Yep.  Likewise, even though, early-on, the grunts were proud of their
mission and really felt they were bringing freedom to Southeast Asia, it
didn't take long for morale to plummet.  You know the biggest reason?
Language and culture.  Army units often had ARVN (Army of the Republic of
South Vietnam) troops with them to serve as interpreters.  Marines, however,
were sent on "search and destroy" (later termed "sweep and clear"--deemed
more PC) patrols into the hamlets with absolutely no prior language
instruction.  Their job was to look for the VC who had been shooting at them
at night.  Everyone was dressed alike, so there was no way to visually
separate the civilians from combatants.

During his first tour, my dad says that he often worked with platoon leaders
who were still in their teens.  Because of the draft, a lot of these kids
were not even high school graduates and could not get deferments for college
(obviously).  A kid would make lance corporal a few months after basic (BRT
was cut from 12 to 8 weeks, in order to get more grunts in the field.
Sometimes a rifleman wouldn't even go to an advanced course if his MOS
wasn't a specialty) and then be made squad leader if the senior NCOs rotated
back, got wounded or killed.  These kids were then expected to go into the
'villes and "interrogate" the peasants.  Can you imagine how frustrated they
would get--not being able to speak the language and having absolutely no
clue as to the cultural differences?  Add to that the fact that the
"sappers" were coming out of these same villages and killing their buddies
by ones and twos.  My God, what a recipe for tragedy!  The same damn thing
is happening all over again in Iraq!  From what I understand, Arabic is even
more difficult for the Romance ear and the cultural differences are
incredible.

I admit that the average infantryman has a higher intellect, on average,
that his Vietnam-era counterpart, but they are still kids.  Kids that are
dealing with people that might as well come from another planet.  Kids that
are seeing their buddies getting killed by an unseen enemy in a war that has
no front lines.  How long before the pressure is too great?  How long before
another My Lai?

I am certainly no dove, but I have yet to be shown how this war would ever
have protected my family and my country.  All I've been shown are every-day
images of a couple of flag draped caskets being unloaded at Dover AFB.  The
kids in those boxes have oil on their cold hands and Mr. Bush has blood on
his.

-----Original Message-----
From: Kat [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2003 12:43 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Quiz About 9/11


That's downright scary!  History repeats itself...

Kat


-------Original Message-------
From: "Cleveland, Kyle E." <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 07/21/03 12:31 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Quiz About 9/11

I
believe
that's what Bill Westmoreland said to Johnson in late '65 / early '66.  It
wasn't Ia Drang (battle between 7th Air Cav. & NVA regulars) behind his
call
for more troops, but attrition of Marines near Da Nang by Viet Cong
"sappers".  They would hit platoon/squad-sized patrols and then vanish
into
the bush before we could reply "in force".  Usually only one or two grunts
a
day were getting wasted at this point.  Sound familiar?