Ripcord: Screaming Eagles Under Siege, Vietnam 1970

The best book written on a campaign in Vietnam fought away from populated areas main force vs. main force. A literal Fort Apache. Written by the best author on military efforts in Vietnam.

As I was there at Firebase Ripcord during the timeframe of the book, I found this to be a very good book. I was amazed of the infinite details that were brought out within the pages of this book. Too often, things are either just glossed over or not brought out into all the happenings of certain "actions" from the Vietnam War. To totally mislead the public back home and to cover up what all happened there was a travesty to say the least. I had actually sent my Mother a letter about a week before we left for Ripcord and when the news finally caught up with what was going on there she was terrified to say the least. The amount of ammunition expended and the casualties are something I will never forget. I actually had to put the book down 5 or 6 times as it brought back so many bad memories I found it too dificult to continue reading. I did finish the book and would suggest that anyone who would like to read of an attack at a Firebase read this and hope that another instance like this will never happen again.

Love the book for the brutal honesty. The problem I have is, you must figure out in the beginning that the author is giving testimonies from many participants & so the story does not flow. I knew one man was killed, then 5 pages later, he is alive again, before I figured out it was another man's "take" on the same incident or battle. It is a little hard for me to follow, not being military & a female, but if you understand that going into the book, it is easier. I am not finished as yet but am really enjoying it. Maybe enjoying is a wrong choice of words but it is a good, true story. Husband is a Vietnam Vet & a man in his VA group was in the battle of Ripcord. That is what spurred my interest. Horrible thing our government did to these men. People must never forget that war is awful & mistakes are often made that cost many needless lost lives.

Knowing the basic details of this action beforehand I read it with the same trepidation as my reading of Les Carlyon's "Gallipoli", I knew it would end badly but was surprised by just how badly it begun, continued and ended for the troops involved. With graphic detail of the siege itself, the author also portrays how the sixties has firmly arrived in vietnam by this, time albeit 1970; social unrest, drug culture and anti-war feeling by now manifesting amongst the troops deployed in theatre. A citizens army indeed.The term "Lions led by donkeys" comes to mind when at points in the book the higher authorities seem to have become focused on disengagement from vietnam to the detriment of the troops they still committed to the combat therein. Frugality with amunition may have had a place in Bastogne '44 but A Shau valley '70 !Brilliantly portaying the events down to the level of the individual soldier, at times it read like following the plight of GM100 in Bernard Fall's "Street without Joy". A desperate yet thoroughly engaging read, depicting the collision of heroes and villains with superior numbers of NVA thrown in for good measure. Like Gallipoli I hated reading it to the inevitable futile end while being compelled to do so.

Fast service ... was a gift for a relative. Spent 4 hours on Ripcord...was the worst 4 hours of my life!

One of the best works on company and battalion-sized actions during the Vietnam War. Ripcord has the grit and the focused attention to detail that rivals the best in military history. The individual level of combat analysis at the platoon and company reminds me greatly of some of the earlier works of S.L.A. Marshall ("Drop Zone" and "Men Against Fire"). Nolan's book Ripcord focuses primarily on small unit actions of the 2/506 Infantry of the 101st Airborne in the A Shau Valley in spring-summer 1970 with specific emphasis on seizing and holding a hillmass that was called "Firebase Ripcord." The four month long operation degenerated into a slugfest with the NVA, and sucked in most of the third brigade's line units before the operation was concluded in July 1970 with a forced withdrawal of the U.S. forces from the firebase. The book also includes significant material of the operational planning at the brigade and division level that was behind the brigade-size operation. Ripcord is a well-written and thoroughly detailed study of this mis-directed and strategically suspect campaign. A very valuable addition to the library.

I was serving with the 101st during that time. I was in a different area at the time. I was privy to what happened there. This is a must read for anyone interested in military history. The author told it like it was.

Very very deep look at an aganozing year in the War. The pain and loss was just as real, but the outcome already decided. Why they chose to carry on with the mission is a tribute to character, for whatever the reason. The greatest generation that this country ever produced fought in Vietnam with great valor. The Author's look at decisions from different view points was astonishing and enlightening, but 1970 in Vietnam for the US Serviceman must have been hell on Earth. Thanks to all the Vets who served over there.

"I've never read a better account of a battle" is the quote on the front cover of the book in which I found myself agreeing with after finishing this 500 page detailed insight in to the Battle for Ripcord. As you start to read you're given a quick description of the general area around A Shau, the valley itself and some history behind it, the book vaguely mentions Firebase Ripcord was in use then closed prior to the offensive that takes place - this would be one area that I would've liked more information on, how it was used, who was there, did it come under attack etc. Afterwards, you're thrown into the hill fights around Ripcord prior to the re-opening of the Firebase, I felt this part was a bit confusing as it takes you to hill 805, hill 1000, hill 902, you have no map to orinentate yourself and there's a lot of back and forth so these names can become meaningless. I found it hard to keep track of what was going on, later I found a map half way through the book which helped to some degree but I would've thought placing a map somewhere near the front pages would help readers gain a better understanding of the landscape. This is why I gave the book 4 out of 5 stars as I felt the first few chapters were unnecessarily difficult to get through.After the introduction and series of hill fights this where you start to meet reoccuring characters, personalities, and better descriptions of the battle and it just felt like a non-stop rollercoaster of just crazy situations that men would find themselves in, and the more I read the more alone I felt - these guys were in an extremely rural area of I Corps and at the same time the U.S military was pulling out of the country. They are tasked with fighting for hills that don't really mean anything and at the same time the top brass have already decided not to be fully committed to the fight. A futile situation.A very memorable book about a battle that doesn't garner much recognition but it's important to let people know what happened in this small area of remote mountainous jungle in North West I Corps.

To come to the point quickly Keith Nolan has created another first-class addition to the canon of literature on the Vietnam War. This book brilliantly continues the line of works by this author exploring the nature of warfare in the foxhole and the character of the American fighting man in Vietnam.He interweaves the story of the struggle in the field to achieve a challenging objective with the need to keep US casualties to a minimum. He highlights the differences between the career officers and soldiers, the 'Lifers', with those who just wanted to complete their tour and go home in one piece.More than anything else he demonstrates that by 1970 the troops on the ground were not fighting for their Commander in chief or the ill-starred Republic of Vietnam but for each other. They just wanted to do their duty and not let down their buddies. That is not to suggest that Nolan portrays them all as gung-ho hard chargers but rather as ordinary men some very frightened, some heroic but most of them courageous in the face of the foe. For those of us fortunate enough not to have experienced combat he skilfully conveys the confusion of the battlefield and the terrible randomness of death in war.Keith Nolan is entitled to stand in the first rank of Vietnam War historians, alongside such luminaries as Bernard Fall, and I am proud to say I have all of this author's works and eagerly waited to add this latest book to my collection. If you do not have the rest of Nolan's works I cannot urge you too strongly to rectify that oversight. If you do not have 'Ripcord' in your collection - you should.

This is an outstanding book of the battle at Firebase Ripcord. It provides detailed accounts of interrelated actions going on with enough views of those involved to allow the reader to determine how they see them, courageous, skilled, detached, cowardly - without judging anyone for their actions they took in the moment. It’s an exhausting book, because it’s full on from start to finish and it’s written such that it feels very real and personal for an event so long ago.

A real eye opener of a book. The fact that it spans such a long time in one location really gives you a sense of the attrition of this war

Great tale