Not a Gentleman's War

Name: Not a Gentleman's War
Price: 133.95 AUD
Availability: OutOfStock
ISBN: 9780807837122

An Inside View of Junior Officers in the Vietnam War

Ron Milam

$133.95

Paperback

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English

Miscellaneous
01 August 2012

History; History of the Americas; Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000; Vietnam War; Military life & institutions

Wars are not fought by politicians and generals--they are fought by soldiers. Written by a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, Not a Gentleman's War is about such soldiers--a gritty, against-the-grain defense of the much-maligned junior officer.

Conventional wisdom holds that the junior officer in Vietnam was a no-talent, poorly trained, unmotivated soldier typified by Lt. William Calley of My Lai infamy. Drawing on oral histories, after-action reports, diaries, letters, and other archival sources, Ron Milam debunks this view, demonstrating that most of the lieutenants who served in combat performed their duties well and effectively, serving with great skill, dedication, and commitment to the men they led. Milam's narrative provides a vivid, on-the-ground portrait of what the platoon leader faced: training his men, keeping racial tensions at bay, and preventing alcohol and drug abuse, all in a war without fronts. Yet despite these obstacles, junior officers performed admirably, as documented by field reports and evaluations of their superior officers.

More than 5,000 junior officers died in Vietnam; all of them had volunteered to lead men in battle. Based on meticulous and wide-ranging research, this book provides a much-needed serious treatment of these men--the only such study in print--shedding new light on the longest war in American history.

By: Ron Milam
Imprint: Miscellaneous
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 161mm, Spine: 14mm
Weight: 362g
ISBN: 9780807837122
ISBN 10: 0807837121
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 01 August 2012
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Ron Milam is associate professor of military history at Texas Tech University. He served as an infantry advisor to Montagnard forces in the Vietnam War.

Reviews for Not a Gentleman's War: An Inside View of Junior Officers in the Vietnam War

Contributes significantly to the historiography of the war and our understanding of the U.S. Army in the 1960s and early 1970s. . . . Highly recommend[ed] . . . to historians of the Vietnam War era.-- The Journal of American History