VIETNAM 1969 Mekong Delta MACV MAT Team Advisor "ONCE A WARRIOR KING"

Description: I COMBINE SHIPPING $1.50 per book. FREE SHIPPING for orders over $60. Send books to your check-out cart. E-Bay will automatically adjust shipping costs. PACKAGING & SHIPPING RULES: 1. Individual books Under $18.00 are shipped in padded poly envelopes. 2. Individual books Over $18.00 are shipped in a poly envelope inside a box. 3. Buy Three or more books and the order is shipped in a box.ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS LISTING:In the spring of 1969, First Lieutenant David Donovan arrived in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam to work as military advisor with village chiefs and local militia to win the war. But as he was the highest-ranking person in the entire district, his life there was far more complex than anyone could have imagined.This is Donovan's gripping account of combat missions and night ambushes in the swamps and jungles of the Delta; his heartrending tale of personal involvement with the culture and families in his charge; his humane introspection on his awesome responsibility as both warrior and king; and his stark reflections on the changes he saw in himself and his country upon his return to the United States. Two Book Reviews: 1. The assignments of the MACV advisers who lived and worked constantly with the regional and popular forces was probably the toughest duty of the war. This book illustrates how these soldiers, specially selected and specially trained, carried the war to the enemy every day and they did so with only minimal support and back up from the regular US forces. The book brings you Donovan's very personal thoughts and feelings all along the way. You're right down there in the mud with Lt Donavan2. "Once a Warrior King" is the definitive work on the MAT team effort by the US Army in Vietnam. If you want to know what it was like on the teams, the real information is here. I know because I was also a Mobile Advisory Team (MAT) leader in the delta and my experiences parallel the author's in often striking detail. It even "feels" right. The night ambush sequence where a Viet Cong soldier seems to materialize out of the water and mist and then is gone, or maybe he doesn't, must be a dream we all share with only minor differences in aspect and degrees of reality. Other passages are so well done that you can almost feel the heat and humidity of the air and smell the pungent aromas of life in the Mekong delta. The settings are masterful, the danger and excitement are palpable....or maybe they just occur to me that way because they are so accurate. Maybe it's the title of this work......it strikes me as so appropriate to the feelings of being essentially on your own in a small foreign hamlet far from the much more regimented world of the regular US combat units. It was a different world and the MAT were truly the authors of their own fates.To work with these wonderful industrious and ancient people was a complete honor for most of us and we found that if they were trained and well lead, they were as fierce in combat as any warriors in history. This solidarity toward and compassion we felt for our Vietnamese counterparts and colleagues is so very well chronicled in OWK. The author vividly describes the problems and frustrations we felt because of our cultural differences in Vietnam. Those were sometimes profound but were were usually able to persevere and laugh at those perceived quirks in our counterparts and our lack of support from our own countrymen in the rear. Even though ours was one of the most rewarding and interesting missions associated with that war, and the fact that most of us were very successful in what we did, most of us can't feel very good about it's outcome. When one finishes OWK I think you will have an appreciation of the sadness and guilt that advisor veterans feel as citizens of a country that would dishonorably leave such valiant soldiers and sweet people to the horrors of the communist regime that followed our departure.I felt that the dynamics inside the American team were spot on as well. Even though we were brothers in arms and would have, and did, risk our lives for each other, we didn't always see eye to eye with our team mates. Sometimes, as in OWK, it just had to come down to rank and military discipline as to who won out on those issues. Once the decisions were made we executed the plan as a team and the author nails the esprit of our little teams. I'm still glad I was there and feel proud of my guys, fortunate and empowered by experiences I had. If you might wonder why and how that could possibly be true......it's all right here.This is a work that brings back memories and reminiscences of our youth when we did important missions in faraway places for old advisors. It helps us remember our own times on the teams so we can pass it on to our grandchildren. It is more importantly a book for students. For high school and college students it should be part of their history educations......unless this time in US history is so painful to us that we, as a people want to forget it. I hope that is not the case. It is a book with information that could possibly save your life if you are a military student headed toward an advisory assignment in western Asia. The MATs appear to be a model for some of the US Army advisory teams in the rural areas of Afghanistan and people are very similar the world over. The insights contained in OWK will serve a young officer or NCO well if he will file them away for later reference. It is the essence of the US advisory effort at the grassroots level and should not be missed by any serious student of the Vietnam war. You won't find better lessons than the officer's memories contained "Once a Warrior King".

Price: 20 USD

Location: Livonia, Michigan

End Time: 2024-11-27T21:17:00.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5.4 USD