I spent twenty five years on active duty with nineteen months in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot. I served as a tactics instructor at the US Army Infantry Center; two years teaching the operational level of war at the US Army Command and General Staff College; two years teaching at the German Army Tactics Center. I commanded two rifle companies, one being an Airborne rifle company in Alaska and served two years as battalion commander of an air assault infantry battalion during Operation Desert Shield/Storm. I hold a Masters Degree in Military Strategy from the US Army Command and Staff College.
I wrote...
Undaunted Valor: An Assault Helicopter Unit in Vietnam
I am recommending this book as it is a true story about the initial engagement of US conventional Army forces in a major battle in the Vietnam War. It set the stage for how all future battles in that environment would be conducted. The actions by both the US Army and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) were followed throughout the war for the next eight years.
I particularly like the book because both authors participated in the battle, and their participation made for a very accurate retelling of the events. I found exceptional examples of leadership in this book, which I employed during the course of my twenty-five years of active duty as an Army officer and a helicopter pilot.
I also liked the fact that the book does not label the PAVN as the bad guys but just others fighting for what they believed in.
'If you want to know what is was like to go to Vietnam as a young American... and find yourself caught in ferocious, remorseless combat with an enemy as courageous and idealistic as you were, then you must read this book. Moore and Galloway have captured the terror and exhilaration, the comradeship and self-sacrifice, the brutality and compassion that are the dark heart of war' THE TIMES
THE MUST READ CLASSIC OF THE VIETNAM WAR
In November 1965, 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, under the command of Lt.Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small…
The author subtitles this book, which I read in the hardback, The 1972 Easter Offensive America’s Last Vietnam Battle. To me, I did not consider this to be the last American battle in Vietnam as this battle was conducted by the South Vietnamese forces with assistance only from US Advisors, helicopters, and Air Force aircraft.
I found the book to be an excellent account of the actions of US advisors and helicopter crews and certainly informative on the future use of our military in an advisory role. I was amazed at the courage displayed by all, but especially by US Marine advisors and US Army advisors with Airborne and Ranger units.
I had an opportunity to discuss the book with one of the Marine advisors, and he verified the accuracy of the events in the book that he had experienced.
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I recommended this book as it shows the mistakes that were made in the conduct of the Vietnam War from a military perspective and strategy. While I served in Vietnam, I could not understand some of the things we were asked and told to do.
This book shed new light on those orders and how those orders contributed to the end results of the war. I found it amazing that one man had the answers and yet was ignored by so many. I found it disturbing common sense threatened senior officers egos and the results were a war that America would be saddled with for ten years and countless lost lives.
Outspoken, professional and fearless, Lt. Col. John Paul Vann went to Vietnam in 1962, full of confidence in America's might and right to prevail. He was soon appalled by the South Vietnamese troops' unwillingness to fight, by their random slaughter of civilians and by the arrogance and corruption of the US military. He flouted his supervisors and leaked his sharply pessimistic - and, as it turned out, accurate - assessments to the US press corps in Saigon. Among them was Sheehan, who became fascinated by the angry Vann, befriended him and followed his tragic and reckless career.
I recommend this book as it gives a detailed account of political actions both before the engagement of conventional US forces and after US forces departed Vietnam. I learned a lot about political decisions made in the late 1940s that committed us to actions in the 1950s and ’60s.
Many of the characters in our government I learned were behind the scenes decision makers not elected by the people but possess in the power to commit us to this war. The need for transparency in our government comes through loud and clear, I found, and is only possible with a news media that is active and interested in reporting facts and not emotions or outright lies.
Cold War orthodoxy provides Americans with every reason to be proud of their “long twilight struggle” against Communism. It begins, of course, with Harry Truman, his heroic resistance to Soviet aggression in Europe, his defense of democracy in Korea and his opposition to the disastrous influence of McCarthyism, a malevolent force injected into “the bloodstream of the society” by the right in 1948. Moving on, orthodoxy teaches us of John Kennedy’s doomed if honorable attempts to save an unsustainable ally in Southeast Asia, Lyndon Johnson’s disastrous attempt to follow Kennedy’s path and the courage and insight of those who saw…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I recommend this book as it is a firsthand account of actions by US Advisors to the South Vietnamese forces in the spring of 1972. The author exposes the flaws that caused the North Vietnamese forces to have such success in the opening days.
I found his examples of leadership, duty, and honor to be exceptional, and not only his actions but the actions of most of the advisors. I was surprised by the examples of Vietnamese bravery, especially in the South Vietnamese Marines and airborne units, something that I had not seen in my nineteen months serving in Vietnam.
The Easter Offensive was a military campaign conducted by the People's Army of Vietnam against the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and the United States military between 30 March and 22 October 1972, during the Vietnam War. This conventional invasion was a radical departure from previous North Vietnamese offensives. The offensive was not designed to win the war outright, but North Vietnam aimed to gain as much territory and destroy as many units of South Vietnam as possible, to improve the North's negotiating position as the Paris Peace Accords drew toward a conclusion.
This thoroughly documented chronology serves both…
The real life story of a college drop out who enlisted to fly helicopters in Vietnam. This is the story of his experiences in basic training, flight training, and learning how to be a combat pilot and, eventually, flight leader and unit instructor pilot in combat. Witness his emotions as he faces his feelings, both euphoric and depressed, as fellow pilots and crew members fall. Experience his awakening as he comes to believe in a Higher Being.
All the events are true and presented in the order that they occurred. All the characters are people that he flew with, except in a couple of cases where the names were changed.
