Just another day in Vietnam (153)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY Times

Ian Sanders

History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.8 • 865 Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2020

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode we talk with Col. Keith Nightingale who served in the US military from 1965 to 1993. He completed two tours of Vietnam; the first as a Senior Advisor to a Vietnamese Ranger unit and the second as a rifle company commander in the 101st Airborne. Keith used the experience of his first tour to write ‘Just another day in Vietnam’ which gives a vivid first-hand account of a jungle operation with the South Vietnamese Rangers against the Viet Cong. UK listeners can buy Keith's book here https://amzn.to/3lWljkb US listeners can buy Keith's book here https://amzn.to/33VRcTD If you can spare it I’m asking listeners to contribute at least $4 USD per month to help keep us on the air (larger amounts are welcome too) plus you can get a sought after CWC coaster as a monthly financial supporter of the podcast and you bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Co-host James conducts our chat and I am delighted to welcome Keith Nightingale to our Cold War conversation… There’s further information on this episode in our show notes, which can also be found as a link in your podcast app here. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode153/ If you can’t wait for next week’s episode do visit our Facebook discussion group where guests and listeners continue the Cold War Conversation. Just search Cold War Conversations in Facebook. Thank you very much for listening. It is really appreciated. Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations 0:00 Introduction and Keith Nightingale's early experiences in Vietnam 1:02 Interview with Colonel Keith Nightingale and discussion about his book "Just another day in Vietnam" 7:13 Keith's assignment to the 52nd Rangers and comparison with US army 14:22 Keith's first experience in combat and discussion on PTSD 20:25 The writing process of Keith's book and the decision to write in third person 27:20 The B52 strike against the POW camp and the aftermath of the battle 40:02 Major Hep's leadership and influence on Keith Nightingale 53:21 Public attitudes towards the Vietnam War and preparing for a second tour 1:00:34 Reflections on the war, its impact and lessons learned 1:09:07 Keith's reflections on Vietnam and his book, closing remarks from Ian Sanders 1:10:04 Acknowledgement of financial supporters and politburo level Patreons: Sam Hardwick, Nicholas Butler, and Jeffrey Jones Chapters powered by PodcastAI✨ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.
0:05.8	You can see off in the horizon, the flares going off, you could hear the artillery,
0:11.1	and we were eating hamburgers and drinking cold beer,
0:15.3	and we knew that, you know, 10 miles out in that direction, people were getting killed.
0:22.5	This is Cold War Conversations.
0:28.6	Massive Soviet military forces have invaded the small, non-aligned, sovereign nation of Afghanistan.
0:38.0	Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall.
0:46.0	Six, no one.
0:47.9	Aux, eight, eight, three.
0:52.4	The withdrawal of American and all other foreign forces from Vietnam within a period of 60 days.
1:01.5	And I'm here to host this final program from the German Democratic Public League.
1:07.7	Welcome to Cold War Conversations.
1:10.4	If you're new here, you've come to the right place to listen to first-hand Cold War history accounts.
1:16.6	Do make sure you subscribe in your podcast app so that you don't miss out on future episodes.
1:23.1	In this episode, we talk with Colonel Keith Nightingale, who served in the US military from 1965 to 1993.
1:32.9	He completed two tours of Vietnam, the first as a senior advisor to a Vietnamese Ranger unit,
1:40.2	and the second as a rifle company commander in the 101st Airborne.
1:45.0	Keith used the experience of his first tour to write just another day in Vietnam,
1:51.3	which gives a vivid first-hand account of a jungle operation with the South Vietnamese Rangers
1:56.8	against the Viet Cong.
1:59.5	If you can spare it, I am asking listeners to contribute at least three US dollars per month to help keep us on the air.
2:07.2	Larger amounts are welcome too.
	...

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