Vietnam Combat

Firefights and Writing History

Robin Bartlett

• Editorial: Casemate
• Año: 2023
• ISBN:
  9781636242439
• Categoría: History
• Categoría: Military Biographies

"This is an incredible book. Objective and hard hitting. Robin was in the thick of it—fighting in Vietnam as an Infantry combatant. The author put young Americans in body bags and carried them through the jungle. We were soldiers once. What were we fighting for again? We needed a book like this to help us make sense of a determined enemy in a surreal, mysterious place called Vietnam." -Jan Craig Scruggs, Chair, National Selective Service Appeals Board and Founder, Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC The year 1968 was arguably the most significant year of the war. It was the height of the American involvement, and because officer casualties had been so great after the Tet Offensive of January 1968, all prior officer assignments were canceled. 1st Lieutenant Robin Bartlett, originally on orders to the 101st Airborne Division, suddenly found himself at the "repo-depo" in Bien Hoa reassigned to the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). The unit had more helicopter support than any other unit in Vietnam. The soldiers carried lighter packs, more ammo and water because of the availability of rapid helicopter resupply. Immediate support from artillery, helicopter gunships and ARA (aerial rocket artillery) was only minutes away to support a firefight. Wounded troops could be medevaced even in dense jungle using "jungle penetrators." It also meant that Bartlett's platoon could deploy through helicopter combat assaults into hot LZs (landing zones) at a moment's notice if an enemy force had been spotted. And they did. It was with extreme anxiety that Bartlett made his way to join his battalion and company – it was the worst of times to be a platoon leader in Vietnam, let alone a grunt serving in a combat unit. Bartlett also had to cope with personal issues of commitment to a war that was rapidly losing support not only back home but among the soldiers he was leading through the jungles of I Corps on "search and destroy" missions. Fifty years later, Bartlett's vivid combat experiences are brought to light in a fast-moving, well-written, first-person narrative expressing the horror, fear, anguish, and sometimes illogical humor of that war.

Índice

• Front Cover
• What Reviewers Are Saying
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• The Trail
• Preface: Dragging Chains
• Introduction
• 1 My First Worst Day in Vietnam
• 2 Training for War
• 3 Ranger School: Learning to Lead, Preparing to Kill
• 4 Back at the 82nd
• 5 First Days in Country
• 6 Ambushing Gazelles
• 7 The Jungle Penetrator
• 8 FNGs in the Field and Base Camp
• 9 Face-to-Face
• 10 Pay Officer
• 11 Blown Ambush
• 12 Saturation Ambushing
• 13 Recon by Fire—Enemy Base Camp
• 14 Beyond Artillery Cover
• 15 LZ is Green
• 16 Autorotate
• 17 Stream Crossing
• 18 Letting It All Hang Out
• 19 Tracer Rounds
• 20 Surviving Leg Cramps
• 21 Ambush in the Rain
• 22 Escort to Laos
• 23 Tear Gas Attack
• 24 Night Firefight
• 25 Hard Luck Simons
• 26 Walking Point
• 27 You Fight It, We Write It
• 28 The Battle of the Parrot’s Beak
• 29 Assistant Defense Counsel
• 30 Buying Art Supplies
• 31 Welcome Home
• 32 Butterfly Coincidences
• 33 Attributions
• 34 A Boots on the Ground Point of View
• Glossary and Abbreviations of Military Terms
• US and Enemy Weapons
• Author’s Military Awards, Decorations, Assignments and Timeline
• Bibliography
• Resources
• Photo Section