In October, the final manuscript went to McFarlands Publishers. The book has 300 pages of text, 44 photographs, 8 maps, and 4 organization charts. Due to the COVID-19, the editing process will take longer than normal so the expected release date is late 2021.

Topic:  PowerPoint presentation on latest book and documentary movie. Where:  Branigan Library in Las Cruces, NM Date & time:  Saturday 18 January 2020 from 1 to 3 pm. Las Cruces writer Dr. Bob Worthington will do a PowerPoint presentation on his latest book and documentary movie at Branigan Library on Saturday 18 January from 1-3 pm.   His book, Under Fire with ARVN Infantry, was published in October 2018 by McFarland & Company, Inc, Publishers.  It is about his first tour in Vietnam as a combat advisor serving with Vietnamese Army infantry units.  His presentation will cover the book to describe who and what combat advisors were, the specialized training they received (U.S. Army Special Warfare School and Vietnamese language school) and how they were deployed.  His presentation will show photos from his tour as he will explain the story behind the photos. This book covers his 1966-67 tour. He returned to Vietnam for his second year as a combat advisor in 1968.  He will also show some clips from the documentary movie he produced, Combat Advisor in Vietnam, commercially released in early 2019 by Borderlands Media.  The one-hour movie was filmed by Bob during the last three months of his first tour.  The movie has been acclaimed as a film on the Vietnam War, unlike any other Vietnam movie.  Copies of both the book and the movie will be for sale at his presentation.   Dr. Worthington is a retired Army lieutenant colonel, a retired New Mexico State University Journalism professor as well as a non-fiction writer with over 2500 publications.  

September 8th – Celebrate Authors hosted by Branigan Library.   September 12th- 14th Book Signing at the Joint Military Writers Society of American and the Southwest Writers’ Organization Conference in Albuquerque, NM.

As can be imagined, the history of U.S. military advisors in southeast Asia created many strong relationships that continue to this day. An association of military and civilian advisors along with their foreign counterparts exists to promote an appreciation of the advisory experience and accomplishments to the general public. Counterparts operates a nationwide locator service to assist former advisors, their counterparts, and families to locate one another and find their former comrades.  Dr. Bob Worthington was honored to be a part of the recent Counterparts Reunion which took place this past April in Houston, Texas.  With his well-documented experiences as a former U.S. military advisor, Dr. Worthington was excited to see old friends and meet new people with connections to southeast Asia.  In this photo, Dr. Worthington was pleased to meet Henry and Tania Newinn, sponsors of the event. The Newinns escaped Vietnam in 1975 as the North overran the South. At the time, Mr. Newinn was an ARVN special forces soldier and Mrs. Newinn was a 21-year old mother of a one-year old baby. After they fled their home country, they came to the United States and settled in Houston.  The Saturday evening banquet at the Counterparts Reunion allowed Dr. Worthington to meet some more very special people. Standing behind him in this photograph is Tom Tran, a former ARVN soldier that was only 18 years old when he escaped Vietnam with his brother in 1975. Mr. Tran also settled in Houston and graduated from Rice University. Today, he is a senior executive and an exploration petroleum engineer with a major oil and gas company in Houston. Mrs. Tran stands next to her husband. Dr. James Wells stands on the right, a full professor of Criminal Justice at Eastern Kentucky University. Mr. Wells’ father was initially an advisor for the U.S. Army and later returned as a State Department advisor. Ultimately, Mr. Wells’ father died when the CIA plane he was in was shot down after taking off from the Bao Trai air strip near the Cambodian border. Dr. Worthington hopes to include the story in his next book.     More information about Counterparts and their mission can be found on their website at http://www.counterparts.net/