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Stories of American Heroes - Brought to you from the "Home of Heroes" - Pueblo, Colorado
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Stories of American Heroes - Brought to you from the "Home of Heroes" - Pueblo, Colorado |
Iraq vs. Vietnam
Is there a danger of repeating
The same Mistakes?Commentary by your Webmaster
C. Douglas Sterner
November 1, 2003
Lately more and more the question has been arising, "Is the war in Iraq turning into another conflict eerily reminiscent of the conflict in Vietnam?" As a veteran of that earlier war, the question doesn't bother me as much as the most common answers--answers given often by other veterans of the war in Vietnam, designed to distance events in Iraq from seemingly similar events in Vietnam. In fact, the war, the nature of building the peace, and the process of turning control of Iraq over to the Iraqi people are very much like our efforts in Vietnam--which makes me quite proud of our young people who now carry the torch of freedom I was once privileged to carry and defend.
The first American soldiers to serve in Vietnam were Special Forces advisors, sent to help a people who desperately required outside assistance to turn back a sweeping tide of oppression. The motto of the Special Forces is "de oppresso libre", translated "To Free the Oppressed". For the soldier at least, that was the purpose for our service and, I believe, an admirable one.
The threat of WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) was the reason touted for the invasion of Iraq, and to date, no solid proof of this threat has been found. What IS quite evident is the oppression and tyranny under which the Iraqi people lived during the regime of Saddam Hussein, and indeed the true outcome of our sweeping victory over his forces has freed the oppressed.
I believe the primary reason many try to distance the Vietnam War from the current conflict is because the war in Southeast Asia is an embarrassing era of American history for all too many citizens. I can't help but wonder WHY it should be thus. Consider this:
For more than fourteen years, the United States of America sent 2 1/2 million of her sons and daughters half-way around the world to defend the right to freedom and the human dignity of a people in a land in which we had no vital interest beyond keeping our word.
The vast majority (two-thirds) of those who fought and served in Vietnam went voluntarily. While I would not presume to take anything away from The Greatest Generation, two-thirds of those who fought in World War II were drafted and sent. Vietnam War soldiers comprised the largest volunteer force of any war in our nation's history to that date. (Today there is no draft--all who are serving to preserve freedom and human dignity in Iraq are VOLUNTEERS.)
In fourteen years of combat, not one time did an American unit down to the squad level, ever surrender to the enemy. That is an almost unprecedented accomplishment in the history of our nation's major wars.
The American soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines in Vietnam NEVER lost a major battle. Even the touted Tet Offensive of 1968 that many credit as the turning point of the war was an unqualified military victory by American soldiers who faced incredible odds, rose to the challenge, and proved that they were some of the finest fighting men in our country's history.
Please pardon me then, if I fail to understand why it would be wrong for the valiant warriors of a new generation who have swiftly and soundly defeated their enemy and freed an oppressed people, to identify with those of us who fought in Vietnam. They have continued our own legacy well, and proved themselves to be the finest combat troops in history. That they would do all that they have done, and accomplish all that they have accomplished on behalf of others is above all, most admirable.
The most obvious reason to distance the war in Iraq from the war in Vietnam is the embarrassing BELIEF that We Lost That War. If indeed this is true, something of which I am not yet personally convinced, please understand that the war was not lost by the men and women who served in Vietnam but by the American public at home who lost patience with the cost of winning that war. It is a matter of human nature, not unique to Vietnam.
During World War II United States Marines conducted their first major assault (after Guadalcanal) against 4,800 Japanese, well-entrenched at Tarawa. It was an incredible victory at a VERY HIGH COST: 3,300 American casualties including 900 dead. It presented a major dilemma to military war planners who feared photos of the heavy casualties sustained by the Marines would extinguish the fire in the belly of the American public and force an outcry against further such assaults in the Pacific. Images such as this suddenly brought the reality of war home to a public that might mentally swap the horror of Pearl Harbor for this new understanding that victory, no matter how glorious, is not earned without great sacrifice and bloodshed.
Fortunately for the United States, and for the world, the American public in general understood that this war was personal--that the price had to be paid abroad or we would ultimately suffer at home. Unfortunately there was no such perception in the American public at large during the Vietnam War. Images of the heavily casualties sustained during the Tet Offensive took precedence over what should have been great PRIDE in the great heroism of the American soldiers and marines who turned back that offensive and virtually broke the back of the enemy forces. The American Public demanded an exit strategy to "get our boys home NOW!"--and let the chips fall where they may as far as the Vietnamese people were concerned.
When I arrived in Vietnam in the summer of 1970 American forces were involved in a process call the Vietnamization of the War--the transfer of responsibility for fighting Communist aggression in South Vietnam over to the Vietnamese. It was an admirable concept, similar in many regards to the mission now being undertaken by our forces in Iraq of helping these people build up their nation, raise a police force and military, and ultimately become capable of defending themselves. It was a process I was a part of until my return home in 1972. I am convinced that it was a process that could have been successfully achieved, but only through a period of many years, not just the four or five that we committed to it following Tet '68.
Ultimately, South Vietnam fell to the enemy. Not however, because of any lack on the part of the soldier. We won every battle--except for the battle at home--the battle to convince the American public that we had taken to heart the words of President Kennedy "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty." (Note that the President did not limit this mission to the preservation of these only at home--he recognized the fact that our world has become a very small place and that we ARE our BROTHER'S KEEPER.)
Of course, I for one, am still not convinced that we lost the war in Vietnam. The fact that American soldiers were willing to fight and sacrifice for fourteen years in a small country thousands of miles from home, I believe, halted the spread of communism in the region. I also believe that our efforts were instrumental in degrading the power of the Soviet Union (which provided massive support to the North Vietnamese) to the point that their fate was sealed when they moved into Afghanistan. The chain of events moved very quickly from that point. I often describe the legacy of the Vietnam Veteran by saying in many of my own speeches, "When you view the shattered ruin of the Berlin Wall, thank a Vietnam Veteran. That is the symbol of our victory."
If there is one facet of the war in Iraq that I hope does NOT mirror the war in Vietnam, it is the reaction of the American public. Casualties are a tragedy--the death of every American is cause for concern and reflection on our cause. But casualties are the by-product of war, the necessary ingredient for victory. We can not let the cost of winning this war obscure the images of 911, or the price that we will pay if we don't stay the course, steel our resolve, and insure that evil is confronted and dealt with wherever it raises its ugly specter.
Doug Sterner
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