Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War: Military Information You're Not Supposed to Know

Jim Dunnigan and Al Nofi are well-known to wargamers everywhere -- they were behind the S & T magazine in its heyday, the late 70's. There we first saw his style, lots of data in the form of tables and charts, minimal text, crisp and clean. This book is one of a series the two are doing, or were doing, "Dirty Little Secrets of..." Here the title is sort of correct, there are a couple of secrets we didn't know, but most of it is readily available information. Nonetheless the collation of factual data here is impressive. They cover a lot of ground. One thing that was not a secret at the time was the extent to which the administration (LBJ) was LYING to the American people. This began with the Gulf of Tonkin incident and continued right through to the end. I would have liked to see Jim and Al get into that a little bit. The book is worth getting at the library as I did. Just be aware, as other reviewers have noted, the data is incomplete. (How could it be otherwise with less than 1000 pages?) You will find stuff in here you did not know, e.g., how many guys were actually killed by tigers?

The title of this 375-page book about the Vietnam War is not accurate. There really aren't too many so-called dirty little secrets revealed and most of the material is not controversial, but the book does have a lot of interesting perspectives and factual data re the war. Eschewing the chronological approach Dunnigan and Nofi write a lot of short interesting chapters on everything from a sketch of the pre-U.S. involvement history of conflict in Vietnam and adjoining nations (which still continues as the growing ethnic Vietnamese population continues suppressing and displacing minority groups) to summaries of each aspect of combat (Army, USMC, helicopters, air war, Naval campaigns (perhaps the weakest section), etc.), descriptions of major actions and incidents and overviews of in-country "cultural" issues (drugs, racial relations, popular music, etc.). One hallmark is lots of statistics on various topics (casualties, military demographics, air craft, weapons used, etc.). Most of these are from official sources and source references - increasing lacking in much today's politicized nonfiction - are provided. Some of the statistics are explained and provide illustrative insights but unfortunately some of the intriguing data are not well explained. For instance, there's a general impression that surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) were the overwhelming danger to U.S. aircraft and air-to-air combat was a significant aspect of the war. But the authors present statistics which show that only 11% of aircraft lost in combat were lost to SAMs, 4% were lost in air-to-air combat while the remaining 76% were lost to anti-aircraft artillery and various conventional ground-based weapons fire. However, the authors don't clarify that many, if not most, of aircraft losses occurred over South Vietnam where SAMs and MIGs were not available to our adversaries. The 25% rate of US Navy loss to SAMs and MIGs compared with only 12% for USAF/USMC presumably reflects that the Navy operated relatively more over North Vietnam itself from Tonkin Gulf-based carriers while the USAF/USMC operated a larger percentage pf their fixed wing aircraft over the South. Another fascinating tidbit are the statistics about deserters who accepted amnesty in the mid-1970s - many of whom had gone to Canada - showing they were disproportionately (86%) in the lowest two classifications out of four military intelligence test classifications. A suggested reading list, multi-page glossary and extensive indexing give what is basically an entertaining read for military history buffs who are not expert on Vietnam a bit of extra value as a reference for further study. Recommended for Vietnam War, Cold War and general military history buffs and is an excellent book about the Vietnam-era for people not even born before the war ended. Reviewed on the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. On April 29, 1975, Radio Saigon began playing Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" (an interesting fact NOT ment

OK, SO THE TITLE IS A MISNONER..AS A HISTORY LOVER, (44 years ) I CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT THIS IS A MUST READ FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WANT TO KNOW THE INTER WORKINGS OF BEING AT WAR IN VIETNAM.THIS IS NOT A BOOK YOU BREEZE THROUGH IN A COUPLE HOURS.I FOUND MYSELF STOPPING, DIGESTING INFORMATION, SORTING OUT WHAT I HAD THOUGHT WAS FACT AND EVALUATING THE AUTHORS COMMENTS.SO WHERE IS IT WRITTEN THAT EVERYTHING IN A NON-FICTION BOOK IS 100% CORRECT?MISTAKES ARE MADE AND OF COURSE THE AUTHORS PERCEPTIONS OF " FACTS " POP UP IN HIS WRITINGS.THAT IS EXACTLY WHY ONE MUST READ THE SUBJECT MATERIALBY OTHER WRITERS.THIS BOOK OFFERS A GOOD QUICK INDEX TO GO BACK AND RE-READ THOSE AREAS THAT INTEREST YOU MOST. THIS BOOK IS JAM FULL OF MILITARY INFO THAT MOST US REALLY ENJOY KNOWING ABOUT.GO BUY IT AND I THINK MOST OF YOU WILL AGREE WITH ME.. THIS IS GOOD STUFF.

I enjoyed this book, and learned a few things.Having lived through this period, ( Viet Nam) and being former Military, I knew some of this, and could relate to much of it. It is obvious the Authors dug a little to get the nitty gritty, facts on several events. In Depth of the inhumanity of William Calley Jr. is discussed, and how the military tried to cover-up his war crimes. Colin Powell, is discussed as "one of Robert McNamara's Slide Rule Commandos" at the Defense Department, spending a month trying to determine, when the most likely night the VC would attack. ( It would have taken just five (5) minutes to ask any experienced soldier in Viet Nam to tell you the answer----"A moonless night") p. 257 For me, it was enjoyable reading, it brought back memories, and confirmed rumors, we heard, as well as some of us knew.

This book should be a primer for anyone who wants to know the overall history of the Vietnam War. Stuff that they won't tell you in history class. After reading this wonderful book, I feel as though I was briefed on the war and how it was fought, what were the reasons for our involvement, and what we did wrong. There were profiles of some of the missions, definitions of the terms of the time (sapper, vc, montagnards) that I had no Idea what they meant. I really enjoyed this book, and plan on reading other titles by this author.