FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Frederick H. Chard

                                                                              Email: [email protected]

Phone Number: 425-628-8888

A Soldier’s Conscience: New Memoir Sheds Light on a Hidden Chapter of Vietnam War History

I WAS AN ASA VIETNAM WAR RESISTER by Frederick H. Chard 

LOCATION — Seattle, Washington 

In a bold and deeply personal memoir, I WAS AN ASA VIETNAM WAR RESISTER ebook and audiobook, Frederick H. Chard breaks decades of silence to reveal a buried truth about the Vietnam War — one lived not on the front lines, but in the shadows of military intelligence.

This newly released book recounts Chard’s service in the United States Army Security Agency (ASA), a secretive intelligence branch tasked with intercepting enemy communications during the height of the war. From 1966 to 1968 — one of the most turbulent times in American memory, when the world seemed to teetering on the edge of chaos — Chard operated with a top-secret clearance, privy to battle plans and classified information unknown to the American public. But as the war intensified and the cost in human lives became staggering, Chard found himself at a moral crossroads.

In February 1968, still in uniform and on active duty, Chard stood in front of television cameras in San Francisco and publicly protested the war as a conscientious objector — the first ASA soldier to do so. His principled resistance, broadcast by major networks, stunned the nation and brought a rare voice from inside the intelligence community to the antiwar movement. Yet Chard’s protest stopped short of whistleblowing: he refused to share classified secrets, upholding his oath of secrecy while demanding peace.

“I didn’t want to betray my country,” Chard writes. “I wanted to save it from betraying itself.”

Decades before Edward Snowden would ignite controversy with NSA leaks, Chard faced a similar choice. He, too, held a top-level intelligence clearance. But rather than exposing secrets that could jeopardize lives, Chard chose the lonelier path: public, nonviolent resistance.

His memoir explores this moral struggle with honesty and nuance, offering a rare glimpse into the burdens of secrecy, the complexities of patriotism, and the human cost of war. It is a powerful account of one man’s refusal to remain silent — and a reminder that acts of conscience often come not with applause, but with risk and sacrifice.

I WAS AN ASA VIETNAM WAR RESISTER  is more than a personal memoir. It is a call to examine the hidden machinery behind war, and the courage it takes to speak out from within that hidden machinery.

I WAS AN ASA VIETNAM WAR RESISTER audiobook, ebook, and paperback book is available at Barnes & Noble, Kobo Books, Amazon books, and other popular retail outlets where ebooks and audiobooks are sold.  I WAS AN ASA VIETNAM WAR RESISTER audiobook is also available from Amazon. I WAS AS ASA VIETNAM WAR RESISTER paperback is available on Amazon books.
I WAS AN ASA VIETNAM WAR RESISTER audiobook is also a featured podcast with an 8 minute free audio sample of the audiobook on youtube.com./podcasts.
Scan the youtube https line below and copy it onto your browser.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVx6nzvp53QIEQlSMqoeBvg to access this audio sample. Please also see our youtube video shorts, 9:16 vertical format that last approximately 1 minute each.

AUTHOR BIO

Frederick H. Chard was discharged from the US Army on April 20, 1968, four days before his 21st birthday. He received a BA degree in History and Science from the University of San Francisco, California, in 1972, and worked for the University of California Medical School in San Francisco, California as a library research assistant, and the assistant to the dean of graduate admissions, from 1969 through 1974.

Frederick graduated from the Western States Chiropractic College in 1977 with a Doctor of Chiropractic degree. He has been licensed as a DC in Hawaii since 1978, and Washington since 1995. He was the co-author of the textbook ACUTONICS, THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE OHM, first published in 2001. It has gone through many printings and is still currently available on Amazon

Frederick has been happily married since 1973 to Virginia Chard, who went to Vietnam many times in the early 1970’s as a flight attendant with World Airways. His son Mike Chard was born in 1978. He is a graphic artist and produced the wonderful cover for this book.

Frederick has also worked as animal chiropractor, treating small and large animals since 1979.  He currently provides these services through a Seattle veterinarian 

To see the complete einpresswire.com news release from 7-25-2025, scan the text lines in the box below and copy them onto your browser.

 https://www.einpresswire.com/article/834071158/a-soldier-s-conscience-new-memoir-sheds-light-on-a-hidden-chapter-of-vietnam-war-history

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVx6nzvp53QIEQlSMqoeBvg

I decided to write this book, “I Was an ASA Vietnam War Resister,” because there is a vast and hidden history of the Vietnam War—an untold story of secrets, shadows, and moral conflict—known only to those who served behind the scenes. The years 1966 through 1968 were among the most turbulent in American memory, a time when the world seemed to be teetering on the edge of chaos, and the truth was often a casualty of war. Most Americans, both then and now, remain unaware of what truly unfolded during those years, of the clandestine operations, the war time wrenching choices being made, and the heavy silence that fell over those who served in intelligence. 

I didn’t read about these things in newspapers or see them dramatized on television. I lived them. I served in the United States Army Security Agency, a secretive branch of military intelligence that operated in the shadows, tasked with intercepting and decoding enemy communications across the globe. Our motto was “SEMPER VIGILANS”—Latin for “Ever Vigilant”—and our mascot was an American eagle, cartoonishly rendered but deadly serious, sporting headphones and hunched over a radio set, eternally listening for secrets. 

During those years, I came to possess knowledge that few outside our circles would ever hear. I was entrusted with top-secret information—operational details, battle plans, and the coded whispers of war. And yet, as the conflict escalated and the body count climbed, I found myself grappling with a sense of disillusionment and outrage. In early February of 1968, with the war raging and casualties mounting—more than 500,000 U.S. soldiers stationed in Vietnam, over 20,000 already killed, and more than 80,000 wounded—I made a choice that would change my life forever. 

In early February in the year 1968, in San Francisco, California, while in the glare of television camera lights, I became—so I’ve been told—the first Army Security Agency soldier, still in uniform and on active duty, to publicly protest the Vietnam War. The local antiwar groups had invited the public to attend this event. About a hundred people showed up, their faces a mixture of curiosity, anger, and hope. Six major television networks carried my interview on the evening news, broadcasting my words into living rooms across the nation. 

I stood before the cameras, not as a faceless protester, but as “SPECIALIST FREDERICK H. CHARD, ARMY SECURITY AGENCY”—the headline flashed in bold letters beneath me. When the reporters peppered me with questions, probing for secret information, for classified details, I stared back in silence. I refused to betray my oath. I did not answer. Instead, I spoke about my wish to be granted conscientious objector status by the Army, about my commitment to ending the war through nonviolent resistance and truth-telling. 

Not everyone there respected my decision. As I stood there, militant protestors in the crowd hurled accusations at me, calling me a coward, demanding more, wanting revelations. They wanted me to spill secrets, to become a whistleblower on the spot. But I knew the weight of what I carried. I knew that there was a line I would not cross—not because I lacked courage, but because my path was one of conscience rather than betrayal. “I didn’t want to betray my country,” I said, “I wanted to save it from betraying itself.” 

Years later, when Edward Snowden stunned the world by leaking top secret NSA documents in 2013, I couldn’t help but reflect on the strange parallels between our stories. Snowden and I held similar top 

secret intelligence clearances— which granted both of us access to the inner sanctums of American intelligence. Snowden worked with the National Security Agency, monitoring global communications, while I served in the ASA, the military’s own counterpart. Yet, there was a crucial difference: in my era, neither the NSA nor ASA was yet engaged in the domestic surveillance that would later spark so much controversy. That shift, exposed so starkly by Snowden, had not yet come to 1968. 

I often wonder what might have happened if I had chosen a different path, if I had decided to reveal everything I knew. I held, in those years, the equivalent knowledge of what Snowden would later expose. I could have been the Edward Snowden of 1966-68. But I chose another way. Rather than betray secrets that might endanger lives or operations, I chose instead to take a public, principled stand. I sought to become a conscientious objector, a resister to the war from within the ranks, using my voice and my story—not stolen documents—to fight for peace. 

This book is the story of that choice, and of those years of turbulence and transformation. It’s a story of moral struggle, of the burdens and responsibilities of secrecy, and of the lonely path of the antiwar resister. It is, above all, an attempt to shed light on a chapter of history that remains, even now, in the shadows—waiting to be understood.