Take No Prisoners
Bred To A Thing Harder Than Triumph
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
The Green Beret:
Bred to a Thing Harder than Triumph
This novel is an account of a covert action
undertaken by the United States Special Forces, or Green Berets, an elite unit
of Army professionals operating in Vietnam and Laos between 1961 and 1964.
The public was not aware of the extent of U.S.
involvement in Southeast Asia before the commitment of troops by President
Johnson in 1965. In the 1950’s, the
Soviet Union was already infiltrating the societies of Indochina, expanding
Communist influence wherever they could.
President Eisenhower threatened retaliation with nuclear weapons. President Kennedy developed a
counter-insurgency policy for a limited war and chose the Special Forces,
specifically trained to combat “insurgent irregulars”, or pro-communist jungle
fighters, to implement that policy.
In 1961, U.S. Special Forces teams were secretly
deployed in the central highlands of Southeast Asia. As a member of one of those teams, I lived among the Meo
tribesmen and Montagnards, the mountain people indigenous to that area. Our mission was to organize and train these
men in jungle warfare. It quickly
became the ultimate chess game – a few American men, outnumbered and surrounded
by Communist soldiers, in foreign jungles – where the stakes were human lives.
Thus began the United States’ commitment to the
“civil action” we were reluctant to call a war – although it lasted ten years,
killed more than 50,000 Americans, and wounded at least 300,000. Congress placed limits on the military,
making it impossible to win the war.
U.S. troops did not have the full support, help, or interest of the
South Vietnamese or of the American people.
These factors contributed to a tragic ending.
Like soldiers in any war, boys came back men, and,
like soldiers in any war, they were trained killers, expected to slip quietly
back into peaceful, productive lives.
But unlike other soldiers from other wars, they returned home to a
hostile environment, branded baby killers and losers by an ill-informed
public. The anger and disorientation
resulting from that betrayal has left a permanent scar on American society.
This book tells the story of men who fought in the
early days of this controversial war, before the United States was “officially”
involved.
S. Glenn Wakefield
March 2003
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
VIETNAM SUMMARY 2003
MESSAGE
The soldier is a warrior and must live by a code. A sentry for America who stands between slavery and freedom for his family and love ones. Soldiers kill people and soldiers get killed. They die for their country. In reality they fight for each other. They train day and night for months and years. Soldiers honor, serve and obey America and hold her above all others.
Can I rationalize a war where 60% to 70% of the casualties were civilians? Did those children, women and old people have too die? Why? There is no glamour or honor in war. "I love thee dear so much love I not honor more " Open the gates and fools rush in- "Once a Fool. " America the beautiful from sea to shining sea. The movies make war look so glorious and when your first friend is killed you know it was all a lie. After you get over the initial shock, you're torn between elation and guilt. Elation because it wasn't you who was killed and guilt for even thinking that way.
All any man wants is to leave this world with a little dignity, believing that some how he made a difference. Just maybe this is a better place because he was a visitor here for a brief period. He hopes to be remembered for the good deeds and forgotten for the embarrassing moments when expectations were not met. However, one is remembered as a whole being, good and bad. You come into this world in less than a spectacular way, more often through pain. No clothes, crying, smacked on the bottom, complaining and very helpless. Many of us leave this world in the same way, minus the smacked bottom.
A few Americans refused service induction and paid a price. Other Americans went to Vietnam and paid a greater price. Did over 58,000 Americans have too die in Vietnam? We who made it home must speak for them by making a contribution, a difference. I became a school teacher to affect the way young people think. If we are to survive, our leaders can not make the same historical mistakes. I hope the Vietnam people will someday forgive me. If I am to turn the page of my life and live; I must forgive all those who have trespassed against me. There will be a time when I can forgive the United States Government from President Kennedy to Henry Kissinger for sending American soldiers to Vietnam. Yes, I am over fifty now, I must forgive and forget the Vietnam experience so I can move on with my life. A soldier should not feel sorry for himself. No one cares; he is alone in his world.
Soldiers were in Vietnam completing service obligations while their friends were getting married and finishing college. People in the United States were moving on with their lives. Many soldiers came home sick and or wounded to a hostile environment and difficult times. As they healed, trying to adjust to civilian life, the student demonstrations and war protest continued. There were few job offers, only cries of baby killers and war losers. Today, many Vietnam soldiers are here in body but they never made it back. Everyone who served in that war died a little and if you weren't there you will never understand. The country has changed forever. Hopefully, we have all changed for the better. We as a people will never be the same again. There will be a time I can forgive everyone and forgive myself so I can come to closure, but not today.
About the Author
S. Glenn Wakefield grew up in Swarthmore,
Pennsylvania. After attending West
Chester College, he joined the Army and the Green Berets in 1960, serving as a
Special Forces advisor in Vietnam and Laos for two years. He was awarded a Purple Heart in 1960. When he left military service, he completed
his education, obtaining a B.A. from West Chester College and going on to
obtain a Ph.D. in educational administration from George Washington University
in Washington, D.C. in 1972.