Green Beret in Vietnam 1957-73

Warrior 28
By Gordon Rottman
Colour Plates by Kevin Lyles
Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2002
ISBN 1-185532-568-3
Softbound, 64 pages

Reviewed by John Prigent

Gordon Rottman served with the Special Forces in Vietnam and knows what he’s writing about – always a prime consideration as so much has been written “from the outside” but little by those who really know.  He uses this knowledge to give a superb account of the Special Forces’ selection, training, and action in Vietnam.  The book is especially valuable for its description of life in the cadres that trained local people and advised them in resisting the Vietcong.  Fortified camp layouts, life in the camps and on field missions, the weapons used, its all here.  Kevin Lyles’ plates are splendid, and are backed up by many photographs of the Special Forces men and their local recruits.

Here’s how it really was – ignore the John Wayne film and find out the truth.  Modellers of the Vietnam war will find this book invaluable, and students of “regional conflict” should have it on their bookshelves too.  The only thing that puzzles me is how it has a number as low as 28 with a first publication date of July 2002.

Very highly recommended.