Official History of the US Army in Vietnam

US Army Center of Military History ^ | 31 Jan 2015 | US Army Center of Military History

[GreyFriar]

US Center of Military History Bookshelves: The US Army in Vietnam -- All of the volumes currently published, except the photo book, by the US Army Center of Military History are available online at:

http://www.history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/collect/usavn.html

Research materials and two chapters from the next Combat Operations volume on Tet are available online at:

http://www.history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/resmat/vw.html

[GreyFriar]

I’ve made a couple of comments regarding US Army, military history, and the Vietnam War recently. I thought I would post these links to the Center of Military History’s webpages on the Vietnam war.

the main webpage for the Center of Military History is:

http://www.history.army.mil/index.html

According to a friend who works there, CMH’s webpage has been the NUMBER ONE of ALL Army webpages for total hits for over a year and is still #1 as of this month.

[kearnyirish2]

I’ve been selling/swapping old camping gear I’d accumulated over the past thirty years at the local flea market (I just got a nice new pair of desert boots for a baggy beat-up old Soviet uniform); as I put together a pack to sell/swap every couple of weeks I came upon a small frame pack I picked up for $5 a few years back. At the time the guy selling it told me he didn’t know how the pack attached to the frame, but because it also had camping items in the pack itself I figured it had to be a bargain (and I could see the straps were compatible with an ALICE frame).

Anyway, I decided to look this thing up on the internet a few nights ago, searching under “Asian military frame packs” and such; no luck (the pack itself had “US” on it, but it just appeared to be some kind of knock-off). I couldn’t find markings on the metal frame itself, but eventually realized there was some type of paper in the pack’s top flap; it referred to a “lightweight rucksack”. Using that as a guide for my internet search, it turned out to be a US-issue P-68 light rucksack from the Vietnam era; basically it was a predecessor to the ALICE-type pack, combined with a large fanny pack instead of the larger ALICE pack. The small, wide pack sits at the bottom of the frame; it stall has the original straps for securing cargo (or a sleeping bag) above it, the original shoulder straps (less comfortable than ALICE straps), and a waist-belt strap (also less comfortable than the ALICE waist-belt).

After seeing them for sale for $250 online, I want to see if I can get $125 on Craigslist...

[zot]

Thanks for posting this. I will be visiting the CMH website.

[minnesota_bound]

A chapter in the beginning should explain how the democrats just like in Korea and WW2 cause the deaths of millions of people from the communists because they support the communists. Current history will swap communists with terrorists.

[centurion316]

According to a friend who works there, CMH’s webpage has been the NUMBER ONE of ALL Army webpages for total hits for over a year and is still #1 as of this month.

The Army Public Affairs weenies are apparently not too happy about that. Some time ago, the Army removed the direct link to CMH from its homepage and now you have to do some searching. I suppose that they are jealous that the CMH is actually putting out information that people want to read and not the half assed PR nonsense that Public Affairs peddles.

[onedoug]

I have 3 Dept Of The Army monographs:

“Shrapening The Combat Edge”, LTG Julian J Ewell & MJG Ira A Hunt Jr (1974);

“Allied Participation In Vietnam”, LTG Stanley Robert Lawson & BGN James Lawton Collins Jr (1975);

and “Mounted Combat In Vietnam”, GEN Donn A Starry (1978), which actually has my picture in it standing on an ACAV.

[GreyFriar]

BGN James Lawton Collins Jr was the Chief of Military History and thus commanded CMH from 1970 until 1982.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jlcollinsjr.htm

The current building that houses CMH on Fort McNair, DC is officially named “Collins Hall” in his memory, complete with bronze plaque.

The building began as a pair of horse stables built around 1900. The paddock area between them was replaced with a roof and turned into a warehouse in the 1930s. Sometime after WWII and until 1994, one of the stables was the post theater while the other along with the roofed over area was the post commissary. In the late 1990s the building was gutted and renovated with CMH moving into it in 1998, where is has been now for 17 years.

[NKP_Vet]

How about a chapter called “How democrats abandoned US allies in Vietnam and caused the deaths of millions”.

[onedoug]

Sorry to hear of his death. Thanks so much for the info.

I love languages too. I speak Spanish fairly well, but can’t seem to drum up the discipline to really learn Arabic, Hebrew and Chinese, though they’re on my list.

Thanks again, and All the Best to You and Yours....

[GreyFriar]

Thank you.

[buwaya]

Thank you very much for the link, its a tremendous resource.

[Rockingham]

The Army’s history of the Vietnam War is incomplete and has been notoriously slow to appear. Outside historians surmise that this is due to contentious issues, the secrecy that still attaches to important documentation, and that criticisms of the conduct of the war would bear against still living senior officers and political figures eager to defend their reputations. No historian wants to write a supposedly definitive official history only to have outraged witnesses pop up in refutation, with abundant supporting documentation in hand from their personal files.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for the links!