Vietnam War draftee to US Army Rangers (216)

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

Ian Sanders

Documentary, History, Society & Culture

4.8 • 865 Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2022

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Bob Wallace joined the US Army in 1968 as a reluctant conscript. He describes the draft process, and his attempts to avoid conscription. After basic training, Bob is assigned to a long range reconnaissance unit and ambush unit in five or six man teams in the Mekong delta. We hear of the reconnaissance and ambush tactics as well as some poignant memories of those that didn’t make it back. This podcast relies on listener support to enable me to continue to capture these incredible stories and make them available for free. You can support my work and help to preserve Cold War history via one off or monthly donations Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ for more details. Do join our Facebook discussion group where the cold war conversation continues between episodes. Just search Cold War Conversations on Facebook. I am delighted to welcome Bob Wallace to our Cold War conversation… There’s further information on this episode here. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode216/ 0:00 Introduction and request for donations 1:03 Introduction to guest, Bob Wallace, Vietnam War Veteran 3:21 Bob Wallace's early life and journey to the US Army 13:25 Bob's arrival in Vietnam and military training experiences 21:21 Bob's leadership experiences and decision to turn down promotions 24:54 Discussion on Bob's deployment to Vietnam and role in a Ranger reconnaissance team 35:43 Bob's experiences in identifying hostile targets and ambush operations 40:51 Bob's first time under fire and personal reflections on combat 42:38 Bob's visit to the Vietnam War Memorial and remembering fallen comrades 46:02 Introduction of Bob's book, "9 from the 9th", and discussion on shared experiences 49:18 Acknowledgment of patrons and call to donate 50:54 Closing remarks and promotion of the Cold War Conversations store Table of contents powered by PodcastAI✨ 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 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.
0:06.1	When you see a young Vietnamese who's now dead and through his wallet, you see the pictures of what was either a girlfriend or a fiancé or a wife, who knows. You cannot help but
0:26.4	think that war is so inhuman.
0:35.0	This is Cold War Conversations.
0:39.5	If you're new here, you've come to the right place to listen to first-hand Cold War history accounts.
0:45.5	Do make sure you follow us in your podcast app so that you don't miss out on future episodes.
0:52.0	Bob Wallace joined the US Army in 1968 as a reluctant conscript.
0:58.1	He describes the draft process and his attempts to avoid conscription.
1:03.2	After basic training, Bob is assigned to a long-range reconnaissance and ambush unit,
1:10.0	who operated in five or six-man teams in the Mekon Delta in Vietnam.
1:16.2	We hear of the reconnaissance and ambush tactics, as well as some poignant memories of those that didn't make it back.
1:25.6	Now, this podcast relies on listener support to enable me to continue to capture these
1:31.5	incredible stories and make them available to others for free.
1:37.9	You can support my work and help me to preserve this Cold War history via one-off or monthly donations.
1:46.5	This is Mark in New Diego, Michigan, USA.
1:50.5	I support the Cold War Conversations podcast because this is fantastic history, textured, in-depth, real stories, firsthand accounts of a defining period in our history.
2:10.7	For those of us who grew up with it, we understand how frightening it was, and it is very positive that we can preserve this for future
2:19.3	generations.
2:20.4	Just go to cold warconversations.com slash donate to see the options.
2:26.9	Do join our Facebook discussion group where listeners just like you continue the Cold War
2:33.9	Conversation. Just search Cold War Conversation.
2:35.2	Just search Cold War Conversations in Facebook.
	...

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