Gentlemen all! Good morning. This is the old man speaking. The years have passed quickly since our wonderful 40th Anniversary Reunion in Kansas City. It is my hope and prayer that in these subsequent years, you have been at liberty to dust off the old cover of “Reflections” and support our bragging rights to your friends, family and especially the children and grandchildren.
It has been indeed a humbling yet gratifying experience in the years since our 2008 Reunion to honor the requests of our former LRPS, LRRPS and Rangers and, in several instances, surviving family members to honor their service and requests by providing them a gratis copy of the book.
Prior to his passing, Don Keller and I contributed several copies to the Airborne and Special Operations Museum at Fayetteville, NC. I also presented several copies to my previous 10th Special Forces Group HALO Team, ODA-8 that we formed in Bad Tolz, Germany in 1967. Appropriate ceremonies and appreciation of our 4th Division/K75 LRPs/Ranger was held at a HALO Team Reunion at Fort Bragg, NC in October 2013.
Along with the years passing, also we have come to the end of the 600 original copies of our book, REFLECTIONS . Now, as Paul Harvey used to close his radio programs —The rest of the story.
I have entered into a publishing contract with a national publisher to do a second printing/publication of the book to be Titled, REFLECTIONS REVISITED and an appropriate subtitle such as (True Combat Stories as shared by the Elite LRRP, LRPS, and Rangers of the 4th Infantry Division). This one will be available in Barns and Noble, Amazon, e-Books etc. and will no doubt not recapture my wife and my significant financial investment. That’s not the issue!!
This copy will include excerpts from the previously classified information of the USARV LONG RANGE PATROL CONFERENCE SUMMARY that I attended with LTG Peers, MAJ Pipia and a representative of every Infantry Division and MACV Recondo School in Vietnam hosted by COL Harold Aaron 9-10 August 1968 at 5th SFG HQs in Nha Trang, RVN.
The point is, we didn’t just make this stuff up , we invented it as we made our mistakes, took corrective action, and ultimately became a playbook on how to find and fix the enemy by using four and five man teams inserted deep within enemy controlled territory.
Here’s my request: Please look at your copy of the book and do some self-editing. There may well be something you wish you would have or not have included in the book. Also, please look at pages 196-206 and try to help me identify individuals in photos that have no identity. For example, I have Gary Joyce’s permission to insert some Christmas 1969 thoughts that he had written way back then but had not submitted in time for the first printing in 2008. I may insert a requiem to those we lost since 2008—? (Your call). Maybe some photos of the 2008 Reunion, etc.
Now you have the gist of my request. Let’s together get version 2 as accurate and meaningful as possible.
Rangers Lead The Way!
Major Reuben H. Siverling, U.S. Army (Retired)