Voices of Courage: The Battle for Khe Sanh, Vietnam [With CD]

My cousin was at Khe Sahn with the Marines. A year later I was all over the central highlands with the Army. I was in Vietnam for nearly 3.5 years and this book just backs up what I have been saying for years. I went to Vietnam 40 years ago, today. Politicians should do the poli-tick-ing ...and soldiers should do the killing. You cannot run a war from across the world either by telephone or by proxy. Every time Washington tries to take the reins, the soldiers in the field lose. They lose against the enemey...and they lose at home. Things are spinning up on the home front just like in the late 60's Watch TV news and night...and the simularities between Nam and Iraq are stunning. Same Stuff Different Day. Great book by some good authors that "get it"

LBJ came to see Khe Sanh as a place reminicent of the Alamo and the Texas Rangers, Texas pride on the line, clouded thinking at best, but this an 'good' ole Bob McNamara controlled much of his decision making. One of the main issues this book addresses is the question of 'why' this area so important to the NVA, was allowed to become of prime importance to us. The other question of just 'why' after the sacrifices of battle which was an American victory, did LBJ immediately have Khe Sanh evacuated; with hardly any media coverage or American public attention to the hardwon U.S. Marine victory. Both LBJ and Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, are seen here through many of their flaws, some of which eventually caught up with both of them. Unfortunately, so many American fighting men were dead beyond any help by the time of that reckoning. Both LBJ and McNamara were fancifully out-of-touch "during the bloody 77 day" seige with the real events of Khe Sanh, the DMZ, Route 9, and the NVA massive military staging taking place in Laos. For all their study and statistics LBJ and McNamara were obtuse in many of their decisions. The manner in which both LBJ and McNamara ignored experienced military men are fully discussed, too. And the link between TET and Khe Sanh in 1968 is examined, a fact that for few Americans may realize or recall they both took place at the same time, with Khe Sanh being a set piece of TET. It was both Hanoi and the NVA's desire to destroy the Americans as they had the French at Dien Bien Phu in May, 1954. Their desire was to 'annihilate' the Americans at hills 861, 558, 881 N & S, among others and thereby force us forever out of Vietnam, even saying they would kindly then offer a 'red carpet' which we could use to leave. But with their failure at Khe Sanh and TET, 68, that did not happen. With our 24/7 air operations and supply a turnabout for the NVA and General Giap came about, and represented a major blow to Hanoi's thinking. The main element for me in this book is its arrangement, with each chapter being keyed to its audio CD counterpart. The ability of being able to read the text and then go directly to a CD helps reinforce what you've just read. Unique, on CD 2, an actual mortar, RPG, and artillery attack is captured for the listener to experience. This story and the USMC will stick with understanding and pathos most reader's memory. As a Vietnam era veteran I can truly recommend this book. Books such as this are rare concerning Vietnam and especially, the battle of Khe Sanh. Semper Fi.

This style of - writing the book and backing it up with the oral history is very effective. The authors have done a superb job of not only telling the story of the troops in combat, but placing it in a context that clearly shows how the war was faught and lost - in Washington - and by (political) extention, the streets of America. I was there in 1967-68 and experienced much of the story being told. The authors are historically faithful in its presentation and artful in the way they humanize the way "it" happened. Particularly for those who were there, this is a must read.

Having lived through the what the author is writting about I found the information to be right on target. It is laid out in good time date order and kept my interest. I rate this book to be one of the better books written about Khe Sanh for that period of time.

The authors did their apprenticeship with an addition to the Overlord hagiography, and have now worked up to the Vietnam era. In due time, we may expect a re-write of Fallujah and Abu Ghraib. Well, as boys say when they play Army: we killed more of them than they did of us.