In the last days of the Pinnacle Books that I knew, we were given all kinds of action-adventure series. THE SCORPION SQUAD was one of them. Set in Vietnam, it concerned the adventures of Captain Mack Gerber and the men under his command. I believe this series only got to four books or so before either it folded or Pinnacle went under.
This really was the birth of what would become the VIETNAM: GROUND ZERO series for Gold Eagle Books. In fact, Gold Eagle would continue several series that had originated at Pinnacle in the years to follow. They still publish the Mack Bolan/Executioner series as well as some post-nuke stuff that I really couldn’t get into that much.
I don’t know exactly how long VIETNAM: GROUND ZERO ran for Gold Eagle. There were not numbers on the books, so I am even unsure of which order they were in or at which book they stopped.
I do remember, though, how acclaimed the series was and what a nice job Gold Eagle did with the cover art in those days. In fact, a guy I served in the military with, who’d been to Vietnam, wouldn’t even finish reading the first book in the VIETNAM: GROUND ZERO series because it hit too close to home. The movie PLATOON had just come out then and reports were that that, too, caused some trauma to vets who saw it. I suppose the wounds of Vietnam were more fresh then than they are now.
One of the co-authors of THE SCORPION SQUAD and then VIETNAM: GROUND ZERO was Kevin Randle. I don’t immediately recall the other man’s name who wrote these series, but Mr. Randle has gone on to do some excellent investigative writings on the subject of the Area 51 happenings in Roswell, New Mexico. He is probably more well known for that than for his Vietnam books.
By all means, seek out as many of these books in each series as you can find.
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