Sage Fire Review of The Red Dragon

Red Dragon

Historical Fears

Date of Review: July 21, 2008
Multi-format Ebook, Large Print Edition
Thriller, Adventure, Historical Fiction


Vlad the Impaler, created history. To the Christians of the Central Eastern European Steps, a prince, a hero, the savior of millions of lives. To the Muslims, the pilgrims, and serving class Turks he became the terror of the night, unable to be destroyed, leaving tens of thousands of Muslim supporters and military hanging and dripping blood. For them, he became their worst nightmare, the Dracul.

Centuries later, in the middle of the final stages of the Vietnamese civil war, when the Americans vied with the Russians for impressionistic control of the population; his own descendant's doom lay in confrontation with the most apt pupil of his reign of terror teachings ever. The clash of war titans became inevitable.



Synopsis:

Yuri Zukhov, brilliant historical tactician, student of Vlad Dracul's campaigns, from the Academy of Military History in Moscow, and Bondesque lady's man; found himself banished on a flight to Hanoi for the termidity of being caught in the act of screwing his commanding officer's mistress. His incredible tactical ability stood no chance against internal personal politics. By the time he reached the Hanoi command center, he already had arranged dates with the stewardesses and the new commanders mistress. He was not stoic, rather comfortable in his self abilities and importance of his military brilliance being applied to the North Vietnamese army.
Alexandru Mihnea, direct descendant of Vlad Dracul, top special forces Master Sargent returns to camp Hoa Binh, to shore up local support for the fire teams, and to clean out remaining pockets of Viet Cong. The problem remains, he is just a little too good at his job, prompting a re-evaluation of where the North Vietnamese army should strike first.
Neither man has control of their destiny anymore. Fate has stepped in, the biggest star pupil of Vlad Dracul's tactics will confront his direct descendant. No quarter will be given, on either side.



Impression:

This story quails the faint of heart, brings up memories of friends and comrades dieing, of listening to the tales of tunnel rats, and drinking with the Marines when they came home. An incredibly researched and studied tale from both sides of the Black Sea, Clifford Gissell captures both the idiosyncrasies of the Central European cultures and contrasting penchants of the Americans during the 1970's.
Red Dragon is NOT an easy read. It is NOT one of the stories you will casually pick up and finish in an hour. For those readers who had relatives and friends who lived and died during the Tet Offensive, it is even yet, a hard brick read.
For the student of cultures, Red Dragon drives home the differences between the gray world point of view of the Central Europeans and the rigid right and wrong view of the Americans. It demonstrates the complacency of a general population at war with itself for long decades, and the will it took to merely survive.
For the Military Historian, Red Dragon exemplifies the cross thoughts, tactics, and strategies used across a thousand years of conflict and turmoil. It delves directly into the reasoning and thinking of all sides of this bygone offensive.
For everyone else, it is headlong dive into a madness and terror the population refuses to acknowledge can exist, even today. Modern horror films have no edge on the reality this novel shows can and will happen. This is a novel you must dare yourself to read.

RATING: 9 Campfires

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Camp Duc Hue, 5th Special Forces Group

Camp Hoa Binh in The Red Dragon is fictional. While in Special Forces I spent seven months at Camp Duc Hue in Hau Nghia Province, III Corps, South Vietnam. The team designation was A325, it belonged to B32. This camp was located on the Cambodian border under the border feature named The Angel Wing. It was located in Duc Hue District but the district seat, the village of Duc Hue, was located across the Vam Co Dong River. On the west side of the river where the camp was located there were no populated areas. Basically this was a free-fire zone. Anyone moving through the area was considered to be an enemy. When I was there, from September, 1968 to April, 1969, enemy meant the North Vietnamese Army. The border was about five clicks or about three miles away. The area where the camp was located was some sort of farming area when the French controlled what was then Indochina. The area was named "Agroville" on the maps. There were some man-made features there. I remember at least one lake that was square in shape and some roads. I also remember a derelict piece of road equipment abandoned by the road. I assume there was once a bridge across the Vam Co Dong River that allowed vehicular traffic to reach this area. Our attention was always toward Cambodia, I never saw the river. Our operational area consisted of abandoned rice fields. When you left camp on an operation you went into the water and stayed in the water unless you came upon an abandoned 'tree square', a place that once was a homestead. These tree squares are where we normally stopped to eat or remain over night (RON). They were also the most likely place to be booby-trapped. As you approached parts of the border you would find vegetated areas and dry ground. I live in northern Alabama. As I cross the Tennessee River going north, there are two areas that always remind me of Vietnam. One is a wet area surrounded by trees that reminds me of my second tour in Vietnam, served in Mekong Delta. A bit north of the Tennessee River is a cotton field with a tree square in the middle of it. It too is abandoned, once being a homestead. Everytime I see that, whether there's cotton planted or not, it reminds me of the tree squares we saw on operations at Duc Hue. There's still a hint of uneasiness in me, not as strong as back in those days, but still a hint, that danger lurks there.

5th+Special+Forces+Group A325 Agroville B32 Duc+Hue Hoa+Binh North+Vietnamese+Army The+Angels+Wing The+Parrots+Beak The+Red+Dragon Vam+Co+Dong+River NVA 5th+SFG