written by Bill Spanos Vietnam Veteran Bill Spanos was a US Army advisor to the South Vietnamese Army, which was called ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam). He served as both an Assistant and Senior Advisor with MACV (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam) Team 70 to the 5th ARVN Division. MACV Advisor Teams consisted of
written by Todd DePastino Probabaly the Government of French Indochina, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons In part one of this essay, we discussed how Vietnam’s peasants under French rule, like peasants everywhere, lived on the brink of catastrophe. That is the nature of the peasant’s existence. As R.H. Tawney put it, a
written by Todd DePastino Before the arrival of the French, Vietnam was a feudal land made up of villages of subsistence farmers. The French began to dismantle this feudal system in the early 20th century, and the upheaval they wrought eventually exploded in Revolution. Feudalism is a strange way of life for modern Americans
written by L. Jon Grogan L. Jon Grogan was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in 1975. He served various command and staff assignments in the United States and overseas until his retirement at the rank of Major in 1996. Among his assignments were two, six-month stints in East Africa, first as a member of Operation
written by Todd DePastino Last month, in preparation for our 2023 VBC Vietnam Trip, we launched a series of talks and conversations around the history of that fascinating country. In my prior life before the Veterans Breakfast Club, I taught college courses on the history of Vietnam in war and peace. That experience informs
Robert J. Dvorchak has been awarded the 2023 silver medal for writing in the history category of the annual competition held by the Military Writers Society of America, a national organization of writers, poets and authors who share the common bond of military service. His book, The Golden Brigade: The 82nd Airborne in Vietnam
