Scope and Contents

The collection consists of books written or edited by Bob Orkand. Also included are periodicals accumulated by Bob Orkand.

Biographical / Historical

Lieutenant Colonel Bob Orkand was born in New York in 1934. He was drafted into the U.S. Army Infantry in 1954, where he served for twenty years. After four years in Korea, he completed a tour of Vietnam. In 1967, he served as spokesman for U.S. Army Headquarters Area Command in Saigon and then from 1967 to 1968 he served as Executive Officer (S-3) of the 1st Battalion (Airmobile), 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. He was involved in the Que Son Valley Campaign and his service was recognized with two Bronze Stars, the Air Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge. He then went on to serve as Deputy Director of the Weapons Department of the U.S. Army Infantry School, where in 1971 he led a team that investigated why soldiers in Vietnam were shooting poorly with their M16s. While at Fort Benning, GA he served as editor/publisher of Infantry magazine. In 1973, he commanded a mechanized infantry battalion at Fort Benning - a prototype unit of the experimental Modern Volunteer Army. A year later, he was Pentagon spokesman on the Volunteer Army project. He retired from the military in 1974.

Lt. Colonel Orkand holds a BA in English from Columbia University and after his Army service worked in the newspaper publishing business with the Miami Herald, the Detroit Free Press, and - as president and publisher - the Centre Daily Times (State College, Pennsylvania).