At the height of the Vietnam War thousands of young men who were drafted into the United States Army for two years of military service found themselves transplanted from their hometowns and neighborhoods directly into ground combat in Vietnam’s jungles and rice paddies within a span of just six months. For many of those fortunate to have survived those two years, the experience turned out to be life altering. This book takes the reader along on a personal voyage into events that unfolded during 1968 and early 1969 when the author served as a young infantryman with Charlie Company, 2nd/...

This is the word for word account of one man's experience in Vietnam at the end of the conflict. He dictated his story to me, his wife, in March through May of 2010, just 2 years before he passed.

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE VIDEO OF A VIETNAM HELICOPTER GUNSHIP IN LIVE COMBAT Experience intense combat from the Crew Chief/Door Gunner’s seat in a Stinger helicopter gunship.The author presents this book based on his personal experiences in the Vietnam War as a 18-year-old gunship Crew Chief/Door Gunner. He wants the reader to experience what it is like to kill dozens of enemy combatants and collaterally, non-combatants. How to live with the frequent near-death experiences and the constant high probability of being killed. Endure the frequent loss of fellow soldiers in combat. Witness a young ...

In 1965, Hank Tucker and his Brother Toby were out of draft deferments when they discovered an AFL/CIO poster in the union hiring hall advertising a Navy enlistment program offering advanced enlisted paygrades to construction men with extensive experience in the trades and heavy equipment. Just sign up for a thirty month enlistment and they could enter the Navy Seabees as instant petty officers. At that point, joining one of the services was the only way they could avoid getting drafted and joining the Navy sounded like the best deal in town. No guns. No foxholes. No battles. It didn't ...

This is a collection of short stories of missions I flew during my two years in Vietnam in 1968-1970, or stories about men I flew with in Vietnam. Most are non-fiction and two are fiction based on real life events.

John Launer served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. All Expenses Paid 2.0 summarizes All Expenses Paid as how to become a Combat Infantryman, then continues with the second half of his military experience. It covers the human aspect of the war, through the Winning Hearts and Minds program; spending time with the South Vietnamese people, especially the children; his R&R to Sydney, Australia; and finally returning home. Launer also documents the lasting physical and psychological effects on himself and all veterans who served there. Containing a glossary of military ...

In late 1971, the People's Army of Vietnam launched Campaign "Z" into northern Laos, escalating the war in Laos with the aim of defeating the last Royal Lao Army troops. The NVA troops numbered 27,000 and brought with them 130mm field guns and T-34 tanks, while the North Vietnamese air force launched MiG-21s into Lao air space. General Giap's specific orders to this task force were to kill the CIA army under command of the Hmong war lord Vang Pao and occupy its field headquarters in the Long Tieng valley of northeast Laos.

Newly promoted Master Gunnery Sergeant Richard Rhodes returns to Vietnam after thirty days leave in Hong Kong and three months training in the states to take over as Operations Chief for the Third Recon Battalion in Dong Ha. Master Guns Rhodes was expecting a tour on the operation staff after an eighteen month extended tour in I-Corps with 3rd Battalion 4th Marines. He had served as Charlie Company Gunny as a Master Sergeant for most of eighteen months, and his nerves were nearly shot. Charlie Company Skipper, now a Major and S3 for 3rd Recon Battalion, had talked Rhodes into waving his ...

Each soldier in Vietnam fought his own war. For some it was a war with loneliness, boredom, and endless fatigue. For others it was a war with unyielding jungle, mountains, and disease. For still others it was a war with terror and death and all of the above. And then there was the secret war fought mostly by Army Special Forces and Navy Seals. For these secret warriors, the war was seldom boring and always dangerous. The mountains and jungles of Laos and Cambodia were their playground, and disease, terror, and death stalked them on every mission. Sergeant First Class Ed Potter, returning ...

There was a truce on New Year’s Day, 1968, and Third Brigade of 25th Infantry Division used the respite to build a new fire support base near the Cambodian border, in a vast forested area of Viet Nam called War Zone C. They called it Fire Support Base Burt, manned by two infantry battalions and three batteries of artillery. When the truce ended at midnight, January 1, the Communist forces in the area responded by launching a massive assault on the base. Vastly outnumbered, the American soldiers repelled attack after attack and eventually forced the enemy to withdraw after suffering ...

The true story of Lieutenant Steve Joyner, who carried all the traits of a "perfect Marine" - character, compassion, determination, patriotism . . . an All-American football star. But then came the harsh and unforgiving realities of combat in Vietnam. How the two worlds he inhabited both connected and conflicted reveals the character of an extraordinary man gone far too soon. "Promise Lost is a touching, crisply rendered account of a Marine lieutenant who fell heroically in the final, bloody days of the 1968 battle for Khe Sanh while leading a counterattack into the teeth of an overwhelming...

Most of us never get to test ourselves in combat. As a UH-1 Helicopter pilot flying in the jungle highlands of South Vietnam, Warrant Officer Jim Crigler and the men he flew with were tested daily. Coming of age in the late 1960s and early 1970s was challenging for most young men of that era. Throw in drugs, free love, draft notices, the Vietnam War, and a country deeply divided, and you have one of the most important books of this genre. This true story is a raw, bold, introspective autobiography.

Kandri Hinjuman was never meant to be a soldier. His brother Mektu was never meant for this world. Rivals since childhood, they are drafted into a horrific war led by a madwoman-Prophet, and survive each day only by hiding their disbelief. Kandri is good at blending in, but Mektu is hopeless: impulsive, erratic - and certain that a demon is stalking him. Is this madness or a second sense? Either way, Kandri knows that Mektu's antics will land them both in early graves. But all bets are off when the brothers' simmering feud explodes into violence, and holy blood is spilled.

"The Nightmare of the Mekong" is a gritty account of the Vietnam War, from a sailor who manned automatic weapons in intense combat, on the rivers, streams and canals of the Mekong Delta. It is profoundly personal, with diary entries, and letters to and from home. It includes summaries of official "Operations Reports" and military historical records. The interwoven references to music and news of the day provides a vivid picture of the culture and politics of the times. It is a true story of love, family, war, life and death.Some of this story will bring a smile to your face and warm your ...

The author, a retired Navy Commander, presents a unique view of the Vietnam War while providing an understanding of the horror, brutality, chaos, and insanity of war. His interviews with 61 members of the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1965 who served during the war in Vietnam include candid, first-hand accounts of American action on the ground, in the air, on the rivers, and offshore. Their stories involve Marines fighting bloody battles for hills soon abandoned after being captured; Naval aviators watching their wingman being shot down on missions targeting meaningless targets while Hanoi ...