(emphasis added)War should be the politics of last resort. And when we go to war, we should have a purpose that our people understand and support; we should mobilize the country's resources to fulfill that mission and then go in to win. In Vietnam, we had entered into a halfhearted half-war, with much of the nation opposed or indifferent, while a small fraction carried the burden.
I witnessed as much bravery in Vietnam as I expect to see in any war. I am proud of my service in the Americal Division. We had our bright moments and outstanding soldiers. Another officer who served in that division was a lieutenant colonel named H. Norman Schwarzkopf. Norm Schwarzkopf, I, and so many others who went on to major military responsibility must have carried away something useful from the experience. I am proud of the way American soldiers answered the call in a war so poorly conceived, conducted, and explained by their country's leaders. Dozens of my friends died in that war. As small a circle as the CCNY Pershing Rifles lost its third member in Vietnam in 1968, John Young. All this heroism and sacrifice are precisely the point: you do not squander courage and lives without clear purpose, without the country's backing, and without full commitment.
I particularily condemn the way our political learders supplied the manpower for that war. The policies--determining who would be drafted and who would be deferred, who would serve and who would escape, who would die and who would live--were an antidemocratic disgrace. I can never forgive a leadership that said, in effect: These young men--poorer, less educated, less privileged--are expendable (someone described them as "economic cannon fodder"), but the rest are too good to risk. I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well-placed and so many professional athletes (who were probably healthier than any of us) managed to wangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units. Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to their country.
How many senator's sons and daughters are serving in Iraq today? How many representative's children? How many of the wealthiest of us bear any burden at all in Iraq?
In whatever earthly state You will have me be
Not from sorrow, pain, or care Freedom dare I claim;
This alone shall be my prayer: Glorify Your name.
--from New Year's Hymn by Lawrence Tuttiett, 1864 (alt.)
