Dear Classmates:

My first novel - “The Deadliest Weapon” is now published.   My goal was to write a military techno thriller in the Tom Clancy style.  Some of the first readers of my book sensed the story sounded real.  For the most part it is real - fiction based on historical fact.  Along with others I was fortunate to receive great editing remarks from Jack Grubbs and Tom Anthony, both successful authors, which helped me improve the content and flow of the story.  Helen did a great job of editing the book many times.  

Almost all of the events in the story associated with the Army Security Agency (ASA) actually happened as part of our operations in the Radio Research (RR) units I commanded in Vietnam (RR was supposed to hide the fact from the enemy that ASA units operated in Vietnam by disguising us as Signal Corps – the only ones fooled were our own guys).   The Infantry patrols in the story were a combination of stories told to me by friends who served in Special Forces and Long Range Patrols.  Frank Lambert was nice enough to review this part of the story for authenticity. I was never actually certain how the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnam Army (NVA) personally reacted to our successes but what I read in captured documents and what I heard from interrogations gave me a pretty good picture of what was going on within their ranks.  Finally, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, LTG Buster Hagenbeck, LTG Ted Stroup and Jim Price, the voice of the Detroit Tigers were very gracious in their words of praise for the book which are written on the back cover.

My initial motivation to write this story was to applaud the actions of the men in ASA, whose story has never been told.  Also to honor the sacrifices of the American fighting forces both in Vietnam and subsequently.  The public still is not truly aware of the tremendous sacrifices they and their families give executing the orders of their country.  Interestingly, most of them do not think of it as a sacrifice but a call of duty to serve.  I am eternally grateful that we have such men and women who year after year allow us to live the wonderful lives we live.  I told their story using a subject with which I am familiar and wrapped it in a good old fashioned thriller that I hope all will enjoy.

To tell the story I intertwined several themes.  The most important theme is the story itself which details the emergence of electronic intelligence (ELINT) as an important intelligence source supporting our combat forces. The deadly cat and mouse intelligence war within a war between an American Captain and a VC Major weaves the threads ultimately leading up to the TET offensive.  

Most of the American side of this saga happened.  The bright young men who operated our intelligence gathering equipment were out there on the front lines with our combat units.  They set up their equipment anywhere they could get a good signal;  Special Forces Camps on the border of Cambodia, Fire Support Bases, Infantry Base Camps, and other sites close to the Area of Operation of the enemy. The enemy side of the story is fiction but since it is based upon good intelligence it very well could have happened this way.   We did have our sights on a certain VC intelligence officer who our Division G-2 wanted to capture.  At one point I actually had an air mobile infantry company assigned to this mission ready to pounce on him at a moment’s notice.  Using our electronic intelligence gathering information we had him spotted on several occasions but when we moved in to capture him the cunning bastard was gone.  My VC Major Pham is based on this formidable adversary.  The excellence and high morale of our ASA troops is a major part of this saga and demonstrates not only their competence but the competence of all our military forces.

When a story of war is told, part of that story is about those who start wars and their influence on them.  Part of a politician’s hand in negotiating war or peace agreements is the war card.  If it is ever to be played it should be the last card shown.  It should be the ultimate negotiating tool signifying that a peaceful settlement has failed.  It should not be dealt lightly since resorting to that card results in death.  Once that card is dealt the military should be allowed to do their job to the best of their ability without the interference of politicians.  Over and over again during the Vietnam conflict, politicians who may have never been in the combat line of peril were making unintelligent rules of engagement and combat decisions they had no training to make.    

I was part of intelligence briefings to Westmoreland and Abrams and inevitably the conversation turned to the conduct of the war.  Both were visibly distressed by the meddling of politicians and the layers of difficulty they placed on the ground commanders.  I recall in one such briefing, with only about twelve people present, the MACV Commander in a distressed tone stated that this war could be over in six months if the politicians would leave the conduct of the war up to those who are best qualified to do so – the military.  Unfortunately, they almost never do.  One would think we would learn from our mistakes, but again, we almost never do.

Vietnam was our first war on which the media had an instantaneous impact.   The public was privy to every action as they watched the Vietnam War unfold on TV.  This phenomena provided the media a major stake in the outcome of the war.  I witnessed firsthand how the media colored their reporting of the Vietnam War and in many cases wrote their stories to fit their agenda.  Their biased reporting hurt the war effort.   Walter Cronkite, the dean of American journalists, touring Vietnam after TET was given several military briefings  detailing the outcome of TET.  What Cronkite heard was not what he reported to the American people in his news program after he returned to the U.S.   He reported the war was lost and we needed to get out of Vietnam.  He was wrong.  The TET offensive was a major loss to the enemy and it was a major victory for our military.  Dissidents joined with the media to become a formidable anti-war coalition.  This group combined with a mixture of celebrities was enough to convince many Americans that the war was lost.  In many ways it demoralized our own troops when they watched the television images of demonstrators chanting anti-war slogans.  The efforts of those dissidents did not go unnoticed by the enemy.  We captured flyers after TET written by the NVA and VC to their field forces imploring them to not give up;  that American celebrities were on their side and would help them win the war.  This combined group did a grave disservice to our country and the American Military had to battle them as much as the enemy throughout this crisis.  How these negative efforts affected the military is part of my story.  The negativity surrounding that war still exists today.  In a recent article the press refers to the Vietnam War as modern America’s most controversial war while reporting a recent gathering of Vietnam Vets.  

I hope “The Deadliest Weapon” properly represents the dedicated American fighting men (now men and women), who despite the cards being stacked against them by their own, fought gallantly to defeat the VC and NVA.  And defeat them they did.  This is my message and one that needs to be reiterated over and over until the negativity toward that time is purged.  We should continue to thank God for each young person who fought gallantly in Vietnam and thank God for the dedicated men and women who continue to serve.  We are all better off for their efforts.  I am convinced that the reason so many Vietnam Vets have never recovered from that war is the sense of abandonment they felt from the politicians, the dissidents, the many celebrities, and the negative press that turned against them.  Hopefully we will not forget that!

“The Deadliest Weapon” is on sale at amazon.com.  A portion of the proceeds from the sale goes to support the important work of  the Disabled American Veterans (DAV).  If you choose to read my story and you enjoy it I would appreciate your recommendation on Amazon.  

Best regards,

Ian Carter ‘64