Apr 21 2019

Book on my Service in Vietnam, Written in 1996

From the Introduction in the book …

The following account is written from notes I made while in the hospital in San Antonio recovering from wounds I received while in Vietnam and from communications I had with 5th Special Forces Group when I was stationed at Fort Campbell in 1968 and 1969. More recently I read several books on Vietnam (in 1992), listed in the Bibliography, which aided me in the geography of the area and which put the fighting I was involved with in Phuc Long Province in context of what was happening in the country as a whole.

In 1993 I joined the Special Forces Association, Cleveland Chapter XLV, and I am currently the Secretary of the Cleveland chapter. Some of the former SF troopers in that organization read drafts of this account and helped me to clarify this work (especially the parts relating to operations in Vietnam) prior to the final copy. Their help was greatly appreciated.

In 1994 the Cleveland Chapter of the Special Forces Association (Jim Cole, President) was the host Chapter for the national convention, which was held at the Rockside Holiday Inn. During that convention I met Steve Sherman, also an ex Special Forces trooper, who is compiling a history of Special Forces people and activities. I acquired from him a set of the “Green Beret” a magazine published by the 5th Special Forces in Vietnam from 1966 to 1970. In addition, I re-viewed other material he had that allowed me to expand on the work I had been doing to write this book.

Lastly I have used the National Archives section of the Smithsonian Institute in College Park, Maryland. The military records of that period are now declassified and available for re-search. I have found many reports and references to the military action I was involved with by using this valuable resource. This has probably been the since most important resource to me and I do want to thank the researchers there who were able to dig out the records I needed with the limited information I was able to give them.

Every attempt has been made to accurately state what happened to the team, the camp and me. My original notes were done while recovering from severe wounds in the hospital and at the time there were things I could not remember (there were several weeks were I was in a delirious state and it took many months to get back to close to normal), especially some names of people. Materials I read in 1992 and 1994 brought back some of this loss. Sherman’s work with Special Forces personnel missing in action (MIA) or killed in action (KIA) when compared to the dates and times of some of the battles I knew of gave me a way to place some other names back in. I will state that although everything that I tell about in this book is accurate to the best of my knowledge it is possible that some of the patrol activity is not in the proper time sequence, I don’t think so but it is possible.

This is me in the Jungle in Vietnam in October, 1967

The link below will allow you to download the book, if you want, and at no cost.

Bu Dop 1967

Apr 21 2019

Book on Economics, Written in 1994

From The introduction to my book …

I first had the idea of writing a book such as this about ten years ago. It seemed to me that each of us learns something of value as we go through life, but most of us do not succeed in passing along our knowledge to others before we die. This, then, is my attempt to pass on to others what I, over my fifty-odd years, have come to believe are the truths of life and what I believe may be a path into a better future. Much of what I write about involves economic issues, since I am an economist by training. Economics, however, is a social science, and my excursions into other areas of the social sciences are therefore not totally out of line.

I have had a great deal of “life” experience (both educational and professional) and this book thus covers many subject areas. While analyzing these subjects, I have tried to be logical and objective (as I have tried to be all my life), and hopefully this proclivity is reflected herein. You, the reader, will probably disagree with some or much of what I have written. That’s fine if your disagreement is based on fact; it’s unacceptable, however, if your disagreement is the result of prejudice and preconceived ideas.
Throughout this book, I have included editorial writings, which I felt were astute, and which help to illuminate my ideas. In each case, I have credited the author and distinguished his/her writing from my own.

Much of what I write about could be construed as anti-religious; it is not. It has not been my intention to support or deny the existence of God or a Supreme Being.
A thought that should be kept in mind when reading this book is that virtually nothing we do today is done as it was in the past. By this I mean the “near past”–remember that radio was invented only ninety-nine years ago, and it has been only ninety-one years since the first powered flight. Most of the technology that we now take for granted has been developed in the past fifty years. The corollary to this is that our ideas and attitudes must also be different from those of the past. Try to imagine how people will regard the “absurdly primitive” last decade of the twentieth century in the year 2045 (when all that we know today will have been gone for fifty years). The point is to keep an open mind, don’t pre-judge, and don’t be too certain about anything.

We live in a world of fantastic ideas if only we can keep an open mind!