black Operatives") captured in Laos or Cambodia to date have ever been repatriated, despite Nixon's brazen announcement that all U.S. servicemen taken prisoner had been accounted for. Concomitantly, the U.S. listed approximately 1,350 Americans as prisoners of war or missing in action and sought the return of about 1,200 Americans reported killed in action and their bodies not recovered. The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office would end up investigating the fate of all missing service personnel. With the collapse of the Paris Peace Accords and the fall of South Vietnam in 1975, over the next ten years little progress was made in recovering missing POW's and finding unaccounted remains. During the late 1970's and 1980's, the friends and relatives of unaccounted-for American personnel became politically active, requesting the U.S. government to reveal what steps were taken to follow up on intelligence regarding live sightings of MIA's and POWs. Pelton lists the multitude of live sightings and how American authorities ignored them and swepping them deliberately under the rug. Many frustrated families and their supporters asked for the public release of POW/MIA records and called for an investigation. Bobby Garwood emerged in 1979, the only POW to surface following the end of the war and the 1973 release of prisoners. Garwood was considered by the Department of Defense to have acted as a traitor and collaborator with the enemy after he was taken prisoner, while Pelton argues he was an American POW abandoned by the military. It is interesting to note that Pelton calls Kissinger "Moscow Man Comrade Kissinger" who aside from working with the Soviets, practiced a career of Communist directed subversion, sabotage and sellout of America's interests.This book is unlike any other you will ever come across in regards to American POW's unaccounted for since 1945. Without overly saying it, Pelton expresses his disdain at America's abandonment of those who risked their lives in the line of fire by quoting Harriot Ison's inappropriate comment pertaining to their fate. As the "Charge d' Affairs of the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane, Laos, Ison (as one of Kissinger's "clones" according to Pelton) remarked: "You do not understand...there is a greater destiny for our foreign policy in Asia and the POWs are expendable in that pursuit". Pelton comes out with some facts that are very hard to understand how this could be allowed to happen. According to Pelton, tens of thousands of American soldiers who fought in W. W. II against the Germans ended up after 1945 as unaccounted POW's and spent the rest of their lives in torturous Soviet slave labor camps. Supposedly, when the Russians liberated Nazi POW camps, the majority of POWS earned a one way ticket to the Siberian "Gulag". Then, after the conclusion of the Korean War, the U.S. deliberately abandoned unrepatriated American POW's to their sadistic Communist captors, never again to see freedom. Finally, in the Vietnam War, thousands of American boys ended up as permanent, lifelong POW's and spent the rest of their lives in Vietnamese, Laotian, Chinese and Russian slave labor camps. Pelton unabashedly calls it a blatant lie that the 1973 announcement that all unaccounted American POW's in S.E. Asia were dead and that even to this day, U.S. government officials continue to lie about their fate.This is just the tip of "Pelton's Iceberg". Pelton charges that the specialists from the U.S. Army deliberately misidentified the "purported remains" of dead American servicemen sent back by the dishonestly evil Communist regime in Vietnam. The North Vietnamese imported Cuban torturers to "reeducate" American POW's. Hanoi sold back Dien Bien Phu POW's to the French for huge sums of money and tried recently to do this again with American POW's. Taking a big chance at calling the U.S. Government the most colossal liar of all time, Pelton bravely points out that our rulers have the audacity to label over 1,400 unresolved reports of live and first hand sightings of American POW's in S.E. Asia as "no credible evidence". This book will carefully detail what Pelton calls a "carefully orchestrated whitewash" regarding the torture, death and abandonment of U.S. captured troops following the 3 aforementioned conflicts. He catalogs and describes the government lies, distortions and intimidation tactics used to obfuscate the veracity of American POW holdings after the end of these wars. The shameful denial of their existence and the subsequent abandonment the POW's humiliatingly suffered by America's leaders is nothing less than an unmitigated disgrace. This book is not an easy read. Detailed within this book is the shocking and horrendous manner in which they were starved, tortured and left behind by sadistic Communist captors. At the conclusion of W. W II, Nazi leaders responsible for the conflict and resulting Holocaust were held accountable at the Nuremberg proceedings. Likewise for the Nipponese leaders at the Japanese Far East War Crimes Tribunals. There exists a large number of repatriated U.S. prisoners of war memoirs that enumerate torture and inhumane treatment. Robert Pelton rightfully asks why no American leader has ever suggested that the guilty Vietnamese be tried for war crimes as well. Conversely, the individuals responsible for the "whitewash" of POW's" should equally be held responsible for the beatings, torture, death and abandonment of American fighting men. There will be a backlash of this explosive book. Names are named, and dastardly and cowardly acts are called out. The bottom line when "Unwanted Dead Or Alive" is finished, the reader can feel nothing less than righteous indignation realizing that as of today, abandoned American military men are still alive in Communist Captivity in S.E. Asia and the Soviet Union, suffering a fate that can only be called worse than death. This is an absolute must read and will change your perception forever of our government and our military, especially if you have a family member or close friend in the combat zones of today's hot spots!

The River Rats Of Vietnam

by Christine Purdy; Co-Editor-Mark Purdy

Review Written by Bernie Weisz vietnam War Historian Contact E Mail: BernWei1@aol.com January 16, 2011 Pembroke Pines, Florida, USA Title of Review: "On The Rivers Of Vietnam: Could I Actually Take A Human Life? What If I Froze In Combat? These were questions Mark Purdy, at the tender age of twenty one, was forced to ask himself. This book took many years for the author to write, as Vietnam was a subject he considered taboo and avoided at all costs. Was it burying the forty one year past? Mark Purdy is not sure himself. However, with the skillful assistance of his wife, Christine, the two of them were finally able to sit down and come up with the story of what Mark deemed "the most horrendous period of my life." After you read "The River Rats of Vietnam," not only will you empathize with the aforementioned statement, you wouldn't wish what Purdy went through on your worst enemy. It is a miracle that this book has even seen the light of day. I have read hundreds of memoirs of combat far less gruesome, and those writers were left severely traumatized. Continue reading this review, and you will understand why Purdy would make the following comment: "Whenever we had downtime, I could not help but let my mind drift back to what my life was like before I came to this indescribable mind, altering prison of hopelessness." Not only did Mark Purdy have to face a despicable enemy with barbaric methods of combat, he also had to contend with deplorable conditions as well. Remarking on that, Purdy wrote: Sometimes we would go weeks without a shower. We learned to scrounge for whatever we needed to survive, and we committed horrific acts of self-preservation, some horrible to mention even today." Some of those acts are mentioned in this book, and only readers with a hardened stomach might want to consider reading this account. Seizing any boat that looked suspicious on the Mekong, almost like the ancient pirates of yesteryear, not to mention the physical condition of these sailors with abhorrent living conditions, the men of the ATC's were thus dubbed "Rats." Purdy clarified it: "I guess one of the biggest reasons we were called "Rats" was because everyone knew we were just going to take whatever we wanted whether they liked it or not." In December of 1965, the "Mobile Riverine Force" (MRF), with the moniker the "Brown River Navy" was established to monitor the traffic on the Mekong Delta. A secondary function was to escort any branch of service, i.e., Army Rangers, Navy Seals or Marines, etc. into hot landing zones for both pickup and extraction while they "took care of business." Bitter because of lack of recognition, Purdy wrote his indignation as follows: "We were the grunts behind the scenes, but that doesn't mean we didn't see our fair share of action. If a mission went well it was because the Seals or Army did a fantastic job. What about the guys who themselves had to enter a firefight of their own, just to get the troops where they needed to be?" This umbrage extends to the history books and memoirs: "Whenever you see any books written about Vietnam, there are pages and pages of the other military outfits, while you would be hard pressed to find even a paragraph written about us. Even then it is usually about the swift boats or PBR's. It seems we men on the ATC's were insignificant in the scheme of things." A final manifestation of Vietnam, common to all memoirs, are marriages and relationships interrupted, broken up and destroyed. Mark Purdy was not immune to this condition, detailing his antipathy for his wife's infidelity and his feelings upon the discovery of this. While this is a self published book and might be hard to find in the future, Mark Purdy's memoir is indispensable in gaining a true understand of what occurred in the Vietnam War. A must read!

Nu

by James J Flannery

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Vietnam War Historian & Book Reviewer Pembroke Pines, Florida December 31, 2010 Contact: Bernwei1@aol.com Title of Review: "The Supreme Challenge: Teaching in South Vietnam in 1968 without classrooms, few books, no blackboards nor electricity!" I have read scoreless memoirs of men unenthusiastically going to S.E. Asia, reluctantly drafted to fight in the swamp and mosquito infested jungles of Vietnam, or to Thailand, flying B-52 Bombers to bomb Vietnam's Communists back into the Stone Age. All had one thing in common: counting the days where they could catch their "Freedom Bird" so they could go "Back to The World." Jim Flannery did it backwards. Not only did he go to South Vietnam on his own volition, he enjoyed every minute of it, and had it not been for the threat of a North Vietnamese battalion searching for him, he would have stayed! This occurred at the height of the conflict, 1967 to 1969, considered to be the apex of this war. Living with an indigent Vietnamese family on a farm for two years, Flannery embodied U.S. President often used cliche "winning the hearts and minds of the people" by attempting to teach 600 students in the most rudimentary conditions imaginable. Chronicled in "Nu", Flannery describes his endeavors to inculcate indigenous students lacking a school building, funding, electricity or bathroom facilities. Anytime a teacher feels he or she has it rough, it would be wise to give this well written account of Flannery's to do the impossible: teach up to a thousand students with one teacher besides himself lacking books, money and school supplies, with an ever present threat of being attacked by an aggressive, war mongering North Vietnamese Army constantly posing a threat.Jim Flannery does not give the reasons why he decided to go West when most Americans dreaded getting their draft notice. Perhaps it was L.B.J 's call that inspired him. During the Vietnam War, "Hearts and Minds" was a synonym for a campaign by the U.S. military designed to win the popular support of the South Vietnamese people. It typically referred to America's attempts to effect change in the South Vietnamese populace's attitude towards democracy. Military units were created to try to protect civilians and help them rebuild schools and infrastructure in order to pry their allegiance away from communist attraction and recruitment such as the Viet Cong as well as reunification with North Vietnam. L.BJ's use of the phrase was most commonly taken from his on May 4, 1965 at a dinner speech of the "Texas Electric Cooperatives, Inc." His historic comment was: "So we must be ready to fight in Vietnam, but the ultimate victory will depend upon the hearts and the minds of the people who actually live out there. By helping to bring them hope and electricity you are also striking a very important blow for the cause of freedom throughout the world." For Jim Flannery, winning nor monetary compensation was not the objective. However, as the reader of "Nu" will find out, he certainly succeeded in winning the hearts and minds of all of his students in his outdoor marketplace classroom, as well as the admiration of his unique relationship with "Nu", a young Vietnamese schoolteacher, which was tragically truncated by this senseless conflict.There is so much to learn about the Vietnam War, Flannery's ordeal and the conditions of the time that never seem to make it in the history books that "Nu" is a historically important memoir not to be taken lightly. The book starts off with Flannery's incredible trip on his own free will to Saigon in 1967, while most of America's youth went there with their only thought in mind to survive their tour of duty and get back to America with all their limbs intact. Most soldiers fought what was called a "9 to 5 war' seeing themselves in defensive night positions worrying about sappers or mortar attacks. Flannery relished living in a remote and primitive village called An Tuc in the war torn Central highlands of South Vietnam, incredulously without weapons to defend himself, with people he would describe as "With a rich culture and wonderful." Flannery, freshly graduated from Penn State University in Pennsylvania, flew to South Vietnam on "Thai Airways.' With a stop in Manilla, the Philippines, he met a telephone equipment installer on his flight to Saigon who was on his way to Nigeria to do similar work. This travel companion warned Flannery on the plane the following admonition: "Be very careful of your wallet down there. You'll be okay in the countryside, but Saigon is full of thieves." Flannery landed at Tan Son Nhut Airport and stayed at the infamous "Metropol Hotel." His description of Saigon parallels most other accounts that exist. Written in the third person styling, Flannery penned the following as he headed down "Tu Do Street": "Vendor's tried to get Jim's attention, offering everything from watches to whores. After several blocks, Jim passed the central Market, a huge building filled with individuals stalls selling produce, meat, fish, live chickens, eels, snakes, radios, clothing, and most anything you might want. There were signs and billboards everywhere, with writing in Vietnamese, French, Chinese and English." Certainly gone in 2011, the Vietnam Flannery described bared all the signs of imperialism, which really was at the root of this conflict.Flannery continued to describe a sight never to be seen in any American thoroughfare: "There were only a few cars. Bicycles, motorcycles, scooters, Lambros and Bendix bikes were everywhere." A "Lambros", or "Lambretta" was an inexpensive motor scooter that competed on cost against the ubiquitous motorcycle. The "Bendix" was a bike built by the Bendix Company that was a motorized, rear-wheel steering bicycle. Although there are multiple accounts of GI's having experienced Saigon's "night life", as Flannery confirms in "Nu", for all civilians there was a curfew in the whole of South Vietnam at sundown. his hotel only had cold water, and in for a culture shock, the toilet there was only a ceramic square on the floor, where footprints existed. His description is amusing: "The ceramic square was less than a meter square, with two raised ceramic footprints, and a plain pipe located between the heels of the footprints. there was nothing to hold on to, no toilet paper, and no flush handle. Next to the square, was a large can, filled with water. After studying the device, Jim placed his feet on the footprints, and lowered himself to a squatting position over the pipe. The procedure worked well. This is just what dogs do, he thought." The man that Jim sat next to on the airplane let him know it was worse in the hinterlands, Flannery's ultimate destination. Warning him as such, he admonished: "When you get out in the countryside, you'll just find yourself a comfy spot of ground and do the same thing. One thing to note, is the lower you squat, the better it works. You don't even need toilet paper if you squat low enough." The threat of malaria and dysentery was well documented as a hazard all American ground troops had to contend with. Many accounts exist of soldiers forced to take anti malaria pills and water purification tablets to prevent dysentery. With the threat from tropical disease, Jim was warned the following sage advice: "Never trust ice or water. You don't know where it came from. Drink tea, coffee or beer, or anything that is boiled or comes in a bottle that hasn't been opened."However Jim Flannery continued to learn things he never would have been exposed to otherwise. He tried a new type of coffee not common in the U.S. It is actually grown in Dalat, south Vietnam, and comes from the pit of a tropical cherry tree, called "Robusta Cherry." Also found in most other accounts of Vietnam by soldiers writing about their tour, Flannery tried "Nuoc Mam" sauce. While most soldiers described this as utterly revolting, Flannery described it as a pleasant tasting, pungent fish sauce condiment. He should of listened to the advice of graft in Saigon, because as he searched the streets of Saigon to purchase a "hit" motorcycle, a scooter passed by and the passenger quickly relieved Flannery of his watch. As in occupied West Germany and South Korea, to control the black market the U.S. Military in an attempt to thwart the thriving black market issued "Military Payment Certificates" or MPC, with each succeeding issuance changing to foil the black market. Most Black marketeers wanted U.S. currency and Flannery used this to purchase his motorcycle, which would stay with him until his exit. While the same man that sold him his bike initially offered the sexual services of his sister to Flannery, ethics were not an issue, as reflected by the following statement: "His conscience gnawed at him, but he was just following the local lifestyle." Flannery had no idea of where to go, as his only desire was to find a nice town somewhere and get a teaching job. Another historically significant observation Flannery made as he left Saigon in his quest to inculcate the youth of South Vietnam was as follows: "There were lots of men in Saigon, but north of the city it was hard to find young men. There were elderly men in the fields, and little boys in town, but very few young men." Indeed, most of these missing were impressed in South Vietnam's military, a large majority never to return.Jim Flannery's ultimate destination was An Khe, and he set out on the only road at the time that would get him to Vietnam's Central Highlands, "Highway One' via "Qui Nhon." Highway One was the major and only north to south highway of Vietnam, originating in the Mekong Delta going all the way to the 17th Parallel, South Vietnam's division with communist north Vietnam (DMZ). Non military civilians were not allowed on U.S. bases without authorization, and Flannery was low on gas and without food and shelter. He ran into a woman that would decide his fate. Driving astride him, he ran into an American woman driving a Red Cross jeep named Nora Hadley. After explaining that he was heading to An Khe to seek employment as a school teacher, Hadley invited Flannery into the base as her guest. Hadley turned out to be the Red Cross Hospital Director at the U.S. Army Hospital in Qui Nhon. This fortuitous meeting would decide Flannery's fate as a teacher. Before he set out, Hadley, an influential person in the area, made him a list of people to look up in An Khe, and gave him the following send off advice: "The real town is "An Tuc," and that the soldiers weren't allowed to go to An Tuc, to keep it from being corrupted. An Khe is mostly trinket dealers, steam baths, massages, and whore houses. That is why the soldiers aren't supposed to go into An Tuc. There is a catholic church and school in An Khe, and an independent schoolteacher in An Tuc." An Khe is a town deep in the Central Highlands, and was of strategic significance during the Vietnam War. From 1965 to 1968, the American 1st Cavalry Division and the Army 25th Ordnance Detachment, an explosive ordnance disposal unit, were both jointly based at An Khe. The 1st Cav saw ongoing action in the war. after the "Tet Offensive" of January, 1968, the 1st Cavalry Division relocated, and the Army's 173 rd Airborne Brigade took over the base camp.Jim Flannery's description of South Vietnam, on the road to An Khe called Route 19, is completely incongruous with most accounts of mosquito infested, triple canopy jungle descriptions existent. Flannery described his observations as follows: "There were a few small towns along the way, and lots of terraced farm land where rice was grown. It was a pastoral scene." Flannery's later account of his trip to Dalat mimicked this description, except he recalled Dalat as similar to a scene in Switzerland. All of Flannery's plans changed when he reached An Tuc, where he was greeted by what "he thought" was a nine year old, emaciated, half bald girl named "Tu.' Jim was in for the surprise of his life. not only was she a well educated, 19 year old daughter of a prominent physician of the Saigon government hospital, she possessed a "Doctorate in Linguistics" and was the main and only teacher in An Tuc. Meeting her family, he immediately became attached to the affability, sincerity and congeniality that was self evident at An Tuc. Nu offered Flannery a job as her companion town teacher. There would be no pay, and the challanges seemed insurmountable. An Tuc had no electricity, running water, bathing facilities, classrooms, or money to pay for books. Prior to Jim's arrival, Nu had been teaching at An Tuc for two years and already had 600 students amongst these austere conditions. Nu had a little five year old sister who talked like a little baby. Mentally retarded from birth because of a complicated pregnancy which look the life of her mother, Tuc was very sick with reoccurring bouts of malaria.Never seeing poverty like this, Flannery observed conditions unimaginable. Nu and Tuc lived in a mud and stick hut. Told that if he accepted the assignment with Nu at An Tuc instead of the Catholic school at An Khe, there would be no trouble from the V.C. Nu explained why the war had not affected this area: "these people are farmers, They have to work hard to eat. Saigon is far, far away, and governments are not important here." Furthermore, Nu explained that she lived with her aunt and uncle, but they were not really related to her. Elaborating further, Nu asserted: "This is not Saigon. There are no bathrooms here. There is no privacy. it took me a while to get used to it. Aunt and uncle are not related to me, Hosting the school teacher brings them great status in town, and the town shares food with us. I get no pay, but I am well fed, and need nothing. School is only in the morning. there is no work after lunch because it is too hot. Everyone takes a nap in the afternoon, a siesta." Feeling a kindness and neighborliness unheard of in the U.S., Flannery was offered a difficult choice by Nu: "Jim, tomorrow I will take you to An Khe. There is another school there. It is a catholic school with real books and real classrooms. you should choose if you like to work with me, or with them. They can pay you, I can't. Before he made his trip to An Khe to make his decision, Flannery saw never before seen occurrences. The people of An Tuc had armadillos as pets. The myth that Vietnamese eat any meat, whether dogs or cats, was dispelled by Nu as follows: "Dogs are pets here, just like in America. We seldom eat meat. Chickens and ducks are too important for eggs." After his culture shock of having to relieve himself by going to the bathroom out in the fields simultaneously with Nu, it was time to bathe. Jim and Nu walked to a river and he was shocked to see 2000 people in or by the river. He described the bathing process and Nu's explanation of it as follows: "They got in the water with their clothes on, but took each garment off, washed it, and hung it on shrubbery by the river's edge to dry. Then they washed themselves. there is no privacy, Jim. You will just have to get used to it like I did."Before he made his choice of An Tuc or An Khe, the goodwill of the people with Nu shined forth. Nu took Jim to the town tailor to be fitted with black silk pants and shirts as what he brought with him was totally unsuited to the Vietnam environment. Mockingly referred to as "pajamas" by American GI's, the silk dried fast, kept one cool, and the long sleeves and pants kept the mosquitoes off Flannery so he wouldn't catch malaria. What was Nu's main goal? She explained it to Flannery as such: "The students are learning more than just English in this class. We need teachers, and some of the students may want to become teachers when they are adults." The benevolence was starting to prejudice Flannery's decision. He would make his trip to An Khe and then decide. Nu took him to the Catholic school in An Khe and he did not like what he saw. On the surface, it looked like a utopian scenario. The Church and school were made of concrete, built by the French to last for many years. All the children wore uniforms, singing in French as they played. As Flannery walked to the rectory to meet the priest, he was greeted in perfect French by a Vietnamese woman. Meeting the priest, they first sat down in an air conditioned dining room, and had elegantly prepared steak and refrigerated asparagus. However, all was not what it seemed. Flannery remarked: "It's just like we stepped from Vietnam into France." In 1857, French ruler Napoleon decided to invade what is now Vietnam, and French warships took Tourane (Danang), capturing it in late 1858 and Gia Dinh (Saigon and later Ho Chi Minh City) in early 1859. Although there were rebellions that periodically broke out, France held most of S.E. Asia, then referred to as Siam, with an iron grip until 1940, where things became shaky with France being overrun by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. France was now a German puppet known as "Vichy France," and in December of 1941, seeing French colonial rule in a precarious state, Japan invaded Vietnam and was it's next master until two big bangs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6th and 9th, 1945 decided Japan's fate. The victorious allies reinstalled French colonial rule, much to the dismay of nationalists, particularly Ho Chi Minh.After American president Truman and later Eisenhower ignored Ho Chi Minh's pleas for independence, Ho became a changeling and asked America's arch rivals, the Soviet Union and red China for support. Communist solidarity was at it's peak and Russian and Chinese arms swarmed into ho's camp, ultimately used to fight the French in a guerrilla style war. This culminated in the French disaster at Dien Bien Phu, occurring from March 13 to May 7, 1954 in a humiliating French defeat. The facts were that ho's forces, then called "The Viet Minh," occupied the highlands around Dien Biên Phu and were able to accurately bombard French positions at will. Desperate fighting occurred, some of it hand to hand. The French repeatedly repulsed Viet Minh assaults on their positions. Supplies and reinforcements were delivered by air, though as the French positions were overrun and the anti-aircraft fire took its toll, fewer and fewer of those supplies reached the besieged garrison. After a two-month siege, the garrison was overrun and most French forces surrendered, only a few successfully escaping to Laos. Shortly after the battle, the war ended with the 1954 Geneva Accords, under which France agreed to withdraw from its former Indochinese colonies. The accords partitioned Vietnam in two; fighting later broke out between opposing Vietnamese factions in 1959, resulting in America's involvement in the second the Vietnam War as we know it. However, the question remained in Flannery's mind that why was a French priest teaching French, using French books and insisting everyone in the school speak French despite France's absence in Vietnam since 1954? Thinking about the way Nu lived, Flannery couldn't help notice the priest's shiny new Mercedes in the carport next to the rectory. Flannery decision was made up and he expressed it as such in his final interview with this priest: "The priest's schoolteachers didn't speak much, but did ask questions, in French. They wanted to know ho I expected to teach if my French was so poor. They obviously didn't like the idea of me joining them, and the tension was high. I saw Nu was very uncomfortable. I solved that straightaway." Flannery answered the priest as such: "I was wondering the same thing. I don't think I would be a good fit here. Nu needs help with engineering, science and math. I would be a good fit with her." His final verdict: "I think the priest is an arrogant snob."Jim Flannery commented on what he saw. Possibly this had something to do with the way the war ended and American intervention was unsuccessful. How could the government of South Vietnam win the "hearts and minds" of the populace at large when they allowed an antiquated educational system for only the privileged continue to exist? Flannery expressed his opinion on this matter: "I think they are teaching the children how to be servants to the French. The priest doesn't seem to know that the French are gone." There are other small tidbits of what occurred during this senseless conflict. Jim Flannery wanted to write a letter home to his family, and while he noticed that any U.S. Armed Forces serviceman in Vietnam could mail anything, just having to write "Free" on their letters, he had to buy stamps and rent a post office box for $1 a month. He tried to mail a letter from Nu to her father in Saigon, but was told that since the U.S. Military's postal system didn't "interface" with the Vietnamese post office, all mail went directly to San Francisco. There would be no way for Nu to mail anything to her father from the Central Highlands. how could the citizens of South Vietnam be content with a government when they can't even mail letters in their own country? Then there was the matter of telephonic communication. In 1967 and 1968, optic fiber communication and satellites were not communicating as it does now with the Internet and cell phones. During the Vietnam War there was a small number of Servicemen, all licensed ham radio operators in civilian life, that were issued civilian amateur radio equipment and ordered to use their ham radio skills to run phone patches, or telephone calls home for their fellow Servicemen. The operation was called the Military Affiliate Radio System or MARS. Soldiers always came first to call home, with the MARS system worked best at dusk and dawn, with the earth's ionosphere being optimally charged at that time. Since there was a darkness curfew, that would rule out calling home. Finally, Jim Flannery made an attempt to go to the An Khe base PX to purchase toothpaste. Rebuffed again, he was told that he needed to be in uniform or have a military ID card to enter.Similar to his chance meeting with Nora Hadley, before Jim Flannery returned to An Tuc without toothpaste and with Nu's unmailed letter, he went to use the "Officer's Latrine." In the stall next to him was the most decorated soldier of the Korean War, Lt. Col. Anthony Herbert. However, in this war, he was an inspector General, perhaps one of the most unpopular roles one could be assigned to. their function was to investigate and prosecute graft, corruption, fraggings and atrocities. This role would later destroy his career as he described in his book that he authored in 1973 entitled "Soldier". Herbert "fixed it" so Flannery could pick up anything he wanted from the P. X. anytime he wanted. Flannery returned not only with toothpaste, but with web belts, canteen supplies and a knife, all courtesy of Tony Herbert! Retuning to An Tuc, Flannery ran into people that most U.S. servicemen in Vietnam never saw. Called "Montegnards", these were nomadic "Stone Age" people that were explained by Nu to Jim as follows: "These people are not farmers. They do not grow rice or vegetables. instead, they move from place to place, hunt animals and gather up what food they can find. They do not understand money or property, and just take what they want. They have only a simple language. They do not mix with the Vietnam people." Flannery oddly noticed that they were all completely naked, and like the American Indians of the Nineteenth Century, they wore cases to hold arrows over their shoulders and carried crossbows, spears and stone knives. how many history books that discuss this war include the Montagnards? It is a little known fact that the Montagnards were staunch American allies during this conflict, particularly to the U.S. Special Forces. After the Northern Communist victory in April of 1975, the Montagnards were subject to brutal ethnic cleansing, with their ancestral lands confiscated and forced to live a life of abject poverty. They are truly America's "forgotten allies."Another interesting fact Jim Flannery brought out in this book was his introduction to American civilian doctors who in studying cardiovascular disease as they toured American military hospitals conducting autopsies of American men that were killed in battle, rather than by illness. As a result of their work, they learned that the majority of Americans have heart and blood vessels that already show significant coronary artery disease, based on their unhealthy diet. They juxtaposed these autopsies of American KIA's with autopsies of Vietnamese people that died of old age. The Vietnamese had better hearts than young Americans, as heart disease, with a diet predominantly of vegetables and fish, is virtually unheard of. However, their consumption of salt is high, and consequently there is the high incidence of strokes amongst the Vietnamese population. It is interesting to note that An Tuc was immune to the 1968 or 1969 "Tet Offensive." In January of 1968 there was an initiative of the North Vietnam Army to have the civilian population of South Vietnam join them in their offensive and efforts to overthrow the South Vietnamese Government, forcing America's withdrawal from the conflict. It was conceived by General Võ Nguyên Giáp, commander of the North Vietnam Army and his staff. General Giap was the same general that planned and executed the battle at Dien Bien Phu which permanently drove the French out of Vietnam in 1954. During the battle of Dien Bien Phu, General Giap stated he was willing to lose 10 men for every 1 enemy soldier killed, which indicated that a person's life in Vietnam was cheap. Attrition of the enemy, American Commander William C. Westmoreland's goal, would never work. The battle of Khe Sanh on January 21, 1968 was the prelude to the Tet Offensive. Similar to that of Dien Bien Phu, the battle at Khe Sanh saw the North Vietnamese surrounding their enemy and cutting off all land routes for supplies and evacuation. Khe Sanh was a diversionary tactic by general Giap to draw American attention away from the cities of South Vietnam and more towards Khe Sanh. In the Tet Offensive, Communist units attacked the cities and provinces throughout South Vietnam.It is a case of fate that a female Viet Cong paymaster from Pleiku, infamous for it's red dust that clung to everything it touched, absconded with a Viet Cong payroll designated for it's cadres south. On her flight from the communists, Nguyen Thi Tho decided to use the cover of the Tet Offensive to disappear with a large payroll to deliver. Thinking the Viet Cong would never look for her, possibly they would believe she had been killed and never look for her. Deciding to flee with the stolen loot to Qui Nhon via An Tuc, it was in her travels that she saw Jim Flannery singing at An Tuc's Tet Festival with a Vietnamese woman in French clothes. Thinking this would be her trump card if ever caught, she stored this memory in the back of her mind for possible future use. She set up a self run brothel in Qui Nhon and evaded detection until three Viet Cong gunmen found her and pointed rifles at her, demanding the money back. Claiming she tried to return it, and finally in bargaining for her life, she told the Viet Cong hunters about Flannery before her execution. However this information traveled fast, and made it's way south, finally to a South Vietnamese banker who led a double life. From a wealthy family, Tang was also the Justice minister for the Viet Cong as well as their top banker. Dispatching couriers throughout the country, it was natural that he would hear of the situation of Nguyen Thi Tho. Since he was a top Viet Cong official, he was cognizant of the plans for the "Tet Offensive," information only a few were privy to. However, Flannery makes it clear that Tang was not a Communist. Despite receiving provisions from the Communists of North Vietnam, only a small minority of Viet Cong subscribed to communist ideology. Since Tang was a banker, he was a true adherent to Capitalism, only desiring a constantly changing, treacherous and corrupt Saigon government. At he end of the war Tang ultimately fled Vietnam in disillusionment and despair. Living in Paris, he authored in 1985 a book entitled "A Viet Cong Memoir," prefacing it as follows: To my mother and father. And to my betrayed comrades, who believed they were sacrificing themselves for a humane liberation of their people."This is the first memoir or history book I have encountered that asserts that most Viet Cong were capitalists, only desiring to oust the corrupt South Vietnamese government by whatever means. However, investigation of the facts supports the material in this book. Saigon was led by the French-educated Catholic, Ngo Dinh Diem, becoming "our man" in Vietnam. Diem and his family quickly lost favor. His brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, headed the security forces of South Vietnam and operated in a repressive and coercive manner. His outspoken wife, Madame Nhu, added to the controversy. Troung Nhu Tang's claims are verified historically, as newspapers were shut down, opposition political parties were banned, and criticism of the Diem government resulted in arrest, particularly among students. Diem, Nhu and other members of his family were Catholic and their base lay in the Catholic population of South Vietnamese cities such as Saigon. The majority of the population, however, was Buddhist. The friction between the Buddhists and the Diem regime increased as Nhu grew increasingly repressive. Buddhist celebrations were prohibited and a series of attacks were launched on their pagodas. The "Buddhist Uprising" gained widespread publicity as a number of Buddhist monks engaged in the deadly protest of self-immolation. Incredulously, Madame Nhu dismissed these protests and was quoted in the press as calling them nothing but "Buddhist barbecues." Deteriorating, the situation in the minds of the U.S. decision makers, was growing intolerable. On November 1, 1963, elements of South Vietnamese military, with U.S. "encouragement" and promises of support for the new regime, staged a coup d'etat. Diem and his brother Nhu were captured and executed. The South Vietnamese formed a new government, headed by General Duong Van "Big" Minh. Three weeks later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. The successor to Kennedy was Vice President Lyndon Johnson of Texas. The situation in Vietnam inherited by Johnson grew increasingly unstable. The government of South Vietnam became "coup central" with seven changes in the military government during Johnson's first year in office. It did not improve under the administration of President Nguyen Van Thieu who at one point had to replace six of South Vietnam's 44 province chiefs on grounds of corruption and incompetence shortly after the Tet Offensive.Nevertheless, Truong Nhu Tang considered himself a nationalist, and distrusted Hanoi's pledge that they would ask for nothing more after the war except reunification. To Tang, the Tet Offensive meant nothing less than a display of North Vietnam's utter resolve to stop at nothing short than a complete takeover of South Vietnam. Acknowledging that the Saigon government was corrupt, Tang explained: "Our leaders fight only for their own power, not for the good of Vietnam. North Vietnam has been helping the Viet Cong and has promised we would be free after the war. I have always doubted that promise." Despite the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese both committed to dislodging the corrupt South Vietnamese government, he did not want the Communists to take over. Tang found out from a courier returning from delivering payroll about Tho's statement of an American school teacher living in An Tuc. Tang traveled and sought out Jim Flannery in An Tuc, pleading with him the following: "I want you to find someone with authority who will talk with me. Someone who will negotiate." Flannery found Tang sincere and accepted his challenge. Was Flannery successful? Did anyone take him seriously? What happened to Nu and the school at An Tuc? Read this amazing, unique account, with facts about this conflict never before known, all true to find out! This book is a must read!

Memories Of a Fighter Pilot

by Jay E Riedel

Written by Bernie Weisz Historian, Vietnam War Pembroke Pines, Florida, USA e mail address: BernWei1@aol.com December 4, 2010 Title Of Review: "A Fighter Pilot's Biggest Accomplishment In Vietnam: Turning The Tide Of A Ground Battle From Near Disaster Into Success." Ostensibly written by Jay E. Riedel as a loose collection of personal remembrances ranging from his earliest childhood memories all the way into his golden years of retirement, the reader will discover a golden treasure chest of historical artifacts as seen through the eyes of a combat hardened fighter pilot at the height of the Vietnam War. Jay Riedel commenced writing "Memories of a Fighter Pilot" on December 20, 2001 and finally finished this memoir in 2010. The reason Riedel titled this book as such was because almost all of his photos, records, diaries and personal memorabilia were lost, the rest vindictively thrown away by an ex wife incensed over their divorce. Reidel outwardly states this book will never win a Pulitzer Prize, be a best selling piece of literature nor be the motivating factor for a major motion picture. Rather, Riedel felt he had a few life-altering experiences that he wanted to jot down for his extended family that they would enjoy reading in "the good old days" of grandpa Jay's life. However, his vision for his family has been greatly exceeded and surpassed in allowing the student of America's role in the Vietnam War a perspective rarely experienced nor told elsewhere.Jay Riedel was born on November 19, 1939 in Freeport, NY, just two months after Adolf Hitler's Germany and Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union jointly fulfilled their "Pact of Steel" pledge to each other and invaded Poland simultaneously, thus igniting World War II. There was no military lineage in his family, as Riedel's father was a tool and die maker and his mother was a registered nurse. Riedel's family first lived in Bellmore, NY, and then when Jay was 4 the Riedel's relocated to Montrose, Pennsylvania. Jay and Paul, his eight year older brother, had an uneventful childhood. The most influential occurrence in Jay's life was building and flying with Paul rubber band powered balsa wood airplanes. Jay commented: "It was at this time in my life-only four years old-that I decided this was what I wanted to do. Fly!" The Riedel's continued to move, again uprooting to Binghamton, NY from 1944 to 1948 and then in 1949 on to North Lansing, NY. It was there that Jay's father took his son on a $5 airplane ride that reinforced the desire to be a pilot.The Riedel's would move once more to Ithaca, NY, where Jay would reside until he went to University of Buffalo, NY, eventually earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics. With the desire stronger than ever to fly in the back of his mind, Riedel temporarily took a job as a computer programmer at Bell Aerosystems with the end result volunteering for the U.S. Air Force in March of 1962 as a second Lieutenant. Riedel came one step closer to being a fighter pilot by attending flying school at Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, TX. In August of 1963 he was assigned as part of the Cold War's "Strategic Air Command to KC-135 air refueling tankers at Loring Air Force Base in Maine. Commenting on that experience, Riedel wrote: "Flying the KC-135 was a great experience, but I had not forgotten my goal to fly fighters." Jay Riedel was on the Loring flight line in base operations planning a flight to support a "chrome dome" B-52 nuclear airborne alert mission on November 22, 1963, the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Riedel's reaction: "I honestly believed it was the beginning of World War III, and we wouldn't be coming back from this mission." Between the Zapruder film showing J.F.K. being shot from a bullet to his right front, the activity on the "grassy Knoll" and inclusive ballistics reports, Riedel boldly wrote his doubts about Lee Oswald's role as sole assassin: "What an incredible cover-up!"An event that would occur when Riedel was 25 years old would have lasting implications and ultimately result with a wall in our nation's capital with 58,169 names inscribed on it of Americans that lost their lives in this conflict. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara, grew concerned in early 1964 that South Vietnam was losing its fight against the North. To put military pressure on Hanoi, which directed and provided military support for the Viet Cong in the South, Johnson and McNamara believed that naval forces could be used to help compel Ho Chi Minh to cease his support for the Viet Cong. The U.S. Navy armed South Vietnam with a fleet of fast patrol boats, trained their crews, and maintained the vessels at Danang. In covert operations directed by American officials in Washington and Saigon, the patrol boats bombarded radar stations on the coast of North Vietnam and landed South Vietnamese commandoes to destroy bridges and other military targets. Most of these missions failed for one reason or another. As a result, L.B.J. ordered the Navy to focus more attention on the coast of North Vietnam in its longstanding "Desoto Patrol operation," which utilized destroyers in intelligence-gathering missions outside the internationally recognized territorial waters and along the coasts of North Vietnam. In early August of 1964, the destroyer "USS Maddox" steamed along the North Vietnamese coast in the Gulf of Tonkin gathering various types of intelligence. Shortly before this, South Vietnamese patrol boats had bombarded targets further to the south of Maddox's patrol area.Hanoi reacted by directing its navy, which had not been able to catch the fast patrol boats, to attack the slow-moving American destroyer. On the afternoon of August 2, 1964, North Vietnam dispatched three torpedo boats against the Maddox, which missed their mark. Only one round from enemy deck guns hit the destroyer; it lodged in the ship's superstructure. The North Vietnamese naval vessels were not so lucky. The Maddox hit the attackers with shellfire, and "F-8" Crusader jets dispatched from the aircraft carrier "USS Ticonderoga" strafed all three North Vietnamese patrol boats, leaving one completely disabled. President Johnson, surprised that the North had reacted so aggressively, decided that the U.S. could not retreat from this clear Communist challenge. The Maddox was reinforced with the destroyer "USS Turner Joy" and directed to continue intelligence-gathering mission off North Vietnam. On August 4th, the 2 warships reported that they were attacked by several fast craft far out to sea. U.S. leaders in Washington were persuaded by ambiguous interpretation of special intelligence and reports from the ships that North Vietnamese naval forces had attacked the two destroyers. Recent analysis of that data gathered on August 4th now makes it clear that North Vietnamese naval forces did not attack Maddox and Turner Joy that night in the summer of 1964. This brings up woeful memories of President George Bush's claims of Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction" which were never found. regardless, L.B.J. responded by ordering the Seventh Fleet carrier forces to launch retaliatory strikes against North Vietnam. On August 5th, 1964, aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and Constellation destroyed an oil storage facility in North Vietnam and sank about 30 enemy naval vessels along the North Vietnamese coast. On August 7th, 1964, the U.S. Congress ratified the "Tonkin Gulf Resolution", which gave L.B.J. the ability to use military force as he saw fit against the North Vietnamese Communists. Within four months of this resolution, L.B.J. deployed to South Vietnam major U.S. ground, air, and naval forces and America's long, costly debacle in Vietnam was officially "on".In November, 1964, Jay Riedel flew KC-135 refueling tankers "across the pond" to Vietnam, refueling F-4 Phantoms as they made their way to S.E. Asia with a stopover at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. Riedel and his gaggle of KC-135 tankers took off from Clark, flew west across South Vietnam and Thailand, then turned north and flew over Vientiane, Laos to refuel the F-4's before they flew in on strikes over North Vietnam. Debunking the supposed myth that Laos was a neutral country during the conflict, Riedel explained how Laos in reality fit into the scheme of this war: "Laos was a neutral country, and did not wish to be involved in the expanding war in S.E. Asia. However, no one honored that choice, and the North Vietnamese used Laos to bring supplies down on what became known as the Ho Chi Minh trail. The North never admitted that they were in Laos, but they were. It was also a fact that we had already lost aircraft over Laos being shot down-that certainly did not happen by the neutral people of Laos." During the entire conflict, the U.S. fought a secret war in Laos against the communist forces there, called the "Pathet Lao" in support of the Royal Laotian Government from 1962 through 1973. Laos was in the North Vietnamese sector of operations, where the North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao jointly linked up and fought battles against the U.S. supported noncommunist Laotians. Both the U.S. and North Vietnam were not supposed to be in Laos under the 1962 Geneva Agreement. The CIA managed this secret war militarily in Vientiane, Laos. President Johnson authorized the CIA to manage and conduct military operations that included U.S. military aircraft and personnel, but excluded the U.S. military from any decision making in their use. The separate though interrelated bombing of the Ho Chi Minh trail that bordered Vietnam, Hanoi's pipeline of supply to their forces in South Vietnam, was under the control of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV). When hostilities concluded, American POWs known to have been held captive by the communist Pathet Lao were abandoned in Laos in 1973. When the United States withdrew the last of our fighting forces from Vietnam on March 28, 1973, Americans that were then prisoners from secret operations in Laos during the Vietnam War were abandoned to the Lao Patriotic FrontThe Paris Peace Agreement was signed on January 27, 1973 and the names of POWs captured in Vietnam were given to U.S. representatives. Although North Vietnamese forces controlled over 85% of the territory in Laos where Americans were missing in action and had advisors attached to all Pathet Lao units, the North handed over a list containing only nine Americans and one Canadian POW captured in Laos and held by the North in Hanoi. These were the only POWs from Laos to be released. The U.S. knew that the Pathet Lao had information on many of the American POW/MIAs in Laos. Of the 10 POWs released under the Vietnam agreement, none were from Pathet Lao POW camps, and the Pathet Lao insisted that they held prisoners in Laos that would be released by themselves. During the Paris Peace negotiations that ultimately ended the war, Henry Kissinger had reiterated that the North Vietnamese would be responsible for all prisoners in Southeast Asia. This had been one of the points Le Duc Tho, the North Vietnamese negotiator, would not agree to, claiming that Laos was a sovereign nation and would be responsible for their own prisoners. Although the North Vietnamese did then and possibly now influences the POW/MIA policy of Laos, efforts for the release of known POWs from the Pathet Lao failed. American POWs known to have been held captive by the communist Pathet Lao were abandoned in Laos in 1973. When the U.S. withdrew the last of our fighting forces from Vietnam on March 28, 1973, Americans that were then prisoners from secret operations in Laos during the Vietnam War were abandoned to the Lao Patriotic Front, and never heard from again.With that in mind, Riedel commented the following as he looked out the window of his KC-135 as his air tanker flew north over the Plain of Jars: "I remember thinking that, if we were shot at, we had no armament-nothing to shoot back with. The only armament on a KC-135 was four scared guys with switchblade survival knives. It was also duly noted that, although we wore parachutes, we didn't have ejection seats." As already mentioned, no one ever captured by the Pathet Lao during the Vietnam War was ever released. Only two Americans escaped and were retrieved from the Pathet Lao. They were Navy Lt. Charles Klussman, who was shot down on June 6, 1964 over the Plain of Jars, Laos, who had the fortunate distinction of being the first POW to ever escape from the Pathet Lao, and Navy Pilot Dieter Dengler, who was shot down on February 2, 1965. Dangler later went on to write a memoir about his tribulations during the war entitled "Escape From Laos." Riedel made another astute observation of the Vietnam War, the one-sided "Rules of Engagement". During the war, U.S. forces positioned in South Vietnam could only be used militarily for air defense in Laos when authorized by the Commander in Chief. Only air defense forces were authorized to engage and destroy hostile North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops in Laos. Hot land pursuit could only be conducted as necessary in South Vietnam and Thailand.Known as the "Ho Chi Minh Trail", the North had a logistical system that ran from North to South Vietnam through the neighboring kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia. The system provided support, in the form of manpower and materiel, to the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese Army operating to the south of the 17th parallel during the Vietnam War. This trail was a complex maze of truck routes, paths for foot and bicycle traffic, and river transportation systems. The trail was mostly in Laos, and developed into an intricate maze of dirt roads, foot and bicycle paths, and truck parks. There were numerous supply bunkers, storage areas, barracks, hospitals, and command and control facilities. This was all concealed from U.S. aerial observation by triple canopy jungle and man-made camouflage that was constantly expanded and replaced. By 1973, trucks could drive the entire length of the trail without emerging from the canopy except to ford streams or cross them on crude bridges built beneath the surface of the water. Despite diligent U.S. anti-infiltration efforts to destroy this trail, in 1966 between 58,000 and 90,000 communist troops came from North Vietnam to fight in the south, including at least five full enemy regiments.There is a passage in Riedel's book that speaks volumes as to why America's military efforts never translated into victory, particularly in regard to Laos and the "Rules of Engagement." Riedel insightfully revealed the following conversation which took place in 1964: "I remember one Friday night in particular I was downstairs in the Stag Bar (a pilot's club at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines where KC-135's and B-52's staged) talking with some fighter pilots who were there blowing off some steam from that day's mission. They were relating how they were assigned to take a four-ship flight of fighters up to hit a small insignificant target, such as a little footbridge across a stream. On the way they would pass a truck supply convoy heading south on the Ho Chi Minh trail. They reported the activity and asked permission to attack it. In every case, permission was denied. They dropped their bombs on the footbridge, and came home. Most fighter pilots aren't world renowned Rhodes Scholars; however, they ain't no dummies, neither! Even they could figure out that if our Rules Of Engagement didn't change, there was no way in hell we would win this war. This was November, 1964. It didn't improve much, and sure enough, eleven years and 58,000+ of our good men and woman later, this was the only war in our nation's history that we lost. Are Vietnam veterans bitter? Beyond words!". It is also interesting to mention a quote Riedel used by Joe Patrick, an Air Force Vietnam Veteran. Patrick wrote a scathing denunciation of the conduct of the war, claiming that the military should have been allowed to run it's own ball game, not be subservient to those in Washington who knew nothing of how to fight a war successfully. Riedel prefaced Patrick's article by stating: It's quite basic knowledge that, if you need brain surgery, you get a brain surgeon to do it-not plumbers." Patrick furthered that thought as follows: "The war in Vietnam was a strange war, indeed. It was a conflict that should not have been lost. But the men who ran that war were politicians and bureaucrats, not military professionals. Men like Secretary of Defense Robert Strange McNamara and President Lyndon Baines Johnson, along with Department of Defense bureaucrats, civilian and military, called all the shots. America lost her first war ever because bureaucrats 10,000 miles away from the fighting played a kind of "war monopoly" game, in which the stakes were not play money but the lives of men sent out to die in the rice paddies and skies of Vietnam. Called to testify in a civil suit after the war, McNamara said under oath that he had decided as early as December 1965 that "the war could not be won militarily. "During the war, President Johnson would talk by telephone to then Air Force Major John Keeler about what to say during the "Five O'clock Follies," the daily press briefing held every afternoon in Saigon. As Keeler put it, Johnson called so that the press officer could "get the party line." The political agenda in America was obviously more important than the bloodshed on the hills around Khe Sanh. Johnson often bragged, "Those boys can't hit an outhouse without my permission."Seeing the war heating up in Vietnam, Jay Riedel was afraid that he would never achieve his dream of being a fighter pilot. He issued the following thoughts: "During this time (1966), the war in Vietnam was escalating. More and more pilots were being called to go. USAF personnel came out with a policy that allowed any pilot to volunteer for duty in Vietnam. This was my chance! I volunteered for "F-anything"-to fly any fighter. Finally, his big break came. Riedel received an assignment to F-100 fighter pilot school at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona in 1968 and made the transformation to his lifelong quest in August of 1969. There, he was assigned to the 510th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Bien Hoa Air Base in South Vietnam. Although this lasted only for two months, in October he was reassigned to the 615th Fighter Squadron at Phan Rang Air Base, serving until July, 1970 as an F-100 instructor pilot. Unfortunately for Reidel, the war was being phased down. Called "Vietnamization", the Nixon administration was making a stern effort to extricate the U.S. from this conflict and turn the entire war effort over to the South Vietnamese. Captain Reidel's tour of duty in S.E. Asia ended and he sadly returned to the U.S. to assume multiple duties at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in South Carolina. A brand new A-7D squadron was activated, with Riedel training pilots how to fly this new warplane.However, Riedel's toughest assignment was yet to come. Despite peace negotiations between Washington and Hanoi being fruitless, U.S. patience to end the war was reaching it's end. In October 1972, President Nixon's National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, concluded a secret peace agreement with North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho, the special adviser to the North Vietnamese delegation to the Paris Peace Conferences from 1968-73. After reviewing the agreement, South Vietnamese President Thieu demanded major alterations to the document. In response, the North Vietnamese published the details of the agreement and stalled the negotiations. Feeling that Hanoi had attempted to embarrass him and to force them back the table, Nixon ordered the bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong in late December 1972. "Operation Linebacker II" was the December 19 to 29th, eleven day bombing ordeal of North Vietnam. On January 15, 1973, after pressuring South Vietnam to accept the peace deal, Nixon announced the end of offensive operations against North Vietnam. The Paris Peace Accords ending the conflict were signed January 27, 1973, and were followed by the withdrawal of the remaining American troops. The terms of the accords called for a complete cease fire in South Vietnam, allowed North Vietnamese forces to retain the territory they had captured, released US prisoners of war, and called for both sides to find a political solution to the conflict.It was in October of 1972 that Riedel was deployed as part of the 354th tactical Fighter wing to Korat Royal Thai Air Base in Thailand. During the Eleven Day war of Linebacker II, Riedel was part of the first A-7D's to be used in the war, taking part in the final bombing of North Vietnam. Riedel details nerve racking bombing missions of the North, observing MiG's buzzing perniciously around him, and North Vietnamese surface to air missile evasions. included is a vivid description of Riedel watching a MiG-21 shoot down an F-4 in front of him as he watched in horror. Also described are desperate search and rescue missions for downed pilots, some with disastrous results for downed American airmen. Jay Riedel's journey as an American fighter pilot was not without familial consequences, as he explained: "It was something I had decided on when I was four years old back on our farm in Pennsylvania. There was no hesitation at all on my part. However, how does a decision like that affect a wife and family? Very few wives can accept this. Very few can accept that their children's father would rather fly airplanes in combat 12,000 miles away, then be with them. Unfortunately, very few men can explain why they would want to. To me, it is beyond the family-a higher calling than the family unit. It is at the international level in an unstable world-and the fact that stronger nations that invade weaker ones must be stopped if world peace is to become a reality."What was Jay Riedel's greatest satisfaction in being a fighter pilot? He explained it cogently as follows: "As the situation of the ground troops we were supporting at the time became more critical, as in friendlies close to being overrun by a larger enemy force, my focus became more intent on helping them rather than on my own personal situation. Helping and supporting the ground troops in the close air support role gave me the greatest satisfaction over the air-to-air role of one aircraft against another of the classic "dog fight." To turn the tide of a ground battle from near disaster into success is a feeling of tremendous pride and accomplishment." Riedel covers many other subjects, such as pilot "target fixation" which was common in both helicopter fighter pilot issues. Riedel described it as such: "Pilots would get so engrossed with the target that they would not be aware of the surrounding terrain until it was time to pull off. They would release their ordinance, and start their recovery-only to look at a mountain in front of them." There are many interesting photos in this book, one showing a warplane making a low pullout where a pilot brought a tree limb back to base jammed into the leading edges of his wing! Riedel also wrote about the morality of a widely used weapon during the war, i.e. napalm. Explaining: "Napalm, or jellied gasoline, was a very good close support weapon when dropped parallel to the friendlies-never toward them, nor behind them. The fireball covered an area close to a football field in size. Napalm was a controversial weapon considered to be inhumane in some circles, and has since been eliminated from our country's weapons stockpile, and from most others around the world. If you must kill your enemy, you must do it nicely."I compared the use of napalm to two other entries in Riedel's book, where Riedel wrote that there was a $10,000 bounty on American pilot's heads, and that when the VC would mortar American bases at night, the following would occur: "During an attack, none of our local Vietnamese hooch maids would be around-a sure sign that there would be an attack! They knew when to be at work and when to stay home. What a war. We were always very careful jumping into bunkers, as they were sometimes known to have sheets of cardboard with dung-tipped razor blades sticking out of them carefully hidden in the sandy floor of the bunker. If you jumped in there without your combat boots, you could get cut up and infected-quite badly." How humane is napalm? Consider Riedel's anecdote of December 23, 1972, when he was on a search and rescue mission of a downed F-111 Crewman that had gone down over the "Plain of Jars' in Laos. Riedel described what followed when they finally located the downed airman: "When we finally reached him and the rescue man in the Jolly Green helicopter could see him, he had been propped up against the wreckage of his aircraft to look like he was alive. He wasn't. He had been executed and propped up there to draw in all the search and rescue forces. After we all entered the area through a hail of anti aircraft fire, we finally returned to our base without any further losses. We were all lucky that day. It had been another flack trap. This mission again drove home the fact that taken prisoner in Laos was rare indeed. It was a sad Christmas." Was napalm fare? You decide! Regardless, this book is a must read and will give you insight into the air war in Vietnam rarely found!

Chemical Warfare Secrets Almost Forgotten

by M D James S Ketchum

Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian December 16, 2010 Pembroke Pines, Florda, USA Contact: BernWei1@aol.comTitle of Review: THC, LSD and BZ Chemical Warfare Research:Selecting Volunteer Astronauts Ready to Go Into "Inner:" Rather Than Outer Space" James S. Ketchum's book "Chemical Warfare: Secrets Almost Forgotten" is the first and only account that exists revealing the U.S.Army's research into Chemical Warfare that occurred in one of the most tumultuous settings the United States ever has experienced. It is, however, a taboo topic and Ketchum states with chagrin that when he mentions to people that he is a psychiatrist that worked during the 1960's studying chemical methods for "subduing" normal people, most react politely by changing the subject. Perhaps this reflects the times in which these experiments occurred. Ketchum boldly proclaims the goal of his book is as follows: "Many books and articles have been published about the shady and nefarious activities of the CIA in relation to LSD, supposedly contemporaneously with our own officially approved medical research. I have read several of them and it is distressing how often our clinical research program has been confused with the CIA's covert use of LSD. Some authors do not refer to drugs we studied by their correct names, and attribute properties to them that are quite fanciful. A primary purpose of this book, therefore, is to provide truthful, comprehensive, accurate information about the Edgewood Arsenal medical research program, and what we actually learned from our studies." As a historical reviewer with zero psycho pharmacological foreknowledge, I intuitively understood Ketchum's comment when he wrote: "Medical experts enjoy using pedantic language that underlies their erudition, and I must admit I was not immune to this affliction."I did understand the cliche of the month of March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb juxtaposed with Ketchum's stay at Edgewood being a reflection of "the times." Did you go through that period of history or did you hear about it from your parents or other elders? Some people mistakenly think the 60's were all about hippies ... well, the 60's were more than just hippies, although they did play an important role during the decade. There was also: Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, psychedelic music, Kennedy's assassination, the Vietnam War, and the first man to walk the moon! The decade started rather staid in 1960 with the first debate for a presidential election televised between Senator John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon. Nixon seemed nervous, but Kennedy stood tall. The debate on TV changed many people's minds about Kennedy. Gary Powers and the American "U 2" spy plane were shot down over the Soviet Union. In 1961, John F Kennedy moved into the White House. He gave his famous speech, i.e. "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." The Soviets sent the first man into space and the Americans needed to compete. The event came on May 5, 1961 as Alan Shepard was sent to space in the "Freedom 7". On May 25, 1961. J.F.K. announced he wanted to have a man on the moon and back before the decade was over. In 1962 John Glenn became the first man to orbit the earth 3 times. It was a five hour flight. Most important for the predicted outcome of chemical warfare experiments at Edgewood, was Rachel Carson's statement. A scientist and writer, she warned that our earth would die of pollution and chemicals, especially ones that were developed to kill bad insects and defoliate jungles. DDT was a real bad chemical used to kill pest insects. It wound up killing good insects, along with plants and animals. Carson authored a book entitled "Silent Spring" with a warning that resulted in five states banning DDT.The Chemical that defoliated jungles was called "Agent Orange." This was a U.S. Government code name for one of the herbicides and defoliants that was used by the military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, "Operation Ranch Hand", during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. A 50:50 mixture of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D, it was manufactured for the U.S. Department of Defense primarily by Monsanto Corporation and Dow Chemical. It was later discovered to be an extremely toxic dioxin compound. It was given its name from the color of the orange-striped 55 US gallon barrels in which it was shipped. During the Vietnam war, between 1962 and 1971, the U.S. military sprayed 20,000,000 gallons of Agent Orange in S.E. Asia with an intended goal of defoliating forested and rural land and depriving the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese of cover. The ultimate effects on Vietnam Veterans were to be horrifying. Increased rates of nerve, digestive, skin and respiratory disorders, Hodgkin's lymphoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, prostate, lung and liver cancers, as well as soft tissue sarcoma occurred. As a side note, over 150,000 U.S. Veterans were affected by Agent Orange, and according to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 people being killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with birth defects. Getting back to a historical reference, on August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. made the speech, "I have a Dream." More than 200,000 peaceful demonstrators came to Washington DC to demand equal rights for Black and Whites. On November 22, J.F.K. was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. His assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was never sent to trial. While being moved by police to a different jail, a man named Jack Ruby killed him. Who killed President Kennedy nobody will ever know.It is understandable that Ketchum wrote: And so it went at Edgewood-a constant oscillation between seriousness of purpose and absurdity." This echoed what was happening in 1964. The Beatles, a British rock and roll band became extremely popular, as John, Paul, George, and Ringo played on radio stations all over the world. They were seen on the "Ed Sullivan Show". While Ketchum experimented with "incapacitating agents, i.e. substances that were thought to pave the way to battle enemy forces with a minimum of lethal outcomes, 1964 was the first year that cigarette boxes had a warning printed on them declaring: "Smoking can be hazardous to your health". While Congress was mesmerized by Major General William Creasy's sales pitch that chemical warfare testing would result in war without casualties, it had not occurred to them to give warnings that smoking lead to cancer and lung deaths. Most important for this decade, the "Tonkin Gulf Resolution" was passed that authorized U.S. military action in Southeast Asia. On Aug. 4, 1964, North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin were alleged to have attacked without provocation U.S. destroyers that were reporting intelligence information to South Vietnam. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his advisers decided upon immediate air attacks on North Vietnam in retaliation; he also asked Congress for a mandate for future military action. On August 7, Congress passed a resolution drafted by the administration authorizing all necessary measures to repel attacks against U.S. forces and all steps necessary for the defense of U.S. Allies in Southeast Asia. The Vietnam War was on! In 1965 the war continued to escalate, with L.B.J. ordering bombing raids on North Vietnam and Americans began protesting the war. The Houston Astrodome was built, America's first roofed stadium. fashion started to change, with women wearing short Mini skirts. "Pop Art" became more popular, an artistic technique that used contrasting colors with black and white to make a sort of optical illusion.In 1966, Psychedelic clothing was now a hit. Colors worn were brighter and bolder. Men begin to dress "fancy". Walt Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse and a Pioneer of animated films, died of cancer on December 15. In 1967, The first heart transplant was performed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard in Cape Town, South Africa, and the "Summer of Love" occurred. This was a social phenomenon that occurred during that summer, when as many as 100,000 people converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, creating a cultural and political rebellion. James Ketchum, on sabbatical at Stanford for 2 years, was there. While hippies also gathered all over the world, San Francisco was the center of the hippie revolution, a melting pot of music, psychoactive drugs, sexual freedom, creative expression, and politics. Cited as a defining moment of the 1960s, the hippie counterculture movement came into public awareness, with themes of lifestyles included communal living, widespread usage of psychedelic drugs, free and communal sharing of resources, including love and sex. However, the summer of 1967 also saw some of the worst violence in US cities in the country's history, with race riots occurring in places such as Detroit and Newark. The body bags kept coming home from Vietnam, with no end to the war in sight. Distrust of the government ran high, which with the secrecy of Edgewood's operations possibly being their ultimate death knell. With furtive drug testing on Chemical warfare, Ketchum wrote: "The problem, of course, was that Edgewood kept reporters in the dark by classifying most of our work, thus keeping it out of the public's purview."The 1960's were about to get ugly. In the early hours of January 31st, 1968, 70,000 North Vietnamese soldiers, together with Viet Cong fighters, launched one of the most daring military campaigns in history. The Tet Offensive was the real turning point in the Vietnam War. The Communists launched a major offensive to coincide with the traditional Vietnamese New Year celebrations (January 29 to 31)called "Tet". It was a time of an agreed cease-fire. NVA/VC suicide troops struck in Saigon, the South Vietnamese capital. News media all over America reported immense damage in the South detailing 80 different cities, towns or military bases that were attacked, more or less simultaneously. Walter Cronkite, America's most respected journalist at that time, asserted that America was losing the war. It was militarily inaccurate, however it created the first significant crack in President Johnson's belief that he could win both the war and re-election. As it turned out he did neither. Anti war protests peaked, with growing reluctance in America to support a war we weren't winning. The assassinations of Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King in Memphis, Tennessee and Robert Kennedy, in Los Angeles left a country that had gone amok. Fear and distrust of anything related to the U.S. Government reached it's apex with nationwide antiwar student demonstrations and the shootings at Kent State on a Ohio campus. Everything was changing since the start of the decade. The "Hippie look" was now popular. The women wore long floor length dresses and skirts called maxies. Men continued to grow their hair longer. Hippies decorated everything, including painting their bodies. Ketchum returned to Edgewood in 1969, his work completed at Stanford. Nearly half a million people headed over to a 600 acre farm in New York for the Woodstock Festival. Many top rock musicians were there. It lasted three days, a weekend of music, love and peace. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the moon, with astronauts aboard. Neil Armstrong made his famous speech: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." The sun on the 1960's set amongst anti government distrust at an all time high.So what was Ketchum doing at Edgewood? He was directing experiments performed at the Edgewood Arsenal, which was northeast of Baltimore, Maryland, and involved the use of hallucinogens such LSD, THC, and BZ, in addition to biological and chemical agents on human subjects. The Edgewood experiments took place from approximately 1952-1974 at the Bio Medical Laboratory, which is now known as the U. S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense. The volunteer would spend the weekend on-site, performing tests and procedures (math, navigation, following orders, memory and interview) while sober. The volunteer would then be drugged by an incapacitating agent and then studied while attempting to perform the same tests. These tests occurred in the Edgewood facility under Ketchum's supervision. Field tests, such as having to guard a check point while under the influence of an incapacitating agent such as LSD or BZ was done to see what effects certain drugs had on the patient. LSD is well known with it's hallucinatory visual and auditory effects. However, there is a stigma on BZ. BZ, or 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, is an odorless military incapacitating agent. It is related to atropine, scopolamine, hyoscyamine, and other deliriants. It could be released as an aerosol for inhalation, injected or dissolved in a solvent for ingestion or percutaneous absorption. It's effects include stupor, confusion, and hallucinations. The antidote for BZ is "Physostigmine," which is now commonly stocked in emergency rooms for Atropine overdose. Dr. Ketchum's response as to what happens to a soldier dosed on BZ? Citing his distaste for the ludicrous portrayal of BZ's effects in the movie "Jacob's Ladder", he sets the world straight by giving his version: "They gradually go into a stupor and when they wake up, they crawl around on the floor, frequently take off their clothes, hallucinate and talk nonsense."Dr. James Ketchum was recruited in his junior year at Cornell University Medical College in 1955 by a very enticing offer. An Army recruiter promised him that to sign the dotted line, all he had to do was finish his last year as a medical student, joining Uncle Sam as a 2nd Lieutenant with full pay and benefits. After graduation, he did an internship at Letterman Hospital in San Francisco. After a six month officer course at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, Ketchum was offered by Dr. David Rioch, the chief of Neuropsychiatry at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research an internship at Edgewood. Sounding attractive, Ketchum accepted and arrived at Edgewood in early 1961 right after the chemical warfare volunteer testing program began. Soon he would be running things there. The Army's quest was to search for a drug that would temporarily incapacitate someone for a condensed period of time with a assured recovery absent of residual effects. Ketchum throughout the book makes it clear that the erroneous belief that the Army had ulterior motives to develop a drug that would derange people was fictitious. The advantage of testing volunteers at Edgewood was that the facility could keep volunteers safe during the experiments and testing. Edgewood was a facility that had doctors, nurses, padded rooms and a complete medical testing operation. Although LSD and Marijuana were used (THC was synthesized into "Red Oil"), BZ was the main focus. Ketchum, with the exception of two years at Stanford, a hub of anti government, anti Vietnam protests, spent the entire decade of the 60's at Edgewood. Studying under Dr. Karl Pribram, it was hoped that Ketchum could bring back to Edgewood pharmacology and neuropsychology together to achieve insights that would help the Army Medical Corps and the whole world. At least that's the way Ketchum sold it to the Army-and they bought it. To the general public, Pribram is best known for his contribution to ongoing neurological research into memory, emotion, motivation and consciousness. Ketchum's reaction to going to Stanford: "I was not really happy about being suddenly transported from department chief to something approaching non-person hood.With freedom hitherto unexperienced, Ketchum went to Stanford in civilian clothes with no one to report to, completely autonomous. However, the "Summer of Love" was in full swing (1967). Stanford was not far from San Francisco, and Ketchum worked one day a week pro bono at David Smith's "Free Clinic" as a volunteer. There, Ketchum medically treated people freaking out from excessive doses or bad trips on LSD, PCP etc, usually using valium instead of thorazine (which acid heads described the effects of as "thorazine on the outside, LSD panic on the inside"). Ketchum also saw private patients in psychotherapy, seeing two clients regularly that had no knowledge he was in the Army doing chemical warfare research. Eventually, he remorsefully had to break the news that he had to go back to Edgewood to resume his work as a Lieutenant Colonel. However, this was 1969, with Government antipathy at it's highest. Ketchum returned to see the chemical warfare research program winding down. The Army was apprehensive of chemical warfare adverse publicity in the wake of post Tet Offensive anti Vietnam public sentiment. Despite claims that the agents they were working on were strictly incapacitating, Ketchum insisted public reaction was unilateral in their steadfast conviction that the Army was just trying to poison people. BZ stockpiles were eradicated. Between the military dumping Agent Orange all over S.E. Asia and CIA dosing without consent unwitting citizens with their MKULTRA CIA Mind Control program, any other military work with chemicals was equally improper. Few programs were sheltered with more secrecy than the CIA Agency's mind control experiments, identified together with the code-name MKULTRA.During the 1950 to 1953 Korean war, the CIA was concerned about rumors of communist brainwashing of U.S. POW's. In April of 1953 CIA Director Allen Dulles authorized the MKULTRA program, which would later become notorious for the unusual and sometimes inhumane tests that the CIA financed. Though many of the documents related to MKULTRA were destroyed by the CIA in 1972, some records relating to the program have made it into the public's awareness that the MKULTRA program was one of the most disturbing instances of intelligence community abuse on record. The most notorious MKULTRA experiments were the CIA's pioneering studies of the drug that would years later feed the heads of millions: LSD. Intrigued by the drug, the CIA harbored hopes that acid or a similar drug could be used to clandestinely disorient and manipulate target foreign leaders. (The Agency would consider several such schemes in its pursuit of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who they wanted to send into a drug-induced stupor or tirade during a public or live radio speech.) LSD was also viewed as a way to loosen tongues in CIA interrogations. Frank Olson was a U.S. Army biological warfare specialist employed at Fort Detrick in Maryland, who was at first said to have taken his own life due to depression. In the 1970's, it was later revealed that he had been given LSD without his knowledge at a joint meeting between CIA spies and US Army bio warfare experts, who cooperated on biological weapons. The LSD allegedly drove him to leap out of a hotel window ten days later. Allegations pointed to the CIA having assassinated Frank Olson over fears that he would reveal the entire U.S. biological warfare program, as well as the chemical interrogation program, to the press.As far as the Vietnam War was concerned, Jim Ketchum did take a stance, despite his position in the military. It was while he studied at Stanford that he developed this position, which he expressed as follows: "Despite my being a US Army lieutenant colonel, and inclined, at that time, to support whatever the government was doing, my laboratory comrades never treated me disdainfully. Although lacking some of the intensity of the Berkeley confrontations, social upheaval was becoming conspicuous at Stanford. At Edgewood, the "counterinsurgency" operations of the U.S. in Vietnam had been a relatively infrequent topic of conversation. Here, it was difficult to maintain my relatively apolitical views in the face of student demonstrations. Most of the students were in favor of the developing war or opposed to it, but the most counter-culturally inclined students mocked the entire scenario. On a day when anti-war activists decided to wear black armbands, the war supporters responded with white armbands." So, what was Ketchum's verdict on the Vietnam War? Did his Stanford exposure change him? He answers that question, and includes in his response a comment about Iraq here: "Sleeping with the enemy" at Stanford was very pleasurable. I have always considered intelligence and wit more important than political persuasion. I didn't know much about Vietnam, and it was hardly ever mentioned at Edgewood. But I figured if our government thought it was justified, it must be righteous. Only much later was I finally convinced that the war was ill-advised, reflecting an inability to relate to the values of different cultures (as well as less noble territorial ambitions). Cultural incongruence is an even more obvious part of our problems in Iraq today. We believe we are being helpful, and are bewildered when the recipients consider us intrusive and coercive."There are other interesting references to Vietnam worth mentioning. When Dr. Ketchum returned from Stanford to Edgewood in 1969, he noticed a change in the temperament of his colleagues. Ketchum asserted: The new physicians were a different breed. Most of them had completed residency training under the recently enacted "Berry Plan," which postponed their military obligations. Many had already established lucrative practices. Now that they had to pay the piper, they preferred a research assignment at Edgewood Arsenal to treating casualties as battalion surgeons in Vietnam. One could hardly blame them. An expanding legion of young protesters had changed national sentiment. The majority no longer supported the war as a patriotic cause." There are other references, one of where Dr. Ketchum requested a reprint of an article written by Thomas L. Perry, a professor of pharmacology at the University of British Colombia. Dr. Perry refused to send the requested material, along with the following comment: "As a physician and scientist, I am appalled at the cruel American military aggression in Vietnam, now escalating over all Indochina. To waste the enormous wealth of the U.S. in killing Asians, instead of spending it for better health, housing and nutrition for the poor of the U.S. and the rest of the world, is grossly immoral. I do not wish my research used for any purpose except for the preservation of health, and the relief of human suffering." During Ketchum's final days at Edgewood, he observed a chemist by the name of Bob Ellin develop a device that collected a subject's breathing and perspiration, and through gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy, could pick up the odors of people. Ketchum was indignant when he found out the true purpose of this device: "Apparently, the "people sniffer's" intended use was limited to the detection of hidden Viet Cong soldiers. We wished the Chemical corps agenda were not so shortsighted. If only the prevailing zeitgeist had been more positive, we could have accomplished great things."When the 1960's commenced, no one opposed the work at Edgewood Arsenal, but by the end of the decade, it was the exact opposite. Jim Ketchum justified his work at Edgewood with the rationale that by seeking and identifying incapacitating agents for chemical warfare use, he would save lives instead of killing people unnecessarily. As an example, he give two illustrations in his book, the October 23, 2002 Moscow theatre siege and a fictitious U.S. chemical warfare rescue operation he dubbed "Hot Night in Halifa." In the first paradigm in Moscow, a Russian theater was stormed by a gang of heavily armed Chechen militant gunmen and women, holding the audience and cast hostage. The group packed explosives into the building, and stated they would kill themselves and their captives if Russian forces did not withdraw from Chechnya. The next day, five hostages were released but rescue workers wheeled out a stretcher carrying the blanket-covered body of a woman shot and killed by the captors, showing their capability of violence if their demand was not met with. Subsequent negotiations deteriorated, and the Chechen group declared it would begin killing hostages before dawn the next day. On October 26 the captors killed two hostages and wound two others. Russian officials make a final attempt at talks with the terrorists, but the negotiations once again failed. An unknown gas was released into the building and special forces moved in. All captors were killed, 750 hostages freed and 118 hostages were reported dead. to this day, Russian military authorities refuse to reveal its composition, but Ketchum suspects it was "Sufentanil" that was used successfully as an incapacitating agent.James Ketchum elaborates in this book the colorful story of how Major General Creasy, being neither a doctor nor pharmacologist, sold congress his hypothesis of "War without Death" with chemical incapacitating agents. Ketchum wrote: in 1958, Major General Creasy was invited to engage this august branch of government in a lively session. Captivated and at times even amused by vivid images of a cloud of LSD that could disable well-trained troops without causing them physical harm, senators and congressmen voted unanimously to endorse Creasy's proposal to triple the Chemical corp's budget and proceed with studies of this and similar agents in army volunteers. When asked if he could incapacitate members of congress in a similar manner, Creasy cavalierly quipped that so far he had not considered this necessary!" Ketchum points out that congress made up a set of guidelines to be followed in this research. The entire protocol was followed except for one: to keep the public informed of what they were doing at all times. Ketchum points out that by failing to do this, the Army lost all credibility. Ketchum left the Army in 1971 to go into teaching and private practice, and then blissful retirement, the current status quo. Needless to say, Ketchum strongly expressed his reasons for writing this book. the most pressing was misinformation. So much erroneous information exists that the public holds to be true that Ketchum felt that this book was a way of setting the record straight. An example of these falsehoods was that the Army was in collusion with the CIA. This was totally false. Another distortion of the truth was the public's false conception about "BZ". Supposedly, as the movie "Jacob's Ladder" ridiculously portrayed to show the erroneous "super-potent-hallucinogen" effect of BZ, it was a horrible drug that would cause anyone subjected to it to permanently become insane. Ketchum sets the record straight: Such inaccurate descriptions put an unfair Dr. Strangelovian stamp on Army chemical research. Once again, BZ is not a diabolical potion, hidden in some science fiction pharmacy full of mind-bending substances. Boring as it may sound, BZ is just another deliriant. It is, however, a potent and long lasting deliriant. Half a milligram can render a soldier incapable of functioning in a simulated military environment for 2 to 4 days."Another reason is because of the "9/11 Disaster". The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the U.S. On that morning, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the buildings. Both buildings collapsed within two hours, destroying nearby buildings and damaging others. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville in rural Pennsylvania after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington, D.C. There were no survivors from any of the flights. This caused increased interest in chemical weapons, as the anthrax attacks occurred over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 attacks. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and two Democratic U.S. Senators, killing five people and infecting 17 others. The ensuing investigation became "one of the largest and most complex in the history of law enforcement." Ketchum felt that many people feared the U.S. would be a victim of future chemical weaponry.Jim Ketchum does make some conclusions about the future of chemical warfare. According to the author, it is not a very practical form of warfare. It is almost impossible to get concentrated lethal gas on a large area. As an example of the logical impracticality, Ketchum cites the 1995 Japanese Sarin attack. Aum Shinrikyo is a Japanese "new religious movement". The group was founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. On the morning of March 20, 1995, Aum members released sarin in a coordinated attack on five trains in the Tokyo subway system, killing 12 commuters, seriously injuring 54 and affecting 980 more. Some estimates claim as many as 5,000 people were injured by the sarin. In terms of a BZ attack, an antidote, now a standard in emergency rooms for atropine poisoning, i.e. physostigmine, has been developed as a result of Ketchum's research. Jim Ketchum felt that this book was necessary. All the time consuming research he did in the 1960's was relegated to file cabinets in a back room. The Army no longer wants to talk about it. All the laboratory studies that were classified are now declassified, but no one is interested in publicizing it. In the 1960's over 7000 volunteers passed through Edgewood's doors and the public doesn't even know about it anymore. Without this book, it would be in the ashes of forgotten history.As a final example of this Government imposed veil of silence, Jim Ketchum participated in a study in the 1990's where he assisted a criminologist in Sacramento, California. It was noticed that in the collection of blood samples of drivers caught while driving impaired, 11% had THC in their bloodstream. The Dept. of Justice wanted to know if marijuana was decriminalized, would it compound problems? Forty volunteers were tested on a California Highway Patrol "crash course" under different conditions, e.g. alcohol alone, alcohol and marijuana simultaneously, marijuana alone, etc. Surprisingly, the conclusion was that marijuana alone was not a major problem on America's highways. If anything, it counteracted the effects of alcohol. However, not only did this study fail to get any publicity, it was never published in the open literature and Jim Ketchum's contract ended. Ketchum's conclusion, that marijuana alone is not really dangerous on drivers, is not what the government wanted to hear, so because of that it was thrown into the trash can. Ketchum felt that anything contrary to the government's fight against the drug war and doubling the amount of people in jails is against it's best interests. To Ketchum, that is an industry in itself. If marijuana was legalized, it would take the place of the big drug companies pain killers and anti depressants, therefore it's legalization would cause economic hardship untenable to the interests of America's Fortune 500. There is so much more in this book that is impossible to cover within this review. Regardless, this 360 page history lesson of the 1960's is essential reading to any understanding of Americana. Thankfully, the secrets in this book, thanks to Jim Kechum, will never be forgotten!

Nobody Cries For Me

by Sara Harris

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Historian December 20, 2010 Pembroke Pines, Florida e mail: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: "Prostitution, Recidivism and Heroin Abuse:A Life Out Of Control!""Nobody Cries For Me" was written by a young prostitute named Joan, eloquently rearranged and sanitized for publication by professional journalist Sara Harris. Cast the First Stone Written in 1959, one would think the message of death that heroin casts would be listened to by society. Instead, the list of the dead from that drug grows even today. John Belushi, Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, Megan Connolly, Janis Joplin, Sid Vicious, Jerry Garcia, River Phoenix and Paul Demayo are just a few of the dead from this scourge. Possibly their lethal choices in life might of been influenced differently if they had chosen to read this book!The protagonist, a professional prostitute named Joan, unrolls within these pages the incredible and sordid story of her life. She details her childhood in the slums of Boston to where the majority of this story took place, a dope-ridden life in New York City. Joan details everything-there is no sugar coating on her recounting of using heroin, being raped, jails, pimps, madams, junkies and vice cops. These themes are the reality of events, places and people that populate the prostitute's world, when conventional morality is terrifyingly stretched beyond repair. Was Joan telling the truth to Sara Harris? Harris retorts unequivocally "yes". In fact, Harris qualifies the story that unfolds as follows: "In some ways it is more valuable in pointing out the true nature of the drive toward antisocial behavior than is many a sociological treatise".Joan starts her story by recounting her dysfunctional childhood. While mentioning that her father died when she was 3, she called her mother a "sporting woman". Joan found out when she was 10 that her mom: "used to have sweethearts, maybe 3 or 4 at a time, and they must have liked her type because they'd keep coming back to her. They were all bachelors and legits. And they'd provide her with a beautiful apartment, a car, and the best of clothes". Her male role model was her step-father, "Len" who was an expert at the "Maryellen", which was a word back in the 50's for bumping into somebody and taking their wallet out of their pocket. Having mixed religious beliefs of a half-Jewish, half-Catholic background, Joan learned an important message from her mother when she was 11. Joan is told by her mother: "When Jesus Christ comes down off his cross, that's when I'll start believing in Him. Then she'd take a 5 or 10 dollar bill out of her pocketbook and wave it in my face and say, "This is my God. The almighty dollar. It's the only God I trust". Left alone and neglected as a teenager, Joan found out that her mother was a confirmed addict when she was 13. Sadly, Joan remembered about ther mom the following: "She'd sleep on trains and streetcars and in public restaurants. She'd just sit and go on the nod and get sleepier and sleepier until finally she'd go off. Sometimes she foamed at the mouth. I'd be so embarrassed."When Joan was 15, her step father went to jail, and her mother picked up a new boyfriend, an addict and dealer. To get away from it all, Joan went to live with an Aunt in New Jersey. Bored and frustrated, she meets a man, is taken to a pool hall, and is raped on a pool table. Despite the sexual assault, she stays with this man, and is subsequently caught having sex with him in a car by the police. After a few days in jail, The judge orders Joan back to her mom to protect her. Joan ruefully wrote: "I wonder where he would have sent me if he'd known who my mother was". The story goes rapidly downhill from here. Joan's mother, reeling from the effects of heroin, tries to teach Joan how to be a lady. Joan tells her mother: "You can't tell me what to do after the dirty life you led. You can't guide me, being a whore and a dope addict. Mom, you couldn't guide a cockroach".Joan starts to hang around what she called "seaman's bars". Sure enough, she meets a man named Johnny, is raped violently by him, and later finds out she is pregnant. Johnny ships out to sea, and Joan is left alone, with no money or father. Her mother's great idea, so the child isn't born out of wedlock, is for Joan to marry her boyfriend, which Joan reluctantly agrees to. Of course, he gets arrested, goes to jail, and Joan has a 9 lb. son, all alone and surrounded by insanity. Joan goes back to the seaman's bars, looking for Johnny, and one day he comes in. After being told he is a father, they agree to get an apartment together, and Johnny suggests that Joan take up prostitution. He introduces Joan to a friend of his, Corrina. Corrina teaches her the tricks of the trade, called "car-soliciting".Joan goes into great detail about this "car-soliciting". She writes: "Car dates are the quickest kind of dates. Usually, the car trick is nervous and is anxious to get the thing over with as you are. He doesn't care about preliminaries the way house tricks and call tricks do. I hardly ever stayed in cars more than 5 minutes and I'd get 3 to 5 dollars a time". At age 17., Joan becomes a full fledged prostitute, operating out of a house, with Johnny serving as her pimp. After Johnny thinks Joan is holding out money on him, he stabs her, flees to Detroit, and Joan goes to see a quack doctor to be treated. At this point, Joan stopped prostituting, and tries "boosting" (stealing from department stores) and is arrested and sentenced to 5 years in jail. Upon her parole to Boston, Joan absconds to the streets of New York and quickly resumes prostitution, which she partakes in for the rest of this book.On a brief trip to the Southwest, while working in various houses of prostitution, Joan discovers heroin in New Orleans. She wrote: "I knew damn well what it would do to me too. I tried to tell myself I was too strong to get hooked. But I really knew what would happen. God, I must have known. By the time I returned to New York though, I was a junkie and that was that". The story continues with Joan vividly detailing the tricks of her trade as well as the ugly truth of drug addiction. The hard part about reading this book is that every chance Joan gets to break free of this life is followed by an even bigger relapse. Beatings by pimps and johns, the pain of withdrawal, fear of the law, and false, leecherous friends and associates give the reader a roller coaster ride of emotions making one thank God this book is only a vicarious experience!Joan gives amazing insight to the inner world of a prostitute. She writes what she feels men really are in the eyes of a "working girl". Joan writes: "I know men differently from the way other women do. As a prostitute I see them at their rottenest. I wish I didn't know them as well as I do. All I have to do today, after the experiences I've had, is to look into a man's eyes and I can tell what he is and what he is thinking. I don't know, I sometimes feel all men are degenerates. Even those who claim to love their wives". And her feelings for the johns? Joan explains: "Most johns will come to prostitutes and take what they can get. I hate them. I only get a kick out of conning them. In some ways, it's the only kick I get-talking them into coming with me and making believe I'm passionate when, all the time, I'd like to spit in their faces!" Joan even rates her johns. To clarify, Joan writes: I find old, ugly men to be the best lovers. Not that any of them could please me. I guess I have my heart closed to a man so long as I know he's a trick. But old, ugly men are more gentle". However, the bottom line with Joan is: "I hate most of my tricks so much, I couldn't kiss one for a million dollars. Well, for a million dollars, maybe I could. Every whore has her price".As I've mentioned at the outset of this review, if you are looking for a happy ending to this book, pass on reading "Nobody Cries For Me". In fact, I had to buy 2 copies, and they both fell apart on me from age as I was reading it for purposes of writing this review! This book was written before I was born, and writes about the world's "oldest profession", a social problem that will never be eradicated. However, if you are looking for an interesting description of what the life of a prostitute was like in the late 1950's, this is an interesting introspection into the mind of a wayward woman with a wayward life, revealing her sociopathy in a lucid, emotionally scathing fashion I would highly recommend!

Vietnam No Regrets

by J Richard Watkins

Written by Bernie Weisz/Historian Pembroke Pines, Florida February 27, 2010 e mail:BernWei1@aol.comI have studied the Vietnam War in high school, and more intensively in college, but what I learned in academia as opposed to the multiple memoirs of the actual participants are 2 different accounts altogether. J. Richard Watkins shoots from the hips in this catharsis, with this memoir being penned 25 years after the fact. Official accounts of the ground war, our relationship with our allies, the South Vietnamese, the conduct of the way the North Vietnamese fought us, and especially the version of the 1970 Cambodian Incursion do not jive with what Watkins saw threw his 22 year old eyes and related on the pages of "Vietnam: No Regrets".When the reader finishes the last page of this amazing memoir, using Watkins observations, he or she will realize that all U.S. battles with the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were "anti-climatic." Watkins wrote throughout "No Regrets" that there were no big battles when expected, especially in Cambodia. The majority of U.S. aggression was motivated by retaliation for a grunt's wounding by enemy sniping, primitive booby traps or ambushes. Our foe was a sneaky, elusive enemy who disappeared under the multiple underground caves the Communists built to avoid confrontation. Watkins writes of exciting small unit actions and ambushes in the sweltering jungle. The reason Watkins wrote about "one big need for revenge" was because of the way the N.V.A fought us. "Charlie" as the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were called, only showed himself in force when he thought the situation was favorable. After Watkins' unit, the U.S. 27 nth Infantry Division also known as the "Wolfhounds" took casualties, they undertook an avenging battle of setting up deadly ambushes in the sweltering, insect infested jungles of Vietnam.Mr. Watkins recalled the painful task of "The Wolfhounds" vengefully pursuing the elusive enemy and attempting to ferret them out of their secretive redoubts, who for the most part frustratingly evaded capture and withdrew over and over. They disappeared in hidden, underground sanctuaries, or even more frustratingly, mingled with the local people and were bypassed by the Wolfhounds, who in turn were attacked by them from the rear at night. Watkins also wrote of a special, elite unit that pursued this insidious enemy, known as the "Tunnel Rats", who with great tenacity and braveness pursued this subterranean foe. The stories I read in Watkins' "No Regrets" made it easy for me to understand how a "My Lai Massacre" incident could occur, and even more lingering, how a Veteran could leave Vietnam with torturous P.T.S.D., based on the incidents Watkins described in this book.Mr. Watkins does not talk much about his early life in "No Regrets". This memoir starts with the author's surprise at finding out that instead of being flown from Northern California to Vietnam via a military plane, he was transported with 160 other soldiers he had never met before aboard a United Airlines 707 Jetliner. Watkins' observations of landing in Vietnam, after a 14 hour journey that included stops in Hawaii and Guam, are noteworthy. Watkins wrote: "On our final approach for landing at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, we came in very low and very slow. From the windows of the plane we could see all the shell holes around the airport;they looked like craters on the moon, except they were a very bright green wet surface. Flying in, we could also see the small shacks that the local people called home, alongside the gun emplacements of our troops. GI's waved to us or gave us the finger as our plane flew over their positions." Watkins' last impressions as he left this "war chariot" were as follows: "As the back door of the plane opened and the outside air permeated the interior of the plane, we immediately felt the heat and humidity and the smell of Vietnam. As I looked at the sober faces of the men aboard our flight just in from the States and then looked at the stewardesses saying goodbye to us, I know that these girls might be the last American girl I ever saw. Some of the guys they were saying goodbye to would never board a flight again-alive, that is".No history book will ever tell you the following, e.g. as new "cannon fodder" disembarked from the jet liner, the GI's that survived their 365 day tour boarded the very same plane. Watkins immediately noticed a look that all these veterans had, which other memoirs described as the "1000 yard stare". In that regard, Watkins wrote when he looked at the soldiers boarding the "freedom bird" to go back to "the world" in the following manner: "They looked older then we did, even though you knew they weren't. They had that shallow-eyed look, the look you get when you work for days and days without enough sleep. That faraway look, that nothing seems to matter look. They had a blank stare that was to become all too familiar to me in the coming months. I was glad for them, nevertheless. These guys had beaten the odds, they had served their country, and now they were going home to their families and loved ones, and I for one was very happy for them."J. R. Watkins did not get drafted. He wanted a test of manhood, and got it: a combat assignment. On November 20, 1969, Watkins was sent to join the 27nth division, 1/27 Wolfhounds at Cu Chi, Vietnam. Attracted to their motto, "No fear on Earth", Watkins wrote: " This test of manhood, which I felt I had to go through in order to prove myself to myself-as well as to my brothers, friends and relatives who had gone off to war before me-had truly begun after all. My feelings at the time was that if I didn't go to Vietnam I would never truly know if I had the right stuff or if I could hack it in combat". His description of Vietnam was classic: "Vietnam was such a strange and foreign place. Some words that come to mind are lush, tropical and very green, as do hot and humid. The air contained a red clay dust that you could never seem to wash off, no matter how hard you tried. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but that's what Vietnam was, on many levels a contradiction. I think this fact alone was responsible for many deaths; if you were not on your highest alert at all times the land itself would find a way to take your life". Also not in any history book is Watkins' impressions of our allies, the South Vietnamese: "The people were so much smaller then we were, and, not to be mean, not very good looking either. What struck me the most, were all the young teenage boys we saw along the way. I thought, "If we are here to help these people fight for their freedom from their enemy, and we had come 12,000 miles to do so, then why aren't these guys in uniform fighting for their own country?"Initially assigned to "Firebase Chamberlain" near the Cambodian border, Watkins wrote how he was shunned as the new guy ("F.N.G."). To that, he wrote: "One of the unwritten rules of the war in Vietnam was "Don't get too close to the new guys, as the odds were very good over there that if you were going to get killed it would happen in the first 30 days or so". Watkins job was to be an "R.T.O' (radio telephone operator). He was given the man's rucksack and radio of whom he was replacing. When he noticed that his equipment was caked and matted with dried blood, he wrote remembering this: "That was the reason I was here: the last guy that carried this stuff had been wounded and flown out the day before. Soldiers carrying radios were always the enemy's first target, because they were the ones who had communications link with the outside, and it was best to eliminate them right from the beginning of any firefight".The reader wonders if Watkins was intentionally pointing out why the U.S. war effort failed, or rather being sarcastic in his recollections in this memoir. Nevertheless, Watkins leaves no doubt in the reader's mind of the futility of the American war effort not to be found in any college textbook. On one of his early "S & D" (search and destroy) reconnaissance missions, he wrote of tipping off the enemy, ruining the element of any chance of surprise, simply because of loud troop movement. Watkins asserted: "We moved slowly through the thick underbrush and high grass trying hard not to make too much noise, but with all the gear we were carrying (80 lbs. of equipment, multiple canteens of water and an M-16 assault rifle) that was pretty much impossible".Mr. Watkins describes various ambushes, battles, carnage, and acts of bravery and humility throughout his tour in this book. However, he summed up his frustration , despite accusations after the war of inflated "body counts" of the enemy as follows: "As we continued our search for the enemy it was beginning to feel like a dance: they would go one way, and we would follow; we would go another, and they would follow. We felt they were close, real close. The fact that they didn't want to expose themselves was frustrating. We were dancing, dancing with the enemy, as a moth will dance with a flame, taking care not to get too close. And so would the enemy dance with us throughout my tour. We knew that unless they had us outnumbered by 4 to 1 they would be crazy to engage us, because with our artillery and helicopter support only a call away, they would be annihilated if they did. It is estimated that the kill ratio was 30 to 1 in our favor during any engagement with the enemy during the Vietnam War". In regards to "body counts" Watkins wrote that it was a way for a captain to look good for his superiors, and troops would be rewarded with extra "R & R" time, or less time in the field. It was a lot more appealing, both safer and more comfortable for a grunt to sleep at a "Fire Support Base" instead of on the jungle floor. Watkins recalled: " A large body count meant something to everyone. Even so, it kind of rubbed me the wrong way that someone had to die for someone else to look good. I was new in-country and it would take a while for that feeling to leave my head-but leave it it would. The body count was all-important for many reasons, not the least of which was that there would be less of the enemy to contend with. Less of the enemy? That was a joke; they would just keep on coming, no matter what the body count was." The educated reader of this book will compare this statement of Mr. Watkins with General William C. Westmoreland's theory of "enemy attrition" and scoff. Ultimately, Mr. Watkins was correct. Just ask the survivors of the siege at "Khe Sanh", the battles at fire bases "Ripcord, Lang Vei and Mary Ann" who endured enemy "human wave" attacks.Moreover, Mr. Watkins wrote about the resiliency of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. In terms of eating in the field C rations and not leaving leftovers, Watkins mused: "For the year I was in country I think I lived on fruit cocktail and hot chocolate and pound cake for my entire tour. Whatever was left over would be destroyed. Everything came in cans, and we didn't want to leave anything for the enemy to use against us. The enemy would pack those cans with explosives and use them as booby traps against us. It was just a shame that all this food had to go to waste. The little kids we would see in the villages we would go through during the day looked so thin and malnourished that they could have used that food. But this was war, and we were under orders." As I have already mentioned, many American ambushes of the enemy were motivated by a soldier being wounded by a sniper or maiming booby trap. Watkins wrote: "When a fellow soldier went down, it would hurt-and hurt a lot. It would be something that you would never completely forget. Just when you thought the memory was fading into the past it would come and visit you during the night, more vivid than ever, and would never completely release it's ugly grasp on you". J. R. Watkins was referring to "P.S.T.D. that even today still affects untold Vietnam Veteran "walking wounded".There is a very poignant part in this memoir. Consequently, after a member in Watkins' unit was wounded, Watkins and other members of the Wolfhounds "Alpha Unit" went out to do a little "payback" of their own. A traumatizing, unforgettable incident occurred. Watkins recalled: "The VC were springing ambushes on us every chance they got, either by shooting us outright or by setting up booby traps that were designed to maim us or worse. All we were trying to do was beat them at their own game, and whatever worked was fine with us. This wasn't Kansas, Toto-this was the real deal, and we were going to stay alive for 365 days and go home and try to forget all about the things we had done in order to survive". Watkins group set up an ambush, and unbeknownst to them, a little girl and her grandparents mistakenly wandered into this free fire "kill zone". It was over quick. Watkins shamefully recalled: "We hadn't ambushed the enemy at all. What we had done was cut to pieces 2 old farmers and a little girl". J. R. Watkins and his fellow soldiers were severely traumatized by their wanton murder of innocents.A mini "My Lai" had occurred. How did Watkins rationalize this? He sadly wrote in an attempt to justify and make sense of what happened: " We said to ourselves that it just wasn't our fault; after all, we didn't ask to be over here. South Vietnam had asked us to be here to help them fight communism. Furthermore, we just wanted to survive ourselves and get the hell out of here in one piece. And go home to our girlfriends, wives, children, and loved ones to our cars and beer, not necessarily in that order. These were the things we missed the most, and these were the things we were fighting for-not the South Vietnamese government, but our way of life. We didn't want to be here anyway, the results of that ambush was not our fault. How were we to know who was walking down that trail in the darkness anyway? Those farmers should have known better than to be out that time of night. Didn't they know that after dark that in a "Free Fire zone" we would shoot anything that moved? It was plain wasn't our fault and that was all there was to it, period!"There is much to this memoir then I could possibly cover in this review. J. R. Watkins related the pain he experienced when his girlfriend, who promised to wait until he returned from Vietnam to marry him, sent Watkins a "Dear John" breakup letter. This callously announced that she had married another man, painfully crushing Watkins. It also interestingly served as a motivation for him to come home alive, survive the war, and confront this woman. This ultimately happened. Watkins also related the difficulty he had adjusting to the climate and insects in Vietnam, the salt pills, the leeches, the constant wetness of the "monsoon season", and his addiction to the enticing action and excitement of "combat adrenaline". Watkins reviewed the weapons of this war, the fear and awesome devastation of "B-52" air strikes, and the inferno of pain, destruction and fire that napalm caused (Watkins said this was invented by the "devil himself") He also recalled with chilling details his near brush with capture, being thrown from a helicopter from 15 feet up in the middle of a field swarming with the N.V.A. However, I would like to end this review with a quote from Mr. Watkins, whose theme was an undercurrent throughout the book that I named this review as such.Mr. Watkins, who I believe spoke for the majority of current Vietnam Veterans, lamented about the Vietnam War in retrospect as follows: "we would always be looking for "payback"-the more, the better. The feelings of the men that actually fought the "Vietnam War" was that the more of the enemy we could kill, the less of them there would be to kill. I know that thinking sounds kind of weird now, but at the time it made complete sense to us." The concluding comment of this review should put things in perspective. Mr. Watkins asserted about his experiences as a "Wolfhound", the 60,000 names of the dead on "The Wall" in the nation's capital and the way the conflict ended as follows: "As I look back on it now, my feelings aren't any different today than they were then. It wasn't worth it one bit, I thought it had stunk then and I still do today. But once the fighting began and the adrenaline started to flow and the willingness to kill and the desire to live kicked in, all bets were off. We took our chances for our country in one way or another and prayed for the best. As my time in-country dragged on and I became more hardened and experienced, I would tune out the possibility that I too could be wounded or killed. After a while one doesn't really believe he will be making it home anyway. We tried to survive day to day and not worry about what tomorrow may bring-tomorrow was out of our control and was going to take care of itself on way or another. We were all at fate's mercy and there wasn't much we could do about it. For in Vietnam, tomorrow was promised to no one". J. Richard Watkins' "Vietnam: No Regrets" is an essential read and an important, intelligently written memoir that will bring nuances and innuendo about this tragic slice of American history to life in a rare, unforgettable and vibrant way!PEOPLEJ. richard WatkinsPLACESVietnam WarTIMESlate 1960'sThere is only 1 edition record, so we'll show it here... • Add edition?Vietnam No RegretsPublished July 31, 2005 by Aventine Press . Written in English.About the BookWritten by Bernie Weisz/Historian Pembroke Pines, Florida February 27, 2010 e mail:BernWei1@aol.comI have studied the Vietnam War in high school, and more intensively in college, but what I learned in academia as opposed to the multiple memoirs of the actual participants are 2 different accounts altogether. J. Richard Watkins shoots from the hips in this catharsis, with this memoir being penned 25 years after the fact. Official accounts of the ground war, our relationship with our allies, the South Vietnamese, the conduct of the way the North Vietnamese fought us, and especially the version of the 1970 Cambodian Incursion do not jive with what Watkins saw threw his 22 year old eyes and related on the pages of "Vietnam: No Regrets".When the reader finishes the last page of this amazing memoir, using Watkins observations, he or she will realize that all U.S. battles with the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were "anti-climatic." Watkins wrote throughout "No Regrets" that there were no big battles when expected, especially in Cambodia. The majority of U.S. aggression was motivated by retaliation for a grunt's wounding by enemy sniping, primitive booby traps or ambushes. Our foe was a sneaky, elusive enemy who disappeared under the multiple underground caves the Communists built to avoid confrontation. Watkins writes of exciting small unit actions and ambushes in the sweltering jungle. The reason Watkins wrote about "one big need for revenge" was because of the way the N.V.A fought us. "Charlie" as the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were called, only showed himself in force when he thought the situation was favorable. After Watkins' unit, the U.S. 27 nth Infantry Division also known as the "Wolfhounds" took casualties, they undertook an avenging battle of setting up deadly ambushes in the sweltering, insect infested jungles of Vietnam.Mr. Watkins recalled the painful task of "The Wolfhounds" vengefully pursuing the elusive enemy and attempting to ferret them out of their secretive redoubts, who for the most part frustratingly evaded capture and withdrew over and over. They disappeared in hidden, underground sanctuaries, or even more frustratingly, mingled with the local people and were bypassed by the Wolfhounds, who in turn were attacked by them from the rear at night. Watkins also wrote of a special, elite unit that pursued this insidious enemy, known as the "Tunnel Rats", who with great tenacity and braveness pursued this subterranean foe. The stories I read in Watkins' "No Regrets" made it easy for me to understand how a "My Lai Massacre" incident could occur, and even more lingering, how a Veteran could leave Vietnam with torturous P.T.S.D., based on the incidents Watkins described in this book.Mr. Watkins does not talk much about his early life in "No Regrets". This memoir starts with the author's surprise at finding out that instead of being flown from Northern California to Vietnam via a military plane, he was transported with 160 other soldiers he had never met before aboard a United Airlines 707 Jetliner. Watkins' observations of landing in Vietnam, after a 14 hour journey that included stops in Hawaii and Guam, are noteworthy. Watkins wrote: "On our final approach for landing at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, we came in very low and very slow. From the windows of the plane we could see all the shell holes around the airport;they looked like craters on the moon, except they were a very bright green wet surface. Flying in, we could also see the small shacks that the local people called home, alongside the gun emplacements of our troops. GI's waved to us or gave us the finger as our plane flew over their positions." Watkins' last impressions as he left this "war chariot" were as follows: "As the back door of the plane opened and the outside air permeated the interior of the plane, we immediately felt the heat and humidity and the smell of Vietnam. As I looked at the sober faces of the men aboard our flight just in from the States and then looked at the stewardesses saying goodbye to us, I know that these girls might be the last American girl I ever saw. Some of the guys they were saying goodbye to would never board a flight again-alive, that is".No history book will ever tell you the following, e.g. as new "cannon fodder" disembarked from the jet liner, the GI's that survived their 365 day tour boarded the very same plane. Watkins immediately noticed a look that all these veterans had, which other memoirs described as the "1000 yard stare". In that regard, Watkins wrote when he looked at the soldiers boarding the "freedom bird" to go back to "the world" in the following manner: "They looked older then we did, even though you knew they weren't. They had that shallow-eyed look, the look you get when you work for days and days without enough sleep. That faraway look, that nothing seems to matter look. They had a blank stare that was to become all too familiar to me in the coming months. I was glad for them, nevertheless. These guys had beaten the odds, they had served their country, and now they were going home to their families and loved ones, and I for one was very happy for them."J. R. Watkins did not get drafted. He wanted a test of manhood, and got it: a combat assignment. On November 20, 1969, Watkins was sent to join the 27nth division, 1/27 Wolfhounds at Cu Chi, Vietnam. Attracted to their motto, "No fear on Earth", Watkins wrote: " This test of manhood, which I felt I had to go through in order to prove myself to myself-as well as to my brothers, friends and relatives who had gone off to war before me-had truly begun after all. My feelings at the time was that if I didn't go to Vietnam I would never truly know if I had the right stuff or if I could hack it in combat". His description of Vietnam was classic: "Vietnam was such a strange and foreign place. Some words that come to mind are lush, tropical and very green, as do hot and humid. The air contained a red clay dust that you could never seem to wash off, no matter how hard you tried. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but that's what Vietnam was, on many levels a contradiction. I think this fact alone was responsible for many deaths; if you were not on your highest alert at all times the land itself would find a way to take your life". Also not in any history book is Watkins' impressions of our allies, the South Vietnamese: "The people were so much smaller then we were, and, not to be mean, not very good looking either. What struck me the most, were all the young teenage boys we saw along the way. I thought, "If we are here to help these people fight for their freedom from their enemy, and we had come 12,000 miles to do so, then why aren't these guys in uniform fighting for their own country?"Initially assigned to "Firebase Chamberlain" near the Cambodian border, Watkins wrote how he was shunned as the new guy ("F.N.G."). To that, he wrote: "One of the unwritten rules of the war in Vietnam was "Don't get too close to the new guys, as the odds were very good over there that if you were going to get killed it would happen in the first 30 days or so". Watkins job was to be an "R.T.O' (radio telephone operator). He was given the man's rucksack and radio of whom he was replacing. When he noticed that his equipment was caked and matted with dried blood, he wrote remembering this: "That was the reason I was here: the last guy that carried this stuff had been wounded and flown out the day before. Soldiers carrying radios were always the enemy's first target, because they were the ones who had communications link with the outside, and it was best to eliminate them right from the beginning of any firefight".The reader wonders if Watkins was intentionally pointing out why the U.S. war effort failed, or rather being sarcastic in his recollections in this memoir. Nevertheless, Watkins leaves no doubt in the reader's mind of the futility of the American war effort not to be found in any college textbook. On one of his early "S & D" (search and destroy) reconnaissance missions, he wrote of tipping off the enemy, ruining the element of any chance of surprise, simply because of loud troop movement. Watkins asserted: "We moved slowly through the thick underbrush and high grass trying hard not to make too much noise, but with all the gear we were carrying (80 lbs. of equipment, multiple canteens of water and an M-16 assault rifle) that was pretty much impossible".Mr. Watkins describes various ambushes, battles, carnage, and acts of bravery and humility throughout his tour in this book. However, he summed up his frustration , despite accusations after the war of inflated "body counts" of the enemy as follows: "As we continued our search for the enemy it was beginning to feel like a dance: they would go one way, and we would follow; we would go another, and they would follow. We felt they were close, real close. The fact that they didn't want to expose themselves was frustrating. We were dancing, dancing with the enemy, as a moth will dance with a flame, taking care not to get too close. And so would the enemy dance with us throughout my tour. We knew that unless they had us outnumbered by 4 to 1 they would be crazy to engage us, because with our artillery and helicopter support only a call away, they would be annihilated if they did. It is estimated that the kill ratio was 30 to 1 in our favor during any engagement with the enemy during the Vietnam War". In regards to "body counts" Watkins wrote that it was a way for a captain to look good for his superiors, and troops would be rewarded with extra "R & R" time, or less time in the field. It was a lot more appealing, both safer and more comfortable for a grunt to sleep at a "Fire Support Base" instead of on the jungle floor. Watkins recalled: " A large body count meant something to everyone. Even so, it kind of rubbed me the wrong way that someone had to die for someone else to look good. I was new in-country and it would take a while for that feeling to leave my head-but leave it it would. The body count was all-important for many reasons, not the least of which was that there would be less of the enemy to contend with. Less of the enemy? That was a joke; they would just keep on coming, no matter what the body count was." The educated reader of this book will compare this statement of Mr. Watkins with General William C. Westmoreland's theory of "enemy attrition" and scoff. Ultimately, Mr. Watkins was correct. Just ask the survivors of the siege at "Khe Sanh", the battles at fire bases "Ripcord, Lang Vei and Mary Ann" who endured enemy "human wave" attacks.Moreover, Mr. Watkins wrote about the resiliency of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. In terms of eating in the field C rations and not leaving leftovers, Watkins mused: "For the year I was in country I think I lived on fruit cocktail and hot chocolate and pound cake for my entire tour. Whatever was left over would be destroyed. Everything came in cans, and we didn't want to leave anything for the enemy to use against us. The enemy would pack those cans with explosives and use them as booby traps against us. It was just a shame that all this food had to go to waste. The little kids we would see in the villages we would go through during the day looked so thin and malnourished that they could have used that food. But this was war, and we were under orders." As I have already mentioned, many American ambushes of the enemy were motivated by a soldier being wounded by a sniper or maiming booby trap. Watkins wrote: "When a fellow soldier went down, it would hurt-and hurt a lot. It would be something that you would never completely forget. Just when you thought the memory was fading into the past it would come and visit you during the night, more vivid than ever, and would never completely release it's ugly grasp on you". J. R. Watkins was referring to "P.S.T.D. that even today still affects untold Vietnam Veteran "walking wounded".There is a very poignant part in this memoir. Consequently, after a member in Watkins' unit was wounded, Watkins and other members of the Wolfhounds "Alpha Unit" went out to do a little "payback" of their own. A traumatizing, unforgettable incident occurred. Watkins recalled: "The VC were springing ambushes on us every chance they got, either by shooting us outright or by setting up booby traps that were designed to maim us or worse. All we were trying to do was beat them at their own game, and whatever worked was fine with us. This wasn't Kansas, Toto-this was the real deal, and we were going to stay alive for 365 days and go home and try to forget all about the things we had done in order to survive". Watkins group set up an ambush, and unbeknownst to them, a little girl and her grandparents mistakenly wandered into this free fire "kill zone". It was over quick. Watkins shamefully recalled: "We hadn't ambushed the enemy at all. What we had done was cut to pieces 2 old farmers and a little girl". J. R. Watkins and his fellow soldiers were severely traumatized by their wanton murder of innocents.A mini "My Lai" had occurred. How did Watkins rationalize this? He sadly wrote in an attempt to justify and make sense of what happened: " We said to ourselves that it just wasn't our fault; after all, we didn't ask to be over here. South Vietnam had asked us to be here to help them fight communism. Furthermore, we just wanted to survive ourselves and get the hell out of here in one piece. And go home to our girlfriends, wives, children, and loved ones to our cars and beer, not necessarily in that order. These were the things we missed the most, and these were the things we were fighting for-not the South Vietnamese government, but our way of life. We didn't want to be here anyway, the results of that ambush was not our fault. How were we to know who was walking down that trail in the darkness anyway? Those farmers should have known better than to be out that time of night. Didn't they know that after dark that in a "Free Fire zone" we would shoot anything that moved? It was plain wasn't our fault and that was all there was to it, period!"There is much to this memoir then I could possibly cover in this review. J. R. Watkins related the pain he experienced when his girlfriend, who promised to wait until he returned from Vietnam to marry him, sent Watkins a "Dear John" breakup letter. This callously announced that she had married another man, painfully crushing Watkins. It also interestingly served as a motivation for him to come home alive, survive the war, and confront this woman. This ultimately happened. Watkins also related the difficulty he had adjusting to the climate and insects in Vietnam, the salt pills, the leeches, the constant wetness of the "monsoon season", and his addiction to the enticing action and excitement of "combat adrenaline". Watkins reviewed the weapons of this war, the fear and awesome devastation of "B-52" air strikes, and the inferno of pain, destruction and fire that napalm caused (Watkins said this was invented by the "devil himself") He also recalled with chilling details his near brush with capture, being thrown from a helicopter from 15 feet up in the middle of a field swarming with the N.V.A. However, I would like to end this review with a quote from Mr. Watkins, whose theme was an undercurrent throughout the book that I named this review as such.Mr. Watkins, who I believe spoke for the majority of current Vietnam Veterans, lamented about the Vietnam War in retrospect as follows: "we would always be looking for "payback"-the more, the better. The feelings of the men that actually fought the "Vietnam War" was that the more of the enemy we could kill, the less of them there would be to kill. I know that thinking sounds kind of weird now, but at the time it made complete sense to us." The concluding comment of this review should put things in perspective. Mr. Watkins asserted about his experiences as a "Wolfhound", the 60,000 names of the dead on "The Wall" in the nation's capital and the way the conflict ended as follows: "As I look back on it now, my feelings aren't any different today than they were then. It wasn't worth it one bit, I thought it had stunk then and I still do today. But once the fighting began and the adrenaline started to flow and the willingness to kill and the desire to live kicked in, all bets were off. We took our chances for our country in one way or another and prayed for the best. As my time in-country dragged on and I became more hardened and experienced, I would tune out the possibility that I too could be wounded or killed. After a while one doesn't really believe he will be making it home anyway. We tried to survive day to day and not worry about what tomorrow may bring-tomorrow was out of our control and was going to take care of itself on way or another. We were all at fate's mercy and there wasn't much we could do about it. For in Vietnam, tomorrow was promised to no one". J. Richard Watkins' "Vietnam: No Regrets" is an essential read and an important, intelligently written memoir that will bring nuances and innuendo about this tragic slice of American history to life in a rare, unforgettable and vibrant way!