Dawson's War (iii)
from novelist B.K. Marshall and the Studies and Observations Group
Alan Dawson’s first attempt to acquire a college education was unsuccessful.
It’s a boy’s story, about an unemancipated minor becoming a cadet then an officer of society.
Enrolled in a small liberal arts college in central Pennsylvania, aided by an athletic scholarship, he attended classes and went to fraternity rush parties.
He didn’t study.
His enthusiastic participation in the latter brought him to the attention of the administration and he was asked to leave after six weeks.
Come to think of it, the drinking was illegal at that time.
Returning to his modest home just outside Philadelphia, Dawson’s strict Protestant parents offered constant reminders of the embarrassment his failure had caused them.
This first chapter and the following five tell how Dawson found a berth where he could drink and his elders could teach him to work.
That is, how he arrived at a forward base of the Studies and Observations Group, United States Special Forces,
United States Military Assistance Command, Viet Nam, by the path of most resistance, as
Lieutenant Alan Dawson, of Dawson’s War by B.K. Marshall. The back cover at left concerns Dave Dawson and the Commandos, whose story begins with a hotel lunch before deployment.
This was the third Viet Nam letter of 8 so far addressed to Dawson’s War by B.K. Marshall. The first posted on February 12, 2022, the second on February 26, 2022, then the fourth on April 13, 2022, the fifth on May 16, 2022, the sixth on June 18, 2022, the seventh on February 25, 2023, and the eighth on June 28, 2023.
Other posts from the United States Special Forces include 3 on their Vietnamese Phrase Book. We have posted 4 on the work of Loyd Little and 3 on Nick Brokhausen and 2 on Alan Farrell and 1 on William P. Yarborough.
Viet Nam letters respects the property of others under paragraph 107 of United States Code Title 17. If we asked for permission it wouldn’t be criticism. We explain our fair use at length in the letter of September 12, 2022.
The colophon of these Viet Nam letters, directly above, shows the janitor speaking with poet David A. Willson on a Veterans Day.