Expanded Description: A memoir, Tiger Hound 2: How We Won the War & Lost the Country by Military Intelligence Professional, Ken Welch, who served in Vietnam for eight years, is required. “We all had honorable intentions. We found ourselves conducting wars that were kept secret from the American public, and from each other, but not from the enemy.” His book, enough copies of which I have been able to get directly from the author at a price discounted below lowest bookfinder.com prices, will be available for $10 at the first class. A typical class will include mini-lecture, video, and engagement with class members based on homework readings distributed in class and a reading from Welch’s book.
A rudimentary pre-class anonymous questionnaire involving a handful of general questions to determine class members’ connections to SE Asia and their familiarity with the French-Indochina War and our Vietnam War will help the instructor mold class content and engage class members around their own opinions and experiences.
Week 1: Class Objective, Bio, & Survey Results. Generalized Vietnam video/map. Reading: Welch, Preface and The Beginning.
Week 2: “Joan of Arc” & other VN heroes. Vietnam Magazine and distribution. Reading: Welch, J2 Recon and Idiots Rule.
Week 3: Class Member / Experience Discussion. Vietnam Magazine reports. Reading: Welch, Not So Secret.
Week 4: Colony Era, France. Asian WW II video / articles discussion. Reading: Welch, Tiger Hound.
Week 5: WW II (France, Japan, Allies). Dien Bien Phu video / articles discuss. Reading: Welch, Redcatchers.
Week 6: Weeds of War Presentation. Video of Anti-War & Discussion. Reading, Welch: Redcatchers at War.
Week 7: Confluence of Civil Rights/Anti-War. Veteran’s Widow, guest speaker. Reading: Welch, Phoenix Program.
Week 8: “How We Won the War and Lost the Country.” Stats/chart/demeanor –wrap discuss.
Reading: Welch, The End.
“And that’s the way it was,” aka, “And that’s the way he thought it was.”