Vietnam Syndrome---Comments Please

[onesix]

The following was written by Lewis Sorely (author of A BETTER WAR) and appeared in the April 2003 issue of VIETNAM MAGAZINE on page 43. I would be interested to hear comments, pro or con, on the statement.

"Americans know very little about the Vietnam War, even though itended just over a quarter century ago. That is in part because those who opposed the war have seen it as in their interests to portray every aspect of the long struggle in the worst possible light, and indeed in some cases to falsify what they have had to say about it. This extends from wholesale defamation of the South Vietnamese and their conduct throughout a long and difficult struggle, to Jane Fonda's infamous claim that repatriated American prisoners of war who reported systematic abuse and torture by their captors were "liars" and "hypocrites."

[ArtySgt]

GARBAGE.

[MORTARDUDE]

I thought it was a very good article.

Larry

[39mto39g]

Most literature is just someones opinion, unless he/she is dealing with facts. People are welcome to there opinion, doesn't mean I have to agree (and useually don't) .
Some people think the civil war was fought over slavery, in reallity the south had slaves freed before the north did, (Emansipation Proclimation)
We left VN and then almost 3 years latter the South Vietnames lost it to the North, so the United States Lost? I never did understand that one.
I guess its kinda like saying we lost WW-1 because years latter Germany started it up again.
Ive never read a book about VN because they are just opinions and in a very narrow time frame and even narrower location.
The experiances by same unit members are different.

Ron

[exlrrp]

[i]
" That is in part because those who opposed the war have seen it as in their interests to portray every aspect of the long struggle in the worst possible light, and indeed in some cases to falsify what they have had to say about it. This extends from wholesale defamation of the South Vietnamese and their conduct throughout a long and difficult struggle, to Jane Fonda's infamous claim that repatriated American prisoners of war who reported systematic abuse and torture by their captors were "liars" and "hypocrites."

The whole war was about lies and spin by both sides. Sorely is right as far as he goes here but is still flogging a long dead horse. Time works to the advantage of those who want to focus in on one side or other of the conflict because it makes it easier to spin. There's plenty of blame to go around and everybody gets it.
The war lasted so long it has to be studied in sections, complete eras, it dominated six presidential administrations. It started as a liberal cause and wound up as a conservative cause. Sorely should look at the whole picture--Vietnam was an American thing, everybody had a hand in fugging it up.
The first affirmative action War--
James

Happy just to be alive

[Arrow]

Born:1934, West Point, NYNationality:American

Personal
Born August 3, 1934, in West Point, N.Y.; son of Merrow E. (a soldier) and Louise (Barnes) Sorley; married second wife, Virginia Mezey (a librarian), November 21, 1970; children: (first marriage) Kathleen Sorley Wilson; (stepchildren from second marriage) Douglas Becker, Timothy Becker, Susan Becker.

Education
U.S. Military Academy, B.S., 1956; University of Pennsylvania, M.A., 1963; Pennsylvania State University, M.P.A., 1973; Johns Hopkins University, Ph.D., 1979; also attended Army War College, Naval War College, and Harvard University.

Career
U.S. Army, career officer, 1956-76, assignments in Fort Meade, Md., Amberg, West Germany, and Fort Knox, Ky., 1956-62, instructor and assistant professor of English at U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., 1963-66, executive officer in Vietnam, 1966-67, student officer at Naval War College, Newport, R.I., 1967-68, assistant secretary of general staff, Office of the Chief of Staff, 1968-70, commander of 2nd Tank Battalion, 37th Armor, in Erlangen, West Germany, 1971-72, member of faculty of military planning and strategy at U.S. Army War College, 1973-75, senior military assistant to director of net assessment, Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1975-76, retiring as lieutenant colonel; Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, D.C., chief of Policy and Plans Division, Intelligence Community Staff, 1976-78, senior inspector, Office of the Inspector General, 1978-79, chief of audit staff, 1979-82, office director and program manager, National Intelligence Emergency Support Office, 1982-83; Azonic Services Corp., Potomac, Md., president, 1983--. Associated with Defense Organization Project, Georgetown University Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1984-85. Member of advisory council of Defense Intelligence College; international consultant on public policy issues, concentrating on national security matters; member of alumni council of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Memberships
International Institute for Strategic Studies, U.S. Military Academy Association of Graduates (member of board of trustees), Society of the Cincinnati (member of board of directors; chairman of museum and library committee), Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society (fellow), Pi Alpha Alpha.

[Seascamp]

I think there were at least four separate wars, each one distinctly different from the others. I saw the first two and that was plenty for me. The first was relatively small and limited in scope. My billet number was 14,762 and places like Da Nang and Hue were relatively calm and peaceful and the only visible acrimony was between the majority Buddhists and the minority Catholics. But the Catholics were in charge so that was a cockle burr in everyone?s knickers. The second war was the massive build up of troop strength and the commencement of large-scale operations. Hue and DaNang weren?t so safe and peaceful anymore once all that got going. The third war was the post Tet 68 build down and transferring the fighting to the South Vietnamese and the fourth war was after the US pulled out and the Vietnamese were on their own. Anyway, it helps me to break it up in phases, as it seems to make more sense that way. Initially there was a myth about peasants revolting and all that but by the time the build up began all those peasant revolutionary pretences went by the board and terms like ?Main Force VC? started to show up in the vocabulary. So as the war went through phases the ?reasons for? changed as well, or apparently so. One fine day we had the NVA 324th regiment show up in the back yard and that was way different from some hit and run guerrilla units raising hell.

Scamp