The untold tale of the first year of the Centaurs in Vietnam as told through the eyes of air cavalry helicopter pilots and grunts who built a troop from the ground up at Cu Chi based on teamwork, fighting ability, and guts. Climb aboard their Huey for an up close and personal account of the war.

Not your typical war story, this book captures an unvarnished account of how the Army formed an air cavalry troop in early 1966. "Rookies to war," the pilots were plucked out of the skies of places like Fort Rucker, Alabama, and joined by troopers from across America to fight a guerilla war in the jungles and rice paddies of Vietnam. There were no field manuals for this war, and air cavalry was just a glimmer in the eyes of reconnaissance, infantry, and artillery units.

This is the story of one year of the storied 25th Infantry Division, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry that left the paradise of Hawaii's shores for the heat, rain, mud, and guerilla warfare of Vietnam. The combination of helicopters, infantry, and a Long Range Reconnaissance Platoon (LRRP) makes for compelling reading as you follow the lives and battles of 30 different contributors.

There are stories of bravery and fear, ingenuity and innovation, humor and sadness, boredom and electrifying insertions and extractions of LRRP teams. In the end, you will grasp the brotherhood of war and appreciate the sacrifices of those that serve in the name of freedom.

Have you ever wondered what you would do if you were contacted by the US Government to perform a covert mission? First Light is a story about Curt Gray, an ex-Vietnam helicopter pilot, who is suddenly thrust into a secretive mission to help locate American POWs. Problem is Curt has buried his memories of the war into the dark recesses of his mind. His first thoughts are to refuse the mission, but his loyalty and patriotism will not allow him such luxury. As the mission unfolds, Curt finds himself entangled in a dark web of deception and emotional mayhem. Review: "Chuck Gross continues to capture the Vietnam experience, just like he did in Rattler One-Seven, in a way that takes me back to my own months in the jungle. After the authenticity of Rattler One Seven, Chuck, in his new novel, weaves reality into a story that will leave the reader wondering is it fiction or reality? My bet is on . . ." -- Barry Rice, President of the Tennessee State Council, Vietnam Veterans of America

The Vietnam War was one of America's longest, bloodiest, and most controversial wars. This volume examines the complexities of this protracted conflict and explains why the lessons learned in Vietnam are still highly relevant today. Vietnam War: The Essential Reference Guide provides a compendium of the key people, places, organizations, treaties, and events that make up the history of the war, explaining its causes, how it was conducted, and its far-reaching consequences. Written by recognized authorities, this ready-reference volume provides essential information all in one place and includes a comprehensive list of additional sources for further study. The work presents a detailed chronology that outlines the numerous battles and campaigns throughout the war, such as the Tet Offensive, the Battle of Hamburger Hill, Operation Rolling Thunder, and the Battle of Hue. Biographies on Lyndon Johnson, William Westmoreland, Robert McNamara, Ngo Dinh Diem, and other major political figures and military leaders provide insight into the individuals who played key roles in the conflict, while primary source documents such as President Nixon's speech on Vietnamization provide invaluable historical context. More than 45 contributors, including Robert K. Brigham, Cecil B. Currey, Arnold R. Isaacs, Lewis Sorley, Spencer C. Tucker, and David T. Zabecki Introductory essays provide a broad overview of the Vietnam War and help readers understand the causes and consequences of the conflict Maps depicting South Vietnam, infiltration routes, and key battles

The title of this book reflects that it is a book about being locked up with God. This happened to me during the Vietnam War. I was an American prisoner of war - P.O.W. I spent over five years in a prison, and there I was with God and only God besides a few cellmates. This is mainly a book of the speeches I have given over the last decade or so that reflect my experience as a war prisoner. I have integrated the stories and experience of this period of my life with the faith and experiences of my life since. The talks have been transcribed and placed together here. I have refined and polished them. Some are shorter than others because of the various time constraints. I have selected what I felt were my best. They have been sorted by category as the table of contents reflects. However, I placed the first in its own category and titled it My General Talk. This is the one I most commonly give. It gives a good general overview of my experiences in the Vietnam War and my total dependence on and trust in the Maker. The second category titled Faith all relate to deep spiritual truths that I have grown to love and respect because of my initial experiences as a POW. To get through five years in a prison camp under horrible conditions was a real journey of faith. I returned to this country an entirely different man. I had grown in my faith. I had learned how to trust God, to love Him and to forgive others. These talks reflect what being locked up with God for five years did to me. The third category titled Family and Manhood reflect what has occurred to me and what I hold out as ideal in regard to being a man and a father and husband of a family. I have been through much in my lifetime. I have had and raised a large family. I am now old and have had time to reflect what is important and what means the most. I have also made many mistakes in my life and only by the grace of God have made it to this point and still have a family. This category is given to help young men get off to a good start. The best way to learn is by experience. That is, the experience of others who have been through it and made all the mistakes one can possibly make. This is the case with me. I am offering these three speeches to all young men so that they can profit by my life of having to learn the hard way. If young men can read these, they won't have to fall and struggle as I have had to do. They can fly high and have a very productive life being a man and, if called, also a father and husband of a family. The final category of talks titled War and Patriotism include those that give more detailed stories of my combat and POW experiences in South and North Vietnam. This war is history and most don't even remember it, but reflecting on a war and hearing what a person has experienced who lived through one can help anyone to grow in love of country. The reader can also learn much in case they are ever called to be in a war. Being in the military is a vocation all by itself. It is a vocation of love because a soldier is ready to lay down his or her life for another wherever they are called to serve their country. A soldier must be ready to not only die for others but also suffer as I did and many others did in an enemy prisoner of war compound. This category also includes a talk about leadership. This will help any young man or woman know what it takes to be a great leader. There is also a speech about Lance Sijan and one that was given at an Air Force Base to honor two other Medal of Honor winners, Bud Day and Leo Thorsness. Reflecting about the life of real heroes always does a soldier good, for all soldiers are called to be heroes in their vocation of love. I hope and pray that this book helps our country be great and remain great for ages to come. I will soon die as all do, but words never die. My hope is that these words will go on helping my American brothers and sisters keep America great. May God bless you and our country forever. Amen.

"It's Lonely Here in Hell" Love Letters from Nam is a collection of love letters written by PFC James Dennis Piper to his wife Michelle Piper while serving in the US Army during the Vietnam War. On April 11, 1967 young Michelle was left a widow when James was killed in action by small arms fire in the Binh Dinh Province. Each letter is carefully transcribed and historical content is then added to place the reader at that time and place in history.

Merriam Press Military Monograph 138. First Edition (June 2012). Donald McClure Fenwick enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at the young age of 18. His destiny was to serve his country as a Marine and to make the Marine Corps a career. He reported to Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California in January 1957 for recruit training and retired in October 1990. For 33 years he served our nation and retired as a Master Gunnery Sergeant. His illustrious military career embodies both the old breed and the new breed of the Marine Corps. Donald would serve in distant lands such as Vietnam and Okinawa with several cruises aboard ship in the Caribbean Sea and Mediterranean Sea. His 33 years of honest and faithful service to the United States of America and to the Marine Corps is a legacy and a story that needs to be told. His story will capture your attention and give you an insight into the reality of what being a United States Marine is all about. His personal experiences while growing up on the farm in rural Kentucky and while progressing through the enlisted ranks, reveal the espirit de corps, camaraderie and the struggles he had to endure. He is a national asset as are many of the unsung heroes of our time. May we never forget their personal sacrifices and love of country and Corps. Contents: Life on the Farm; A Destiny to Serve; Vietnam-The Early Years; Vietnam-The Second Tour; Okinawa-Back to The Rock; The Love of his Life; Retirement-Life after the Corps. 71 photos (mostly of Vietnam, all unpublished).

A Top Secret Story of Unparalleled Heroism... Staff Sergeant Larry FitzGerald, aka "Reaper 6," of the U.S. Army Special Forces, led a special Black Ops team deployed to Vietnam in 1965. He reported to only two men: General Westmoreland and General Abrams, who were in command of the U.S. Armed Forces. His first assignment-a suicidal mission to assassinate four enemy generals in Laos who were planning the 1967 Tet invasion-was never disclosed to the media or the public. General Westmoreland stated that Sergeant FitzGerald deserved the Medal of Honor, and nine additional Purple Hearts, but unfortunately, most of his missions were conducted across the fence of South Vietnam, in Cambodia, Laos, and North Vietnam. In fact, all of his missions were classified, clandestine, and denied. They have not been disclosed until now. Reaper 6 is the only biography of this extraordinary soldier's life, capturing the very sights, sounds, and smells of the Vietnam War. Today, Larry is the proverbial "last man standing" of 89 souls who went where lesser soldiers shouldn't dare.

In early May 1961, a U.S. military aircraft taxied toward a well-guarded terminal building. The plane slowed to a halt; steps were maneuvered up to its side, and the door was pulled open. The tropical night air was heavy and dank, and the moon shone dimly through high thin clouds. On board the aircraft were ninety-two members of a specially selected team. The men were dressed in indistinguishable dark suits with white shirts and dark ties, and each man carried a new red U.S. diplomatic passport inside his breast pocket. The men held copies of their orders and records in identical brown Manila envelopes, and each man's medical records were stamped "If injured or killed in combat, report as training accident in the Philippines."

In such clandestine fashion, the first fully operational U.S. military unit arrived at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in South Vietnam. The unit was so highly classified even its name was top-secret. It was given a codename, a cover identity to hide the true nature of its mission. The unit's operation was housed in a heavily-guarded compound near Saigon, and within two days of its arrival, Phase I was implemented. Its operatives were intercepting Viet Cong manual Morse communications, analyzing it for the intelligence it contained and passing the information to the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group-Vietnam. The Army Security Agency was on duty.

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

Ghosts of Vietnam: A private's story is not a story about combat. It follows the life of the author thru his two] years in the service from basic training to Vietnam. The only combat situations described in his book are incidents that had a direct effect on him. He tells of the effort to overcome his fear of height and achieve his goal to become a paratrooper, and the pranks that occurred during jumps. The attempts to have him transferred to a non-infantry unit in New Jersey, and the trouble that followed when he refused to sign the papers. The eighteen day journey to Vietnam aboard a ship and the trouble he got into there. His arrival in Vietnam under house arrest and the incidents that followed leading up to his court-martial. The time spent in the stockade, the people he met there, and the racial trouble that took place. Highlighted are the deaths caused by stupidity, arrogance and fear of his company leaders. AWOL in Saigon for four days and how he managed to survive using the black market His long journey home and the things he realized along the way, and finally his arrival home.

It used to be said that the night belonged to Charlie. But that wasn't true where SEALs patrolled. For six months in 1970, fourteen men in Juliett Platoon of the Navy's SEAL Team One--incuding the author--carried out over a hundred missions in the Mekong Delta without a single platoon fatality. Their primary mission: kidnap enemy soldiers--alive--for interrogation.

Waiting on DEROS: A Soldier's Story is a collection of twenty-five short stories about camaraderie, sacrifice and survival. The thoughts and images offer light within the darkness, understanding within the pain and acknowledgement for the boys who endured, and for the boys who died.

Seabee Cruise Book 1-1966 U.S Naval Construction Battalion 1 Vietnam. Cruise Books are Informal and nonofficial in nature (they sometimes are compared to college yearbooks) These publications offer insights into the daily activities and attitudes from the perspective of a unit's crew. Cruise books are of special note because of the intense interest by veterans, writers, and scholars. Care has been taken to render the best copy possible. However, quality of this book is based on the condition of the original, and current technology available...

Memoirs of a Carrier Sailor of life on an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War. It is profusely illustrated with the author's own vintage photography and contains five squadron newsletter filled with photos and info on day to day life on an aircraft carrier. Black & White Edition.

THE SCREAMING EAGLES OF VIETNAM IN 1970 The Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne have been in combat against the elusive Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army for nearly five years. In his memoir, author John G. Roberts tells the story of the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, the "Widow Makers" of the 101st Divisions' 1st Brigade. Written in the often crude language of the combat infantryman, Roberts describes what it was like to confront the enemy during close combat in the triple-canopied jungles of I Corps, west of the Song Bo River and in the infamous A Shau Valley. As part of Operation Texas Star, the 502nd Infantry (the "O-Deuce") lost 30 men killed and over 200 wounded in a month long battle against the 29th NVA Regiment in April and May, 1970. JUNGLE COMBAT SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF A YOUNG SHAKE-N-BAKE SERGEANT Roberts relates the shock and grief he and others felt when his 11-man squad lost 3 men killed and five wounded in about an hour of combat. The fights around Hill 714, Hill 882 and the 4-month Battle of Firebase Ripcord received very little attention in the media. The press was focused on the April invasion of Cambodia and the May student shootings at Kent State University in Ohio. Roberts, like many Vietnam combat veterans, carried the symptoms of PTSD with him when he returned home. The author is very open about the 35 year battle he had with PTSD and alcohol. With help from his family and support from medical professionals at Veterans Affairs, he has worked out a truce with the demons of PTSD and now lives a quiet life in Southern California. JOIN THE O-DEUCE DURING OPERATION TEXAS STAR When you read Mighty Men of Valor: With Charlie Company on Hill 714 - Vietnam, 1970 you have the chance to experience life (and death) as an combat infantryman during the last big American-led battles of the Vietnam War as only someone who was there can describe them.

(Rated R) Wild Crazy Absolutely INSANE people in charge of our national security in the Vietnam War A story of Army Security Agency agents in the Vietnam War in 1968. From the draft, basic training and spy training to the war. Their lives and loves are exposed and the characters come together to accomplish their missions on the ground, air and water. The outcome of the war may depend on what may be described as "M*A*S*H" meets "Catch 22" in this action packed adventure. Includes shocking new theory on the capture of the U.S.S. Pueblo Action packed chapter on using Swift Boats as spy platforms. Since the cracking of the "Enigma Code" the deadliest weapon has been code breakers. These unlikely warriors make the difference in every war since. This story shows these soldier boys at play in the ASA. They are both sentinels and shooters engaged in top secret missions. The first novel in a quatrain. Watch for the next in the series "The Men Behind The Iron Curtain." It is about the Army Security Agency in Europe during the Cold War. To be released later this year. "The Dragon Hunters," a story about the ASA in Asia, will be released next year. The fourth novel has been started but has not yet been named. The writing of the screenplay for "We Served In Silence" is in production. Buy your collector's copy today of this first issue of a story which can not be told in one book. Publisher and editor Mrs. Glenn Fannin (E. Jo Fannin). Rated (R) for violence and explicit sexual content.

Deep in the jungles of Vietnam, Alpha Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry, the famed Blackhorse Regiment, was a specialized cavalry outfit equipped with tanks and armored assault vehicles. On the morning of March 26, 1970, they began hearing radio calls from an infantry unit four kilometres away that had stumbled into a hidden North Vietnamese Army stronghold. Outnumbered at least six to one, the ninety-man American company was quickly surrounded, pinned down, and fighting for its existence. Helicopters could not penetrate the dense jungle, and artillery and air support could not be targeted effectively. Captain John Poindexter, Alpha Troop's twenty-five-year-old commander, realized that his outfit was the only hope for the trapped company. It just might be possible that they could "bust" enough jungle by nightfall to reach them. With the courage and determination that makes legends out of ordinary men, they affected a daring rescue and fought a pitched battle - at considerable cost. Thirty years later, Poindexter was made aware that his award recommendations, and even the records of the battle, had somehow gone missing. Thus began a "battle" to ensure that his brave men's accomplishments would never be forgotten again. President Obama stepped to the podium on October 20, 2009, to award Alpha Troop with the Presidential Unit Citation: the highest combat award that can be given to a military unit.

This textbook is the true account of three soldiers who wouldn't stop fighting the enemy and never raised the white flag during a firefight. One soldier, an Army Aviator, was shot down and fell 800 feet in his burning helicopter. Another was an infantry Sergeant stationed at LZ Bert when it was overrun by the North Vietnamese Army. The third was a retired Sergeant from the USAF who was wounded in a motor attack on the American Embassy. All three men had been wounded more than once in firefights and received impact awards for heroism during combat with the enemy. All have been denied the wearing of the Purple Heart by the Chief of the Army Awards Branch. This book contains images of research papers, letters and pictures the author used to verify their stories of the Vietnam War.

American Baby Boomers--of the 1960's--are often portrayed in the media as either in the mud of Woodstock or in the mud of Vietnam. The truth is, just a small percentage--3% total--were in either place. Most Baby Boomers were living normal lives doing normal things. But for those who took an active part in the Cold War--which we won--and which included Vietnam--this book is dedicated to you. Book includes the records of the 13-man STAT TEAMS (later known as Seabee Teams) that served in Vietnam. The Navy Seabees were some of the first to show up for Vietnam's struggle against communism. In 1954, President Ngo Dinh Diem wrote a letter to President Eisenhower asking for military and economic aid. In 1954 and 1955 an estimated one million refugees (mostly persecuted Catholics) moved from the Communist State of North Vietnam to the south (8% of the North's population). The Seabees assisted them during their "Passage to Freedom." In 1956, Seabees were assigned to survey Vietnam's roads. There weren't many. The Seabees travelled by jeep and on foot with pack-mules. The surveyors found that the bombers of World War II, the guerrillas of Viet Minh, and the newly emerging guerrilla groups of the Viet Cong had destroyed most of the bridges and sabotaged what few roads were left. Beginning in 1963, Seabee Teams, with Secret Clearances, arrived in Vietnam to assist the U.S. Army's Special Forces in the CIA funded Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) program, and to help the Vietnamese help themselves. The Seabees constructed Special Forces Camps and outposts, airfields for the SF STOL-class Caribou aircraft, and built connecting roads. These Seabee Teams also helped the Vietnamese to better their living conditions through thousands of projects in rural areas. The Seabee Teams in Vietnam also earned Purple Hearts, Silver Stars, Bronze Stars and many other medals. One Seabee Team member, Marvin Sheilds, earned the Congressional Medal Of Honor while fighting alongside with the Special Forces at Dong Xoi. In 1963, only approximately 10,000 Americans were in Vietnam and very little infrastructure existed. This was before the eventual arrival of 2.1 million--over time--Americans. Given the limited infrastructure--with hardly any ports, roads and airstrips--it would have been near impossible to get the 2.1 million eventual Americans--along with their equipment (Beans, Bullets, And Black Oil)--delivered to South Vietnam and support them. Many Vietnam Vets--including this writer--showed up after 1965. Most of us took it for granted that the air bases we landed in, roads we drove on, helo-pads we mounted out from and the camps we lived in, or passed through, and the water and food and fuel storage were somehow always there--or most likely didn't give it a thought. But long before we arrived, military and civilian engineers were busy preparing the "ground" to make it possible to fight a war; and begin attempts to win the hearts and minds of the South Vietnamese. A recent travel guide to Vietnam mentioned the superior roads and infrastructure in the Southern portion of Vietnam--as opposed to North Vietnam-- due to the American presence there during the Vietnam War. --Kenneth E. Bingham, Seabee volunteer, Feb, 2013

SERGEANT BACK AGAIN-THE ANTHOLOGY contains the first collection of published critical and clinical writings regarding the earliest characterizations and manifestations of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) based on the central characters and actions dramatized in Charles Coleman's universally-acclaimed portrayal of PTSD in his Vietnam War-era cult classic, Sergeant Back Again. Six highly-respected scholars, historians, and psychiatrists "weigh in" on the social, political, and medical aspects and consequences of the emergence of post-traumatic stress disorder during and after the Vietnam War. "This is clearly the first account of the causes and effects of PTSD on U.S. Servicemen and women, based on the case of Specialist Andrew Collins, a line medic and later a surgical specialist who served in Vietnam in 1970." It is THE "Vietnam War novel that made PTSD Real " (Philip Beidler, Ph.D.) and looks at comparisons of Coleman's dramatic portrayal to those of Hemingway, Heller and Kesey while fast-forwarding to what has happened to-and will likely continue to occur-among veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Skillfully analyzing scenes from the battlefield and then on the closed wards of Chambers Psychiatric Pavilion at Fort Sam Houston and the psychological milieu of both the patients and staff during the 1970s, Veterans' psychiatrist Harold Kudler, M.D., explores the military medical establishment's dilemma in trying to understand veterans returning from Vietnam and attempting to classify and "treat" them for something as yet unknown: PTSD. Now, thirty years after arriving at a definition of PTSD, "Psychiatry is still struggling to see beyond abstractions in order to find the patients it left behind." Now, fast-forward to Iraq, Afghanistan, and the dramatic jump in active duty and veterans' suicides culminating in "the real heart of darkness that defines psychological trauma." "One sees now in Sergeant Back Again] a story we probably recognized but did not know at the time 1980] how to read, at least in its newest, challenging, creative iteration," states Vietnam combat veteran and novelist Philip Beidler, Ph.D. "But its uniqueness is its attempt to speak in a bold literary way about an emergent, newly-identified, peculiarly war-related form of psychological trauma increasingly associated with representations of Vietnam veterans' attempts to deal with war-related experiences and memory. This story is to some degree my story. But mainly it will remain even beyond the book-in its real touch of genius to me-the stories contained in the spurious letters." Here, too, historian and socio-political critic of film and literature of the Vietnam War era, Tony Williams, Ph.D., juxtaposes numerous points of view from social and literary archives of the time and insightfully contrasts Norman Mailer (who "provided his own answers as to Why are we in Vietnam?") with Coleman's rendering of "certain strategies of vision to depict what later became known as PTSD and which makes book truly remarkable in its original context and extremely relevant today." This theme of "vision" in Sergeant Back Again is again echoed by Nathan Beck, screenwriter and film critic of the Vietnam Era: "This is a riveting, detailed vision of one man's struggle to free himself from the grip of PTSD in which the protagonist, US Army medic Andy Collins, comes to discover that field hospitals are combat zones of their own, where the enemy is death, dismemberment, and psychological dislocation in which the men working over the wasted are eventually wasted themselves." John Presley, Ph.D., historian, essayist and authority on the life and works of WWI writer Robert Graves, continues the theme of vision and contrast as he dissects the very fabric of the men who became the "walking wounded" from WWI to the Vietnam War. SERGEANT BACK AGAIN: THE ANTHOLOGY is a watershed work of major significance in understanding the signs, symptoms and treatment f