XPost: alt.war.vietnam, soc.history.war.misc

I recently bought this Book
"The Co-Vans, U.S. Marine Advisors in Vietnam" by John Miller
at Half-Price Books for the Super Buy of $3.00

you can read about it at https://www.amazon.com/Co-Vans-U-S-Marine-Advisors-Vietnam/dp/1557505497

Foreword by Edwin Howard Simmons

"Depending upon where and when they served, Americans had vastly
different experiences in the Vietnam War. Among the more unique
experiences were those of the advisors who worked closely with their
Vietnamese counterparts, sharing the dangers, privations, local
politics, tactical victories, and ultimate defeat as part of the long
saga of the Vietnam War. U.S. Marines worked more closely than other
advisors with the Vietnamese and were often on their own to deal with
the vastly different culture and difficult cause. Despite these
obstacles and arduous circumstances, the advisors, called co-vans in Vietnamese, did a credible job amidst a war far from home, upholding the
honor of the Corps and infusing their allies with an esprit de corps
that made the Vietnamese Marines a potent fighting force.

John Miller, a co-van himself, has captured their experiences in this
very readable, often humorous, sometimes poignant book. With the same
writing style that earned him writing awards and thousands of readers in
his earlier book on John Ripley's heroism at a bridge in Vietnam, Miller captures the grit of life in the field, the no-nonsense view of men at
arms no matter what the nationality, and the smell of cordite in the
air. But more than a combat memoir, this is an introspective and thought-provoking look at an unusual mission in a war in an inscrutable
culture at a time when Americans and their values were under fire."

Decent enough book, but it dealt very little with what
I was most interested in, 1972.

other reviews are at
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3343941-the-co-vans

"Miller's tour overlapped a key period in Nixon's 'Vietnamization'
draw-down, when the Vietnamese would have to take over fighting the war themselves. By and large, by this point the Vietnamese were experienced veterans, and Miller's duties apparently consisted mostly of
coordinating logistics and air strikes, which were still American run."

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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