Stalking the Vietcong: Inside Operation Phoenix: A Personal Account

by Stuart A. Herrington

Book Overview

In a gripping memoir that reads like a spy novel, one man recounts his personal experience with Operation Phoenix, the program created to destroy the Vietcong's shadow government, which thrived in the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345472519
• ISBN13: 9780345472519
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Presidio Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.3" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Absolutely fascinating

The lessons offered in this book are probably applicable to all counterinsurgency operations ever. A great read, and not terribly long, either.

Most Incisive Account

I have read a lot of books on Vietnam. If you want to know the combination of reasons why the North Vietnamese succeeeded, read this book ! Like someone else has said, what a shame the author was shipped back in '72, although one already knows ( from reading this book), what happened over the next 2-3 years. One cannot also help but feel that had America not tired of the war ( and the loss of American lives - for which the recruitment and personnel policies of the Army are greatly to blame !),the outcome may have been different. So bad was the sentiment against returning vets that some of them said they were coming back from Germany or Korea ( out of embarassment and the want to avoid being mistreated by their own countrymen !). I have to say,that as an Australian ( we also sent our men to Vietnam), I cannot get over the treatment meted out to vets upon their return.It disgusts me. The soldiers were not to blame !!Blame the McNamara's !!!

a book for those who believe that Vietnam war is a civil war not an American invasion

To Jane Fonda and her anti war friend this is a book that you should have read before you hop in the bed with uncle Ho and his terrorist gang. If Bin Laden is the 21st century is American's enemy no 1 then uncle Ho and his terror gang are the equivalent of late 20th century. To those who are suffered the ill treatment handed out by the communist after their victory you can hold your head high because like those of your colleagues in Hau Nghia province have done a marvelous job against the VC to give the freedom loving people of the South 21 years of a taste of liberty, religious and personal freedom. Thank you Stuart Herrington for honouring the brave men and women of the Army of Republic of Vietnam. Long live the Republic of Vietnam and may the communist tyrant of Vietnam, Cuba, North Korea and China will follow their forebear in Russia and Eastern Europe into the history scrap yard.

An Outstanding Work

I had the pleasure to work with then Colonel Herrington before he left the Army. This book is an outstanding work as a personal memoir, an insight into the Vietnam War, and an example of successful counter-insurgency operations. Stalking the Vietcong takes the reader into a relatively ignored, and perhaps the most important side, of the Phoenix program-the district level operations. Most other books on Phoenix tend to concentrate on sensationalized special forces operations or the alleged abuses of the Vietnamese populace. Read this book to get a more complete and accurate picture.

In microcosm, this book explains the entire war.

What's so different here is the intelligence of the author, his sensitivity to and curiosity about the Vietnamese. It's too bad he wasn't a policy-maker. Intensely interesting, entertaining history. I was truly sorry when it was over. I wanted more.