Contributing Editor Brian Train, who was badly injured in a pedestrian automobile accident last December, reports that he is slowly recovering. As Brian puts it: "Biggest news here is that even though my leg is still in pieces and it is 50/50, I will need a bone graft operation, the doc has given me permission to return to work half-time in mid-May. See my Web page "Announcements" for latest musings: http://www.islandnet.com/~citizenx/news.html Brian has not been completely inactive, he is nearly finished with a longish article for the mainstream press about Nestor Makhno, the noted Anarchist guerrilla cavalry leader who fought absolutely everyone in the Ukraine during the Russian Civil War. He also reports that Go Tell The Spartans card game (on Vietnam) and my Battle for China game are going into the pipeline at the Microgame Co-op (http://members.home.net/co-op/). The basic game of Battle for China covers the 1937-41 phase of the war at strategic level (brigades to armies), while an expansion kit I worked on simultaneously will be made available free on the Net (or so we are thinking right now). The expansion kit will allow play from 1942-45 in the whole CBI theater, the 1946-49 Civil War, and of course a 1937-49campaign game. Uses yet another warping of the Arriba Espana game system. Editorial assistant Karl Tschanz is graduating from high school on June 4, 1999. Karl can be reached at ktschanz@millbrook.org if you wish to send him a congratulatory note (you know who I mean). He will be attending Ole Miss (University of Mississippi) come fall. His brother Eric was recently the pilot of a simulated space shuttle mission at Space Camp. Contributor Jim Bloom recently attended a conference at University of Minnesota on the first century A.D. Jewish Revolt. Jim is also putting on the finishing touches on a review of the alternate military history genre for Cry "Havoc!" which will hopefully appear in the next issue (hint). The Military History SIG welcomes new members Michael J. Varnick of Livonia, MI; Walter Bauman of Bethesda, MD; Larry Brown of Oklahoma City, OK; Lisa Shea of ??? and Kenneth Collison of Midland, MI. We're also happy to report that we've received several additional inquiries and hopefully will hear more from them soon. Jim Dunnigan and Al Nofi's Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War is now available in your local bookstores. The following "tibdits" are lifted from Jim's website http://jim.dunnigan.com Myths and Realities: Myth: Troops in Vietnam were disproportionately black draftees. Reality: Most of the troops were volunteers and disproportionately Roman Catholic. Myth: Tet was a Communist victory. Reality: It was known to U.S. troops then, and admitted in the 1990s by North Vietnamese leaders in their memoirs, that the 1968 Tet Offensive was a devastating defeat for the Viet Cong. Myth: Canada was a hotbed of active opposition to the war. Reality: Perhaps, but while 30,000 Americans fled north to avoid the draft, some 40,000 Canadians voluntarily served in the US Armed Forces. Myth: Because of the 13 month tour of duty in, combat troops saw less fighting than their fathers did in World War II. Reality: In fact, the average soldier in Vietnam was under fire more frequently than the average solider in the Second World War. Many other largely ignored aspects of the war are covered, as well as their impact on the outcome. Back to Cry Havoc #26 Table of Contents Back to Cry Havoc List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by David W. Tschanz. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com