38th Annual Alfred and Johanna Hurley Military History Seminar

Conventional War or Insurgency:
The Strategy and Tactics of the Vietnam War

Join the UNT Military History Center for the 38th Annual Hurley Seminar to hear two enlivening
perspectives on America's 10,000-day war in Vietnam. Colonel Ramon "Tony" Nadal (US Army, ret.), will
reflect on his experience of the war as a decorated combat soldier in one of the war's fiercest battles.
Historian Andrew Wiest, author of several books on Vietnam, will consider the question of the war's
strategic direction and whether or not the conflict was winnable. As a young captain, Colonel Nadal
commanded a company in Lt.-Colonel Hal Moore's 7th Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of Ia Drang, which
was the first major clash between the U.S. and North Vietnamese armies in November 1965, and the first
great test of the "airmobile" tactics that the U.S. Army hoped would prove decisive in defeating the stealthy
communists, who had run circles around the French. Colonel Moore and Joseph Galloway later documented
the horrors of Ia Drang in their book We Were Soldiers Once … And Young, which was the basis for the 2002
movie We Were Soldiers, starring Mel Gibson. Andrew Wiest, author of The Boys of '67 and Vietnam's
Forgotten Army, among many other works, is a Vietnam expert, who will assess the various views about the
wisdom and the strategy of the war. Was it winnable? Were the strategies correct or flawed? Do join us for
what will certainly be a fascinating discussion of the war from multiple perspectives: from that of the troops
on the ground to the view from Saigon, Hanoi, and Washington.

Saturday, 6 November 2021 // 8:30 - 1:30 // University of North Texas // Student Union
Online Reservation only: https://untuniontickets.universitytickets.com/w/event.aspx?id=1592