Ebook: More Than a Soldier's War: Pacification in Vietnam (Texas a & M University Military History Series)

"an excellent work . . . mercifully free of abstract pontification. . . . [The University of California] Vietnam War Archive, with its sections on psychological warfare; propaganda analysis; political warfare; the VC's political dau tranh or struggle strategy and its three van or action programs, etc.perhaps a total of 150,000 pagescontains nothing that matches [More Than a Soldier's War.]"Douglas Pike, Indochina Studies Project, University of California "More Than a Soldier's War is a powerful, affecting story of distinguished service up to a tragic end. . . . It is a splendid account . . . Moreover, it is exceedingly thoughtful, and fascinating to boot."Robert W. Komer, former Assistant to President Johnson and Chief Advisor on Pacification to the Government of Vietnam " . . . there are . . . officers whose stories can lend a perspective to the war that is available no other way. One such story is More Than a Soldier's War."California Zephyr, Vietnam Veterans of California newsletter " . . . a well-written, fact-filled memoir . . . "VVA Veteran, July 1996 "Hundreds of books have been written about the American experience in Viet-Nam, however, few have been written about the advisory effort in general and the pacification effort specifically. Col. Metzner's book does an excellent job in filling this gap."Military: The Press of Freedom, May, 1997 ". . . a clear and honest description and evaluation of a cooperative program by the United States and Vietnam that was almost never reported in the media. . . . Colonel Metzner gives a very frank and well-organized explanation of the program. . . . Colonel Metzner is a gifted writer and his book tells an important part of our history, which certainly needed telling. It gives us a reason to be proud of the work done by the Pacification program."Purple Heart Magazine, rec'd Aug. 1997 ". . . a major Vietnam literature contribution. Metzner plainly highlights the problems of advising a foreign army and its people, . . . The lessons he identifies are valuable for the US military in any future advisory effort."Military Review, May/June 1997 "Colonel Metzner's account of the workings of the pacification program at the local level in the provinces, districts and villages of Vietnam fills an important gap in the history of the war there, which is otherwise too dominated by the `soldier's war' which most Americans experienced. He is honest in his frustrations, but also in his recognition that the program did have a major impact in bring peace and progress to the countryside where most Vietnamese lived. It won the `people's war' against the communists, only to see that the `soldier's war' to which they later turned overwhelmed a Vietnam abandoned by its American protector."William E. Colby "I have read your book More Than a Soldier's War. I must congratulate you for having transformed a normally unglamorous provincial advisory role into an exciting experience. And you have done an excellent job of, as you put it, `telling the story faithfully and accurately.'. . . Finally, I am glad that we had advisors like yourself who had a profound empathy for the plight of Vietnamese people and who tried hard to help."Lam Quang Thi, Lt. Gen., ARVN "An authoritative description of the war in the boondocks with valuable research material and case studies for historians to employ."Indochina Chronology, April-June 1998