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Republic of Vietnam Commandos
Secret stories of the Republic of Vietnam, Commandos
270 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 20, 2011
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 3, 2025
There are very few books that talk about the Vietnamese side of OPLAN34A, MACV-SOG, or the Strategic Technical Directorate in English, and this book is really a collection of stories, many that are found online, that the author did his best to translate.
There are a lot of grammatical and writing issues, but at the same time, the information contained inside is really a treasure chest for those wanting something other than American-centric stories about the units.
All too often you hear about the hardcore, gung-ho, American super soldiers on these teams and the South Vietnamese who are on the same teams are cardboard cutout placeholders... rarely do they have any actual information about them, any agency, any humanity. The Americans are written as if they did everything on their own. So it's vital that the stories of those who were on these teams, who were part of the roadrunner teams, who went across the borders, parachuted into North Vietnam, who did the sea raids also get their stories told!
For all of my complaints about the book, my biggest one is that I wish there were more volumes because there are so many of these stories written in Vietnamese that need to be shared wider.
There are a lot of grammatical and writing issues, but at the same time, the information contained inside is really a treasure chest for those wanting something other than American-centric stories about the units.
All too often you hear about the hardcore, gung-ho, American super soldiers on these teams and the South Vietnamese who are on the same teams are cardboard cutout placeholders... rarely do they have any actual information about them, any agency, any humanity. The Americans are written as if they did everything on their own. So it's vital that the stories of those who were on these teams, who were part of the roadrunner teams, who went across the borders, parachuted into North Vietnam, who did the sea raids also get their stories told!
For all of my complaints about the book, my biggest one is that I wish there were more volumes because there are so many of these stories written in Vietnamese that need to be shared wider.
Displaying 1 of 1 review