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Books > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history > From 1900
More Than A Few Good Men tells the compelling soldiers story of
Robert J. Driver's life from childhood to his retirement from the
United States Marine Corps. Driver witnessed and was part of many
extreme, and sometimes chilling, events. These actions come to life
through Driver's own letters home to his wife, encompassing the
challenge of boot camp, Officer's Candidate School, and his tours
of duty in the Vietnam War. Driver collected declassified documents
and information from many of the Marines he served with in Vietnam
in order to provide the reader with this exceptionally detailed
account. Driver's letters home offer a clear reckoning of the
traumatic events of combat and the bravery of his young Marines.
The book also features biographies of the many contributors.
Driver's admiration for the men he fought with is evident-they were
More Than A Few Good Men.
In 2003, Major William Edwards and Lt. Colonel Robert P. Walters of
the 165th Military Intelligence Battalion were given the
near-impossible task of improving the U.S. Army's security posture
at Abu Ghraib prison under unfathomable conditions. With input from
officers who served with them, their candid firsthand accounts of
life at the notorious prison reveal unpublished details of the
human devastation that took place there, along with unexpected
glimpses of humanity.
Winner of the Blogger's Book Prize, 2021 Shortlisted for the
People's Book Prize, 2021 Winner of Best Literary Fiction and Best
Multicultural Fiction at American Book Fest International Book
Awards, 2021 'An epic account of Viet Nam's painful 20th-century
history, both vast in scope and intimate in its telling... Moving
and riveting.' Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of
The Sympathizer Selected as a Best Book of 2020 by NB Magazine *
BookBrowse * Buzz Magazine * NPR * Washington Independent Review of
Books * Real Simple * She Reads * A Hindu's View * Thoughts from a
Page One family, two generations of women and a war that will
change their lives forever Ha Noi, 1972. Huong and her grandmother,
Tran Dieu Lan, cling to one another in their improvised shelter as
American bombs fall around them. For Tran Dieu Lan, forced to flee
the family farm with her six children decades earlier as the
Communist government rose to power in the North, this experience is
horribly familiar. Seen through the eyes of these two unforgettable
women, The Mountains Sing captures their defiance and
determination, hope and unexpected joy. Vivid, gripping, and
steeped in the language and traditions of Viet Nam, celebrated
Vietnamese poet Nguyen's richly lyrical debut weaves between the
lives of a grandmother and granddaughter to paint a unique picture
of a country pushed to breaking point, and a family who refuse to
give up. 'Devastating... From the French and Japanese occupations
to the Indochina wars, The Great Hunger, land reform and the
Vietnam War, it's a story of resilience, determination, family and
hope in a country blighted by pain.' Refinery29
Contemporary Military Strategy and the Global War on Terror offers
an in-depth analysis of US/UK military strategy in Afghanistan and
Iraq from 2001 to the present day. It explores the development of
contemporary military strategy in the West in the modern age before
interrogating its application in the Global War on Terror. The book
provides detailed insights into the formulation of military plans
by political and military elites in the United States and United
Kingdom for Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Alastair Finlan highlights the challenges posed by each of these
unique theatres of operation, the nature of the diverse enemies
faced by coalition forces, and the shortcomings in strategic
thinking about these campaigns. This fresh perspective on strategy
in the West and how it has been applied in recent military
campaigns facilitates a deep understanding of how wars have been
and will be fought. Including key terms, concepts and discussion
questions for each chapter, Contemporary Military Strategy and the
Global War on Terror is a crucial text in strategic studies, and
required reading for anyone interested in the new realities of
transnational terrorism and twenty-first century warfare.
A secret mission sends the author to Vietnam's Mekong Delta, the
bread basket of old Indo - China. He uncovers a sophisticated enemy
supply network unknown to our military hierarchy.
Using intelligence data covertly gathered in Cambodia and
analyzed at the Center for Naval Analyses in Arlington, Virginia
they discover and destroy Vietcong forces and interdict VC supply
lines with a mixture of intrigue and romance.
A U. S. Naval story never told, complete with declassified maps
from the Office of Naval Intelligence, and illuminating pictures of
Saigon and archaic areas of the Delta taken by the author forty -
six years ago, a depiction of "old Saigon" and real relationships
between North and South Vietnam are related.
Headquartered in Saigon, the true interaction between our Navy
and Army ( MACV ) brass couched in the background of wartime
Saigon, often referred to as the "Paris of the Orient," and
Washington, D. C. is insightfully told.
In their initial effort to end the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon and
Henry Kissinger attempted to lever concessions from Hanoi at the
negotiating table with military force and coercive diplomacy. They
were not seeking military victory, which they did not believe was
feasible. Instead, they backed up their diplomacy toward North
Vietnam and the Soviet Union with the Madman Theory of threatening
excessive force, which included the specter of nuclear force. They
began with verbal threats then bombed North Vietnamese and Viet
Cong base areas in Cambodia, signaling that there was more to come.
As the bombing expanded, they launched a previously unknown mining
ruse against Haiphong, stepped-up their warnings to Hanoi and
Moscow, and initiated planning for a massive shock-and-awe military
operation referred to within the White House inner circle as DUCK
HOOK. Beyond the mining of North Vietnamese ports and selective
bombing in and around Hanoi, the initial DUCK HOOK concept included
proposals for "tactical" nuclear strikes against logistics targets
and U.S. and South Vietnamese ground incursions into the North. In
early October 1969, however, Nixon aborted planning for the
long-contemplated operation. He had been influenced by Hanoi's
defiance in the face of his dire threats and concerned about U.S.
public reaction, antiwar protests, and internal administration
dissent. In place of DUCK HOOK, Nixon and Kissinger launched a
secret global nuclear alert in hopes that it would lend credibility
to their prior warnings and perhaps even persuade Moscow to put
pressure on Hanoi. It was to be a "special reminder" of how far
President Nixon might go. The risky gambit failed to move the
Soviets, but it marked a turning point in the administration's
strategy for exiting Vietnam. Nixon and Kissinger became
increasingly resigned to a "long-route" policy of providing Saigon
with a "decent chance" of survival for a "decent interval" after a
negotiated settlement and U.S. forces left Indochina. Burr and
Kimball draw upon extensive research in participant interviews and
declassified documents to offer a history that holds important
lessons for the present and future about the risks and
uncertainties of nuclear threat making.
Possibly there is nothing more conducive to thoughts of the
Eternal, than having one's face slammed into 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
dirty fire beating a tattoo on the light receptors in the backs of
your eyes. Your head aches; throbbing from visual shock waves.
Time has come to an end; there is no right, no wrong, only
whatever follows a life that is now over. The dark reaper is here.
What's it going to be like on the other side? Is there an "other
side"?
The old timers use the maxim, "There are no atheists in a
fox-hole." Possibly so; I can only give my own experience, and I
never had the opportunity to be in one. Combat aviators crash and
sometimes burn instead. But close calls almost always give rise to
interminable questions; especially when the survived experience is
seared into the human psyche.
For some, satisfactory answers never seem to come. For myself,
may I pro-offer both scorching experience, and incredible
life-lessons learned? Then, should you ever fall into similar
adventure; you man go into it better prepared than I was.
JWV
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