Thesis (M. Sc. (Hons.))--University of Western Sydney, 2001. / "Research thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (Honours) Social Ecology, School of Social Ecology and Lifelong Learning, University of Western Sydney, August 2001." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 398-400).

The dissertation undertakes an analysis of the dramatic literature engendered by the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s, and illustrates how the dramas of that period reflect the stresses and anxieties that assailed contemporary American society. It investigates the formative influences on the drama, the various styles in which it emerged, and the recurring themes and motifs. The thesis proceeds from the premise that the events of the 1960s fractured American society in a manner unknown since the Civil War. It demonstrates that the social, political, and intellectual divisiveness that characterized the society was interpreted in the theatre by dramatic metaphors of fragmentation of the individual and collective psyche, and that this fragmentation was reflected in characters who experienced a collective and individual sense of loss of cultural identity, cohesion and continuity. Included in the examination of the drama is a description of how the social upheaval of the period influenced playwrights to undertake a reassessment of American values and ethics, and to interpret in dramatic form the nature of the trauma of Vietnam for American society. The study includes a discussion of how individual and collective reality is based on cultural conditioning, and how the challenging of cultural myth in an extra-cultural milieu. / Arts, Faculty of / Theatre and Film, Department of / Graduate

This thesis examines the role of communist special operations forces during the Vietnam War and the relevancy of the lessons learned from these units. The United States military, specifically Army Special Forces, Rangers, and Navy SEALS, were not the only forces capable of conducting successful special operations during the conflict. The People's Army of Vietnam also had a highly organized, well trained, and well equipped organization capable of carrying out special operations. This organization was the sapper arm, and it was composed of three separate types of units. The Urban Sapper was concerned with intelligence gathering, terrorism, assassination, and special operations in the large urban areas such as Saigon and Hue. The Naval Sapper was responsible for attacking shipping, bridges, and bases located near waterways. The Field Sapper conducted operations against deployed US and South Vietnamese troops, trained other communist troops as sappers, and gave the communist leadership an elite force for lightning raids. The sapper force had certain operational principles, organizational constructs, and functional methods that set it apart from any other communist military element used during the Vietnam War.

This novel of the Vietnam War examines the effects of prolonged stress on individuals and groups. The narrative, which is told from the points of view of four widely different characters, follows an infantry company through three days and two nights of combat on a small island off the coast of the northern I Corps military region. The story's principal themes are the loss of communication that contributes to and is caused by the background of chaos that arises from combat; the effect of brutal warfare on the individual spirit; and the way groups reorganize themselves to cope with the confusion of the battlefield. The thesis includes an explication of the novel, explaining some of the technical details of its production.

Photocopy of typescript. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis. 1976. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Political Science. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Dewey. / Vita. / Bibliography: leaves 294-300. / Ph.D.

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 280-296).

Thesis (LL. M.)--Judge Advocate General's School, United States Army, 1974. / "April 1974." Typescript. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in microfiche.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Political Science, June 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.