John L. Cook

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The Advisor : The Phoenix Program in Vietnam

From his arrival in war-torn Vietnam in 1968 to his reluctant departure twenty-five months later, John Cook served as an advisor in the district of Di An and took part in the systematic operations of the Phoenix Program to destroy the Infrastructure, the political organization of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces. The Advisor is the story of those twenty-five months of fighting an laughing and hoping, and of the people who shared them - Major Chau, a man who so tremendously symbolized dedication to the destruction of the Infrastructure that the Viet Cong made several attempts on his life; Lietenant Hau, Cook's Vietnamese counterpart and close friend; Colonel Anderson and Major Allen, two of Di An's senior advisors; and other American and Vietnamese colleagues who - fighting a war at its "rice roots," rather than viewing it through myriad news analyses and peace demonstration demands - found it impossible to remain objective about such a conflict. More than the story of bombings, sweep operations, enemy confrontations, and hamlet pillages, The Advisor tells how one man came to see the Vietnam War as his war, how he bacame involved in the district villagers' struggle for their freedom from terrorism, and how he learned the true costs of that freedom.