Beckett - Jack of all trades: an American advisors war in Vietnam, 1969-70

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

Cavalry Raids of the Civil War

In the Lions Mouth

Witness to Gettysburg

WORLD WAR I

Doughboy War

WORLD WAR II

After D-Day

Airborne Combat

Armor Battles of the Waffen-SS, 194345

Armoured Guardsmen

Arnhem 1944

The B-24 in China

The Battalion

The Battle of France

The Battle of Sicily

Battle of the Bulge, Vol. 1

Battle of the Bulge, Vol. 2

Battle of the Bulge, Vol. 3

Beyond the Beachhead

Beyond Stalingrad

The Black Bull

Blitzkrieg Unleashed

Blossoming Silk Against the Rising Sun

Bodenplatte

The Breaking Point

The Brigade

The Canadian Army and the Normandy Campaign

Clay Pigeons of St L, The

Critical Convoy Battles of WWII

A Dangerous Assignment

D-Day Bombers

D-Day Deception

D-Day to Berlin

Decision in the Ukraine

The Defense of Moscow 1941

Deliverance at Diepholz

Destination Normandy

Dive Bomber!

Eager Eagles

Eagles of the Third Reich

The Early Battles of Eighth Army

Eastern Front Combat

Europe in Flames

Exit Rommel

The Face of Courage

Fatal Decisions

Fist from the Sky

Flame On

Flying American Combat Aircraft of World War II, Vol. 1

For Europe

Forging the Thunderbolt

For the Homeland

Fortress France

The German Defeat in the East, 194445

German Order of Battle, Vol. 1

German Order of Battle, Vol. 2

German Order of Battle, Vol. 3

The Germans in Normandy

Germanys Panzer Arm in World War II

GI Ingenuity

Goodbye, Transylvania

The Great Ships

Grenadiers

Guns Against the Reich

Hitlers Final Fortress

Hitlers Nemesis

Hitlers Spanish Legion

Hold the Westwall

Infantry Aces

In the Fire of the Eastern Front

Iron Arm

Iron Knights

Japanese Army Fighter Aces

Japanese Naval Fighter Aces

JG 26 Luftwaffe Fighter Wing War Diary, Vol. 1

JG 26 Luftwaffe Fighter Wing War Diary, Vol. 2

Kampfgruppe Peiper at the Battle of the Bulge

The Key to the Bulge

Kursk

Luftwaffe Aces

Luftwaffe Fighter Ace

Luftwaffe Fighter-Bombers over Britain

Luftwaffe Fighters & Bombers

Luftwaffe KG 200

Marshal of Victory, Vol. 1

Marshal of Victory, Vol. 2

Massacre at Tobruk

Mechanized Juggernaut or Military Anachronism?

Messerschmitts over Sicily

Michael Wittmann, Vol. 1

Michael Wittmann, Vol. 2

Mission 85

Mission 376

The Nazi Rocketeers

Night Flyer / Mosquito Pathfinder

No Holding Back

Operation Mercury

Panzer Aces

Panzer Aces II

Panzer Commanders of the Western Front

Panzergrenadier Aces

Panzer Gunner

The Panzer Legions

Panzers in Normandy

Panzers in Winter

Panzer Wedge, Vol. 1

Panzer Wedge, Vol. 2

The Path to Blitzkrieg

Penalty Strike

Poland Betrayed

Red Road from Stalingrad

Red Star Under the Baltic

Retreat to the Reich

Rommel Reconsidered

Rommels Desert Commanders

Rommels Desert War

Rommels Lieutenants

The Savage Sky

The Seeds of Disaster

Ship-Busters

The Siege of Brest 1941

The Siege of Kstrin

The Siegfried Line

A Soldier in the Cockpit

Soviet Blitzkrieg

Spitfires & Yellow Tail Mustangs

Stalins Keys to Victory

Surviving Bataan and Beyond

T-34 in Action

Tank Tactics

Tigers in the Mud

Triumphant Fox

The 12th SS, Vol. 1

The 12th SS, Vol. 2

Twilight of the Gods

Typhoon Attack

The War Against Rommels Supply Lines

War in the Aegean

War of the White Death

Warsaw 1944

Winter Storm

The Winter War

Wolfpack Warriors

Zhukov at the Oder

THE COLD WAR / VIETNAM

Cyclops in the Jungle

Expendable Warriors

Fighting in Vietnam

Flying American Combat Aircraft: The Cold War

Here There Are Tigers

Jack of All Trades

Land with No Sun

Phantom Reflections

Street without Joy

Through the Valley

Tours of Duty

Two One Pony

WARS OF AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

The Rhodesian War

GENERAL MILITARY HISTORY

Battle of Paoli

Cavalry from Hoof to Track

Desert Battles

Guerrilla Warfare

The Philadelphia Campaign, Vol. 1

Ranger Dawn

Sieges

The Spartan Army

Copyright 2016 by Jane Beckett-Donohue

Published by
STACKPOLE BOOKS
5067 Ritter Road
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
www.stackpolebooks.com

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Stackpole Books, 5067 Ritter Road, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055.

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

FIRST EDITION

Cover design by Wendy A. Reynolds

Photos from authors collection

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Beckett, Ronald L., author.

Title: Jack of all trades : an American advisors war in Vietnam, 1969-70 / Ronald L. Beckett.

Description: First edition. | Mechanicsburg, PA : Stackpole Books, [2016] | Series: Stackpole military history series | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015034725 | ISBN 9780811717540

Subjects: LCSH: Vietnam War, 1961-1975Personal narratives, American. | United States. ArmyOfficersBiography. | United States. ArmyMilitary life. | Community developmentVietnam. | Vietnam War, 1961-1975???ong Nai.

Classification: LCC DS559.5 .B394 2016 | DDC 959.704/34dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/201503472

This book is dedicated to the memory of Maj. Tran Thanh Xuan, Army of the Republic of Vietnam, district chief of Dinh Quan District, Long Khanh Provincefriend, soldier, and esteemed professional, who, better than us all, knew what the end would be.

T his is a book about events and moments worth preserving, a book about the American war in Vietnam. It is not, however, a book about war in the traditional sense. Neither is it a book about heroism, though it has heroes, nor a book of protest, though it is sometimes critical. This is simply a book about people and places and events that marked my third tour of duty in Vietnam. It is a book bound loosely by the thread of human experiencea book the writing of which has moved me to laughter and resurrected emotions long thought forgotten.

American screenwriter Steven Shagan once remarked to a disappointed colleague, Be glad you had the moment. War, like life, is made up of moments, some singular and some strung together into seemingly endless hours and days. Those who have experienced war know all too well those momentsmoments of sorrow, camaraderie, exhilaration, fear, violence, compassion, sacrifice, and brutality. We know them because they come unexpectedly, punctuating the stifling monotony and boredom that characterize the primary war experience. Vietnam was no exception. Most of the books about the Vietnam War published in recent years have dealt with such moments, and most have consequently focused on the combat experience.