Black Ops Vietnam

During the Vietnam War, the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group (MACVSOG) was a highly-classified, U.S. joint-service organization that consisted of personnel from Army Special Forces, the Air Force, Navy SEALs, Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance units, and the CIA. This secret organization was committed to action in Southeast Asia even before the major build-up of U.S. forces in 1965 and also fielded a division-sized element of South Vietnamese military personnel, indigenous Montagnards, ethnic Chinese Nungs, and Taiwanese pilots in its varied reconnaissance, naval, air, and agent operations. MACVSOG was without doubt the most unique U.S. unit to participate in the Vietnam War, since its operational mandate authorized its missions to take place “over the fence” in North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, where most other American units were forbidden to go. During its nine-year existence it managed to participate in most of the significant operations and incidents of the conflict. MACVSOG was there during the Gulf of Tonkin incidents, during air operations over North Vietnam, the Tet Offensive, the secret bombing of and ground incursion into Cambodia, Operation Lam Son 719, the Green Beret murder case, the Easter Invasion, the Phoenix Program, and the Son Tay POW Raid. The story of this extraordinary unit has never before been told in full and comes as a timely blueprint for combined-arms, multi-national unconventional warfare in the post-9/11 age.Unlike previous works on the subject, Black Ops, Vietnam is a complete chronological history of the unit drawn from declassified documents, memoirs, and previous works on the subject, which tended to focus only on particular aspects of the unit’s operations.

From Action/Adventure novelist Michael Kasner comes a covert military thriller series. Formed by an elite cadre of government officials, the five member Black OPS team goes where the law can’t - to seek retribution for acts of terror directed against Americans anywhere in the world. BLACK OPS - BOOK THREE: AMERICANS TAKEN HOSTAGE IN GREECE! The Black OPS team’s priority is to rescue a hostaged group of archaeological students, including the niece of the Secretary of State. Blood has already been spilled, and the students face an ever-receding future that will be terminated by torture and death. But the five member Black OPS team have emerged from deep cover to take on the terrorists at their own game... In the tradition of Don Pendleton's Executioner Mack Bolan and Warren Murphy's Destroyer classic paperback book series!

From Action/Adventure novelist Michael Kasner comes a covert military thriller series! Formed by an elite cadre of government officials, the five member Black OPS team goes where the law can’t - to seek retribution for acts of terror directed against Americans anywhere in the world. BLACK OPS - BOOK ONE: AMERICA CAUGHT IN A CARIBBEAN UPRISING! The strident call to action comes from Cuba as an unprecedented wave of violence against Americans that Castro’s inheritors can’t-or won’t- control. When the U.S. offers of military support are turned down, the five member Black OPS force is dispatched on a clandestine down and dirty mission... In the tradition of Don Pendleton's Executioner Mack Bolan and Warren Murphy's Destroyer classic paperback book series!

Born in his grandfather's house during a blizzard, breech baby Martin George Le Blanc was not expected to survive. Instead of baptism, he received last rites. Lack of birth registration made him the ideal future "ghost warrior": a blank slate. Le Blanc enlisted in the U.S. Army as a footloose 20-year-old Canadian, during the early days of the Vietnam War. His rapid ascent to elite black-ops warrior transformed the small-town Nova Scotia kid into a clandestine force in the Vietnam and Cold War eras (1966-86). He finally became an American citizen years after retiring from military service. In his autobiography Ghost Warrior, Le Blanc sheds sharp new light on a period that foreshadowed today's geopolitics. He explores the rugged childhood and intensive military training that toughened him; the dangers and the hard-won satisfaction of defending freedom; and the damage his service inflicted on body, mind, soul, and relationships. As a U.S. Airborne Army Ranger and Special Forces Green Beret, Le Blanc had a hand in historic events, from Israel's victory in the 1967 Six Day War to the Soviet Union's failing grasp on Afghanistan in 1983. He completed 16 major missions and many operations in South and North Vietnam, Cambodia, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, Germany, Grenada, Italy, Lebanon, and along the Pacific Shelf. After each of three nearly-fatal missions, once suffering the loss of all 9 men under his command, Le Blanc broke down, withdrew, healed, and returned to battle, despite his enduring pain and trauma. A movie producer, whom Le Blanc served as a bodyguard, mined the retired warrior's life, character, and quirks to create hit man Martin Blank in the dark-comedy film Grosse Pointe Blank (1997). Ghost Warrior is the true story of one remarkable life. Martin Le Blanc will inspire, amaze, horrify, and deeply move you. "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." - John F. Kennedy

Oppose Any Foe is the epic story of America's most elite warriors: the Special Operations Forces. Born as small appendages to the conventional armies of World War II, the Special Operations Forces have grown into a behemoth of 70,000 troops, including Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces, Air Force Night Stalkers, Special Operations Marines, Rangers, and Delta Force. Weaving together their triumphs and tribulations, acclaimed historian Mark Moyar introduces a colorful cast of military men, brimming with exceptional talent, courage and selflessness. In a nation where the military is the most popular institution, America's Special Operations Forces have become the most popular members of the military. Through nighttime raids on enemy compounds and combat advising of resistance movements, special operators have etched their names into the nation's registry of heroes. Yet the public knows little of the journey that they took to reach these heights, a journey that was neither easy nor glamorous. Fighting an uphill battle for most of their seventy-five year history, the Special Operations Forces slipped on many an occasion, and fell far on several. Presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama have enthusiastically championed Special Operations Forces, but their enthusiasm has often surpassed their understanding, resulting in misuse or overuse of the troops. Lacking clearly defined missions, Special Operations Forces have had to reinvent themselves time and again to prove their value in the face of fierce critics-many of them from the conventional military, which from the start opposed the segregation of talent in special units. Highlighting both the heroism of America's most elite soldiers and the controversies surrounding their meteoric growth, Oppose Any Foe presents the first comprehensive history of these special warriors and their daring missions. It is essential reading for anyone interested in America's military history-and the future of warfare.

A look at how combat, culture, and military tradition influenced soldiers’ language in Vietnam from the award-winning, USA Today–bestselling author. The slang, or unique vocabulary, of the soldiers and marines serving in Vietnam, was a mishmash of words and phrases whose origins reached back to the Korean War, World War II, and even earlier. Additionally, it was influenced by the United States’ rapidly changing protest culture, ideological and poetical doctrine, ethical and cultural conflicts, racialism, and drug culture. This “slanguage” was rendered even more complex by the Pidgin Vietnamese-English spoken by Americans and Vietnamese alike. But perhaps most importantly, it reflected the soldiers’ actual daily lives, played out in the jungles, swamps, and hills of Vietnam.

Colonel Donald Gilbert Cook was the first U.S. Marine captured in Vietnam, the first and only Marine in history to earn the Medal of Honor while in captivity; and the first Marine POW to have a U.S. Navy ship named in his honor, the USS Donald Cook (DDG-75). On December 31, 1964, while serving as an observer with a South Vietnamese Marine Corps battalion on a combat operation against Viet Cong forces, he was captured near the village of Binh Gia in South Vietnam. Until his death in captivity in December 1967, Cook led ten POWs in a series of primitive jungle camps. This first book-length biography concentrates especially on Cook's three years in captivity, and is the first book exclusively about a Marine POW held in South Vietnam. Throughout, Cook's adherence to the Corps' traditional leadership principles and knowledge of the Code of Conduct are highlighted. His biography provides a unique case study of exemplary leadership under extremely difficult conditions. Includes 68 photographs.

The Vietnam War was one of America's longest, bloodiest, and most controversial wars. This volume examines the complexities of this protracted conflict and explains why the lessons learned in Vietnam are still highly relevant today. Vietnam War: The Essential Reference Guide provides a compendium of the key people, places, organizations, treaties, and events that make up the history of the war, explaining its causes, how it was conducted, and its far-reaching consequences. Written by recognized authorities, this ready-reference volume provides essential information all in one place and includes a comprehensive list of additional sources for further study. The work presents a detailed chronology that outlines the numerous battles and campaigns throughout the war, such as the Tet Offensive, the Battle of Hamburger Hill, Operation Rolling Thunder, and the Battle of Hue. Biographies on Lyndon Johnson, William Westmoreland, Robert McNamara, Ngo Dinh Diem, and other major political figures and military leaders provide insight into the individuals who played key roles in the conflict, while primary source documents such as President Nixon's speech on Vietnamization provide invaluable historical context.