My Vietnam war
I write regarding the interview with Max Hastings in the December issue
( Max Hastings on Vietnam). As a Vietnam veteran, I spent nine months in the country in the US army infantry. I’ve also read many books and articles on the war. Hastings’ take on it is the worst I’ve read.
Our efforts became “doomed” because we ran out of support back home and President Johnson caved. We succeeded so well during Tet that a major North Vietnamese general admitted to it in his memoirs, saying we dealt them a devastating blow.
The Viet Cong were good soldiers, but the North Vietnamese troops (NVA) I killed were not. Neither were better than GIs, but the Cong knew their territory well, and thus had the advantage. The NVA did not know the territory; after Johnson stopped bombing the North (due to pressure from liberals at home), NVA flooded the South – so they entered new areas.
I grew up hunting in east Texas, so I was comfortable in the woods of the Central Highlands, as were quite a few of my fellow GIs. The AK-47 is better than the original M-16s, but once we got chromed bolts and began keeping our rifles clean we had few problems with the M-16. (I carried a 12-gauge shotgun).
Draftees in Vietnam were good soldiers; as in Korea and the Second World War. Most didn’t “…feel miserable about risking our lives”, as Hastings claims. Our CO, who did three tours in Vietnam, said our company, nearly all draftees, was the best fighting group he commanded. Alan Allen, US 545 08 37 198th Light Inf Bgde ( 1967– 68), Texas