(Part 2) Best vietnam war biographies according to redditors
We found 152 Reddit comments discussing the best vietnam war biographies. We ranked the 81 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
37. The Proud Bastards: One Marine's Journey from Parris Island through the Hell of Vietnam
1 mention
It wasn't Rivers pulling the strings, it was the President of the US, whose aim was to protect the reputation of the US armed forces (along with the perceived mission of US aggression in Vietnam).
http://smile.amazon.com/Forgotten-Hero-My-Lai-Thompson-ebook/dp/B00K7J74ZI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1427504982&sr=8-2&keywords=The+Forgotten+Hero+of+My+Lai%3A+The+Hugh+Thompson+Story
Althogh it's a completely diffrent war and different motivation, I'm reminded of something I heard on the radio a few months ago.
They had an author on the show who had written a book about the casual cruelty soldiers often display in war. I've unsuccessfully tried to find the book just now, it may be An American Soldier in Vietnam. The book started with an anecdote by the author.
He recounted that he was in vietnam and soldiers had been ordered to search a group of huts for vietcong. An elderly vietnamese woman had protested them entering a hut, and the American Soldier had thrown her to the ground, struck her in the face with his rifle butt, and then laughed about it to his buddies.
He then recounts that the American soldier in that story had been him. He recounted that he "woke up" after that and it changed his perspective about the kind of person he'd become.
While the context of Wehrmacht soldiers is very different, human psychology isn't all that different, and it's not really that difficult to imagine that like soldiers in many other wars, they went a significant way toward dehumanizing their foes, which changes the way they think and act.
Their primary recruitment pools are Rangers and Army SF (Green Berets). Recommended reading is Charlie Beckwith's book and Eric Haney's book.
Delta is a fascinating subject and it gets next to no press.
The F-105 was a fantastic aircraft that adapted to many different scenarios which it was not necessarily designed for. Everything from SEAD to CAP to tactical bombing.
It's very sad and frustrating though to see how many losses were due to poor command and control. Asking Thuds to destroy a steel and concrete bridge with only a cannon or demanding bombs be dropped from 10K feet meant more passes and thus more losses. There are a lot of great books about the Thud and its pilots. Here are a few I'd suggest.
I was going to say from the title, definitely a spook. I want to read his book. Is there one or would it just be full of redactions?
edit: well, shit. there is a book. Hunting the Jackal https://smile.amazon.com/Hunting-Jackal-Soldiers-Frontlines-Terrorism/dp/0060564105?sa-no-redirect=1
Read this book.
I might have got ahead of myself - the Holzer book is for the period after productive assets and knowledge have been destroyed (e.g. a 2000's Zimbabwe style land reform operation) where you may be disconnected from any elements of a specialised economy providing you with goods and services you may be accustomed to.
Obviously first you need to survive to get to that period; in a class revolution scenario like you describe, I would suggest the following handbooks for lessons as to how to ensure your chances of survival are high:
If you can't pass yourself off as a member of the revolution, or fail to conceal your capitalist past, then the safest option is to escape - we've seen in the past 300 years or so that social revolutions are usually accompanied by an atmosphere of paranoia, suspicion and delegation of absolute power over life and death to local figures who end up using that power to settle old scores.
It is a difficult game to play and survive - so:
Here.
He also wrote a book about it.
To hit a few that haven’t been mentioned:
Colder than Hell is a pretty good autobiography about Korea.
Semper Fi Vietnam gives a pretty good overview of our actions Vietnam. Made me realize how heavy some of the fighting was, and how inaccurate the popular conception of the war was.
No True Glory and The Strongest Tribe are both pretty good accounts of Iraq. The former mostly deals with Fallujah and the latter with the Awakening.
"Even though we knew our enemy were runts, little bitty motherfuckers, in our imagination they were monsters, almost superhuman. They could do anything. Sneak up while we slept and snip buttons off our uniforms - or cut our throats. Break any barriers. Mass any number of men. Never run out of supplies. Live off a pocketful of rice mixed with muddy water from the tracks of a water buffalo. They never got sick. They were invulnerable.
As First Squad slowly worked its way toward a rendezvous with Sergeant Howard and Second Squad, Lieutenant Braley kept us busy on scouting parties looking for the VC. That was another thing the VC were good at - hiding. They were like wisps of fog. Like ghosts. Binns said they probably thought we were ghosts.
The rain stopped after the first night, leaving the jungle soaking and sloppy. The sun came out and heated everything up to steam. Tendrils of mist writhed among trees and clotted in pockets. Lieutenant Braley pointed on to a map and sent Osorio, Moore, Adams, and me out to watch a jungle trail. The lieutenant had lost his pale stateside complexion and replaced it with one raw and red and bug-bitten. Welcome to Vietnam, the world's armpit and crotch." -- Hill 488 by Ray Hildreth
http://www.amazon.com/Hill-488-Ray-Hildreth-ebook/dp/B003QP4E1W/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415842981&sr=1-1&keywords=hill+488
SEALs operated in Vietnam, both SEAL team 1 and 2 were deployed to the Mekong Delta and they owned their area of operation, night and day. These guys were absolutely masters of jungle warfare. They operated largely off of their own intelligence gathering which included snatch and grabs of enemy officials. They launched missions quickly based on that intel and did serious damage to VC operating in the Mekong. Two great books on SEALs operating in that area:
Good To Go
The Element of Surprise: Navy SEALs in Vietnam
Is it worth a read? I can recommend Da Nang Diary, which is on the same subject.
My Dad told me about finding NK supply stashes with rice bags from "your friends at the church of LDS".
This book is written by an ex-communicated Mormon who found the same in both wars.
https://www.amazon.com/One-Tough-Marine-Autobiography-Sergeant/dp/193786829X
Very late to the game but: have you written memoirs on your war time experiences? Have you read ones written by other vets that you have found to be particularly insightful/interesting, especially from the rangers or any other elite organizations? I really enjoyed Pathfinder by Richard Burns, which I think is the only memoir written by a pathfinder out there.
Thank you for your service!
OK- Here is the crash course for learning what SOG was, what they did, and how they did it, written by the few men who actually survived!
There is a FANTASTIC new book called wE few just came out and is fantastic. Manages to intertwine constant humor with suicidal missions. author is legit hilarious at the right times, and somber when things went wrong, 100% top recommend.
And you can never go wrong with Secret Commandos, and
Across the Fence
on the ground
SOG
The Dying Place
By Honor Bound: Two Navy SEALs, the Medal of Honor, and a Story of Extraordinary Courage The SEAL Tom Norris was a part of MacvSOG, and his feats are the most amazing from the entire war
whiskey tango foxtrot) RT Alabama had 12 men facing off against over 3000 NVA for an entire day
SOG Chronicles: Volume One
Stryker, Black, Plaster, and Norris have been active in telling the story of SOG for a few decades after it was all declassified in the 90's.
My father, Charles Chapman, recently released his memoirs on his experiences in Vietnam. The book is called "An American Odysseus: The Long Journey Home". You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/American-Odysseus-Long-Journey-Home-ebook/dp/B07JF9H63L/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1540613872&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=charles+chapman
Below is the description of the book.
"The true story of a triumphant journey through a childhood of abuse, instability, and uncertainty. The story progresses to a challenging military career and years of combat, each fraught with its own unique set of challenges and obstacles to be overcome. What you will read is an exultation of the human spirit driven by determination, humor, and stubbornness. "
"A young man desires to become a priest, but instead becomes a soldier. Despite an unlikely beginning he forges a path to glory. He is satisfied to be a Sergeant, but instead becomes a senior officer. This extraordinary journey highlights the many choices everyone faces in their daily lives, and the sensational results of all the paths selected. "
The Kindle copy is $7.99 and the paperback is $19.99. Thank you for allowing me to post this on here as he really would like to see if anyone would be interested in his book.
... there are at least a dozen other excellent works; each with a perspective and insight. I listed the two I relate to most as one who lived through the era and served in the USAF from '66-'69.
3 Books I can recommend:
1.H.P. Lovecraft Barnes and Noble Collection For an excellent abbreviation into the world of Cosmic horror.-
2.Tomie: Deluxe Edition For one of the best known works of my favorite Manga writers
.3 The Proud Bastards For an incredible grunt level account of the Vietnam War through the foot soldiers eyes, plus I'm friends with the author :)
Guns Up! by Johnny Clark is an excellent read and appropriate for a young man as well.
Maybe it was a simple fact often people sign things that they do not have time to read. Usually officers of any consequence have a clerk. And sometimes, if they trust their clerk, they will even have them sign things in their name .If you read Guns Up you will see that occurring in the Vietnam War.
If Bragg had one clerk signing things as Quartermaster for him, and another clerk signing for him as commander then it would be easy to see how that could happen.
American Patriot
I have a few books collecting dust if you're interested...
Hunting the Jackal
http://www.amazon.com/Hunting-Jackal-Soldiers-Frontlines-Terrorism/dp/0060564105/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293764592&sr=8-1
Brotherhood of Warriors
http://www.amazon.com/Brotherhood-Warriors-Behind-Commando-Counterterrorism/dp/0061236160/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1293764614&sr=1-1
Generation Kill
http://www.amazon.com/Generation-Kill-Evan-Wright/dp/0425224740/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293764637&sr=1-1
Legion of the Lost
http://www.amazon.com/Legion-Lost-Experience-American-Foreign/dp/0425210154/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293764668&sr=1-1
I'll mail em to you if you want em... I didn't participate in the secret santa so think of it as a late gift. Let me know if you want any of em.