It was 50 years ago today (January 31, 1968 at 02:30 AM) ..

[flt rsk]

1. I read Hue 1968 a couple of weeks ago.

Good read, stirred up a lot of mental dust. I went to college with one of the men on the cover. In the beginning, Westmoreland did not have good intel on the situation and then would not believe it when he got it. Could go on but it’s in the book. He did not have a clue as how to use Marines. Having Marines stay in place at Khe Sanh was a waste of the troops. Marines are not barracks troops. They hit and keep going. Army engineers had to be brought into Khe Sanh to teach Marines how to build bunkers. As you know, and probably experienced, Marines dig fighting holes, fight, and then move up to do it again. Another good read is Matterhorn. It’s a “fiction” piece on Khe Sanh, with way too many facts. Not a book for PTSD. It has everything except the smells. The best man at my wedding was there, served under the author, and verified much of the book.

Fifty years ago yesterday, I got off a plane, onto the tarmac, in Da Nang, Republic of South Vietnam. I was a nineteen-year-old Marine L/Cpl on my first tour. Talk about bad timing.