The Night Fighters Series

From 1965 to 1971 the United States Marines in Vietnam ran a small, little-known operation called the "Combined Action Program." In many ways what CAP did was similar to what was done by the US Army Special Forces, the famous Green Berets, except the Marines concentrated most of their effort in the heavily populated coastal lowlands rather than the sparcely populated highlands. Most CAP units consisted of a Marine rifle squad and US Navy Medical Corpsman, and a Vietnamese Popular Forces platoon (roughly equivilant to the US National Guard, but with less prior training and poorer equipment), and were commanded by a Marine sergeant or corporal. Combined Action Platoons were frequently semi-isolated and usually independent units. There has been very little written about them. The one in The Night Fighters is loosely based on the combat-outpost type of CAP I served in during the spring and summer of 1966. To my knowledge, this was the first fictional treatment of a CAP. KNIVES IN THE NIGHT introduces the Marines of CAP Tango Niner and the Popular Forces of Bun Hou village, somewhere deep in "Indian Country." The Marines and Vietnamese soon find themselves pitted against Major Nghu, a sadistic North Vietnamese Army officer dedicated to wiping out the Marines and subjugating the South Vietnamese peasants.

Main Force Assault follows the Marines and Popular Forces of Combined Action Platoon T-9 as they continue their mission to protect the villagers of Bun Hou from the Viet Cong, and corrupt South Vietnamese officials. Following combat in the first book in the series, Knives in the Night, CAP Tango Niner has several replacements, including a new lieutenant, who has to be taught how to be a leader.

Someone planted two kilos of heroin in the Marine compound called Camp Apache. When they are found, the Marine lieutenant and NCOs are charged with drug smuggling. They're innocent, of course, but have to prove it - a very difficult thing when they're slated to be the example that discourages other Marines from dealing in drugs! While doing that, they and their Marines and Popular Forces still have to protect Bun Hou village from the Viet Cong who keep coming through - and they have to deal with Captain Phang, the corrupt assistant district chief. Junior men are given greater responsibilities when their leaders are away defending themselves against the drug charges, and acquit themselves as well as can be expected of Marines dedicated to what they are doing. This is the most difficult mission the Marines and Popular Forces of Combined Action Platoon Tango Niner have had.

The Marines of Combined Action Platoon are trapped between a rock and a hard place. The can't run their patrols and keep Bun Hoi village safe from the Vietcong without their Popular Forces platoon, which had been taken away by the District Commander, Major Y, at the end of the previous book. So they decide to take matters into their own hands. First, the Marines go to the district headquarters and face down Major Y until he allows them to take their PFs, who are anxious to return home. The VC seem more determined than ever to wipe out Tango Niner, and launch attacks against the Marine compound, called Camp Apache. The Marines gather intelligence about a secret VC base in the mountains to their west, but can't convince anybody to run an operation to deal with it, or even send in a reconnaissance unit to check it out. In the end, this independent-minded unit takes the war to the enemy in the place the enemy feels most secure.

Major Nghu, the fanatic North Vietnamese officer from book 1, is back. This time, he's got many more soldiers under his command, and uses different tactics, which he believes are guaranteed to defeat the Marines and Popular Forces of Combined Action Platoon Tango Niner. He starts by violating the Christmas truce - at a time when the Marines have American women visiting for Christmas dinner! Defeating the North Vietnamese is the toughest job Tango Niner has faced, especially once Major Nghu and his forces begin targeting the civilian population of the hamlets of Bun Hoa village. Step by step, Major Nghu believes he is achieving his ultimate goal of defeating the Marines and PFs of Tango Niner. Step by step, the Marines and PFs find ways to counter him and his forces, until they meet in the ultimate battle for control of the Song Du Ong river valley.

It's six months since Combined Action Platoon T-9 was established in Hou Bun village. Six months of nearly-nightly battles between the Marines and Popular Forces of CAP Tango Niner and Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army units. The VC and NVA almost always lost those encounters. After months of losing fighters and supply trains, and an inability, despite repeated attempts, to overrun and wipe out Tango Niner, the VC and NVA decided to take their operations elsewhere. Peace had come to Hou Bun village. But there was one more thing the Marines had to do. Two years earlier, the VC had kidnapped the son of Phao Houng, the PF platoon commander. Houng found out where his son was being held as a slave laborer. Five Marines and one PF go on a mission to rescue the boy. It's one of the most audacious and dangerous missions ever undertaken by Americans in the war: Nine-year-old Phao Kha Ai was being held in the A Shau Valley, one of the strongest VC and NVA bases in South Vietnam. The Marines and PFs of CAP T-9 couldn't pull it off totally by themselves, they needed help. They got it from Chief Petty Officer Ossie Slover, the cousin of Tango Niner's Corporal "Big Louie" Slover; from Bobbie Harder, a civilian employee of the Marines in Da Nang--and girlfriend of Tango Niner's Corporal "Tex" Randall; from Ensign Lily, a navy friend of Second Lieutenant "Scrappy" Burrison, Tango Niner's commanding officer; and from Lieutenant (j.g.) Reeves, a helicopter pilot and friend of Lily's. It's a bodacious and outrageous mission, that can only be pulled off by a small team of determined Marines and PFs, and their friends who supported them.