Published Posts Open for Comment
The Cathounds
Good Friday to all of my readers. Today I’m going to switch genre and talk about three of the books that I’ve edited for a friend of mine, Chuck Neighbors. My friend Chuck and I served together at Norfolk Virginia in the old US Atlantic Command back in the early 1990s. I was the Army…
SHORT!
For most soldiers, sailors and marines who were assigned to Vietnam our tour of duty was one year or 365 days. In some cases it was longer than that but for most of us that anniversary of our arrival in Vietnam was also the anniversary of our departure one year later. Some basic facts about…
The Starlight Scope
Recently I was watching a movie about some soldiers in Afghanistan and I noticed that they were wearing this device on their helmet. It was night time and occasionally they would lower it and look out across the horizon and detect movement. It was a modern night vision device. I had to laugh because when…
Merry Christmas – Christmas in Vietnam
I spent three Christmases in Vietnam. Each one of them was different but then again each of them was the same. Christmas 1969 I had arrived in Vietnam early in the fall of 1969 and had been assigned to my first team. I was at Ap Bac on our three-man team there. I was a…
The Telegraph in the US Civil War
Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph made an interesting discovery in 1844. When he was trying to lay his first telegraph line from Washington DC to Baltimore Maryland he tried to lay the wire inside of a pipe. During the construction process it appears that they got some bad wire. Morse was…
The SCIF
There are special rooms in a number of buildings within the United States that are highly restricted areas. In the United States capitol building alone there are a number of very nondescript rooms behind doors in numbered hallways, and they look just like any other doorway in the capitol building. Most people have no idea…
WEST POINT?
When I enlisted in the army in 1968, I had to take an extensive preinduction physical, in the words of Arlo Guthrie, in his classic song “Alice’s Restaurant”, “they left no parts untouched”. There were also scores of mental examinations that had to be taken as well. These mental tests determined what area soldiers…
My Recollections as an Intelligence Officer in Vietnam
Based upon my writings you can probably easily tell that I was a Military Intelligence officer serving in Vietnam during my three tours over there. So, what was it like? I had no intention of becoming a Military Intelligence officer. I enlisted in the United States Army in the US infantry, 11-Bravo. When I was…
“If I’ve Told You Once I’ve Told You a Thousand Times….”
The Plain of Reeds is a vast inland wetland. Most of the area we are discussing is now a part of Long An Province and Đồng Tháp Province in the country of Vietnam. When I was stationed there our province was called Kien Tuong with the Provincial Capital at the town of Moc Hoa (Moc Loi in…
Garrison Commander, Captain Charles Leib!
A Short Story Captain Charles Leib Captain Leib took a seat in the outer office and waited for Lieutenant Goff to summons him into the office of the Clarksburg Garrison commander, Colonel Stanley “Ah, Good morning Captain Leib. Thank you for coming to my office so quickly. I’m sorry to have interrupted your morning routine.…
Veterans Day 2025
Today we celebrate Veterans Day. On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 the guns fell quietly silent over the battlefields of Europe. This was my Grandfather’s War. He called it the War to End All Wars. More than 117,500 American soldiers, sailors and Marines died as a direct…
Enduring The ‘Gun’ and other medical issues in Vietnam
Most of us who were in the army in the 1960s can tell some interesting stories about medicine. I think one of the most ‘endearing’ stories deals with the infamous vaccination gun. I can remember as a buck private standing in a long line of other soldiers and as you looked up the line you…
The Appalachian Trail
Throughout my books I often mention hiking the Appalachian Trail. Usually, its context in my books deals with how Colonel Tyler who had a trail name of “Hardcharger” and his hiking companion Command Sergeant Major Smalls, who went by the trail name of “River Rat” used their hiking experiences to reflect on life. Not only…
Religious services in Vietnam
I grew up in a very strict Catholic tradition; baptized, confirmed, altar boy, Catholic schools, and attending catechism classes during high school. My mother even insisted that I do a pre-seminary year while I was in high school Just in case I had a vocation to become a priest.. My mother was a very traditional…
Saving our Vietnam War Stories
A couple of days ago I was at a book signing and one of the gentlemen that was there who was also a Vietnam veteran asked me why did I write my books. I asked him what he had done in Vietnam, and he had told me that he’d been an infantryman up in I…
Official After Action Report – Battle of Long Khot
HEADQUARTERS US MILITARY ASSISTANCE COMMAND VIETNAM LESSONS LEARNED NO. 78 UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES MILITARY ASSISTANCE Command, VIETNAM APO 96222 MACJ3-052 17 February 1970 SUBJECT: Vietnam Lessons Learned No. 78: Action at Long Khot SEE DISTRIBUTION FOR THE COMMANDER: Incl FOREWORD Vietnam Lessons Learned No. 78 is a summary of a recent combat operation…
The Saga of Lieutenant Lancaster – Part Four
To My Readers: This is a conclusion of a short story taken from one of my unpublished works, “The Second Wisconsin Veteran Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, 1861-1865. I am going to serialize the story over a four day period. I hope that you’ll enjoy these posts in my blog. Part Four The Saga of Lieutenant…
The Saga of Lieutenant Lancaster – Part Three
Part Three The Saga of Lieutenant Lancaster In the previous post Leonard Lancaster had been tried before a court martial and convicted of mutiny against his commanding officer and had been condemned to death by a firing squad. He had refused to retract his statement calling for the resignation of Lieutenant Colonel Dale, the regimental…
The Saga of Lieutenant Lancaster – Part Two
The Saga of Lieutenant Lancaster Part Two In our previous post we read about the terrible news that the men of the Second Wisconsin Veteran Volunteer Cavalry received in April of 1865. Rather than going home they were being forced to remain in the US Army. Since officers could resign their commissions without regards to…
The Saga of Lieutenant Lancaster
Sergeant Leonard L. Lancaster sat in his tent outside Memphis, Tennessee early in the morning of April 13th, 1865. He had just finished breakfast in the mess with his ‘pards’ when a rider roared into camp with fantastic news. Headquarters had just received a telegram from the War Department that General Grant had received the…
Unhorsing the “Wizard of the Saddle”
This short story is based on an actual event at the end of the US Civil War involving the notorious “Wizard of the Saddle,” General Nathan Bedford Forrest, and Sergeant Hugh Longstaff. It involved a small detachment of cavalry soldiers from the First Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry Regiment and a large detachment of General Forrest’s Cavalry…
Learning the Vietnamese Language
I grew up in Dayton, Ohio and entered the US Army in Richmond, Virginia. I spoke midwestern-American English. During my school years I learned a lot of Latin as an altar boy at church. In grade school they tried to introduce us to French. I got pretty good at reciting the Latin mass (Pre-Vatican II)…
Field Rations in Vietnam
I spent twenty-seven years in the Army and one of the biggest changes that I saw was the changes in field rations. Like everyone else soldiers have to eat, and one of the most important aspects of supporting soldiers was making sure that they had food that was ‘transportable’. I was in an unusual…
The Harrowing Adventure of Captain Charles Leib
To My readers: this short story is based upon my book “The Most Hated Man in Clarksburg” I hope that you enjoy the story! By Peter Taylor It was April 1862, and it had been an exhausting week in Washington DC. Captain Charles Leib had been ordered to Washington City to appear before a congressional…
Meeting My ‘Muse’
As I mentioned in a previous blog I had never written a novel before. I was trained as a military historian, and my degrees are in history and political science. And while I was an avid reader I had never really thought about writing anything other than documented history. When I wrote my book ,”…
The Most Hated Man in Clarksburg – Tour
In conjunction with the Clarksburg History Museum, I have been asked to put together a tour of Clarksburg, West Virginia during the Civil War. The tour is based upon my historical novel “The Most Hated Man in Clarksburg” and showcases the city as it existed in May 1861 when Captain Charles Lieb first arrived in…
Field Rations in Vietnam
I spent twenty-seven years in the Army and one of the biggest changes that I saw was the changes in field rations. Like everyone else soldiers have to eat, and one of the most important aspects of supporting soldiers was making sure that they had food that was ‘transportable’. I was in an unusual…
Love and War
It was a sad moving day for Colonel Paul Tyler, US Army retired. After the loss of his beloved wife, Katherine, to breast cancer, he had decided to sell their large five-bedroom house in Tilden, Indiana and move to a two-bedroom condo in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. As they were clearing out the house…
The Mule Train, A Civil War Short Story
While this is written as a short story it is based on actual events that happened during the Civil War in western Virginia. The story is taken from my book, “The Most Hated Man in Clarksburg” It was mid-June 1861 and Union Captain Charles Leib, the Assistant Quartermaster General from Clarksburg, Virginia was in Parkersburg,…
Staying in Touch with Home in Vietnam
In my “Advisor Series” I use ‘letters’ as a ‘vehicle’ to tell my stories. In some cases, the letters are from home or from Tyler’s girlfriend in Saigon. In the stories these letters allow Tyler and his family as well as his girlfriend to reflect on events that are occurring in their daily lives. In…
A Horse of Many Colors
In one of my early Blogs, I discussed some of the unpublished writing that I’ve done over the years. This is one of the interesting stories that came from the Regimental History of the Second Wisconsin Veteran Volunteer Cavalry, “Washburn’s Own”. I’ve rewritten the story as a piece of historical fiction for my readers. The…
“Stealing My College Degree Fair and Square”
When I talk to people about my time in the military one of the things that I am very proud of is the comment that I often make that “I stole my college degree fair and square”. So, what did I mean by this? You see I took advantage of everything that I could possibly…
The Ambush at Nhon-Nhin-Three; Command Decision (Part Two)
Previously, we found Second Lieutenant, Sargant First Class Bennett and a platoon of South Vietnamese soldiers outside the small village of Nhon-Nhin-Three preparing to ambush a group of high-ranking Việt Cộng political cadre and their guards. Due to an unforeseen delay, they had gotten into position after the VC had entered the village. They now…
The Ambush at Nhon-Nhin-Three
Good morning and Happy 4th of July! Note to my readers. Sometimes a good story just doesn’t seem to fit in a novel. It either adds to many pages to a chapter or requires the reader to shift gears to understand the placement of the story. This happened to be one of those forgotten stories.…
To all my readers
I’m going to try something a bit different this coming Friday; I’m going to post a Short Story entitled “The Ambush at Nhon-Nhin-Three; Command Decision”. It was one of the stories that I didn’t use in my book “The Advisor; Kien Bing, South Vietnam 1969-1970 – A Novel.” Pleases take some time to read the…
Happy 162 Birthday West Virginia
On June 20, 1863, West Virginia became the 35th state in the Union. It is a state that was born out of the Civil War. It’s also the only state that separated itself from its parent-state, in our case the State of Virginia. West Virginia has a complicated history. Formerly, we were a part of…
Sci-Fi Adventures
Readers, I’m going to switch gears this week for a change. As you know most of my book’s deal with the Vietnam War, The Advisor Series, or with history, mostly history of Harrison County West Virginia, but I’ve edited and written some science fiction books with my good friend Navy Captain Chuck Neighbors. This week…
Getting around in the Plain of Reeds
As I’ve mentioned a couple of times in my writing the Plain of Reeds is one enormous swamp. And of course, we had basically two seasons over there it was either hot and wet or hot and dry. This was as a result of the monsoons and their effect on the weather. When I say…
A Significant Passing
On Wednesday June 11th, we received the news that singer-songwriter and founding member of the ‘Beach Boys’, Brian Wilson passed away. For many of us who served in Vietnam this is a tragic loss. For many of us ‘The Beach Boys’ were one of our favorite groups. I had a friend in Washington DC who…
The CORDS Program
In my books dealing with my time as an Advisor in Vietnam I often talk about the CORDS Program. So, what was CORDS and where did I fit in as an Advisor and as a part of CORDS? CORDS stood for – Civil Operations and Rural Development Support. It was a pacification program of the…
My Favorite Weapon
A question always asked: What was your favorite weapon in Vietnam? It never fails to amaze me how many people want to know about my favorite weapon that I carried in Vietnam. For many years I never really thought much about it, but we had access to a variety of military weapons. So today let’s…
Welcome back to all my readers and especially my Brothers and Sisters,
We are a receding generation of Vietnam Veterans, as our numbers continue to diminish over time remember these few words from the Bard, William Shakespeare who wrote: “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; but he ne’er so vile, This…
Vietnam Advisor series; ‘Exotic foods’.
Welcome Back! As advisors, we encountered changes in our diets. Initially housed at a large replacement depot in Saigon, I awaited my assignment at Camp Alpha, located at Tân Sơn Nhựt Airforce Base. During this time, we processed in, received uniforms, weapons, field equipment, and managed (or mismanaged) administrative and financial matters. My pay and…
The importance of a backstory; backpacking the Appalachian and other trails and other recurring themes throughout The Advisor series.
Welcome back! As I promised in last week’s blog I was going to go back and talk some more about The Advisor series. One recurring theme, backpacking along a trail. In the original book, “The Advisor, Kien Bing, South Vietnam 1969 -1970” you meet Staff Sergeant Sammy Smalls. While there’s not a lot of detailed…
“The Most Hated Man in Clarksburg”; historical Civil War fiction
So how could someone be called or become the most hated man in a small town like Clarksburg Virginia? What could cause a man from Philadelphia, a doctor, a newspaper editor, and a friend of Abraham Lincoln to be so reviled in a small town? The answer to this question is to be found in…
The Katy Sterling Saga (Pete Taylor Editor/Author)
First and foremost, I am NOT a Science-fiction writer! But my longtime friend Chuck Neighbors is! I’ve known Chuck for over thirty years, and our families have grown together. I first met Chuck when I was assigned as an Army officer to the War Room of the old US Atlantic Command in Norfolk Virginia. During…
The Civil War in My Hometown
My recent blogs have dealt with some Vietnam War stories from my first book in the Advisor series, “The Advisor; Kien Bing, South Vietnam 1969-1970”, (available on Amazon.com). What I’ve tried to do is to expand upon what I’ve written in my novel about my time in Vietnam during my first assignment there. For someone…
Officer Candidate School (OCS)
On November 11th, 1968, I reported to Officer Candidate School at Fort Belvoir VA. It was perhaps one of the most exciting days, and most challenging occasions, in my early military career. We were all noncommissioned officers either because we had previously been promoted or our orders automatically promoted us to E-5. All OCS candidates…
Enlisted Training
I did my basic combat training at Fort Benning, Georgia, “Home of the Infantry”. Since I was on an Officer Candidate School (OCS) track I was appointed as the “Platoon Goon”, or acting Platoon Sergeant. My job was basically to prepare my 44-man platoon for formations and to attempt to march them to and from…
March 29, 1973 – the last Combat Troops leave Vietnam
At about 11:00 am, Saigon time, on March 29, 1973, the last ‘direct combat’ troops left Vietnam ending the United States involvement in the Vietnam Conflict. I happened to be one of those last guys out. It had been a harrowing ten days. I was initially scheduled to leave around March 20th, but there were…
Was it Worth It? Why Was I There?
This is a question that is well over sixty years old. Was my going to Vietnam worth it and was it worth the blood and treasure of the United States. Guenter Lewy, a German-born American author and political scientist estimated 1,353,000 total deaths in North and South Vietnam during the period 1965–1974 in which the U.S. was most…
Author Talk
Location: Event Space Bridgeport, WV Public Library, 1200 Johnson Ave, Bridgeport, WV Monday, March 31, 2025; 5:00pm – 6:30pm Local author and veteran, Peter Taylor, returns to the library to discuss two new books: The Tuscarora Trail, and The Planet’s Revenge: The Katy Sterling Saga Continues. Local author and veteran, Peter Taylor, returns to the…
The Plain of Reeds; life in the Mekong Delta
A number of times I’ve talked about operating in the Plain of Reeds (Đồng Tháp Mười in Vietnamese). Our entire provincial area bordered with Cambodia on the north and the Vam Cô Tây River on the east. The entirety of Kien Binh district was considered to be a part of the Plain of Reeds. The…
The Chiêu Hồi Program
The Chiêu Hồi (pronounced roughly as Chew Hoy) was an interesting program that I dealt with on a daily basis. In my book I talk about our “Man Friday”, Ông Hai, or Mr. Hai. He was our go-to guy as far as maintaining our Jeep, boats, trailer, generator, and almost anything else that we needed to…
The Brown Water Navy
“Brown Water Navy” In my books I talk a lot about the relationship that we had with the US Navy River Division that we dealt with at Ap Bac (aka Ap Bing) and at Moc Hoa (aka Moc Loi) When I arrived at Ap Bac (Ap Bing in “The Advisor”, we were heavily involved with…
Kien Tuong Province in the Vietnam War
I found this interesting article on-line and it is worth sharing with my readers. It is translated from Vietnamese to English and I’m certain that there are a number of translation issues however the gist of the material is very interesting. Much of it is a military history of the Kien Tuong Province and US…
The Phụng Hoàng (Phoenix) Program
During my first assignment in Vietnam I was assigned to the Phoenix Program or Phụng Hoàng in Vietnamese. The program was very controversial especially during the early days of the war when it was run by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Special Forces teams. By the time I arrived the CIA and the Special…
Counterparts
In my books I often describe some of the issues in dealing with our Vietnamese counterparts. As American Advisors we faced a philosophical and cultural difference with many of the Vietnamese that we dealt with. As westerners or Americans tend to think in concepts such as “never put off until tomorrow what should be done…
Colonel David “Hack” Hackworth, 44th Special Tactical Zone Commander
Another senior officer mentioned several times in my books is Colonel David Hackworth. Colonel David ‘the Hack’ Hackworth, like John Paul Vann, was a controversial figure during the Vietnam War and had a military career spanning World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam Conflict. David Hackworth joined the US Merchant Marine at the…
Mr. John Paul Vann
10 February In my books I often refer to my professional relationship with two men, John Paul Vann and Colonel David Hackworth. In this week’s blog I’ll discuss my relationship with Mr. John Paul Vann. My recollections of Mr. Vann are nothing like those expressed by Neil Sheehan in his book “A Bright and Shining…
A Romantic Interlude?
Once again, I’m discussing my first book “The Advisor, Kien Bing. South Vietnam, 1969-1970; A Novel” with emphasis on the individuals that were really a part of the story. I’ve chosen not to use real names, particularly for my Vietnamese counterparts. Even though many may have passed away, I prefer not to identify them to…
Where is Ap Bing???
Good morning! Readers who bought my book “The Advisor; Kien Bing, South Vietnam 1969-1970 a Novel” won’t find the locations on a map of Vietnam. Following the invasion from the north in 1975, many locations mentioned in my book were renamed. The town previously known as Ap Bing was actually named Ap Bac. The new…
The Civil War Draft
A presentation before the Stonewall Jackson Civil War Roundtable January 14, 2025 Unrest As the decision to draft men unfolded in 1863, people rioted. When the government tried to institute the draft in New York City in July 1863, things quickly got out of hand. Government buildings were torched, and rioters fought in the streets against…
Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans
My books are dedicated to all those brave men who went to do a nearly impossible job and to the women and families that loved and supported them while they were serving their nation in a faraway land. To all of my brothers and sisters who served in Vietnam and who often came home to…
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