BOOK THE ADVISOR: (PHOENIX PROGRAM IN VIETNAM) (BOX50)

 COURTESY OF GIBSONS TACTICAL TAVERN                                                                       MILITARY SURPLUS LISTING INDIVIDUALLY PICTURED

 THE ADVISOR: THE PHOENIX PROGRAM IN VIET NAM

AUTHOR: LT. COL. JOHN L. COOK

PUBLISHER: SCHIFFER MILITARY HISTORY          ATGLEN, PA

BOOK DESIGN BY ROBERT BIONDI

COPYRIGHT: 1997 BY JOHN L. COOK

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER:  96-69811

ISBN: 0-7643-0137-3

FROM HIS ARRIVAL IN WAR-TORN VIETNAM IN 1968 TO HIS RELUCTANT DEPARTURE TWENTY FIVE MONTHS LATER, JOHN COOK SERVED AS AN ADVISOR IN THE DISTRICT OF DI AN AND TOOK PART IN THE SYSTEMATIC OPERATIONS OF THE PHOENIX PROGRAM TO DESTROY THE INFRASTRUCTURE, THE POLICTICAL ORGANIZATION OF THE VIET CONG AND NORTH VIETNAMESE FORCES, THE ADVISOR IS THE STORY OF THOSE TWENTY FIVE MONTHS OF FIGHTING AND LAUGHING AND HOPING, AND OF THE PEOPLE WHO SHARED THEM---MAJOR CHAU, A MAN WHO SO TREMENDOUSLY SYMBOLIZED DEDICATION TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE, THE VIET CONG MADE SEVERAL ATTEMPTS ON HIS LIFE; LIEUTENANT HAU, CAPTAIN COOK'S VIETNAMESE COUNTER PART AND CLOSE FRIEND; COLONEL ANDERSON AND MAJOR ALLEN, TWO OF DI AN'S  SENIOR ADVISORS; AND OTHER AMERICANS AND VIETNAMESE COLLEGUES WHO--FIGHTING A WAR AT ITS "RICE MYRIAD NEWS ANALYSES AND PEACE DEMONSTRATION DEMANDS--FOUND IT IMPOSSIBLE TO REMAIN OBJECTIVE ABOUT SUCH A CONFLICT. MORE THAN THE STORY OF BOMBINGS, SWEEP OPERATIONS, ENEMY CONFRONTATIONS, AND HAMLET PILLAGES, THE ADVISOR TELLS HOW OEN MAN CAME SEE THE VIETNAM WAR AS HIS WAR, HOW HE BECAME INVOLVED IN THE DISTRICT VILLAGERS' STRUGGLE FOR THEIR FREEDOM FROM TERRORISM, AND HOW HE LEARNED THE TRUE COSTS OF THAT FREEDOM.               COOK CONSIDERS THIS THE BEST WORK HE HAS EVER DONE, "BECAUSE IT IS SO DAMN BRUTALLY HONEST. THERE IS NO WAY I CAN MAKE IT BETTER."

    WRITTEN THROUGH THE EYES OF ONE WHO LIVED IT