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Scrim
09-26-2003, 05:50 PM
Just thought I'd let you guys know Im reading a damn good book right now "The March Up: Taking Baghdad With The First Marine Division" by Ray Smith, and Bing West. I usually have a hard time slogging through tactical/statergy type books, but I cant put this one down. Any one else into it yet?
Must be one of the first books about the recent conflict.(?)
Ratamacue
09-26-2003, 05:52 PM
I've been meaning to pick it up eventually. Bing West was a Force Recon Marine himself in Vietnam and writes pretty well. I read one of his books called "The Pepperdogs," and it's a pretty good read if you need something to pick up.
HooyahCQB
09-29-2003, 05:09 PM
What's the bio on Ray Smith?
Maj Kong
09-30-2003, 08:32 AM
Maj Gen Smith is retired USMC. He got his nickname from using an E tool to kill NVA in Vietnam during the Hue City fighting...his quote was something like "E tools don't jam" Go to http//www.westwrite.com

Bing West also wrote a small book called "Small Unit Action in Vietnam" - hard to find though....
96B
09-30-2003, 01:24 PM
I just bought The March Up for a friend and he has been telling me how good of a book it is. One of the Marines in the book is a Russian immigrant and was in Spetsnaz! The Russian said that his training back home was harder than here but at USMC boot camp they played alot more mind games.
Scrim
10-03-2003, 07:17 PM
I just finished it, it should be required reading for all on this sight. It gives a great overview of the whole war (not just from the Marines point of view). Its interesting to read the whole story, as opposed to the little teasers we saw on CNN and Fox. Its amazing to read how they moved over 8,000 vehicles (Im sure the Army had even more, anyone?) up from Kuwait to Baghdad and beyond(some went to Tikrit).
The battle at Nasiriyah was the single day the most Marines lost their lives. They went in with no tank support as their tanks had been recalled to help out the 507th (We all know Pvt Lynch), several Marines were killed by one of those friendly A-10s, It was also their first major fire-fight (they encountered little resistance taking the southern oil fields.) After this though they were all battle veterans, and every thing else went pretty smoothly, Despite what we were all hearing from the media at the time.
Anyway, enough rambling, go read it!