Vietnam war books

[BushKiller]

Just got this one.

http://www.amazon.com/Tiger-Force-Tr.../dp/0316159972

Tiger Force: A True Story of Men and War

"Sallah and Weiss, who won a Pulitzer Prize (along with fellow reporter Joe Mahr) for their reporting on the Tiger Force in the Toledo Blade in 2003, have crafted a compelling, chilling story. Reviewers draw obvious parallels between the events detailed here and the My Lai massacre, as well as recent incidents from the war in Iraq. The book is a primer on journalistic technique, the narrative drawn from firsthand accounts in interviews with victims' families and more than 40 former members of the Tiger Force, as well as a suppressed 55-page document that came out of an army investigation. The authors visited the sites of many of the atrocities, pinpointing them through old radio logs. The result is one of the most important books on the Vietnam War."

Toledo Blade page about the Tiger Force - story.

http://www.toledoblade.com/special-tiger-force

[figatova]

I've got this collection. Biased towards the American side but still great. Fantastic pictures.

http://guerradevietnam.foros.ws/t385...-agostini-nam/

[BushKiller]

Originally Posted by figatova

I've got this collection. Biased towards the American side but still great. Fantastic pictures.

http://guerradevietnam.foros.ws/t385...-agostini-nam/

I saw something similar in England, a magazine series about the Vietnam war, maybe printed during the war or shortly after. Interesting articles in it, I remember one story about the veterans returning from the war and havind difficulty settling back to normal life.

[lipskip]

Originally Posted by BushKiller

I saw something similar in England, a magazine series about the Vietnam war, maybe printed during the war or shortly after. Interesting articles in it, I remember one story about the veterans returning from the war and havind difficulty settling back to normal life.

That's quite an understatement, actually.

My dad and I lived with a dude named Yogi that served in Vietnam for two tours. Standard infantryman out in the bush. His mom died while he was there, and he never quite got over that. He was a great guy, but he had pretty regular freak outs, one time my dad and I found him on his mom's grave cutting his chest up with a steak knife. He told me some pretty nasty stories, hardly any of which made us out to be the good guys, but to his credit he told it the way he lived it.

I just found out that the father of my step brother and sisters died back in November. George was a door gunner in Vietnam, and he served at least two tours, maybe more, I can't remember. He came back ALL fucked up. He was homeless for a good bit, always drinking and drugging, a complete wreck. The guilt he felt was overwhelming for him. Long before 'Full Metal Jacket' came out, he was telling us how they used to just shoot anything they saw. Women, kids, water buffalo.... anything. He told me the 'if they run, they're VC' thing before I ever saw it in the movie. He said they shot anyone though, walking or running. Mostly farmers probably.

Another guy I became pretty good friends with when I was his bartender, served two or three tours until we started pulling out, then went and joined the French Foreign Legion. He said he was just hooked on killing. He served with the Legion in Africa and parts of the middle east. Not only was he a complete basket case, I used to drive him to the VA hospital because of all the damage from Agent Orange. His blood would just start oozing through his skin when he was having a spell. I haven't talked to him in years, but I have to assume he's dead, because he was always THIS CLOSE to death when I knew him. The guy had like, three friends. Me, a guy he went to grade school with, and another dude I never met. He was so absolutely psychotic, most people couldn't stand him. It was weird, but when he'd freak out, it seemed so random and crazy to anyone watching, but later, he'd tell me what was on his mind when he was losing it. Once, he had drunk his fill at the bar (where I had to personally vouch for him and keep him under control), and as he walked out he saw a lady walking her two standard poodles. He walked right up to her and screamed in her face, "I hope your fucking dogs DIE!" That sort of put me off, but he came in a few days later and apologized. He then proceeded to tell me how they had been given orders to shoot anything that was coming at their wire in Vietnam, as the enemy would regularly send dogs across the wire to set off any traps we may have laid. This was troubling for him because he was an animal lover all his life prior to the military, having grown up on a farm. He told me that the first day he was in country, heading out to his post in the jungle, they got attacked. They all piled out of their trucks and returned fire. He hit someone, and when it was over the ARVN went over to tally the dead, and cut her head off and tossed it to him before he really knew what was happening. One, he didn't realize it was a girl, two, he was holding her decapitated head before any of the events had really sunk in. He said the ARVN were laughing the whole time because he was so new. He said that really set the tone for his time in Vietnam.

I think that war was a blemish on our nation to be honest. We didn't treat them right, and we didn't treat our own people right. Sad.

[BushKiller]

Interesting stuff there Lipskip. I guess the Vietnam war had an effect on almost every American, it was such a big war.

Another book that I might recommend is a book called A Rumour of War by Philip Caputo. It's not anti- or pro-war but just a really interesting book to read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Rumor_of_War

[PauloPete]

this is a very interesting book, i just got it a couple of days ago and im already almost finished.

i was very much interested at how in the hell such massacres and atrocities can occur, and this book explains those situations pretty well, i found it very enlightening.

i also recommend this book.

[khara]

Originally Posted by figatova

I've got this collection. Biased towards the American side but still great. Fantastic pictures.

http://guerradevietnam.foros.ws/t385...-agostini-nam/

The soldier on the cover of issue 7 looks like Senator Bob Kerrey. The last book I read was Dear Mom by Joseph Ward.