When speaking of the American military serviceman’s experience in Vietnam, it’s important to know that there were many vastly different combat tours, depending on where in the country one was stationed and when they served. An Army soldier “in the bush” down in the rice paddies of South Vietnam’s fertile flatlands in 1970 had a very different war than a Marine posted in the mountainous country close to the border with North Vietnam. This episode focuses on some of those very different experiences and the unique disadvantages they presented.

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American Marines with their weapons.

Exploding white phosphorus—now banned for all but extreme uses under international law, “Willie-Pete” (as it was called) burned into one’s skin and kept burning into and through bones, with no way to extinguish it. 

Explosions of the other ‘signature’ American anti-personnel bomb—napalm. A jellied gasoline mixture that ignites and burns at extremely high temperature, napalm not only can reach entrenched enemy, it can also de-oxygenate the air around them and suffocate them. 

Show Notes:

ARVN—Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnamese troops). Outside of some elite units, the ARVN (sometimes contemptuously called “Marvin the ARVN,” was known for its timidity and poor leadership.

NVA—American military shorthand for “North Vietnamese Army,” the professionally trained and equipped regular troops that North Vietnam smuggled into South Vietnam to assist in overthrowing its government. Also known as PAVN, “People’s Army of Vietnam” as its own Communist government referred to it.

Viet Cong—local pejorative slang term for the South Vietnamese Communist fighters and guerrillas. They referred to themselves (and their own political wing) as the (slightly shortened in the English acronym) NLF, or “National Liberation Front,” or just “The Front.” Some historians insist on this moniker. I do not: the Viet Cong were incredibly tough and resilient fighters, but they were also a terror group that murdered even the government officials trying to do their best for poor South Vietnamese people, and often their families as well. They were indifferent to civilian casualties and sought to bring a government to Vietnam that held it in poverty and oppression for decades. ‘Viet Cong’ will do.Marines—to be distinguished in the American military from the Army and its soldiers. Marines are trained in amphibious warfare but are also shock troops that operate under a different branch and command structure. American Marines have long held a very high level of esprit de corps and community.

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Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975 by Sir Max Hastings

I’m putting this first because it’s the best one-volume comprehensive history of the War I’ve read yet. Stanley Karnow has the older and more famous version, but he was a journalist with an axe to grind, and you can sense just from reading Sir Max that he was looking to provide a professional historian’s touch to a subject too often covered by journalists and amateurs that were emotionally and physically too close to the events. It’s not perfect, but I was very glad when it came out a few years ago.

Summons of the Trumpet: US-Vietnam in Perspective by Dave Richard Palmer

Palmer commanded an American armored battalion in Vietnam and later served as a military historian, teacher of history, and Superintendent of West Point.  Summons of the Trumpet was written three years after the fall of Saigon in an attempt to investigate the reasons for the American failure in Vietnam, especially when it so enthusiastically had answered the ‘summons of the trumpet’ as President Kennedy had put it in defending the free world from totalitarian communism. I inherited this book as a gift from the personal library of Roger Spiller (former Professor of Combat Studies at the Army Command and General Staff College) after his passing in 2017. I was delighted to discover his hand-written notes and marginalia in the book. Spiller was himself a respected authority on Vietnam and served as an advisor to Ken Burns on his comprehensive documentary on the War. Palmer’s book is the opposite of the Hastings volume: written from the perspective of an emotionally involved participant in the events, not long after their conclusion. It’s dated and has problems with bias, but Palmer tries hard to detach and to seek an honest and unflinching look at the war’s failure. It’s well-written and underrated.

Street Without Joy by Bernard Fall

Fall was a French war correspondent, historian, and political scientist with dual-American citizenship. Street Without Joy was first published in 1961 as a reflection on the French failure to learn from its mistakes or to cope with the Vietnamese insurgency in its own attempt to keep Vietnam as a colony. Fall was universally respected as a writer on Vietnam and mixed brutal honesty on the French shortcomings with a palpable admiration for the personal courage shown by the fighters on the ground from both sides. Fall was anti-communist and writes with something of the chauvinism you’d expect from a French patriot in this era, but this book is both compelling history and shocking in the accuracy of its warnings for the American government that was already shouldering more of the burden fighting the communists in Vietnam as he was writing it. Clearly no one involved in making key decisions for the American military involvement in Vietnam read this book or took it seriously. Fall himself continued his war reporting embedded with American units and was killed by a communist landmine in 1967.

The Dynamics of Defeat and Red Thunder, Tropic Lightning: the World of a Combat Division in Vietnam by Eric M. Bergerud

I was fortunate to receive both of these books as a part of the Spiller library mentioned earlier. Professor Bergerud is a history PhD from UC Berkeley and exhaustively researched the Vietnam War from the ground-up, interviewing many different infantrymen and examining mountains of documents pertaining to specific campaigns: here covering one province in South Vietnam and one American combat division over the course of the war, respectively. The perspective is useful as a counterpoint to ‘top-down’ histories that address the whole map but is also excellent in its own right as gripping human history. Bergerud makes clear that (among other things) the American effort in the Vietnamese countryside never had much, if any support from the regular people who made up over nine tenths of the population in South Vietnam, and therefore never had much of a chance in succeeding over the long term.  

To What End by Ward Just

Ward Just was an American war correspondent who went to Vietnam to report for the Washington Post in 1965. In this book, he captures the surreal absurdity of the American attempt to influence Vietnam in a series of hard-hitting vignettes. He covers life in urban Saigon and even life on an extremely dangerous mission with a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (from which he was lucky to escape). Just is clever, incisive, and darkly humorous. He left Vietnam in 1968 very skeptical that things would go well for the American war effort. He was largely correct.

Platoon Leader by James R. McDonough

The title here is explanatory. This short, hard-hitting book is a first person account of a new officer in combat, having to not only overcome the dangers presented by the enemy, but also the (near-lethal) initial distrust of his men and the onset of senseless tragedy having nothing to do with the enemy. It contains such an important perspective: the lieutenants that led platoons in Vietnam suffered inordinately high levels of casualties due to the Vietnamese targeting these men whenever possible to sow disorganization. The result was often that men who had barely graduated Officer Candidate School were flung into “the bush” to lead seasoned and (jaded) combat platoons. The men in these platoons were all vastly more experienced than the new officer who was supposed to lead them, and in many cases, older. Platoon leaders had to strike a precarious balance of taking the fight to the enemy aggressively ( their own bosses higher up the chain of command kept up a constant pressure for ‘body counts’) while simultaneously taking care of their men and winning their respect (when many of these same men had come to regard the war as hopeless and stupid). 

Kill Anything That Moves by Nick Turse

I really hesitate to include this, and urge anyone who reads it to not read this account exclusively. Turse is a journalist with an axe to grind, and this rarely makes for good history. He is eager to show that massacres of Vietnamese civilians were not isolated accidents or incidents, but part of a broader deliberate policy in place from the highest levels of American command. This premise is fundamentally flawed. I include the book anyway because it does detail real and widespread atrocities (a natural byproduct of counterinsurgency operations in which the enemy deliberately blends in with civilians). Unfortunately, nearly without exception, these atrocities were denied, swept under the rug, or otherwise covered up during investigations that rarely held anyone accountable. This is not only morally wrong, it’s poisonous to any real discussion of what war (and more specifically counterinsurgency) means for the soldiers who fight it. It’s not just the armed enemy who has to be dehumanized—it’s everyone “over there” to some degree, and even your own soldiers when they’re subjected to the constant stress of not knowing where death might come from or who might be responsible.

Chickenhawk by Robert Mason

The UH-1 Iroquois (nicknamed the “Huey”) was the iconic helicopter of the very first ‘helicopter’ war. America sent thousands of Hueys to Vietnam to participate in ‘airmobile’ assaults (in which units of US troops would be airlifted into attacks), ‘medevac’ rescues of wounded or pickups of slain troops, or alongside ‘gun runs’ in tandem with attack planes and other helicopters. Robert Mason flew Hueys in 1965-1966 and this first-hand account  describes his transition from bright-eyed young civilian to grizzled veteran pilot in unflinching detail. He participated heroically in the war’s first major action at Ia Drang (the battle pictured in the film We Were Soldiers) and from there vividly depicts the exhaustion, camaraderie, trauma, filth, exhilaration, and absurdity in the Vietnam helicopter pilot experience. Mason matter-of-factly relates harrowing moments like picking up his first load of American corpses, nearly getting blown up by landing in a minefield due to bad directions, flying 20 hours straight in the service of the legendary Hal Moore, a surreal sequence of trading racist insults (along with other pilots) with South Vietnamese officers in a base officer’s club, and his first bouts with PTSD. Mason makes no attempt to hide his own mistakes or make himself appear noble, which makes his account that much more believeable (including the more humorous scenes that seem to defy belief).  This is essential Vietnam reading.

We Were Soldiers Once… And Young by Lt. Gen. Harold G. More and Joseph Galloway

Co-written by both a battalion commander and a journalist embedded with his unit at the time of the events (and one of the only journalists to be given an award for bravery by the US military), this excellent book shows the United States Army at the height of its professional ability in 1965 and the tragic consequences when the differences between good leadership and bad leadership are allowed to manifest themselves on the battlefield. Don’t think of this book as just the ‘real story’ behind the famous Mel Gibson movie. Gibson’s film leaves out the horrors of the second day of the battle, in which one of Moore’s colleagues leads another American battalion right into the teeth of an ambush and the worst single day of American casualties in the entire war.

The Vietnam War: An Intimate History by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns

This was written to serve as a companion volume to the Ken Burns documentary series on the war. Aside from good writing, excellent photography, and a plethora of first-hand accounts by both American servicemen and Vietnamese who served on both sides, this book traces the origins and progress of the war poignantly through the experiences of the human beings who took part or at least suffered its consequences. It is analysis, visual history, and oral history in one. It has a thinly-veiled bias that many of the war’s veterans find offensive, but taken alongside other accounts it has a rightful place in your Vietnam reading.

Steel My Soldiers’ Hearts by Colonel David H. Hackworth

Aside: I LOVE the Shakespeare reference in the title! The late David Hackworth is a controversial figure in American military circles. Leaving that controversy aside, there is no disagreement on this fact: Hackworth was a highly effective battalion commander (and the most highly decorated soldier of his time) in Vietnam who undertook leadership of low-performing units and transformed them into high-performing units. This book details his time as commander of the 4th Battalion of the 39th Infantry and is a fascinating account of the very real morale and battlefield problems the Army was having in 1969 and how he undertook to solve them for his unit. There is a growing chorus of ‘revisionists’ who wish to detail how the war might have been won after all. While this is understandable in the constant back-and-forth of historical interpretation, none yet really qualify as ‘real’ historical works (ie at least attempting to present the argument as one that came from a conclusion after long investigation, rather than a starting point for cherrypicking the evidence that seems to fit). Hackworth’s book gives us small, zoomed-in view of one way in which it might have been possible in certain specific circumstances, with a change in leadership approach and attitude. We can’t know how things might have worked out in the bigger picture with the ‘right’ people in the ‘right’ positions, but after reading Hackworth’s experience, it’s hard not to imagine the possibilities.

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes

In my research/reading for this series, I wanted a book that captured a Marine infantryman’s experience in Vietnam. Although I planned on reading both this and Phillip Caputo’s A Rumor of War, I settled on this one. (I’ll get to Caputo!) This book as as remarkable as its author (A Rhodes Scholar who turned down an easy way to avoid service in Vietnam and instead led men in combat and was awarded the Navy Cross for bravery). You can feel the jungle climate, the camaraderie/tension between the men (this book specifically explores racial tension as a result of the burgeoning civil rights movement in the US), the grind of long marches in which little happens but tragedy somehow still occurs. You perceive the qualities that got men promoted justly within the officer ranks (or unjustly!) alongside the infuriating stubbornness or stupidity of those same men. Scenes and personalities from this book really stuck with me.

The Education of Corporal John Musgrave: Vietnam and its Aftermath  by John Musgrave

This one came along late in my process, and even though I already had the Marine infantryman ‘covered,’ it was hard to ignore as it stood there proudly in the “Local Authors” section of my bookstore. I took it as a sign to grab one more book for this series and I’m glad I did. While Marlantes vividly depicted Marine grunt life in Vietnam, it was in novel form, beginning and ending during deployment. Musgrave begins at the end: the permanently disabled vet with deep memories and little money, going back to Camp Pendleton for some reflection and reminiscence. From there we get the whole story in biographical form, from young Marine getting his ass kicked in his first bar fight to jaded war veteran protesting on college campuses. Musgrave is so interesting because while he resents the way he and his comrades were used in Vietnam, he clearly is still proud of his service and his membership in the Corps. While he owns his participation in anti-war protests, he makes clear he never really felt like he was ‘one’ of them. We follow Musgrave the whole way because he’s a real human being: always questioning and never really giving himself over to the Group. Good stuff (and his survival story is absolutely crazy).

Across the Fence by John Stryker Meyer

I hesitated to include this one: Meyer’s experience in Vietnam represented a very small and specific body of combat troops on very atypical missions. Could it really be considered essential reading for someone seeking a broad understanding of the war? Bu then I thought: Meyer’s unit (as you will see if you read even one of this book’s remarkable stories) required a level of bravery that approached total insanity. MACV-SOG teams were secretly (and technically illegally) planted inside of Vietnam’s neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia to disrupt and interdict the constant stream of supplies and troops being sent through those countries (in blatant violation of international law) to assist in the Communist takeover of Vietnam.  These units suffered casualties of greater than 100 percent (due to members being wounded multiple times over missions) and were never publicly recognized for their courage due to the secret nature of their mission. In an era in which it can be hard to believe in real heroes, reading about the members of MACV-SOG reminds that every war has its pure warriors for whom “uncommon valor is a common virtue.”

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

I taught this book as a high school English teacher here in Kansas. When I first saw it on our curriculum list, I cringed: my memory of it from reading it in high school was not good. My teacher had focused on everything “anti-war” in it that she could, and indeed the most famous chapters of this book (a novel written not in linear style, but in a series of vignettes based on the author’s lived experience) are the overtly anti-war chapters. When I re-read it, the chapters that really stood out to me were the more ambiguous ones. The book still kind of devolves in the last couple of chapters into O’Brien wallowing in what seems to be self-pity, but there is incredible writing here, and I think anyone who seeks an understanding of the unwilling combat grunt (because we did conscript a whole lot of them, for the last time in our history) should read this book! 

The Gun by C.J. Chivers

While this book is not technically about Vietnam, it is enormously important to understanding something intrinsic to the experience of the infantrymen on both sides fighting it. In short: the M16, the lauded new product of American manufacture and iconic American infantry weapon of the war, started out as a piece of junk. By contrast, the AK-47, the product of the planned Soviet economy that had ruined the lives of so many of its citizens, was somehow the finest weapon of its time by a large margin. How this was possible, and the history of how new arms made their way into American manufacture, is fascinating and often ridiculous. Chivers does a good job bringing that story to life.

This is not an exhaustive list. There are more accounts on my own list to read, including:

Fields of Fire by James Webb

A Rumor of War by Phillip Caputo

Beyond the Call of Duty by Stephen L. Moore

A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan

Embers of War by Frederik Logevall

Tiger Force by Michael Sallah and Mitch Weiss

and others I have yet to discover, receive, or hear about through suggestion.