Vietnam War Writers

Can You Feel It?

Can you feel it?
Oh Lord!
I can feel it
That feeling of dread
That something is in the air tonight


Can you feel it?
That gut sense of foreboding
A clammy sense of danger
Something telling you to beware
That Death is near

Can you feel it?
So quiet, no insect sounds, no birdcalls
The patrol has reported lots of sign
Charlie is out there, waiting
Death is coming tonight

Can you feel it?
The Montagnard Scouts are on edge
They can feel it
They feel their own fear
They know death is coming tonight
Can’t let them down

Can you feel it?
Check the perimeter
Make sure everyone is ready
Make sure grenade trip wires are out
Something is in the air tonight
Death is coming tonight

Can you feel my intense fear?
My heart is pounding
Charlie is coming tonight
I want to live!

Control yourself, your fear
You have to be strong
Can’t show your fear
Can’t let them down!

Evil is close
Get ready!
Death is coming tonight!!

© Charles Schwiderski 4/15/2008

Beauty of the Green

There is a beauty in the green…a total contrast to the ugliness of man.

The melding of numerous shades of green interlaced with patches of brilliant color and the darkest grays.

Rays of sunshine reflecting from small balls of moisture creating little rainbows for the fortunate to see.

Cobwebs that sparkle in the sunlight that filters through the trees from which the Tarzan veins of youth grow.

Colorful butterflies that filter through the air and then disappear into the verdant piercing green.

Little beautiful flowers in seemingly dark places and around the trunks of mammoth trees.

When in the green even snakes have beautiful colors and streams flow by a beautiful soft fluid blue with reflections of filtered sunlight and beautiful greens.

Fantastic early morning views on a mountaintop when white fog surrounds the neighboring mountains and only the very tops show.

Stars viewed from the same mountaintop at night are absolutely fabulous with endless fascination and it seems you can reach out and catch a streaking comet as it flies by.

In the night brightened by brilliant star light, in the valley below where no man and no lights should be, stunning little lights move around in the valley, seeming to be moving towards my darkened mountain while around my hammock fireflies mimic the beautiful lights in the valley below.

Daytime views from the same mountain are breath taking, you can see for miles yet all the mountains, yet all the beautiful green looks the same.

But, with daylight can also come total ugliness, the dark gray smoke of an exploding mortar round or grenade that was meant to kill.

The green is so beautiful and friendly yet man turns it into a place of terrible death and utter ugliness.

Man, made in the semblance of God? I don't think so.

© 10/3/2005 Charles Schwiderski

Mystic Realism, a new genre, including stories about transmigration of a tennis champion and the PTSD reality of a Vietnam veteran and assassin.

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Mark " Mac" Macintyre is an Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam. He is also a wheeler-dealer of military equipment. But when he wins an Army helicopter in a poker game, he soon finds out that he has bitten off more than he can chew. He quickly realizes that others have their own plans for the helicopter and that they are willing to go to any length to keep it within their control. Mac isn't able to get rid of the helicopter before he unwillingly becomes trapped in a fight between the CIA and Russia; a fight for his life. He doesn't mind his relationship with CIA agent Sheila Hood, but the job they "ask" him to do is filled with danger - not only for him and Sheila, but for the whole world. How could things get so far out of hand over a simple game of poker?

Blending fact with fiction, the story which takes place during the Vietnam W

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Task Force Builder built schools in poor rural Vietnamese villages as part of an experimental program begun by John Paul Vann to influence the war. The school building program was a tremendous success, but was ignored by the military leadership that was only focused on killing the enemy. We could have greatly effected the outcome of the war, just as this knowledge could be helpful in Afghanistan and Iraq today. The lessons that we showed about winning third-world wars by winning over the hearts and minds of the local people should not be forgotten.

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Important books for the study of the Vietnam War.

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He was awarded a non-fiction Pulitzer Prize in 1989 and a National Book Award for "A Bright Shining Lie."

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Novels and short stories by Vietnam War writers.

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For the study of the media's participation in the Vietnam War.

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Biographies of Vietnam War writers.

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The author of "Fields of Fire" served with the Fifth Marine Regiment in Vietnam and was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star Medal, two Bronze Star Medals, and two Purple Hearts.

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Author Bernard Fall was an acknowledged authority on Vietnam and the wars fought there.

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Halberstam won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Vietnam, where he was a correspondent.

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His acclaimed memoir of Vietnam, "A Rumor of War", is widely regarded as a classic in the literature of war.

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