The Beast Was Out There: The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam, October 1967 (Cantigny Military History Series) Paperback – January 1, 2002

An excellent account of the 28th Infantry Black Lions of the 1st INF DIV and the battle of Ong Thanh. Gen. Shelton does a great job of telling the story in short chapters that keeps one's attention focused on the battle and spurs one on to the next chapter. Could not put the book down until I finished it. The author correctly states that it is impossible to plan for every action that might occur in a battle but for the battle of Ong Thanh, Col. Terry Allen did not plan on meeting a superior force in the jungle. That omission decimated his command and cost him his life and the lives of 57 of his troopers. In a later interview, the commander of the Vietnamese forces said he had 1400 soldiers open fire on the 200+ Americans walking into the ambush. The Americans had no chance. It's a miracle that any of the Black Lions survived that day.Great historical information told in a very personal manner. Gen. Shelton lost a lot of friends that fateful day. Highly recommended for all those building a historical library on the Vietnam War. Also an informative, mentoring text on leadership.

Sad memories

This book is a well written book and is difficult to put down while reading, I've met the author and he is a great guy to know. Meeting him in person is the reason I bought the book. Thanks, Jim, for a great book on Vietnam.

I came across this book after watching the PBS video "Two Days in October" - a really excellent documentary account of two parallel incidents that occurred October 16-17, 1967 - the takeover of the University of Wisconsin by the emerging anti-war element and the complete destruction (near annihilation) of an infantry battalion of the famed First Infantry Division. From watching the video, which included a substantial number of on-camera interviews with the author and other notables included in this publication, I then found the PBS documentary was actually based on David Maraniss' great read "They Marched Into Sunlight." Before reading B/G Shelton's work, I had already seen the PBS video and read Maraniss' work. I strongly suggest that readers of 'The Beast Was Out There' also read 'They Marched Into Sunlight' as a companion work.I did not serve in Vietnam, but was a post-war infantry lieutenant from 1973-1977. However, nearly all the senior officers in my command chain had served at least one, if not two, combat tours in Vietnam. Clearly, the Vietnam experience deeply affected, and often negatively, the entire U.S. Army during the decade of the 1970s. In my estimation, 'Vietnam' is a one word short-hand for a duplicitous foreign policy, dishonest leadership in the White House, incompetent and inept leadership at the highest command elements of the military, excessive careerism within the military, and a wholly misguided strategic plan based on "body count" rather than securing the population.It is only now, some 50 years later, since President Kennedy committed 20,000 U.S. advisors to Vietnam in 1963, that we can see through the fog of war. It must be acknowledged and stated plainly that the Vietnam experience was a debacle for the United States as a country and for the nation as a whole. There is no way to white-wash or dress-up a complete and utter failure of military and strategic policy as the Vietnam conflict. However, that does not in any way detract from the exemplary service or nullify the heroism of soldiers like Jim Shelton or the men of the 2/28 Infantry. These men did their duty under the most arduous of circumstances. The leadership of this country failed Jim Shelton and the men of the 2/28, and not the other way around.'The Beast Was Out There' is an unvarnished, first-hand account of the run-up to the disastrous battle of Ong Thanh on October 17, 1967 that nearly annihilated the 2/28 Infantry. Although written years later by the former battalion operations officer, then Major Jim Shelton (later brigadier general), the book has a "feel" of immediacy. It is one of those "it feels like yesterday" reads, and the reader gets an up close and personal account of life (and death) within a U.S. Army infantry battalion in 1967. There are a lot of issues that are discussed, including leadership within the First Infantry Division, fire support operations, airmobile operations, and general military operations, but there were some issues that I believe need more details - the disastrous individual replacement program, the training and leadership of the non-commissioned officers, the junior officer pre-deployment training and replacement policy in-country, and other collateral issues could have been given more detail to lay the groundwork how and why the 2/28 Infantry suffered such grievous loss.I think, also, that Jim Shelton is too forgiving and too easy on the senior leadership of the First Infantry. [It was in Maraniss' work that I discovered MG Hay, the division commander, awarded himself the Silver Star for "gallantry in action" after the October 17th engagement, although he was not actually present on the battlefield, but in Saigon at the time.] One of the old sayings of the Army Officer Corps - preached to me during my pre-commissioning training - was: "All the brothers are valorous and all the sisters are virtuous". In hindsight, that is complete drivel that only an R.O.T.C. cadet would give credence. Maybe Jim Shelton is just too generous in spirit to state the unpleasant fact that many senior officers in the U.S. Army at the time (and later) viewed brigade command and division command as a prerogative and the most direct and expedient route to senior officer rank. Subordinates in the chain of command were routinely stepped on in the senior officer's climb to the top.I also question why the battalion commander, Lieutenant Terry Allen, Jr., did not engage in the intelligence preparation of the battlefield. There appears to have been no reconnaissance of the battlefield, and the "meeting engagement," as Shelton describes it, came as a shock to LTC Allen. There appears to be little thought given by LTC Allen that maybe - just maybe - the NVA were entrenched and ready for the 2/28 Infantry's foray into their battlespace. The NVA certainly knew the 2/28 was the immediate area and was moving to contact. Jim Shelton gives the NVA their due - they were tough, motivated, well-armed and ready for battle. The ancient Greeks had a term - "hubris" - meaning "overarching pride" or "arrogance" that leads to one's own destruction. Reading 'The Beast Was Out There' reminded me, somewhat, of the disastrous Athenian invasion of Sicily in 415 B.C. during the Peloponnesian War. Poor planning and even worse execution lead to the absolute destruction of the 40,000 man Athenian force. In the same vein, the 2/28 under LTC Terry Allen, Jr. marched into a one-way route of destruction on October 17, 1967.All in all - a really good, first-hand account of combat operations in Vietnam during the mid-war years. Highly recommended for any serious student of military history and the Vietnam conflict in particular.

excellent condition

Best book I've read about the 2/28th. I was with the HHC command group most of my tour in Vietnam.

I enjoyed this book and gave it to my son to read.

Teriffic