Military Vietnam

During the Vietnam War, a “secret war” was fought across the fence in Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam, unknown to the media or the public, under the aegis of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam’s top secret Studies and Observations Group. SOG’s chain of command for missions and after-action reports extended to the White House and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

This could be the most important audiobook you'll listen to this year. It isn't another war story. It is an audiobook about people, and it contains the personal stories of 100 Vietnam veterans who served there.

Flying Blind chronicles the adventures of gifted aviator Jean-Louis Thibodeaux in Indo-China during and after the Vietnam War. Following the novel The Train by Tony Jordan, Flying Blind finds the young protagonist, who is assigned the mission of rescuing downed aircrew members, struggling to survive a 365-day tour of duty in a combat squadron during the Vietnam War. Thibodeaux has joined the US Air Force intent on becoming a jet pilot…but sabotage and injury lead to a different fate. A skilled nighttime helicopter pilot, Thibodeaux flies a specially equipped aircraft that allows for ...

A classic of its kind, The Long Gray Line is the 25-year saga of the West Point class of 1966. With a novelist's eye for detail, Rick Atkinson illuminates this powerful story through the lives of three classmates and the women they loved - from the boisterous cadet years, to the fires of Vietnam, to the hard peace and internal struggles that followed the war.

As a young man, the author lived in various places in the US and abroad while serving in the US Air Force. This is not a book about military adventures, but is rather a collection of interactions and experiences from those travels. Written with humor and candor, Echoes From My Military Past tells about the good, the bad, the tragic, and the silly when it comes to the people involved. The military is the backdrop to the author’s experiences, and it was also the vehicle that put him in these sometimes fantastical situations. Whether you served or not, you’ll find entertainment and ...

Tim O'Brien gave us this intensely personal account of his year as a foot soldier in Vietnam. The author takes us with him to experience combat from behind an infantryman's rifle, to walk the minefields of My Lai, to crawl into the ghostly tunnels, and to explore the ambiguities of manhood and morality in a war gone terribly wrong.

"Not only are the characters compelling, but Corley skillfully builds tension… using sensory details and vivid descriptions." — Forward Clarion In 1951, the Indochina War rages between French imperialists and the Viet Minh rebels. After several victories, the French Army is dealt its first major defeat by Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh rebels. Cautious, China and Russia wait in the wings, watching America’s resolve. Nobody wants World War III. With the French desperately short on troops, weapons, and aircraft, America must wrestle with how deeply to become involved in the growing ...

All-out war edges closer... Taking the fight to the sea, the Americans attempt to cut off the weapons and supplies flowing to the Viet Cong. Colonel Lansdale’s paramilitary teams are up to their old tricks executing multiple raids and demoralizing the North. The Viet Cong struggle to combat helicopters and warplanes flown by covert American pilots. Losing ground to South Vietnamese forces, the VC’s war-proven tactics do not work against the new technology. If the revolution is to survive, the VC must find a new strategy to deal with the Americans. The Cold War raises its ugly head in ...

Warrant Officer Terry Crump was a Cobra gunship pilot who earned a near-unprecedented seven Distinguished Flying Crosses in his one-year tour in Vietnam. This is the untold story of the Pink Panthers, the 361st Aerial Weapons Company, an all-Cobra unit dedicated to supporting the secret war of MACVSOG. SOG, the so-called "Studies and Observation Group" sent small teams led by Special Forces commandos into Laos and Cambodia in violation of their supposed neutrality. It was considered "the hairiest mission" of the war with more Medals of Honor awarded to SOG teams at Kontum than any other unit.

In this landmark work that will forever change your understanding of how and why America went to war in Vietnam, author Fredrik Logevall taps newly accessible diplomatic archives in several nations and traces the path that led two Western nations to tragically lose their way in the jungles of Southeast Asia. He brings to life the bloodiest battles of France’s final years in Indochina - and describes how, from an early point, a succession of American leaders made disastrous policy choices that put America on its own collision course with history.

Dan Pedersen takes listeners on a colorful and thrilling ride - from Miramar to Area 51 to the decks of aircraft carriers in war and peace - through a historic moment in air warfare. He helped establish a legacy that was built by him and his "Original Eight" - the best of the best - and carried on for six decades by some of America's greatest leaders. Topgun is a heartfelt and personal testimonial to patriotism, sacrifice, and American innovation and daring.

Courage Under Fire is the first book published about Operation Lamar Plain. After fifty years, the story of the renowned 101st Airborne's major offensive near Tam Ky, South Vietnam, remains largely unknown. Fighting at Tam Ky by the 1st Brigade began 15 May 1969 while the 101st's 3rd Brigade battled on Hamburger Hill. The political consequences of Hamburger Hill's high casualties caused Lamar Plain and its high casualties to remain classified and undisclosed. Decades later, the fighting at Tam Ky is mostly forgotten except by those who fought there.

On the early morning of March 16, 1968, American soldiers from three platoons of Charlie Company entered a group of hamlets located in the Son Tinh district of South Vietnam, located near the Demilitarized Zone and known as "Pinkville" because of the high level of Vietcong infiltration. The soldiers, many still teenagers who had been in the country for three months, were on a "search and destroy" mission. Three hours after the GIs entered the hamlets, more than 500 unarmed villagers lay dead, killed in cold blood.

In April 1975, Ralph White was asked by his boss to transfer from the Bangkok branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank to the Saigon Branch. He was tasked with closing the branch if and when it appeared that Saigon would fall to the North Vietnamese army and ensure the safety of the senior Vietnamese employees. But when he arrived, he realized the situation in Saigon was far more perilous than he had imagined. The senior staff members there urged him to evacuate the entire staff of the branch and their families, which was far more than he was authorized to do.

In chronicling the adventurous life of legendary CIA operative Edward Lansdale, The Road Not Taken definitively reframes our understanding of the Vietnam War. In this epic biography of Edward Lansdale (1908-1987) best-selling historian Max Boot demonstrates how Lansdale pioneered a "hearts and mind" diplomacy, first in the Philippines, then in Vietnam. It was a visionary policy that, as Boot reveals, was ultimately crushed by America's giant military bureaucracy.

"Green Shadows: A History of the Special Forces" is a comprehensive exploration of the origins, evolution, and significant contributions of the Green Berets. This book delves into the formation of the Special Forces, tracing their roots back to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the First Special Service Force. It examines the pivotal role played by President John F. Kennedy in establishing the Green Berets as a unique and elite force within the military. The book also highlights the Green Berets' involvement in various global conflicts, including their crucial role in Vietnam and ...

Days before he was drafted in 1962, Dennis Foley volunteered to join the army in the hopes of someday getting into West Point. He was only eighteen years old. At basic training in Fort Dix, New Jersey, a presentation by two impressive, self-confident special forces sergeants made an indelible impression on him. His career would come full circle. In 1972, wearing a green beret, Foley would be given command of his own A-Team.

A tragic death during training sends Sean Nolan on a tortuous path that will lead him to the brutal and unforgiving jungles of Vietnam looking for vengeance. As an enlisted man in Vietnam, he quickly discovers he has a strong affinity for war. He is singled out as a ruthless killer, a suitable candidate for Mike Force, and promoted, in time to lead a vital mission. The Vietcong have a new man they call the ‘Magician.’ Skilled at devising clever and fiendish booby traps that have killed hundreds of American and ARVN soldiers. Nolan’s orders are simple. Find him. Kill him. Special Ops ...

From its terrifying opening to its final eloquent words, Dispatches makes us see, in unforgettable and unflinching detail, the chaos and fervor of the war and the surreal insanity of life in that singular combat zone. Michael Herr’s unsparing, unorthodox retellings of the day-to-day events in Vietnam take on the force of poetry, rendering clarity from one of the most incomprehensible and nightmarish events of our time.

Larry Chambers was still new to Vietnam in early 1969 when the LRRPs of the 101st Airborne Division became L Company, 75th (Rangers). But his unit's mission stayed the same: act as the eyes and ears of the 101st deep in the dreaded A Shau Valley - where the NVA ruled. Relentless thick fog frequently made fighter bombers useless in the A Shau, and the enemy had furnished the nearby mountaintops with antiaircraft machine guns to protect the massive trail network that snaked through it. So, outgunned, outmanned, and unsupported, the teams of L Company executed hundreds of courageous missions.