New SF books of interest

[Longhorn92]

I discovered these today...I was told both are very good...the first is Tom Clancy's "Special Forces"--A Guided Tour of U.S. Army Special Forces...the second is "The Rescue of River City", by Drew Dix...some of the old timers on the board probably know Dix...he was a PRU advisor (from what I've been able to piece together from various books and articles)who was awarded the CMH during the Tet Offensive...I picked up Clancy's at Barnes and Noble's, but you have to go to www.drewdix.com (http://www.drewdix.com) to order his...just thought I'd pass the info to you guys...

[CraigSL02]

Longhorn..add these to your list..
"Just a Sailor" by Steven L Waterman (paper back)..UDT ops
"Pararescue" by Michael Hirsh (paper back)...106th RW
"Papa Bravo Romeo" by Wynn Goldsmith (paper back)...Riverine ops in Nam
"War Story" by Jim Morris (paper back)...SF ops in Nam
Unfortunately, I have only read Papa Bravo Romeo so far...good book

[E19]

Longhorn,

SSG Drew Dix was the first SF enlisted man to be awarded the MOH.

Here's the citation:

The President of the United Statesin the name of The Congresstakes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to

DIX, DREW DENNIS

Rank and Organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, U.S. Senior Advisor Group, IV Corps, Military Assistance Command. Place and date: Chau Doc Province, Republic of Vietnam, 31 January and 1 February 1968. Entered service at: Denver, Colo. Born: 14 December 1944, West Point, N.Y.

Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. S/Sgt. Dix distinguished himself by exceptional heroism while serving as a unit adviser. Two heavily armed Viet Cong battalions attacked the Province capital city of Chau Phu resulting in the complete breakdown and fragmentation of the defenses of the city. S/Sgt. Dix, with a patrol of Vietnamese soldiers, was recalled to assist in the defense of Chau Phu. Learning that a nurse was trapped in a house near the center of the city, S/Sgt. Dix organized a relief force, successfully rescued the nurse, and returned her to the safety of the Tactical Operations Center. Being informed of other trapped civilians within the city, S/Sgt. Dix voluntarily led another force to rescue 8 civilian employees located in a building which was under heavy mortar and small-arms fire. S/Sgt. Dix then returned to the center of the city. Upon approaching a building, he was subjected to intense automatic rifle and machinegun fire from an unknown number of Viet Cong. He personally assaulted the building, killing 6 Viet Cong, and rescuing 2 Filipinos. The following day S/Sgt. Dix, still on his own volition, assembled a 20-man force and though under intense enemy fire cleared the Viet Cong out of the hotel, theater, and other adjacent buildings within the city. During this portion of the attack, Army Republic of Vietnam soldiers inspired by the heroism and success of S/Sgt. Dix, rallied and commenced firing upon the Viet Cong. S/Sgt. Dix captured 20 prisoners, including a high ranking Viet Cong official. He then attacked enemy troops who had entered the residence of the Deputy Province Chief and was successful in rescuing the official's wife and children. S/Sgt. Dix's personal heroic actions resulted in 14 confirmed Viet Cong killed in action and possibly 25 more, the capture of 20 prisoners, 15 weapons, and the rescue of the 14 United States and free world civilians. The heroism of S/Sgt. Dix was in the highest tradition and reflects great credit upon the U.S. Army.

[dragonrain]

didnt dix rescue those nurses with harry humphries during tet. Seem to remember Dick writing something about that.

What did you guys think of Charlie beckwiths book?

[Scout]

Craig, War Story is a rerelease, one of the first 1st-person accounts of SF in Vietnam. Excellent book.

I broke my rule and ordered the Clancy book--even though I've got enough personal reading to last till May, not to mention school studies. Ugh.

[MF]

Some comments on the Clancy book. On the "dedication" page are listed the names of 14 Special Forces soldiers who were killed during the 1998-1999 time frame, the last being SSG Joseph E. Suponcic, who's name is misspelled Juponeic in the book. While graphics (all black and white) show the different emblems of each of the services special operations commands, including the USASOC SSI, the SF SSI is not shown, nor is the SF DUI. The book does have graphics of what it refers to as the "shoulder flash" of each of the SFGs, however, these are of course BERET flashes. In black and white I have a hard time telling the 7th, 10th and 19th SFG flashes apart. This what I got from a cursory glance. I bought the book anyway. Maybe it gets better.
When my wife lets me (Hey, at least I'm honest!) I'll buy Drew Dix's book. I'm reading COL Roger Donlon's book now (Beyond Nam Dong)and I'm really enjoying it.

Mark/MF

[Scout]

MF,

Clancy seems to have problems with the little crap, I noticed that with Armored Cav; he needs a better editor. SF will probably be the same.
Maybe he should send compies of his manuscripts to the guys he's writing about.

Is this COL Donlon the same as HC Donlon who wrote Outpost of Freedom, the Medal of Honor recipient?

Scout

[MF]

Scout,

Yes. It's the same guy, COL Roger H. C. Donlon U.S. Army(ret). The first SF and first Vietnam Medal of Honor recipient. You can order his new book at:
http://www.homeofheroes.com/donlon/

Outpost of Freedom is pretty hard to find. I managed to find a copy, but only after having read the Reader's Digest condensed version.

Mark

[wannabe]

Read Clancy's SF at Barnes and Nobles last night, working on the "buy it if it's good, skim it here if it's not". I skimmed it. Nothing in there that I hadn't already read in much better books like "Commandos", a lot of fluff wriiten in first person colloquial, and what have you. It had a decent overview of some of the non-glamorous equipment like radios and food, but the weapons section had a nice rah-rah for the MP5, even though it's been mostly phased out. Oh, and he started out by bashing SEALs and PJs.

I bought a book on WW2 German Kommandos instead.

Matt