Customer Reviews

Green Beret in Vietnam

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For those who already have a small library of books on Vietnam Elite Forces and Militaria the names Gordon Rottman and Kevin Lyles are no strangers. To my knowledge this is the first time they have collaborated together and the result is as could be expected - excellent!

Given the many roles SF personnel conducted during the Vietnam conflict, their 'bread and butter' was the 'advisory' effort and consequently, this is what the book focuses on.

The text is well indexed, concise and clear - covering items such as organisation, training, life in the A-camps and the weapons utilised. The majority of photos are new and well chosen for their relevance to points in the text. Kevin Lyles' colour plates are superb - clean and well detailed - his intimate knowledge of the items involved are apparent (such as the highly 'technical' method of squeezing extra transmission range from a PRC-25/77 radio!). They also illustrate the closeness that SF soldiers had with their indigenous charges - my favourite colour plate depicting a light hearted mortar lesson!

My only criticisms of the book are in the order of nit-picking .. The 'SSGT' depicted in Plate 1 is quite obviously SF officer and legend, Ed Rybat - why not give him his due rank? Also, SF involvement in MACV-SOG was only alluded too - but in the space limitations of this particular publication this is understandable.

Incidentally the cover depicted on the amazon page was illustrated by Ron Volstad and most likely a pre-production cover - it is NOT the actual cover of the book I obtained.

In summary, a must have book for those researching the life and look of the SF soldier of the period. It brings together in a clear, concise way information that one would otherwise have to obtain from more expensive or out-of-print texts. An authoritative bibliography is also supplied for those interested in further reading. Although a short book, it is a worthy companion to those other excellent Rottman and Lyles titles adorning the bookshelf of the SF aficionado.

A goog solid effort on a very interesting subject for me. A good nuts and bolts book about the SF. A worthy addition for a library dedicated to Military History.

This has not even been released yet. If it is like most osprey titles it should be good.