Echoes of Our War

Fifty years after he served in Vietnam as an advisor to the Vietnamese Marine Corps, Marine Colonel Robert Fischer, a former lecturer on "Strategy and Tactics of the Insurgent" at the Naval War College, has "shot an azimuth" (set a compass course). He has compiled a collection of written works by selected Vietnam veterans. Their roles varied during the Vietnam War. Yet these men's reflections, taken from the full range of their experiences, are representative of some of the best lessons learned from that conflict. Each veteran had his own unique story to tell. However, their collective telling has literary merit, and an open-minded reader will discover answers to a wide range of lingering questions from that conflict. The lessons included in Echoes of Our War are presented in various forms. Stories and personal narratives are the preferred form, accompanied at times with references to command chronologies. In addition, other lessons are offered as recommendations, with suggestions for further reading and study. There are rebukes as well as simple reflections. But clearly, all the information shared has been earned through hard experience. Fundamental to all the insights presented, Colonel Fischer expresses a need for a standard frame of reference which he offers, drawing from the notable work by Victor J. Croizat, who became our Vietnam Alpha to Omega (from Revelations (verses 1:8, 21:6 & 22:13, "the beginning and the end"),through his seminal work (Translation from the French): Lessons of the War in Indochina, Volume 2.