Tiger Men

Twenty five years after he left Vietnam and his Montagnard tribesmen, Australian Barry Petersen wrote this thoughtful story of his life among the Rhade and other ethnic groups of Darlac Province. He went there to train and lead the local tribes to defend their villages and homes against the Viet-Cong; this book is the story of the Truong Son—Tiger Men—who became the most respected and feared self-defence force in South Vietnam. But it is also the sad story of the subsequent defeat and destruction of the Montagnard villages, culture and way of life—as much due to the Vietnamese and American generals and political leaders as to the Viet-Cong.
For his heroic efforts, Petersen himself almost paid the ultimate price—years after his departure from Vietnam, he learned that both the South Vietnamese and some Americans had plotted to have him killed. This is a book which the CIA would rather not see in print.

Barry Petersen was an Australian army captain who was sent to Vietnam in 1963 as part of the elite Australian Army Training Team to train the South Vietnamese army in tackling guerrilla tactics used by Viet Cong insurgents. Petersen led top secret CIA operations in the highlands during the Vietnam War until he got too close to the natives and the CIA wanted him out, dead or alive. This is his story.