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Ken Smits served in both the U.S. Air Force and the Army and was medically discharged from service after a vicious attack on his team during a mission in an undisclosed area. Ken’s military career took him from the jungles of Vietnam as a member of a Special Observations Group, Recon Team, to highly classified locations as a U.S. Army Special Operator. After a decade of service, Ken spent 1979 and 1980 as a resident of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, recovering from combat injuries that ultimately robbed him of his sight.
Ken’s book series, Without Glory, is a doorway into the lives of young service members as they face the terrors of war and the horrors of loss and create the unbreakable bonds known only to service men and women.
“Humankind wuz here” War is brutal for everyone, including mother earth. The two USAF Kaman HH-43 Huskie helicopters sweep down into a large clearing. As we jump out, I can see the landing zone has been man-made—the effects of a tremendous explosion. The jungle is a completely cleared circle one
The members of A-Team sit around our open-bay barracks. Everyone but Billings is drinking. The mood is tense. It’s so thick that the air could be cut with a knife. No one has spoken more than a word or two in the last hour. We suffer within ourselves, unable to
“Our Mission is to destroy one 750-pound general-purpose bomb located at 72362,” Billings says. “Execution of task as follows: Demo team, blow the bomb in place with comp C-4 explosives and electrical time fuse. Security element, provide perimeter defense at bomb site. Also, provides point and frontal security in movement
The missions between classes enable us to sharpen our skills further and reinforce our training. We’re hit by sniper fire, which always startles us. It’s frightening to be shot at by an enemy you can’t see. It’s weird not being protected by a classroom environment. We’ve been fortunate so far.
The men of the A-Team sit around the makeshift classroom/supply room. Half of us had our heads on the tables when the door swung open, and Billings and a green beret soldier walked in. He speaks without any intro from Billings, “Gentlemen, my name is Staff Sergeant McMillian. I’m attached
After finishing my NCO leadership course, I was assigned the position of assistant team leader for Sergeant Billings’ “A-Team.” Smitty, Gator, and other men chosen for the Commandoes joined us for several weeks of intensive training. The instruction is not as easily paced as the leadership course was. There are
Ken Smits began writing his book series Without Glory in 1985 when a friend, the first person he confided in about his experiences in Vietnam, told him the world had a right to know the truth about the horrors he faced there. What began as one book grew into five
Written by Ken Smits The Frog Most of the airmen in the squadron are assembled in the orderly room. A handful of the day shift personnel remain at the bomb dump, loading trailers with explosives to be delivered to the flight line. The war goes on. Colonel Farris, the Squadron
Written by Ken Smits A slight breeze sweeps across the valley of swaying grass in a relaxing tempo. The rhythm broken only by the sounds of crickets chirping and the lizards that sound like they’re screaming, “Fuck you!” back and forth at each other. My foxhole companion is a quiet
Smitty and I move cautiously along the pipeline toward the laughing. The knee-deep water and muddy bottom make our movement laborious. We can see what appears to be two men not more than twenty-five feet ahead. One figure crawls over the large pipe delivering fuel to Phu Cat Air Base. The other is holding a rifle, an antiquated bolt action weapon that looks like a pre-World War II model.
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