The Raid, Benjamin F. Schemmer
The Raid, Benjamin F. Schemmer
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The Raid

Author: Benjamin F. Schemmer

Narrator: Dick Rodstein

Abridged: 2 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/30/2002


Synopsis

Minutes after 2 A.M. on November 21, 1970, more than one hundred U.S. war planes shattered the dark calm of the skies over Hanoi. Their mission: rescue sixty-one American POWs from Son Tay prison. Less than thirty minutes later, the raid was over, but no Americans had been rescued. The prisoners had been moved from Son Tay four and a half months earlier and that wasn’t all. Part of the raiding force landed at the wrong compound, a “school” bristling with enemy soldiers, but the soldiers weren’t Vietnamese . . .

Replete with fascinating insights into the workings of high-level intelligence and military command, The Raid is Benjamin Schemmer’s unvarnished account of the courageous mission that was quickly labeled an intelligence failure by Congress and a Pentagon blunder by the world press. Determined to ferret out the truth, Schemmer uncovers one of the CIA’s most carefully guarded secrets. From the planning and live-fire rehearsals to the explosive reactions of the Joint Chiefs of Staff watching the drama unfold to the aftermath as the White House and Pentagon struggled for damage control, Schemmer tackles the tough questions. What really happened during the twenty-seven minutes the raiders spent on the ground? Did the CIA know the whole time that the Americans were gone? Had the Agency in fact been responsible for the POWs being moved? And perhaps most intriguing, why was the rescue—though it never freed a single prisoner—not a failure after all?

About The Author

Benjamin F. Schemmer, a West Point graduate, Ranger, and paratrooper, is uniquely qualified to write on military matters from several vantage points. His military service included three years in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he became director of land-force weapons systems. From 1968 to 1992, he edited the privately owned Armed Forces Journal International and later Strategic Review, published by the United States Strategic Institute. He has written major feature articles for The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, and is a frequent lecturer at military command, staff, and war colleges. He has appeared on network and cable news including, ABC, CNN, Larry King Live, and Crossfire.He is the coauthor of Ballantine’s forthcoming book on the never never-before-told story behind the U.S. Air Force’s highly secret special tactics units.


Reviews

Goodreads review by David on June 06, 2017

I was serving in the US Army 82nd Airborne Division 1984 - 1987 when I read this book. The Special Forces 5th Group was assigned to Fort Bragg same as us, and I loved going to the JFK Special Forces museum down Ardennes Street. The museum is detailed about the history of the SF and it was only 10 ye......more

Goodreads review by Bob on March 06, 2011

This hard to find book details the Son Tay Prison Rescue Raid. When I was at Bragg, there were guys teaching at the JFK Center who'd been on this raid. Even though the prisoners had been moved, the raid really lifted morale for a lot of POWs who knew they hadn't been forgotten. There's also a theory......more

Goodreads review by Thrillers R Us on August 14, 2023

In the scrolls of Elders it is written that someone got hold of James Cameron's December 1983 script titled FIRST BLOOD II: The Mission (which provided more than just the foundation of David Morrell's novelization of RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II) and transformed it into something at the 80s action-shl......more

Goodreads review by George on July 07, 2013

"(General) Blackburn spent much of the day reviewing NSA's latest electronic intercepts; an updated 'air order of battle' was sent to Takhli (staging base in central Thailand), giving (General) Manor (overall commander of the raid) a last-minute status report on North Vietnam's air defense system."......more

Goodreads review by Nadir on July 26, 2008

Extraordinary to see how much went into the effort to rescue these American servicemen and so sad for the same reason when it doesn't work out. Almost heartbreaking to read this and then "The Guts to Try" where some of the same individuals encounter an equally frustrating end.......more