The Gun Counter

Man-Kzin Wars XI

Netpackrat wrote: ↑Fri Aug 28, 2020 12:06 pm Man-Kzin Wars XI

I wish they'd rerelease them as sets..

Two books about the Vietnam War: Rice Patty Grunt by John M.G. Brown and The Raid by Benjamin Schemmer.

Rice Patty Grunt is the pretty standard this-is-what-my-combat-tours-were-like book.

The Raid concerns the raid on the Son Tay prisoner of war camp located 23 miles from Hanoi. The majority of the book is about the planning phases of the raid. There are about 10 pages on the actual raid, with the remainder of the book dealing witht the aftermath.

I got The Raid in college. My buddy was ex-SF, but came in around 75. Trained under and knew several of the Son Tay Raiders. Pointed them out in the pictures of my copy. Schemmer apparently got it right, but the book does not have some details which were not for public distribution (in the early 80s. Some more information may have been released since then).

randy wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 5:25 am I got The Raid in college. My buddy was ex-SF, but came in around 75. Trained under and knew several of the Son Tay Raiders. Pointed them out in the pictures of my copy. Schemmer apparently got it right, but the book does not have some details which were not for public distribution (in the early 80s. Some more information may have been released since then).

Was Son-Tay burned, or just a series of extremely unfortunate events. Keep seeing reports of yes it was, and not it was not.

I've never seen credible evidence it was burned. And given the damage the raiders did to a couple of facilities, and stacking the bodies of many foreign "advisors" at the "school" next door, I tend to no.

If it had been compromised the NVA would have done more than just move the prisoners. They would have gotten the advisors out there as well and set up a fire trap for the raiders. As it is, they went in, kicked ass, and got out without any serious casualties and only leaving behind the helicopter which was designated to be crashed into the compound,

No one I've ever talked to, nor any credible source I have read, has ever expressed any doubts they would have brought the POWs home if they had been there.

I've seen speculation it was compromised that seems based primarily on the fact the POWs weren't there. I don't think those folks understand that in the real world Murphy has an input to every operation, and you can do everything right and still not succeed. Sometimes shit happens.

Thank you.

Rereading Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire

Almost finished with C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce and most of the way through E.E. "Doc" Smith's Triplanetary. Amazon has high-quality Kindle editions of the Lensman books for 99 cents a throw right now -- I grabbed the first three and will probably get the others this weekend.

I had just started The Sea-Wolf, when it was stolen out of my truck along with the backpack which contained it. There was a Bible in there a well, so hopefully one the thieves reads it.....