Customer Reviews

Armies of the Vietnam War (2) 1962-1975 (Men at Arms Series, 143)

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Though I have had this book for a long time, I seldom look at it. As a specialist in this period and a veteran of the Cold War Army I have studied this period in real time.
In any case, the book is now obsolescent except for the color illustrations. At the age of 20 it has long been superseded by the detailed works of Shelby Stanton (c.f.) and others.
Since US forces were there for eight years, as often stated, due to the replacement system, we fought eight different one year wars, not one eight year war.
Those who were there in 1965 and earlier looked like those who served in the 1950s, by the end of the war, the soldiers' clothing and equipment was totally revised and had gone through two cycles of development and entering on a third which began during the last years of US participation and remained in use till the late eighties.
So you cannot generalize about VM, you need to know where someone was, and most important, when.
This book is simply not comprehensive enough nor is its earlier companion in this series (#104). This one was an attempt to fill in the gaps left by that one.
Every major national contingent who served in VM could well support its own study, the Australians and the South Koreans come readily to mind. Nor have the US Marines, the US Air Force and US Naval personnel. The enemy NVA and VC have been covered by Osprey.