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Books > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 > Vietnam War
Reverberations of the Vietnam War can still be felt in American
culture. The post-9/11 United States forays into the Middle East,
the invasion and occupation of Iraq especially, have evoked
comparisons to the nearly two decades of American presence in Viet
Nam (1954-1973). That evocation has renewed interest in the Vietnam
War, resulting in the re-printing of older War narratives and the
publication of new ones. This volume tracks those echoes as they
appear in American, Vietnamese American, and Vietnamese war
literature, much of which has joined the American literary canon.
Using a wide range of theoretical approaches, these essays analyze
works by Michael Herr, Bao Ninh, Duong Thu Huong, Bobbie Ann Mason,
le thi diem thuy, Tim O'Brien, Larry Heinemann, and newcomers Denis
Johnson, Karl Marlantes, and Tatjana Solis. Including an historical
timeline of the conflict and annotated guides to further reading,
this is an essential guide for students and readers of contemporary
American fiction
This book is about the unseen Shadow War that occurred between 1968
and 1976. It was written to honor those who served our country and
didn't come back. They may have been ignored or denied by the
"Powers That Be," but they will live in my heart and my nightmares
as long as I live. The profits from the sale of this book will go
to help homeless veterans. Reading this book will open a new world
for you -- The world of Special Intelligence Operations. From Viet
Nam to Cambodia to Laos and North Viet Nam the action will show you
why so many veterans from the Viet Nam War have PTSD. The potential
for recurring nightmares will be apparent. Next you will take a
trip from Libya to Spain to Italy and Romania. You will find out
that the war against terror did not start in 2001. The following
exert will demonstrate what Inside the World of Mirrors is all
about. In 1974, I met and was briefed by a "Mr. Martin," a high
level individual from the American Embassy in Rome, Italy, on an
operation to insure that a particular individual would not continue
funding communist political activities in Italy. He was a bag man
for the KGB. It was less than two months until a very important
election was to take place. He was spreading money around to help
the communist political candidates get elected. I was simply told
"Make Him Stop" They gave me carte blanche to get it done. Anytime
in the next seven days would be just fine. This was only one of the
83 missions ran by a Special Intelligence Operative code named the
Iceman
This is the sixth volume in a planned nine-volume operational and
chronological series covering the Marine Corps ' participation in
the Vietnam War. A separate functional series will complement the
operational histories. This volume details the change in United
States policy for the Vietnam War. After a thorough review,
President Richard M. Nixon adopted a policy of seeking to end
United States military involvement in Vietnam either through
negotiations or, failing that, turning the combat role over to the
South Vietnamese. It was this decision that began the
Vietnamization of the war in the summer of 1969 and which would
soon greatly reduce and then end the Marine Corps' combat role in
the war. The Marines of III Marine Amphibious Force continued the
full range of military and pacification activities within I Corps
Tactical Zone during this period of transition. Until withdrawn,
the 3d Marine Division, employing highly mobile tactics,
successfully blunted North Vietnamese Army efforts to reintroduce
troops and supplies into Quang Tri Province. The 1st Marine
Division, concentrated in Quang Nam Province, continued both mobile
offensive and pacification operations to protect the city of Da
Nang and surrounding population centers. The 1st Marine Aircraft
Wing provided air support to both divisions, as well as other
allied units in I Corps, while Force Logistic Command served all
major Marine commands.
This is the first of a series of functional volumes on the Marine
Corps' participation in the Vietnam War, which will complement the
10-volume operational and chronological series also underway. This
particular history examines the role of the Navy chaplain serving
with Marines, a vital partnership of fighting man and man of God
which has been an integral part of the history of the Marine Corps
since its inception. The first Marine aviation units to support the
South Vietnamese Government forces entered Vietnam in 1962 and with
them came their chaplains. When major Marine ground forces were
first assigned to Vietnam in 1965, the number of assigned chaplains
increased apace. By 1968 the III Marine Amphibious Force, occupying
the five northernmost provinces of South Vietnam, numbered over
80,000 Marines and had under its command the better part of three
Marine divisions, a greatly expanded Marine aircraft wing, and a
U.S. Army corps of multi-divisional strength. The number of Navy
chaplains serving ashore with Marine units exceeded all past
experience, and the scope of their ministry had expanded into new
and sometimes troubling fields. When the American involvement in
the war gave way to Vietnamization, Marine units phased down in
strength, eventually departing the country from 1969-1971. Then, as
today, they stood ready in the Pacific, on board ship and at bases
in Okinawa, Japan, Hawaii, and California, to provide, as needed, a
ready force to meet their country's call. And with them, as always,
stood their chaplains, in peace or war ready to provide the
counsel, comfort, and religious experience that are so much a part
of military life.
The Adventures of Space and Hobo tells the story of Ken's vagabond
life after Vietnam. It explores the on-the-ground confusion and
chaos of the Vietnam War and its effects on a generation, and those
who served. Named Space by a new friend, Hobo, Ken and his
traveling companion hit the road to partake of all the
possibilities of that generation in search of adventure and
uncharted experiences. They did this by allowing fate to be their
guide while navigating through the spiritual maze of the 1970's as
they traveled by freight trains and hitchhiked through our nation's
cities. By using their wits and street knowledge they were able to
take advantage of the opportunities that came their way. As a
couple of hippies travelling through our nation's cities as
vagabonds or rolling stones they were looking for the next free
ride to nowhere in particular while mooching off of whatever
resources or people who happened to come their way. Ken writes in
such a way that you are with him at every turn of this amazing
journey. Because Ken writes from the perspective of the redeemed,
this journey is rich with God's fingerprints at every step of the
way. And at a deeper level, while the particulars are Ken's unique
story, the journey he describes is one that each of us either has,
or must, travel.
Reuel Long's experiences as an MD in the emergency rooms of Flint,
Michigan prepared him for only some of what he would see in a
mobile army surgical hospital. Antiwar sentiment among the doctors
in basic training at Fort Sam Houston set the tone for his tour as
a general medical officer. In March 1971, the 27th MASH played a
critical role treating survivors of the deadliest attack on any
firebase during the Vietnam War. Long's vivid memoir recalls the
casualties he cared for during the war, including one he crossed
paths with 44 years later-who in his own words describes his
rehabilitation from the loss of his legs and his protesting the war
from a wheelchair. An addendum gives an insider's account of the
U.S. military's initial failure to remedy a fatal design flaw in
the M16 rifle, which caused an unknown number of American
casualties.
This is the sixth volume in a planned nine-volume operational and
chronological series covering the Marine Corps' participation in
the Vietnam War. A separate functional series will complement the
operational histories. This volume details the change in U.S.
policy for the Vietnam War.
During the Vietnam War, when conventional warfare tactics weren't
proving enough to eliminate Communist insurgency, the U.S. Army
implemented small unit operations to take a new kind of fight to
the enemy. Five to six man Long Range Patrol teams, composed of
specially trained young enlisted soldiers, went behind enemy lines
to gather intelligence on Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army
units, capture POWs, or set deadly ambushes that unnerved the enemy
in their once-thought-secure jungle sanctuaries. These Long Range
Patrol or LRP teams would lead to the re-establishment of the 75th
Infantry Ranger Companies in combat and would carry on the proud
history and legacy of the U.S. Army Rangers. It would also earn
them a coveted place in special operations units, at times at a
painful and deadly cost. In this remarkably humble, first-hand
account, Seymour covers what it took to do 54 LRP/Ranger missions
behind the lines, and the dozens of team insertions and white
knuckle extractions that he took part in. In The Jungle... Camping
with the Enemy offers a unique and personal insight from an
extraordinary soldier and those who served as LRP/Rangers with the
U.S. Army First Air Cavalry Division.
He had been given a break from work detail and was just
finishing his smoke when he heard a loud explosion from third
platoon's area. As he ran up to see what was going on, several
marines were already there standing around looking at a downed
marine. Holiday rushed up to the scene and was stopped short in his
tracks. There before him lay a man almost blown in half. He could
see the man's spine and little else. He looked into the man's face,
a young kid no older than he was himself. He saw the man look
straight at him and then look away.
Holiday watched the life leave the young man's eyes. He knew the
exact instant the man had died. It left him cold and numb--in
shock. But Holiday found it fascinating to see life one second and
then nothing the next. Holiday kept staring at the dead marine,
pondering what he had just witnessed, vaguely aware of being given
orders to remove the body. But Holiday was frozen--unable to move
to obey that order.
"Joyful to heart-wrenching. Short non-fiction stories about moving
to Los Angeles from Vietnam, and a dream-like childhood that's
turned into a nightmare when the author's father returns to the
family after spending years in a "re-education" camp. It's a
well-written rollercoaster of beauty and terror." - Jason Koivu,
2003
When Peter Scott began a 1968 tour in Vietnam advising ethnic
Cambodian Khmer Krom paramilitaries, they shared only an earnest
desire to check the spread of communism. It took nearly thirty
years and a chance reunion for Scott to realize just how much they
had become a part of him. This fascinating chronicle of Scott's
experiences with the secret army of brave, disciplined warriors is
by far the most moving and richly detailed account ever published
of the deep bonds forged in war between Americans and our Asian
allies.
Successfully blending intense combat narrative and stirring
emotional drama, Scott vividly captures both the unique village
culture of a little-known, highly spiritual people and their
complex relationship with Special Forces soldiers, who found it
increasingly difficult to match their charges' commitment to the
costly conflict. With a novelist's powers of description and
reflection and a professional soldier's keen insight and analysis,
Scott raises the standard for literature about the Vietnam War with
this searing portrait of promise and betrayal.
Building on his experiences as a Phoenix Program adviser near
the Cambodian border, extensive interviews with Khmer Krom
survivors, hundreds of hours of research in government archives,
and requests for Freedom of Information Act disclosures, Scott
seamlessly reconstructs the six-thousand-strong mercenary force's
final crusade against communism, beginning in their ancestral home
in 1970 and ending on the U.S. West Coast in 1995. Such a
hauntingly evocative and highly readable book will both entertain
and shock, and it is assured of a place among the classics on
Vietnam.
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