News Update - 02/08/2016

Texas A&M University Press will release Lanning’s Texas Aggies in Vietnam: War Stories this fall.

The following is from the book’s Introducton:

For more than 150 years Texas Aggies have answered their country’s call in time of war.   From the Spanish American War of 1898 to the current conflicts in Iraq and Afgananstan, Aggies have stepped forward.  Vietnam was no different.

Wars topple thrones, replace leaders, change borders, and leave death and havoc in their wake.  The results of warfare have been instrumental in forming the future and their outcomes have been the single greatest factor in choices available to all peoples.  Religion, politics, academia, and philosophy have certainly contributed to the twist and turns of history, but these cultural and political factors have only been able to exert their influence when tribes, kingdoms, or nations united behind a strong military force to win battles to ensure their freedom and way of life.

 However, with the passage of time sworn and hated enemies often become stauch allies and valuable trading partners.  For those who fight the wars and make the sacrifices, the passage of time does not necessaily greatly change their opinions of those they faced on the battlefield.  Warriors may forgive, but they never forget.  Their stories are memories that do not fade.

Ultimately,  history is generally written by gray-bearded academics and scholors.  Their classroom education and teaching experience may be impressive, but few have actually experienced the exillaration and smells of ground combat, or felt the adrenline rush of taking evasive measures to keep a telephone size SAM rocket from knocking you out of the sky.  These academic historians may accurately relate the poitical, economic, and social background to warfare, but they rarely, if ever capture the fear, misery, hardship, and viseral reactions of those who actually fight the wars.

This book is not an overall history of the war in Southest Asia, but it does reveal the inner truths of  Texas Aggies who served in Vietnam.  Their words echo the pride, passion, fear, fatigue, and frustration  that only veterans can share.   Many of these stories are those shared by veterans when they get together at reunions or over a cold drink in their homes.  Others have been left unsaid now for near a half century.  These stories may not detail the story of the entire war—but they do chronicle the thoughts of those who fought. Rather these stories are the war as actually seen through the eyes and recorded from the memories of the grunts, cannon cockers, jet-jockies, peter pilots, REMFs, and other service and support personnel.

 It is really no surprise that few of these Aggie war stories highlight great victories, huge body counts, or near aniliation of the enemy.  Instead they are the stories that remain in the far reaches of our minds—about wounds suffered, friends lost, hardships endured, and often just a great wonderment on how we survived.

Some Aggies answered the call for service in Vietnam with enthusiasm and vigor and as army and marine cadets volunteered for the infantry and airborne and ranger training.  Aggressive air force cadets sought to join the ranks of fighter pilots.  Some cadets were not so enthusiastic  to endure the hardships of direct combat and the dangers of fighting in the air and on the ground.  Still, they stepped forward to do their duty in rear and support positions.

There are no exact figures on just how many Aggies, graduates and non-graduates, served in Vietnam or in other duties during the war.  Between 1962 and 1973 the Corps of Cadets commissioned nearly 4,000 officers.  Considering the fact that some of these officers did not go to Vietnam and that other Aggies who were not in the Corps ended up on active duty through the draft or as volunteers, that number is 4,000 is a good estimate of those who actually served in Southeast Asia.

Those fortunate enough to survive the war came home to babies born, children a year older, wives not seen for a year, church pews left vacant, hunting seasons missed (deer, upland birds, waterfoul, but not men), and sports events not attended.  Those who did not remain in uniform as a career, returned to civilian life and the work force to find that they were two years or more behind their contempories who had avoided sevice for one reason or another.

In recent years a much overused statement about Vietnam veterans says, “All gave some, some gave all.”  When it comes to support the war lent my America’s highest institutes of learning, it might be added that “some gave much more than others.”  One hundred and ten Aggies fell in Vietnam or its surrounding countries and waterways.  Another 100 others died of training or other accidents, disease, or additional dangers during the long conflict.  The only institutions to exceed those number in losses are the U.S. Miltary Academy that lost 273, the U.S. Air Force Academy with 205, and the U.S. Naval Academy with 130.

Other traditional military schools across the country also made sacrifices.  The Citadel suffered 76 deaths, Virginia Military Institute 43, North Georgia 27, Virginia Polytechnial 26, and Norwich 19.

This service and loss suffered by these few institutions did not extend across the country or even Texas.  Universities were more incubators and centers for desent and protest than for support of the war and its warriors.  The pretegious eastern universities of Harvard, Princeton, and MIT lost a combined total of 20 graduates.  Closer to home, the major institutions of higher education in Texas lost few of its graduates to the war.  Most have no records of who served or died.  Extended requests to university communications directors and public relations personnel reveal that Texas Tech University and Texas Christian Univesity lost about seven graduates each.  The University of Texas at Austin states in its history of its ROTC department that four Longhorn graduates fell in Vietnam.

For those who returned home on their feet rather than in a metal casket or left behind with their  bones in unmarked graves as MIAs, Aggie Vietnamn veterans moved on to become  local, state, and national leaders.

It has been noted that there is really only one story to come out the Vietnam War—we all just tell it differently.  The following are our stories.

News Update - 01/15/2016

The following, written by Mike Beggs, appeared in the January, 2016 edition of the Texas A&M University Class of ’68 Newsletter.

“The Class of 1968 contains many notable men, including several distinguished military officers, some of whom became generals in various services; successful businessmen; politicians and public servants; and authors.  Our classmate Michael Lee Lanning, known to most of us simply as “Lee”, fits into two of those categories; distinguished military officer and author.  After a career of over 20 years in the Army, Lee went on to publish 20 books of military history, some of which have become primary reference sources for historical military operations in Vietnam.  Lee has been a primary speaker at national level historical conferences as well at conferences on military film in Washington D.C. and Boston. He has appeared on the History Channel, NPR, and on CBS.  His books have been or are on the Commandant’s Reading List at the Infantry Center, Armor School, Command and General Staff College, War College, Coast Guard Academy, U.S. Military Academy, and the U.S. Marine Corps, as well as being on the reading lists for college courses throughout the country.

Lee continues to write, with a book entitled Texas Aggies in Vietnam:  War Stories currently in the process of publication.  Recognizing that he, along with the rest of us in the Class of ‘68, graduated from college almost 50 years ago, Lee felt that the time was right for him to donate the various research materials, memorabilia, and other source material that he has used in his writings to the collections at Cushing Memorial Library at A&M.  He did so on November 20, 2015, donating 17 boxes of various books, materials, artifacts, and documents to the library as the Michael Lee Lanning Collection, for use by any future writers or researchers  interested in the military history genre, particularly Vietnam.  The presentation ceremony was held at Cushing, with quite a few of Lee’s classmates, particularly his “Spider D” pals, in attendance.  Following the presentation, Lee hosted a lunch at a local restaurant, where we were able to chat and catch up on one another.  Congratulations to Lee, and thanks for your service and your contributions to our research database at Cushing.”

News Update - 01/04/2015

Book signing of Tony Buzbee: Defining Moments

Brazos Bookstore

2421 Bissonnet St

Houston, TX

7-9 pm February 13, 2015

Galveston Bookshop

317 23d Street

Galveston, TX

2-4 pm February 21, 2015

News Update - 01/03/2015

          Lanning is currently under contract with the Texas A&M University Press for a book tentatively titled:  Texas Aggies in Vietnam: War Stories.

News Update - 12/12/2014

            John Hardy Publishing/Iron Mountain Press has released Tony Buzbee: Defining Moments.

From the Amazon.com listing:  A portrait of Anthony Buzbee, "one of the most successful trial lawyers in the country. Profane, flamboyant, and fragrantly aggressive, he's something of a throwback to an earlier generation of trial lawyers whose favorite place in the world was on their feet in court wearing out some corporate malefactor."

From Barnesandnoble.com, “Not since flamboyant, fringed-sleeved Gerry Spence has the courtroom seen anyone who can compare to Tony Buzbee. His fame and reputation increases with each successive judgment—including multi-million dollar victories against mega corporations, such as BP and the Ford Motor Company, and government entities such as FEMA and the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association. Tony Buzbee—a product of a small-town upbringing in East Texas, an education at Texas A&M, the training of the United States Marine Corps, and the experience at the University of Houston Law School—is driven to succeed. He has created the reputation and the reality of a man not to be crossed in the courtroom or elsewhere by working extremely hard to be the best prepared lawyer in any trial and at every settlement discussion. He is a loyal friend and a ferocious enemy. He cares about what is right; his goal is doing the right thing.‘In his mid-40s now, Buzbee is still a young man—especially among the ranks of highly lauded trial lawyers. Still Buzbee seems almost obsessed with continuing to be one who represents the unrepresented and who gives hope to the hopeless in the legal arena. He is totally immersed in and exhilarated by the contests that he sees as David v. Goliath, poor v. rich, small v. big, the haves nots v. the haves, and good v. evil.”