Special Forces Combat in Vietnam

From 1963 to 1971, Sergeant Leigh Wade deployed five times with Special Forces units to Vietnam and saw his fair share of combat. In this abridged, all-combat version of his three highly acclaimed out-of-print books, Wade paints a vivid picture of the full spectrum of Special Forces missions. Get boots-on-the-ground discussions of guerrilla warfare tactics, weapons, and training as Wade recounts his active tours of duty, including:

• A-Detachment, Tan Phu—"If you enjoyed getting shot at, Tan Phu was a great place to be." Carrying out aggressive sweeps and hammer-and-anvil operations while fending off nightly enemy contact on the edge of the U Minh Forest, a notorious Vietcong (VC) stronghold.
• A-Detachment, Vinh Thanh—Establishing an A camp in the VC- and NVA-controlled Vinh Thanh Valley and running medical-combat-intelligence patrols with the indigenous Strike Force.
• C-5/Sigma—Running cross-border reconnaissance missions into Cambodia with the CIA-controlled unit C-5, a top-secret predecessor to SOG.
• A-Detachment, Dak Pek—Taking part in the epic battle against a relentless enemy that surrounded and penetrated the heavily fortified camp, gained the high ground, and pressed a ferocious assault to overrun the defenders.

The book concludes with Wade's "lessons learned" about fear and bravery in combat, combat training vs. the real thing, wounds, marksmanship, and other topics of interest to anyone who wants—or needs—to know about the realities of battlefield survival.