Peter A. Taylor's Home Page

Category: Advisor Series

  • Black Market Operations During the Vietnam War

    Black market activities posed major difficulties for American and South Vietnamese authorities during the Vietnam War. The massive arrival of U.S. military supplies, consumer goods, and US currency sparked an enormous underground economy. Items meant for American troops—like cigarettes, alcohol, clothing, and electronics—were frequently redirected and sold illegally, sometimes with help from corrupt officials or… →

  • The Last Days

    I talk a little bit about it in my third book of the Vietnam series: “The Hardchargers”. On the 15th of January 1973 my team was ordered to shut down all operations; “cease and desist”. We were told that it appeared that the Peace Accords we’re going to be signed and they were afraid that… →

  • 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… →

  • 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… →

  • 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)… →

  • 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 ,”… →

  • 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… →

  • 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… →

  • 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… →