As many of you know and some of you have experienced, the war in Vietnam was unlike any other conflict in the history of the US military. It was a place where there were no front lines and the enemy was pretty much about anywhere. It was a place where the goals of leadership were often vague and contradictory. Where one had to operate under rules of engagement that were at time, nebulous.

Vietnam was not a place where tanks could operate as they had in previous engagements. Instead of mass assaults with combined infantry support, many times tankers had to go it alone. The terrain was heavily forested or jungle and that even further led to restrictions of movement. There were seemingly endless search and destroy missions where there was a lot of searching and what was often destroyed was a tank that had struck a mine. There was the frustration of chasing an enemy who by merely stepping over an invisible line into another country halted the chase. There were the long escort missions of supply convoys down narrow roads where ambush was a constant threat. There were the frequent times were your tank was little more than mobile artillery in support of ground troops. And there were those few times when there was the ability to go head to head with enemy armor.

In his fascinating book on all of these subject, author Oscar Gilbert brings to us what it was like to live through these times. His book is logically divided into timelines starting with a background on conflict in the region, then taking it year by year from 1965 to 1969 and following that up with the final five years of 'Vietnamization' and withdrawal. It is full of gripping and thought provoking first hand accounts and illustrated with 16 pages of black and white photos. If you really want to get a feeling for what it was like during those times to be involved with Marine armor, then this is a book you simply must read.

December 2008

Review book courtesy of  Casemate Publishing, where you can order your copy of this and many other superb books and DVDs.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.