The author of an award-winning memoir about growing up black in Mississippi, Chalmers Archer turns his attention in this book to his experiences as one of the first members of the U.S. Army's Special Forces. His perspective is unique, not only as one of the first to wear the Green Beret but as a black man in the early days of armed forces integration. Archer participated in some of the earliest forays into Laos, long before Southeast Asia was in American headlines, and he was a member of the first U.S. unit to go into Vietnam. He trained the first Special Forces teams of the South Vietnamese army and participated in some of their earliest operations, many of them unknown until now because of their highly classified nature. He saved the lives of the first American and Vietnamese soldiers injured in war and also witnessed the first American combat death in Vietnam, holding the man in his arms as he died. His unit operated alongside the Central Intelligence Agency and helped influence American foreign policy. A self-described soldier-teacher, he developed and spread the early gospel of special warfare while serving in the Philippines, Hawaii, Korea, Taiwan, and Panama, as well as in Southeast Asia. All of these activities are fully chronicled in this book, but Archer's perspective as an African American in an elite unit of the U.S. armed forces in the 1950s gives his memoir additional depth and insight. It is an uplifting--though sometimes harrowing--story of struggle in unfamiliar environments and an eye-opening account of events little known today.

In 1965 the military situation in the Mekong River Delta of southern Vietnam had deteriorated to such a degree that the decision was made to commit a joint US Army and Navy Mobile Riverine Force to the area. This force was unique in its composition, mission, and the means by which it operated – riverine craft. Comprising the Army's 2d Brigade, 9th Infantry Division, and the Navy's River Assault Flotilla One, it used a variety of watercraft, including heavily modified landing craft, purpose-built patrol boats, and a whole host of auxiliary and support craft. This book explores those craft, and also gives an account of Task Force Clearwater, a much smaller operation in the extreme northern part of South Vietnam.

Described by one soldier as “a metal box designed by a sadist to move soldiers across the water,” the Landing Craft, Infantry was a large beaching craft intended to deliver an infantry company to a hostile shore, once the beachhead was secured. The LCI and its vehicle-delivery counterpart, the Landing Ship, Medium were widely used by the allies during World War II. Later, the hulls of these ships were used as the basis for a fire support ship. While the landing ships were phased out after the Korean War, some fire support craft remained in use throughout the Vietnam War. This book tells the developmental and operational history of this important tool of American amphibious military strategy that spanned three wars.

Over the last 30 years, the 'technical' or armed pick-up truck has become arguably the most ubiquitous military land vehicle of modern warfare. Harking back to the armed Jeeps and Chevrolet trucks of the SAS and Long Range Desert Group in North Africa in World War II, the world's first insurgent technicals were those of the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army in Algeria in the late 1970s, followed by the Chadian use of technical in the so-called Toyota War against Libya. Since then, technicals have seen use in Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, as well as being used by Western and Russian Special Forces. Fully illustrated with commissioned artwork and providing rigorous analysis, this is the first history of how this deceptively simple fighting vehicle has been used and developed in conflicts worldwide.

As long ago as 1957, U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers were in the Republic of Vietnam. going about their business of training, advising, and assisting members of the Vietnamese Army. Despite the old Army witticism about never volunteering for anything, the Special Forces soldier is. in fan, a double volunteer, having first volunteered for airborne training and then again for Special Forces training. From a very meager beginning but sustained by a strong motivation and confidence in his mission, the Special Forces soldier has marched through the Vietnam struggle in superb fashion. In 1957 some fifty-eight Vietnamese soldiers were given military training by Special Forces troops. Ten years later the Special Forces were advising and assisting over 40,000 paramilitary troops, along with another 40,000 Regional Forces and Popular Forces soldiers. This monograph traces the development and notes the progress, problems. successes, and failures of a unique program undertaken by the U.S. Army for the first lime in its history. It is hoped that all the significant lessons learned have been recorded and the many pitfalls of such a program uncovered. I am responsible for the conclusions reached, yet my thought processes could not escape the influence of the many outstanding officers and men in the Special Forces who joined in the struggle. Particularly, I must lake note of the contributions of the Special Forces noncommissioned officers, without question the most competent soldiers in the world. With the withdrawal of the Special Forces from Vietnam in 1971, the Army could honestly lay claim to a new dimension in ground warfare-the organized employment of a paramilitary force in sustained combat against a determined enemy. I know I speak for my predecessors and successors in claiming that the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) was the finest collection of professional soldiers ever assembled by the U.S. Army, anywhere, anytime. Francis John Kelly Colonel, Armor 1972

The eight-wheeled (8x8) Stryker combat light armored vehicle was adopted by the US Army in 2002 to provide a comparatively rapidly deployable contingency force with armor protection, tactical mobility, and heavy firepower, as well as advanced command, control communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities. Covering the first new US Army release since the M1 Abrams MBT, this book details the conception, ongoing development and deployment of one of the most highly anticipated new AFVs in recent years, including its service in Iraq and the ensuing controversy surrounding the Stryker's varying successes.

In October 2001 the most militarily advanced nation on earth came into conflict with one of the least developed nations as American forces poured into Afghanistan. The tip of the spear was drawn from the US Special Forces community, and largely from the units of the United States Army Special Forces – the famous Green Berets. Together with the Special Activities Division of the CIA and the Afghan Northern Alliance, they overthrew the Taliban in a lightning campaign that redefined modern warfare. This new study reveals the grueling Green Beret training and preparation, the specialized equipment they used in the field and traces their deployment throughout the campaign, from the first insertion of forces through to the fall of Kabul and Kandahar, the Taliban uprising at the notorious Fort of War in Mazar-e-Sharif, and the clearance of Tora Bora and Operation Anaconda in the Shahikot Valley.