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53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heroism Was Commonplace, July 15, 2000
This review is from: Ripcord: Screaming Eagles Under Siege, Vietnam 1970 (Hardcover)
I've read most of Keith William Nolan's books, provided source information on two of them, and was a key participant in the Battle of Fire Support Base Ripcord. This obvious bias aside, "Ripcord" is Nolan's best and most comprehensive Vietnam battle history. Nolan is a master at telling the soldier's part in the 23-day siege of this remote rain forest mountain redoubt near the A Shau Valley. But it's not just a story about the hardship and heroism of combat soldiers. He unravels and clearly presents the challenges (and frustrations) of command from the division level down to leadership at the squad and platoon level. The Battle of FSB Ripcord was a complex and deadly affair. One of two book-end battles of the Vietnam War--the other was the airmobile action by the 1st Cavalry Division at Ia Drang Valley in 1965--Ripcord pitted airmobile troopers of the 3d Brigade, 101st Airborne Division against North Vietnamese regulars that had surrounded the fire base in division strength. Nolan pulls no punches in describing the action. Quoting 1st Lt. Fred Edwards of the 326th Engineer Battalion, Nolan writes: "I was returning to Ripcord when I realized that the firebase was no longer an earthy brown, but almost black. Mortar rounds had exploded on virtually every square foot of the hill, charring it into a gray-black heap. It looked evil, malevolent. When the helicopter landed, it was like being dropped into an absolute hellhole." Ripcord was more costly than the division action at Dong Ap Bia (Hamburger Hill) the year prior. Because the Screaming Eagle withdrawal from the base succeeded magnificently and did not turn into a rout, the action went largely unreported at the time. Thus, many participants in the battle had little idea of the depth or scope of the overall combat in which they were so intimately involved. Nolan's book does a great service to all these men by clarifying what went on and the contributions they made individually and collectively to the division's efforts. Like most American military historians Nolan is more qualitative than quantitative, more gut-level than analytical in his recounting of events. Analytical comparisons can help with perspective. At the start of the siege the average bomb tonage from air strikes against enemy positions was less than 5 tons per day; but on the last three days the bomb tonage climbed from 104 tons to 154 tons. Eighty-four fighter-bomber sorites engaged the enemy in a 12-hour period on the final day. In the midst of this cauldron of fire soldiers from both sides fought, died and struggled for their very survival. Few came away unscathed. This book is a must for any serious student of the Vietnam War, and will be a worthy addition to the bookshelves of military history buffs everywhere.
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31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lost history discovered, December 26, 2000
This review is from: Ripcord: Screaming Eagles Under Siege, Vietnam 1970 (Hardcover)
As a print journalist, I've used my position at times to tell the stories of veterans who might not otherwise be heard. I'll never forget my reaction when I walked into the newsroom one day in May and our managing editor said someone had left a new book about Vietnam on my desk. It was "Ripcord." A local man who survived the battle wanted to publicize the book and the Fire Support Base Ripcord Association's upcoming 30th anniversary reunion. As an avid amateur Vietnam historian, I immediately realized I was looking at the answer to a prayer. One of the first books I ever read about the war was also one of the best - John Del Vecchio's novel "The 13th Valley," a fictional account of the 101st Airborne's lonely struggle in I Corps near the end of America's ground combat role in Vietnam.For the next decade and a half, I searched in vain for more substantial information about what happened in western I Corps while the world's attention was focused on the Cambodia invasion and the Kent State shootings. One look at the full title - "Ripcord: Screaming Eagles Under Siege, Vietnam 1970" - and I realized Nolan had delivered the goods for me. For a journalist, there's nothing like realizing you have a chance to write about a subject of tremendous personal interest - in this case, the fact that someone finally told the long-overdue story of a hugely important but virtually unknown battle in this most misunderstood of wars. Others have said the 1965 battle for the Ia Drang Valley and the 1970 Ripcord siege are the "bookends" that define the beginning and the effective end of the American grunt's Vietnam experience. It could also be said that Joe Galloway's "We Were Soldiers Once, and Young" and "Ripcord" are appropriate literary "bookends" that chronicle these important battles and vividly illustrate how the daily struggle of the grunt changed over those fateful five years. "Ripcord" will eventually prove an indispensable volume toward understanding the military history of America's Southeast Asia experience.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Who were these men ...?, August 3, 2000
This review is from: Ripcord: Screaming Eagles Under Siege, Vietnam 1970 (Hardcover)
Dang! This is one helluva battle history. Right on the money, accurate and with plenty of action to go around. If there's a better story out there about the Vietnam War, let me know ... I'll buy you a beer. Keith Nolan is in top form ... best book he's done yet, and he's done a lot. So what's it all about? Ripcord was the last big battle of the war involving purely American forces. Lam Son 719 came the next year ... featured ARVN and U.S. forces. You want guts and glory? This is it! A division of North Vietnamese regulars surround Fire Base Ripcord on the northeast rim of the dreaded A Shau Valley, put it under siege, and prepare to make a ground assault. U.S. airmobile troopers of the 101st fight back, but are committed piecemeal to the action. No one knows what's really going on until the last fateful days of the battle. By then it's too late. Courage? It's here in spades. Medal of Honor awardee Lt. Col. Andre Lucas is killed on the final day. He's a hero worth remembering. So is the Battle of FSB Ripcord ... so is this book. Read it. Remember those who fell there.
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