The Military Half

by Jonathan Schell

In The Military Half, legendary Vietnam War reporter for The New Yorker Jonathan Schell details the devastating effects of American bombings and ground operations on the provinces of Quang Ngai and Quang Tin in South Vietnam.  Schell provides first-hand accounts of the bombing runs and how they contributed to the destruction of the two provinces, giving a new generation of Americans an inside look at why the Vietnam War, years after its conclusion, is still a hot topic of debate in our country.

Genres: History

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

Reviews

[Thomas Kanyak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, written in a dispassionate style of an observer by Johnathan Schell in 1968. Schell was a reporter witnessing American military operations in Quang Ngai province on the central coast in August through October 1967 with the full assistance of the American military. He was given unfettered access to the operations-interviewing anyone he wished, flying daily with Forward Air controllers (FAC) in their prop planes to direct fighter bombers onto targets given to them as grid coordinates. The FACS had to interpret the coordinates they viewed on a map into actual locations on the ground and mark them with white phosphorus rockets for the fighter bombers flying at 400-500 mph. The innaccuracy was astounding, and so lethally dangerous to civilians in a heavily populated area, as to be hard to believe anyone would seriously consider doing it, let alone actually carry it out.. Where houses in villages magically became 'military structures' whose destruction was tabulated on a bomb damage assessment report, where no option exisited for civilian houses, knowing full well the Vietcong never built above ground structures. Quite simply, war crimes on a vast scale. In one operation, BENTON, he estimated that 65% of villagers' houses in operational area were destroyed in two weeks. No attempt was made to remove any of the 17,000 civilians. Somehow, it was believed by mass destructioon of villages, uprooting people from their blown up homes, their livelihood and turning them into refugees and worse, killing and wounded them, they would appreciated our efforts to 'save' them from evil communism and support us over the Vietcong. Absolute insanity and the height of American hubris. If you read only one book on the Vietnam War, this should be it.