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George Lepre

Fragging: Why U.S. Soldiers Assaulted Their Officers in Vietnam (Modern Southeast Asia) Hardcover – January 15, 2011

by George Lepre (Author)

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During its long withdrawal from South Vietnam, the U.S. military experienced a serious crisis in morale. Chronic indiscipline, illegal drug use, and racial militancy all contributed to trouble within the ranks. But most chilling of all was the advent of a new phenomenon: large numbers of young enlisted men turning their weapons on their superiors. The practice was known as “fragging,” a reference to the fragmentation hand grenades often used in these assaults. Between 1968 and 1973, dozens of Americans and Vietnamese were murdered in fragging incidents, but only a handful of their killers were ever brought to justice. Drawing upon more than 500 cases from official records in addition to interviews with both perpetrators and victims, George Lepre examines these episodes in close detail. A comparative analysis of fragging in American units and the Australian army in Vietnam is also included. In the first in-depth study of this vexing trend, Lepre drills down to the core of the soldier’s mindset, bringing to light a little understood aspect of military experience.

Print length

356 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Texas Tech University Press
Publication date

January 15, 2011
Dimensions

6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0896727157
ISBN-13

978-0896727151
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A carefully researched study. . . . Just when you think there is not much new to say about a subject, along comes a book that overhauls your understanding of that subject. . . . An illuminating book."
--Tom Ricks, Foreign Policy

"This is an important book because it breaks new ground in the field of military and legal studies. It is the first in-depth and comprehensive study of 'fragging' during the Vietnam War."
--Fred L. Borch, Journal of Military History

"A long-overdue discussion of the killing or attempted killing of unpopular officers during the Vietnam War. . . ." - George M. Eberhart, College & Research Libraries News

"Thanks to Lepre's well-researched work, we now have a much clearer picture of what fragging was and why it occurred so frequently in Vietnam. Any author desiring to touch on this topic will want to consult this book." - The Oral History Review, Oxford University Press

"Fragging is a well-researched and well-written analysis of one of the worst side effects of declining morale and discipline that affected American troops as the war progressed. Readers who are interested in that conflict are encouraged to read this fine study." LTC Roger D. Cunningham, USA (Ret.), On Point

About the Author

After several years in the U.S. Army, George Lepre is currently pursuing a graduate degree at the New School for Social Research. His first book, Himmler’s Bosnian Division, was the recipient of the Sydney Zebel History Award from Rutgers University.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Texas Tech University Press; 1st edition (January 15, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 356 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0896727157
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0896727151
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.5 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #703,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,123 in Conventional Weapons & Warfare History (Books)
- #1,495 in Vietnam War History (Books)
- #7,976 in Asian History (Books)

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Delta D.

Fragging seems to have been rather different from popular conception

Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2019

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The popular conception that fragging was undertaken by enlisted men against excessively gung-ho officers and non-coms is persuasively debunked here. Most fraggings happened outside combat areas and were more commonly triggered by personal grudges than fear of being taken into unnecessary risk. Drug issues and racial tensions were a far more common cause.

I learnt much more than I expected to from this book, which ventures into serious and (usually) convincing speculation about the underlying causes.

Four stars, rather than five, because I was unimpressed with the organisation of the material. It jumps around too much. It could (and should) have been presented more clearly.

2 people found this helpful

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Logibear64

Defintive account of the subject of Fragging in Vietnam

Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2011

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George Lepre has written the definitive account of the controversial subject of fragging during the Vietnam conflict. Fragging or homocide by use of a fragmentation grenade has become part of the myth of the Vietnam war.
Through the use of documentary evidence and interviews with vets has brought fragging sperated fact from fiction. Many of the assumptions made about fragging are demolished. Others proven true. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the Vietnam war and the subject of US military justice in particular.

10 people found this helpful

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robert combs

I do NOT know how the poor Grunts STOOD the Hell of Vietnam

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2015

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I was there 1968-69 and heard about Fragging...I do NOT know how the poor Grunts STOOD the Hell of Vietnam....I was lucky; I was USAF...

3 people found this helpful

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Robert A. Lynn

FRAGGING: WHY U.S. SOLDIERS ASSAULTED THEIR OFFICERS IN VIETNAM

Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2011

FRAGGING: WHY U.S. SOLDIERS ASSAULTED THEIR OFFICERS IN VIETNAM
GEORGE LEPRE
TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2011
HARDCOVWE, $34.95, 356 PAGES

George Lepre has written a study on "fragging" in which several facts appear for the first time. First of all, fragging became a problem requiring command action only in 1970. You will recall that the first troops were sent to Vietnam in 1965 and all of our troops were out of Vietnam in 1973. By 1970, the war was winding down and the quality of those fighting the war were quite inferior to those who served in 1965. Actually, those who had served from 1965 to 1968. The discipline of the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps was nothing in the 1970s like it was in the 1960s. When the news media turned against the war in 1968, during the Tet Offensive, the quality of recruits began to decline. Ironically, the news media got the reporting on the Tet Ofrfensive totally wrong. Tet was a solid victory for the Americans and South Vietnamese, and the Viet Cong were militarily destroyed during Tet. After Tet, the war was against the North Vietnamese Army, not the Viet Cong.

Second, the claim of fragging taking place during combat can't be supported by the evidence. Fragging took place in the rear areas. One former U.S. Marine became somewhat famous by later reporting that he personally saw "five or six officers" fragged during combat operations. The author contacted every officer assigned to that U.S. Marine's unit, and everyone of the officers assigned to that unit were still alive decades later.

Third, NCOs were fragged just as often as officers. The news media and Congress apparently had no interest in the deaths of NCOs, however.

Fourth, anti-war activism had absolutely no part in fragging. A review of the records, including CID investigations and court-martial records of all fragging incidents revealed only two instances in which any anti-government or anti-war sentiment was even mentioned by the perpetrator or attempted perpetrator.

Fifth, there were a myriad of causes leading to fragging. One of them was Secretary of Defense McNamara's social experiment in Project 100,000, in which men were inducted who failed to meet enlistment standards. That was a disaster of the U.S. Army on many levels. Ironically, the former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfield, did exactly the same thing in the Global War On Terror, allowing the enlistment of men and women who didn't meet heretofore enlistment standards.

Sixth and finally, both the U.S. Army and Marines didn't simply put fraggers up against the wall after a court-martial conviction and shoot them. In one instance in 1972, SSG Allen G. Cornett, Jr. attempted to kill LTC Donald Bongers, with a hand grenade. At the court-martial, most of Cornett's superior officers and NCOs testified that Cornett was a good soldier and LTC Bongers was a very poor leader. Cornett was convicted and sentenced to one year in prison. At the end of that year, he was returned to active duty and later rertired 17 years later as a Master Sergeant.

FRAGGING: WHY U.S. SOLDIERS ASSAULTED THEIR OFFICERS IN VIETNAM is both an eye-opening and well researched book that dispells the many myths and lies about the issue of fragging during the Vietnam War. This book should be on the library shelf of any serious student of military history.

Lt. Colonel Robert A. Lynn, Florida Guard
Orlando, Florida

22 people found this helpful

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B. Wolinsky

Why the Vietnam War Failed

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2013

In 1969, with the Vietnam War raging, we had nowhere near the patriotic fervor of WW2. Gone were the scores of young men dropping out of college to enlist. Gone were the Black Americans begging for combat assignments. On the contrary, there was growing anti-war militancy among Black soldiers, not to mention pervasive drug use among soldiers of all races. Scores of soldiers didn’t want to be there, so it’s no wonder that so many officers were murdered with fragmentation grenades.

The best part of the book is the chapter on Australian fraggings. I doubt that the Aussie experience ein Vietnam was as bad as that of the US army, because most of the Aussies were there by choice. The Australians didn’t draft troops like the USA did, and there was no Black-White rift, so that eliminates one source of trouble. There were only 11 fraggings, and they were for the same reasons as the US ones; the soldier in question didn’t want to be there. In one case the murderer was a 20 year old soldier, twice rejected from the service, and had a juvenile criminal record. You’d have to wonder why the army let him in if he obviously couldn’t be trusted, but the answer is simple. They were desperate for men. They had to take whomever volunteered.

Fragging is essentially a book about how and why the US involvement in Vietnam couldn’t work. The soldiers didn’t want to be there, and with so many men avoiding military service, the army had to take anyone it could. What we ended up with was an army full of unmotivated malcontents, babysitting the unmotivated soldiers and lazy playboy officers of the South Vietnamese army. They result was that they were no match for the well-disciplined and motivated Vietcong.

George Lepre has written a great book on an issue that has often been ignored. Many US officers were killed by grenades tossed into their huts, but few soldiers were caught and tried. The army investigations were incompetent, and even if the army had trained homicide detectives, it wouldn’t have worked. By the time the detectives were flown all the way from the USA, the evidence would’ve washed away and eaten by ants.

When a fragging occurred in Iraq, the offending soldier had the same reasons as the Vietnam-era troops who murdered their officers; he didn’t want to be there. But this time round, there was no sloppy investigation. The army was ready for this to happen, and he was quickly brought to justice and found guilty. The case was kept in the military courts and not the civilian ones, because this time round, there was no way the army was going to let him look like a martyr and a hero.

3 people found this helpful

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