Why the term “Hardcharger”?
During the Vietnam War, I was part of a three-man District Advisory Team in the small district town of Ap Bac, located in the northernmost province of the Mekong Delta. Our team was composed of a senior Captain as the District Senior Advisor, a Sergeant First Class as our Operations Non-Commissioned Officer, and me, a freshly commissioned Second Lieutenant serving as the Intelligence Officer and Deputy Senior Advisor. We earned the nickname “Hardchargers,” a moniker that remained with me throughout my military career. Now, over fifty years later, I am the last of the original Hardchargers, and I proudly carry on this nickname in honor of my former teammates and mentors.
All About Pete Taylor – Author
Peter Taylor is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel. He served three combat tours in Vietnam between 1969 and 1973. He enlisted in 1968 and after Infantry Basic and Advanced Infantry training, he attended Engineer Officer Candidate School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, where he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Military Intelligence Branch of the U.S. Army.
After his commissioning he attended the Military Intelligence Officer Basic Course at Fort Holabird, Maryland. He was sent to the Jungle Warfare School in Panama prior to his initial assignment to Vietnam.
During his first assignment in Vietnam (1969-1970) he was a part of the first three-man District Advisory team in the Mekong Delta. As a Second Lieutenant he served as the Intelligence Officer and Deputy District Senior Advisor. At the end of this tour, he extended and as a First Lieutenant was assigned as the Province Senior Intelligence Advisor. At the end of this tour, he returned briefly to the United States and as a Captain was reassigned back to Vietnam in 1972 with the 525th Military Intelligence Group where he served in a variety of assignments. He was one of the last combat troops to leave Vietnam on March 29, 1973, with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords.
Taylor is a graduate of the University of Nebraska, Omaha. He earned a master’s degree in management from the Florida Institute of Technology. Taylor attended numerous schools in the U.S. Army and graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College, the National Defense University, and the U.S. Army War College. Taylor retired from the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1994. He is married to his wife of over 50 years and has three grown children and young grandchildren. After his retirement from the U.S. Army, he taught Junior ROTC at the high school level for seventeen years. He currently resides in Clarksburg, West Virginia. The military stories in this novel are based upon events that took place during his tours in Vietnam.
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