Patriot and Hero?

Hackworth praised him.

Neil Sheehan's "A Bright and Shining Lie" is the best non-fiction book I've ever read. Imagine getting to say at any time in your life, "I wrote the book I wanted to write." It took him 16 years to do it. https://t.co/JqFM57bhYT

— gary taubes (@garytaubes) January 9, 2021

Son Tay Raid 50th Anniversary Commemoration

Redgum - I Was Only 19 (A Walk in the Light Green)

Danger Close is a good Vietnam War film even though it is obvious that it wasn't filmed in Vietnam (actually filmed in Queensland); other than the obvious location issue (When We Were Soldiers had that problem as well) it is comparable in quality to When We Were Soldiers, I think.

The Real John McCain

Neil Kumar, America Astray, Part 1 : 

After the 1954 Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the Vietnamese ransomed their French POWs; the French government paid the price, and their men were returned. Schanberg’s sources revealed that after the American withdrawal, the Vietnamese made the same demand; though President Nixon assented to a $3.25 billion payment and 591 prisoners were released in 1973, including John McCain, Congress refused to authorize the “humanitarian assistance” funds because of the shattered maxim that “America doesn’t lose wars.” As the years dragged on and nothing was done, the existence of the POWs became nothing but a political liability to be hidden at all costs. As such, the American public was kept in the dark, our POWs condemned to a lingering death.

According to Schanberg, “there exists a telling mass of official documents, radio intercepts, witness depositions, satellite photos of rescue symbols that pilots were trained to use, electronic messages from the ground containing the individual code numbers given to airmen, a rescue mission by a special forces unit that was aborted twice by Washington—and even sworn testimony by two Defense secretaries that ‘men were left behind.’” Schanberg believed that the number was “probably hundreds.”

Schanberg discovered that throughout his Senate tenure, McCain worked tirelessly to hide this information by codifying prohibitions to keep POW documents classified. Presenting himself to the public as a champion of veterans and our most famous POW, McCain instead behaved as the opposite. In 1991, veteran and family pressure resulted in the creation of a Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, chaired by John Kerry, although McCain was the most important figure on the committee. McCain was not alone, though; every Administration since Nixon’s was complicit in the tragedy. Schanberg concluded that the Senate committee, though publicly pledging to finally get to the bottom of the issue, privately colluded with the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency. Future Vice President Dick Cheney and future Secretary of Defense Robert Gates led the respective organizations at the time.

Lord have mercy.

William H. Pitsenbarger

The hero whose story is told in The Last Full Measure.







The Last Full Measure: History vs. Hollywood

SF Recon

The Last Full Measure

This could be good...

Danger Close

Documentary on the Battle of Long Tan

SGM Basil Plumley

(Photo)
Fr. Z has a blog post on SGM Basil Plumley.

Related:
wiki
A forum thread on SGM Plumley.
The Soldiers' Story

John Plaster and SOG

Secret Army: The True Story of SOG
Paladin Press
Ultimate Sniper (hrm)



Part 2

LRRP:

This Time We Win by James S. Robbins

I heard part of an interview with the author last Sunday on 560 AM.

The claim that the US prevailed over the NVA in the Tet offensive is not new to me. Even if the American MSM had gotten the story correct and helped maintain public support for the war, would the outcome have been any different? Apparently the author believes this, and once again the example of Vietnam is being used to bludgeon the public into maintaining their resolve regarding American interventions overseas. If the book is more military history than neocon propaganda defending the GWOT and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I might read through it.

Amazon

An interview with Col. David Hackworth from 1989; he discusses the interview in which he claimed the war could not be won and which lead to his resignation from the US Army:
About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior by Col. David Hackworth


More:
Encounter Books
Lemuria Books blog
Powerline
National Review Radio (mp3)
Blog Talk Radio