Just started reading "Wrong War" myself and I am in the retired catagory. Been a fan of Mr West for a long time. Read and studied one of his first works "Small Unit Actions in Viet Nam" (pub. 1966) when I was a Marine infantry platoon leader in the early seventies. As a rifle company commander I used the same work to help teach my platoon leaders better tactics. I have made it a point to read just about everything he has published since. My opinion is that his book "The Village" makes him a counterinsurgency expert and that means he has been an expert for a long time. I think his writing is spot on...he always starts at the tactical level and brings it back to the strategic tapestry. His time at the tactical or troop level gives him a credibility that is hard to beat. He is critical of the methods of both wars and I believe that criticism is valid. He exposes what I call military dogma - bad opinion disguised as doctrine. Really do not understand why our senior military leadership does not listen to what he is telling them.
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