Da Nang Postscripts


Book Description

Dave Simms is a young black marine stationed at the Da Nang Air Base during the Vietnam War. Working as a supply clerk, he fights not only the Viet Cong but also everyday boredom and the absurdity of military life. In the face of those challenges, his search for personal identity leads him through a drunken and reefer-smoking year of ludicrous encounters. Simms finds himself in perilous surroundings and yet is protected from the worst of events in many waysbut not always. The horrors of war reach even him, leaving a mark that not even alcohol fueled nights can erase. Simms rarely meets the enemy, but his worst fears arise more from what the marines might do to him. The preposterous, bloodthirsty mind-set of the Marine Corps feeds his hatred for them and his determination to leave Vietnam not only alive and in one piece but also in his right minda goal that might prove impossible to achieve. In this military novel, a young marine serving in Vietnam struggles to stay alive and keep his sanity in the face of the brutality of war.




Vietnam War Slang


Book Description

In 2014, the US marks the 50th anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the basis for the Johnson administration’s escalation of American military involvement in Southeast Asia and war against North Vietnam. Vietnam War Slang outlines the context behind the slang used by members of the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam War. Troops facing and inflicting death display a high degree of linguistic creativity. Vietnam was the last American war fought by an army with conscripts, and their involuntary participation in the war added a dimension to the language. War has always been an incubator for slang; it is brutal, and brutality demands a vocabulary to describe what we don’t encounter in peacetime civilian life. Furthermore, such language serves to create an intense bond between comrades in the armed forces, helping them to support the heavy burdens of war. The troops in Vietnam faced the usual demands of war, as well as several that were unique to Vietnam – a murky political basis for the war, widespread corruption in the ruling government, untraditional guerilla warfare, an unpredictable civilian population in Vietnam, and a growing lack of popular support for the war back in the US. For all these reasons, the language of those who fought in Vietnam was a vivid reflection of life in wartime. Vietnam War Slang lays out the definitive record of the lexicon of Americans who fought in the Vietnam War. Assuming no prior knowledge, it presents around 2000 headwords, with each entry divided into sections giving parts of speech, definitions, glosses, the countries of origin, dates of earliest known citations, and citations. It will be an essential resource for Vietnam veterans and their families, students and readers of history, and anyone interested in the principles underpinning the development of slang.




The Bridges of Vietnam


Book Description

As an intelligence officer during the Vietnam War, Fred L. Edwards Jr., was instructed to "visit every major ground unit in the country. Go to Special Forces camps, ground reconnaissance units, armored cavalry units, and waterborne reconnaissance units. Search everywhere for intelligence sources--long range patrols, boats, electronic surveillance, and agent operations. Don't get bogged down by dog-and-pony shows staged for colonels and generals."




Naked in Da Nang


Book Description

FACs (forward air controllers) in Vietnam flew low and slow, searching for signs of an elusive enemy. Often they trolled themselves as bait for the NVA troops to try to shoot down. When a friendly unit made contact, having a FAC overhead made their day because the FACs controlled the bomb-, rocket-, and napalm-laden fast movers, fighter jets and attack aircraft whose ordnance often made the difference between life and death. They were regarded by many of their airforce and naval aviator brethren as insane, suicidal, or both. In addition to the perils of enemy fire which ranged from lucky AK-47 shots to .51 caliber machine guns and SA-7 shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, you had to watch out to keep from being blown up in a B-52 Arc-Light strike or knocked down by friendly artillery. As the title suggests, however, Naked in Da Nang is not an angst ridden account of mortal combat. Following in the footsteps of Richard Hooker's classic M*A*S*H: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, author Jackson has a keen eye for the absurdities that abound in a combat zone. That the humor is often dark only serves to sharpen its comic edge.- These pilots were considered the "Guardian Angels" of the Vietnam ground soldier- Refers to the "unarmed" nature of FAC (Forward Air Controllers) aircraft- Low-tech aircraft that survived combat on pilot skills only




QuarkXpress 6 for Print and Web Design


Book Description

Few designers have explored the intersecting worlds of design and QuarkXPress as thoroughly as bestselling author Baumgardt. He reveals his expertise here to show designers how they can create more effective designs using QuarkXPress.




A Piece of My Heart


Book Description

“Records the memories of a war in the words of those women courageous enough to walk into hell.”—San Francisco Chronicle A decade after America pulled out of Vietnam, the seeds of the often heart- wrenching oral history, A Piece of My Heart, were sown when writer and filmmaker Keith Walker met a woman who had been an emergency room nurse in Cu Chi and Da Nang. She and 25 others recount the time they spent "in country" as part of 15,000 American women who volunteered or served as nurses and in the military. NOTE: This edition does not include photographs. “The emotional current never falters.”—The New York Times Book Review




The Routledge Handbook of US Foreign Policy in the Indo-Pacific


Book Description

This handbook provides a comprehensive survey of US foreign policy throughout the Indo-Pacific. Home to around 60 percent of the world’s population; most of the world’s largest and fastest-growing economies; around half of the world’s states with full nuclear capabilities; and a complicated web of unresolved tensions, disputes, and conflicts, the Indo-Pacific is arguably the most diverse, dynamic, and contested region on Earth. US strategy there has evolved over centuries, with its physical presence going broadly unchallenged since at least the middle of the last century. However, the rapid development and expanding influence of China – alongside the growth of India, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and others – as well as political and economic crises and disruptions within the United States itself, mean that in recent times the US has come to occupy a newly uncertain position and perceive a range of highly unfamiliar challenges. To explore how the US has managed, and continues to manage, its regional history, and how it approaches the modern-day landscape of an Indo-Pacific only recently normalised within international political discourse, the book contains 33 newly commissioned chapters from leading experts in the field. It does so partly with help from the more traditional realms of International Relations theory as well as more critical realms. It also unpacks US policy and strategy as it pertains to regional governments, states, and multilateral institutions, as well as to pressing issues including inter-state security, human rights, trade, artificial intelligence, and cyber strategy. It does so in four parts: History of the US in the Indo-Pacific Theorising US Policy and Presence in the Indo-Pacific The US and Indo-Pacific States and Institutions The US and Indo-Pacific Issues The book is designed to be of interest to students and scholars of the US in the Indo-/Asia Pacific; the international relations of the Indo-/Asia Pacific; and US foreign policy.




Broadside & Barrage


Book Description




As We Recall


Book Description

As We Recall is the first book of its kind. A collection of reminiscences written by members of the U.S. Naval Academy class of 1952, it is a testament to the value of a Naval Academy education. Some stories are of combat in Korea, exploits in space, aerial combat over Vietnam, or development of major weapons systems. Others are stories of life at sea or of the challenges faced by the families supporting their husbands and fathers. It is safe to say, this book is an edifying, intimate, and inspiring history.




Vietnam Junkyard and Other Poems


Book Description

The book consists of three volumes of poetry, originally written as separate books. The first is First Reflections, with sections named Memories, Family, Animals, Places, Diseases, and Fun. The second volume is Vietnam Junkyard, the story of his Vietnam tour of duty in 1971-1972. It is written as an extended prose-poem divided in chapters. The first chapter is set in on an atoll in in the central Pacific where he served as a Ground Safety and Explosive Disposal officer for the ABM missile test range. The second chapter is a flashback of the events of his life to that date. The effects of his Vietnam experience on his life since are shown. The third volume is Millennial Meditations, a commentary on the meaning of the new millennium, and reactions to the 911 tragedy.




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