Help Request: Vietnam History/Experience

5,053 Views | 34 Replies | Last: 7 yr ago by 45-70Ag
Squadron7
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Serious online begging on my part, but: I may have stumbled upon a unique opportunity to travel to Vietnam with war vets. Vietnam is a weak spot in my historical knowledge. I am asking for a reading list to begin to fill in my knowledge hole.

What I'd like to focus on first is anything that relates first to the experience of the vets on the ground and in the field. The geopolitical big picture stuff can wait.

Any help appreciated.
Pro Sandy
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
We were Solders Once and Young Too

The movie is great, the book, holy hell
mrad85
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I recommend "Matterhorn". Excellent IMO


BQ78
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Rumor of War by Caputo
Aggies Revenge
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:
Rumor of War by Caputo
This above all.

F4GIB71
How long do you want to ignore this user?
The Only War We Had: Platoon Leader's Journal
Vietnam 1969/1979: Company Commander's Journal

These were written by Lee Lanning '68 Spider D. He kept a journal while there. Wrote these books years later. First was first half of his tour as Plt Ldr, second was last half as one of youngest 1LT Co CC. These are one guy's perspective of the war as everyone had their own. He was infantry officer with little regard for REMFs (Amen)

Lee has a new book coming out in November, Texas Aggies in Vietnam. There is an appendix that lists the 107 Aggies who gave it all in VN. Another appendix with another 83 who died during the Vietnam era although not direct combat. Training accidents, aircraft accupidents, etc. Lest We Forget.
Ulysses90
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
It's a very specific examination of the experience of 2-12 Cavalry at Hue City but I highly recommend The Lost Battalion of Tet by Charles Krohn. It is a gut-wrenching story that chronicles one of the worst tactical decisions made by leaders at echelons above the battalion level in Vietnam.

https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Battalion-Tet-Breakout-Cavalry/dp/1591144345
quote:

In 1968 in South Vietnam, a US infantry battalion was ordered to charge a fortified North Vietnamese Army force over 200 yards away over an open field with no artillery or air support. The defenders had every advantage. The Americans started moving across the field just before noon, every man a target. By the time they reached the treeline at the other side of the open field nearly one half of the 400-man battalion was a casualty. Nine long agonizing hours afterwards, U.S. artillery units began support fire, although the unit remained trapped and desperately short of ammunition. The entrapped men saw their fate: death or captivity. Help from headquarters was neither offered nor available.

The following night the battalion commander decided to make a run for it . It was a gamble with high stakes. But the battalion did make it through enemy lines to a mountaintop where the NVA could not follow. When the lost battalion finally escaped encirclement, after nine hours with no artillery or air support, and thirty hours of fighting against an enemy that outnumbered them three to one, the tragic episode disappeared from official memory and U.S. Army records-as if nothing had happened.

JR69
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
quote:
We were Solders Once... and Young Too

The movie is great, the book, holy hell
FIFY

Great book!
I Like Mike
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Chickenhawk by Robert Mason
LewisChilds
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Bright Shining Lie by Sheehan is the best I've read.
champagnepapi
How long do you want to ignore this user?
quote:
It's a very specific examination of the experience of 2-12 Cavalry at Hue City but I highly recommend The Lost Battalion of Tet by Charles Krohn. It is a gut-wrenching story that chronicles one of the worst tactical decisions made by leaders at echelons above the battalion level in Vietnam.

https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Battalion-Tet-Breakout-Cavalry/dp/1591144345
quote:

In 1968 in South Vietnam, a US infantry battalion was ordered to charge a fortified North Vietnamese Army force over 200 yards away over an open field with no artillery or air support. The defenders had every advantage. The Americans started moving across the field just before noon, every man a target. By the time they reached the treeline at the other side of the open field nearly one half of the 400-man battalion was a casualty. Nine long agonizing hours afterwards, U.S. artillery units began support fire, although the unit remained trapped and desperately short of ammunition. The entrapped men saw their fate: death or captivity. Help from headquarters was neither offered nor available.

The following night the battalion commander decided to make a run for it . It was a gamble with high stakes. But the battalion did make it through enemy lines to a mountaintop where the NVA could not follow. When the lost battalion finally escaped encirclement, after nine hours with no artillery or air support, and thirty hours of fighting against an enemy that outnumbered them three to one, the tragic episode disappeared from official memory and U.S. Army records-as if nothing had happened.




I am actually in the current Active Duty Army's 2-12 CAV, 1ABCT, 1CD. We are now a Combined Arm's Battalion with 2 IN COs and 2 AR COs. This has never been revealed or talked about.

Same unit? Hmmmm
Ulysses90
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
It fell into one of the deeper parts of the memory hole of the US experience in Vietnam. It is the quintessential example of a commander caving to the expectation that he should "don't just stand there, do something". In this case something was to order a battalion without fire support to cross a large open area covered by enemy fire into an encircled position.
champagnepapi
How long do you want to ignore this user?
quote:
It fell into one of the deeper parts of the memory hole of the US experience in Vietnam. It is the quintessential example of a commander caving to the expectation that he should "don't just stand there, do something". In this case something was to order a battalion without fire support to cross a large open area covered by enemy fire into an encircled position.


Sounds like leadership decisions like the one described has stuck around the cav. Morale of the junior officers and soldiers is quite low. This maybe army wide. This is my first post though. Currently deployed to Korea.
Presley OBannons Sword
How long do you want to ignore this user?
quote:
I recommend "Matterhorn". Excellent IMO



great book, along with fields of fire (which is tied with lonesome dove as my favorite book of all time).

both novels though OP, FYI
Squadron7
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Received this as a recommendation and read it. Very good.


[url=https://www.amazon.com/LRRP-Team-Leader-Memoir-Vietnam-ebook/dp/B004EWEUQU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471376553&sr=1-1&keywords=lrrp+team+leader#nav-subnav][/url]
Amazon Link
Tango Mike
How long do you want to ignore this user?
If you want a more macro, not personal or unit specific, historical view, Max Boot's "Savage Wars of Peace" is excellently researched and well written. The last 10 or so chapters deal with Korea forward and includes both tactical and national-political views.

As Vietnam was another US-Russo proxy war of the Cold War, "At The Abyss" is an excellent historical view of the greater political goals of the era. Again, the latter chapters deal with Vietnam and the post-Vietnam purge of the military.

Colin Powell's book also briefly discusses his generation's lessons from Vietnam failure and the evolving (and now failed) Powell Doctrine. Not specifically Vietnam-related, but interesting in hindsight.

Edit: these are much more detailed and academic than most of the other nominations, so they may not be what you're after.

Also, anything written by BG Huba Wass de Czege is worth perusing. He's the father of the Army SAMS school and a post-Vietnam intellectual reformer in the military
AggieEP
How long do you want to ignore this user?
America's Longest War by George Herring is my favorite. Many of the above are memoirs that focus more on the mood and feeling of either individual battles or soldiers.

So really it depends if you want to know more on the macro level or the micro level on what I would recommend.
Squadron7
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I'm looking for both macro and micro, ultimately, so all suggestions are appreciated.


champagnepapi
How long do you want to ignore this user?
quote:
If you want a more macro, not personal or unit specific, historical view, Max Boot's "Savage Wars of Peace" is excellently researched and well written. The last 10 or so chapters deal with Korea forward and includes both tactical and national-political views.

As Vietnam was another US-Russo proxy war of the Cold War, "At The Abyss" is an excellent historical view of the greater political goals of the era. Again, the latter chapters deal with Vietnam and the post-Vietnam purge of the military.

Colin Powell's book also briefly discusses his generation's lessons from Vietnam failure and the evolving (and now failed) Powell Doctrine. Not specifically Vietnam-related, but interesting in hindsight.

Edit: these are much more detailed and academic than most of the other nominations, so they may not be what you're after.

Also, anything written by BG Huba Wass de Czege is worth perusing. He's the father of the Army SAMS school and a post-Vietnam intellectual reformer in the military


Platoon Leader. One of the best books i have ever read about a young leader in Vietnam.
Tango Mike
How long do you want to ignore this user?
A good book, certainly. I was listing more historical/intellectual books than personal memoirs or first hand unit accounts.
Presley OBannons Sword
How long do you want to ignore this user?
both street without joy and hell in a very small place are fantastic books that deal with the French in Vietnam. probably not exactly what you're looking for, but they are great books.
Trench55
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
They Marched into Sunlight

Can't think of the author right now.
Aggie63
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Larry Gwin's book "Baptism". A spot on book about combat from a grunt's perspective in Vietnam with the Ist Cav, in 1966-67. I was there, so I can verify its veracity.

One point I would make for all who have a desire to try to understand the Vietnam experience: Just know that one's perceptions of what it was like depend a lot on when the period of service occurred. I personally cannot relate to what I hear and read from some who were there later in the war. Just know that there is no universal experience, that each experience you will read is affected by so many factors. None are the same, each together make up a tapestry the together make up the "way it was".

Good luck, and I commend the OP desire to learn about Vietnam. For me and others, it was the most profound experience of my life.
Squadron7
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Question: Does the term "sapper" only apply to enemy demo/engineer troops?
NICU Dad
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
5 Years to Freedom.

James Nicholas Rowe
NICU Dad
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Into the Mouth of the Cat, the Story of Lance Sijan

Think the author was Malcom McConnell.
aggie50
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Thanks for the suggestion great book to add the collection
TalonDoc
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000XUAETY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Great read.
CrockerCock00
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
If you're interested in some of the helicopter ops, I recommend CW2 by Layne Heath. Historical fiction based upon a huey pilot's experience.
TalonDoc
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Platoon Leader: A Memoir of Command in Combat
DogCo84
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Vietnam history-based fiction:

If you can find them, Tom Wilson's Air Force trilogy is particularly good: "Termite Hill"; "Lucky's Bridge"; and "Tango Uniform".

James Webb's "Fields of Fire" and Franklin Allen Leib's "The Fire Dream" are great for the land-warfare side.

Naval Air: Gerry Carroll's "North SAR"; "Ghostrider One"; and "No Place to Hide". Of course, Stephen Coonts' "Flight of the Intruder" and "The Intruders" are amazing.
aggiejim70
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
F4GIB71 said:

The Only War We Had: Platoon Leader's Journal
Vietnam 1969/1979: Company Commander's Journal

These were written by Lee Lanning '68 Spider D. He kept a journal while there. Wrote these books years later. First was first half of his tour as Plt Ldr, second was last half as one of youngest 1LT Co CC. These are one guy's perspective of the war as everyone had their own. He was infantry officer with little regard for REMFs (Amen)

Lee has a new book coming out in November, Texas Aggies in Vietnam. There is an appendix that lists the 107 Aggies who gave it all in VN. Another appendix with another 83 who died during the Vietnam era although not direct combat. Training accidents, aircraft accupidents, etc. Lest We Forget.
It sounds as if you've seen the list. If so, can you confirm that Mike Noonan '68 is listed. He was my squad leader when I was a fish. KIA 4 July 1969. Sad fact is he graduated a semester early to go on active duty.

I can't really help the OP. I'm what they call a Vietnam era vet. I spent two long lonely years 10 April 71- 10 April 73 keeping Oklahoma safe for democracy.

I have a tracing of Mike's name from the Vietnam Wall. Every time I read what that sip Randy Duke his running his mouth about Aggie service, I want to kick his ass.
The person that is not willing to fight and die, if need be, for his country has no right to life.

James Earl Rudder '32
January 31, 1945
FCBlitz
How long do you want to ignore this user?
I work in Vietnam. We are cleaning up agent orange residuals. Where abouts in Vietnam are you going?
F4GIB71
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Aggiejim,
I have communicated with Lee and he sent me as complete a list as he had. Mike Noonan was on the list. PM me your email address and I'll forward to you.
Squadron7
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
FCBlitz said:

I work in Vietnam. We are cleaning up agent orange residuals. Where abouts in Vietnam are you going?

I have no idea of when, where, or even if, really. A lot of things need to fall into place...and not without a little luck. But I wanted to be prepared and the reading I have gotten done is well worth it even if the trip never happens. It is all stuff I needed to know.
Page 1 of 2
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.