Written in an easy conversational style, and reading more like a modern adventure story, The Vietnam War on a Tourist Visa is the factual account of the misadventures of a 20-something Australian civilian who suddenly finds himself caught up in contract with the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam in 1968, the year of the TET offensive..
It is the autobiography of Graeme Mann, a complete nobody, who found himself being dumped unceremoniously into the middle of the Vietnam War in a most extraordinary position of responsibility on which, it seemed, the future of Western civilisation, as we know it, was dependant!
In what was to become a frighteningly dangerous assignment, he found himself to be the last line of resort for 15 computers scattered throughout Vietnam and Thailand on which the daily success of U.S. Air Force ‘tactical’ operations hung rather precariously.
From the outset the whole contract seemed like a very bad idea. He was unable to obtain a legal working permit so spent seven months working quite illegally on a tourist visa. He learned of cross-cultural sensitivities the hard way; career Air Force officers did not take kindly to being ‘supervised’ by a 25 year old Australian! He learned to keep his head down and not to be heroic. He learned that, in spite of there being much evidence to the contrary, the U.S. Air Force was always right; and being shot at was not in the job description.
Just being able to travel from one location to another, courtesy of Air America, the transport arm of the C.I.A., proved to be a death defying experience; coping with the bureaucracy of the U.S.A.F. proved to be another. Fighting the enemy was, apparently, quite incidental.
This is not a classic ‘soldiers’ story, nor is it a history. It is the personal story of someone being caught up in a war that he didn’t fully understand and getting into all kinds of strife as a result.
700 paperback versions have been sold since first publication in 2006 and it has been described by readers as being an "I couldn't put it down" book, or as a "real page turner". Even though the subject is a very "unfunny war" many readers have described it as a very funny book, probably because of the strange way Australians have at looking at life and all of its adversities. It has received critical reviews from the Vietnam Veterans of America, the R.S.L. Reveille magazine, the Vietnam Veteran (Australia) Newsletter and is a regular "seller" at the Australian War Memorial bookstore.
Gary McKay, MC (Lt Col Ret’d) and author of 12 titles about the Vietnam conflict describes this book as a very good read.
“I read this book in an afternoon. It is the story of an Australian who served in Vietnam for the USAF as a civilian contractor…It reads sometimes like An Innocent Abroad. He was a computer engineer who had to keep the USAF system for tactical analysis up and running; a serious challenge given the computers of 1968! This is an unusual story and one which I think would find a place in our military readership. There are very few books that make me laugh out loud, but this was one of them. Graeme’s writing style is self-effacing and entertaining. The book bounces along as he struggles to deal with the enormous American military bureaucracy. He gets involved (somewhat hilariously) in the TET Offensive and the following May Offensive, and gives an insight into what an untrained person feels in a war zone…It has been well written, and well edited….Highly recommended.”
It is the autobiography of Graeme Mann, a complete nobody, who found himself being dumped unceremoniously into the middle of the Vietnam War in a most extraordinary position of responsibility on which, it seemed, the future of Western civilisation, as we know it, was dependant!
In what was to become a frighteningly dangerous assignment, he found himself to be the last line of resort for 15 computers scattered throughout Vietnam and Thailand on which the daily success of U.S. Air Force ‘tactical’ operations hung rather precariously.
From the outset the whole contract seemed like a very bad idea. He was unable to obtain a legal working permit so spent seven months working quite illegally on a tourist visa. He learned of cross-cultural sensitivities the hard way; career Air Force officers did not take kindly to being ‘supervised’ by a 25 year old Australian! He learned to keep his head down and not to be heroic. He learned that, in spite of there being much evidence to the contrary, the U.S. Air Force was always right; and being shot at was not in the job description.
Just being able to travel from one location to another, courtesy of Air America, the transport arm of the C.I.A., proved to be a death defying experience; coping with the bureaucracy of the U.S.A.F. proved to be another. Fighting the enemy was, apparently, quite incidental.
This is not a classic ‘soldiers’ story, nor is it a history. It is the personal story of someone being caught up in a war that he didn’t fully understand and getting into all kinds of strife as a result.
700 paperback versions have been sold since first publication in 2006 and it has been described by readers as being an "I couldn't put it down" book, or as a "real page turner". Even though the subject is a very "unfunny war" many readers have described it as a very funny book, probably because of the strange way Australians have at looking at life and all of its adversities. It has received critical reviews from the Vietnam Veterans of America, the R.S.L. Reveille magazine, the Vietnam Veteran (Australia) Newsletter and is a regular "seller" at the Australian War Memorial bookstore.
Gary McKay, MC (Lt Col Ret’d) and author of 12 titles about the Vietnam conflict describes this book as a very good read.
“I read this book in an afternoon. It is the story of an Australian who served in Vietnam for the USAF as a civilian contractor…It reads sometimes like An Innocent Abroad. He was a computer engineer who had to keep the USAF system for tactical analysis up and running; a serious challenge given the computers of 1968! This is an unusual story and one which I think would find a place in our military readership. There are very few books that make me laugh out loud, but this was one of them. Graeme’s writing style is self-effacing and entertaining. The book bounces along as he struggles to deal with the enormous American military bureaucracy. He gets involved (somewhat hilariously) in the TET Offensive and the following May Offensive, and gives an insight into what an untrained person feels in a war zone…It has been well written, and well edited….Highly recommended.”
