Tours of Duty PDF Download

Author: Gary Kulik
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
ISBN: 1597976377
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 507

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Book Description
War stories are mostly innocent fables and understood as such by both the teller and the hearer. However, they have long been used for political and national purposes, and those about the war in Vietnam were no exception, as painfully evidenced in the 2004 presidential campaign. John Kerry campaigned as a war hero. His opponents cast him as a liar and a traitor and their war story prevailed. ""War Stories"" delves into the myths associated with the Vietnam veteran s experience and looks at them through the war stories they told and continue to tell. Kulik conducts an extremely thorough review of the Vietnam literature and interviews participants wherever possible, poking holes in the war myths of people throughout the political spectrum. War Stories discusses how returning Vietnam vets were treated and delves into the myths that atrocities were commonplace, that all veterans of that war suffer from PTSD, and that all are guilt ridden. Kulik s research and analysis of such stories lies at the heart of this book s originality and provides a new perspective on the Vietnam War for scholars, students, and general readers. His purpose in exposing such stories is not to deny or minimize American war crimes in Vietnam but to cut through the cant of false stories so that we retain our outrage at those that are true. As we are faced with future war stories from Iraq and Afghanistan and their likely exploitation, the moral stance and the lessons learned in this book will be especially important."

Author: Tobey C. Herzog
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113490262X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
Dealing with ten key narratives, including novels and personal accounts, Herzog locates them in the tradition of war literature as well as recent cinema, and charts the transformations of the American nation in its experience of modern war.

Author: Michael Lee Lanning
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0811768791
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
These are the stories Vietnam vets tell over beers at Legion halls and VFW posts—stories of young men tangled up in the chaos of landing zones and nameless jungle hills, in the boredom of base camps, in the confusion of a controversial war. Raw, often gut-wrenching, sometimes funny, these war stories describe slices of individual tours of duty, from the firefights to the friendships, and capture the kaleidoscope of the American experience in Vietnam.

Author: Xiaobing Li
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813173868
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
The Vietnam War's influence on politics, foreign policy, and subsequent military campaigns is the center of much debate and analysis. But the impact on veterans across the globe, as well as the war's effects on individual lives and communities, is a largely neglected issue. As a consequence of cultural and legal barriers, the oral histories of the Vietnam War currently available in English are predictably one-sided, providing limited insight into the inner workings of the Communist nations that participated in the war. Furthermore, many of these accounts focus on combat experiences rather than the backgrounds, belief systems, and social experiences of interviewees, resulting in an incomplete historiography of the war. Chinese native Xiaobing Li corrects this oversight in Voices from the Vietnam War: Stories from American, Asian, and Russian Veterans. Li spent seven years gathering hundreds of personal accounts from survivors of the war, accounts that span continents, nationalities, and political affiliations. The twenty-two intimate stories in the book feature the experiences of American, Chinese, Russian, Korean, and North and South Vietnamese veterans, representing the views of both anti-Communist and Communist participants, including Chinese officers of the PLA, a Russian missile-training instructor, and a KGB spy. These narratives humanize and contextualize the war's events while shedding light on aspects of the war previously unknown to Western scholars. Providing fresh perspectives on a long-discussed topic, Voices from the Vietnam War offers a thorough and unique understanding of America's longest war.

Author: Larry Heinemann
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307517705
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
From the moment his first novel was published, Larry Heinemann joined the ranks of the great chroniclers of the Vietnam conflict--Philip Caputo, Tim O’Brien, and Gustav Hasford.In the stripped-down, unsullied patois of an ordinary soldier, draftee Philip Dosier tells the story of his war. Straight from high school, too young to vote or buy himself a drink, he enters a world of mud and heat, blood and body counts, ambushes and firefights. It is here that he embarks on the brutal downward path to wisdom that awaits every soldier. In the tradition of Naked and the Dead and The Thin Red Line, Close Quarters is the harrowing story of how a decent kid from Chicago endures an extraordinary trial-- and returns profoundly altered to a world on the threshold of change.

Author: Jim Pepper
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1481729918
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
After graduating from the University of Missouri in 1969 I was commissioned as an officer in the Marines. I served an interesting tour of duty in Southeast Asia in 1972, during which time I was in and out of six different countriesincluding Vietnam. A greenhorn lieutenant when I landed, I was eventually promoted to captain. Because of my God given take charge personality and a few very junior officer notable accomplishments I found myself frequently being handpicked for special assignments. I saw action with seven different unitssome good some badsome ugly. I saw men die. I saw capable men withered by fatigue, brave men crippled by fear. Since I served, more than forty years ago now, I have had the pleasure and privilege of meeting and getting to know hundreds of fellow-Vietnam Vets; short term acquaintances, professional colleagues, neighbors, close friends, family members. Although our individual Vietnam stories are unique and intensely personal, I have come to realize that a common thread runs through most of them. For more than twenty-five years I have been asked to formally speak to sundry civic organizations, history classes, and social gatherings. As a result of fielding thousands of audience questions and listening to their spontaneous reactions to my talks I have learned what people are interesting in hearing. I have seen their reactions to my version of Americas Vietnam experience. I know whats interesting and whats not; whats important to those who werent there, ordinary people who merely wonder what it was like. I have enjoyed two successful careers and am currently embarked upon my third. I have fired most of lifes best bullets, emptied most of my chosen weapons most precious magazines, drained my fullest canteens, exhausted most of my allotted time on this fair planet we call earth. I want to share a few of the stories of men I served with, men I came to know later in life, men I loved as brothers-in-arms surviving in harms way; or men who were simply Crazy Vietnam Vets (like me) with a special story to tell. Men JUST like meonly different! Ours are interesting up and down tales of wonder and weird, of good times and bad. I am happily married to a seasoned school nurse, am the father of three college educated sons, and have two fine grandsons. I live in Blanco, Texas about forty miles due west of Austin. I have always viewed lifes glass as half full; hope you enjoy our Not Ordinary war stories.

Author: Sarah A. Larsen
Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society
ISBN: 0870204483
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
A companion book to the documentary produced by Wisconsin Public Television, Wisconsin Vietnam War Stories showcases 40 first-person stories from those who fought in America's longest war. From barely-legal sons of Wisconsin to seasoned soldiers, the men and women in these pages make up a diverse collection of voices: an army chaplain who led services at Khe Sanh but never picked up a weapon; identical twin brothers who discover they are stationed at the same South Vietnam base; a Hmong refugee who fought the Secret War at age 12 in the jungles of Laos and later moved to Milwaukee; two prisoners of war whose years in captivity total almost 14; a Medal of Honor recipient; and dozens more. The stories in these pages expand beyond the borders of the war to include personal accounts of the events leading up to it, as well as the experiences of veterans as they return home to civilian life at the height of antiwar protest. Supported by original maps, photographs from the veterans' own collections, historical chapter introductions, biographies, and a comprehensive "honor roll" of Wisconsin-born soldiers who died or remain missing, Wisconsin Vietnam War Stories is an unforgettable collection and lasting tribute to our veterans.

Author: Kregg P. Jorgenson
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307434699
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
AMERICAN BOYS AT WAR IN VIETNAM--AND INVOLVED IN INCIDENTS YOU WON'T FIND IN THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES In this compelling, highly unusual collection of amazing but true stories, U.S. soldiers reveal fantastic, almost unbelievable events that occurred in places ranging from the deadly Central Highlands to the Cong-infested Mekong Delta. "Finders Keepers" became the sacred byword for one exhausted recon team who stumbled upon a fortune worth more than $500,000--and managed, with a little American ingenuity, to relocate the bounty to the States. Jorgenson also chronicles Marine Sergeant James Henderson's incredible journey back from the dead, shares a surreal chopper rescue, and recounts some heart-stopping details of the life--and death--of one of America's greatest unsung heroes, a soldier who won more medals than Audie Murphy and Sergeant York. Whether occurring in the bloody, fiery chaos of sudden ambushes or during the endless nights of silent, gnawing menace spent behind enemy lines, these stories of war are truly beaucoup dinky dau . . . and ultimately unforgettable.

Author: David Maraniss
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743262557
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 609

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Book Description
David Maraniss tells the epic story of Vietnam and the sixties through the events of a few gripping, passionate days of war and peace in October 1967. With meticulous and captivating detail, They Marched Into Sunlight brings that catastrophic time back to life while examining questions about the meaning of dissent and the official manipulation of truth—issues that are as relevant today as they were decades ago. In a seamless narrative, Maraniss weaves together the stories of three very different worlds: the death and heroism of soldiers in Vietnam, the anger and anxiety of antiwar students back home, and the confusion and obfuscating behavior of officials in Washington. To understand what happens to the people in these interconnected stories is to understand America's anguish. Based on thousands of primary documents and 180 on-the-record interviews, the book describes the battles that evoked cultural and political conflicts that still reverberate.

Author: Larkin Spivey
Publisher: Battlefields & Blessings
ISBN: 9780899570198
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This addition to the Battlefields & Blessings(R) series brings America's most controversial war into sharp focus. In a new collection of true stories from the Vietnam War, respected military historian and writer Larkin Spivey reveals the violence and danger faced by a generation of young Americans that answered their nation's call and rose to the challenge. Many stories show the power of faith under the stress of combat and separation from loved ones, while others show the complex spiritual journey of men forced to confront the dark side of human nature for the first time. Ultimately, the power of God to redeem every human life and event shines forth in this amazing collection.