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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1969 Dotson VN WarVietnam 4 ) News Staff Waters Who Tom DoNon EDITOR'S NOTF: Cooper port joined The GI reporters this year f Better To Lose Face re in Vietnam. They W like they see it" on the nd heiraopinionsarelit Than Seeing Many Die a By TOM DOTSON SIMSTAFF wmren In preparing notes for a piece on the war in Vietnam and the moratorium movement in America, it seems that a writer could instinctively assume that the American reader I derslands the objecttvrs of Ira: m which his country has becii involved forelghlyearn. Unfortunately. assuming this fact would be invalid to a great degree. There are many American adults who know nothing of what the Vietnam war is really about. Their knowledge is limited to the simple fart that the United Slates is helping a small country fight communism. and they figure that's all they, really need to know. Americans are numerous who dell know the difference between a Viet Cong and North Viet- namese regular. or dolt realize he significance of the TO offensive of '69, or couldn't guess within 25,000 the number of American ciscallies the war has produced. Dotgml It may seem insignificant that Car's magaxme and a man wouldn't know the points paper. mentioned above. hat the: z Tn i' t v or facts concerning these Points, arc just a few of the mains of course. the Tet air, which convlace this writer that in January, 1968. was our W continulug the war is a futile The turning points in he war. cause. The American Command had been saying for months that Viet Cong are, for the most the cotmy was broken, on biz part, hit and run teams who knees, virtually defeated. Now, mortar and rocket fire bases it was just a matter of weeks. in the middle of the night and their get the hell out before choppers are in the air. The 't'hen came 'l'et The cook biggest headaches of infantry munisls launched an offensive companies are caused by North on Saigon, as well as every Vietnamese Army regulars other U.S. base of any size iNVAI in the entire country, and although the U.S. 310itary Command NVA soldiers are lough, trained tried to smooth the situation guerrilla experts who aren't by saving that we had iron afraid of American units, and a major mililary, victory, it was will fight you all day if Btev're now realized that he Reds could, dug in well sough. There are and, perhaps more important. limes when jet air strikes can't would strike at will anywhere Rush them f"nn holes. - and everywhere - in South American infantrymen have Vietnam. nothing but respect for heir combat aches. The casually heart, which now ."iJI1 like !-TCaF(w cream-n:o;rntnr 'this is News Staff Writer Tom Dotson spent seven months in Vietnam as an editor and correspondent with the Find Air Cavalry Division. Four of those month, were in the field with infer.. try units, reporting combat news for the Division's newspaper and magazine. Field assignments look him to locations near Hue, Da. Nang, Quang Tri City, the A %all Valley, Tay Nith. Phoue Vinh, the Demili- tarized Zone, Khe Sanh, Sai. gon, and An Loc. He also spent some time with a Long Range Recon- atfsance Patrol (a group of five or six men who patrol jungles trying to locale enemy troops and call air strikes in on them it they do). notion Will three months in Vietnam preparing ma- terial for Air Cavalry mag. azines, as well as five months in Tokyo editing the is pushing :100,000, needs no explanation. How can many people still say we should star in Vietnam - until a honorable agreement iv , reached? possibly a good number : v' - of these people don't really under- ' stand what's going on in Vietnam. \~p and daa'l (-arc to read a ' newspaper or magazine article M canceming the war. Perhaps many are he flag - waving staunch patriots who would stand ` .y beside this cooalry''s policies K'n no matter if right or WRONG. In this writers opinion, the county has erred nmre in its Vietnam policy limn in any other issue in its history. It was evident abnosl two Y: years ago that. barring complete destruction of Nance and Haiphong. military vicorv in TOM DOTSON South Vietnam was impossible. Favors Pullout I think to fully understand this point one would have to sec American death toll is now higher the war for himself, and not than 39.000 and more (turn 250,000 from a base (-amp in Saigon have been w•nund"I. Other than or Long Binh or Da'Nang. but supposedly pacifying nmre South from the field. where the actual Viet villages and halftime, mom war is being fought. projects for the 'South. the war effort looks relatively the same Sure, we kill more of them as it did lwovcarsagu. than they kill of us, but we 6vervone knows now that the don't kill quite enough of them, war can't be won miliartly. I, they lr..., on ciIminl,, I'd TI I '111 :'III ..ii rowing. Andeomiog, rnl Llaa•lulh '.rtho In sing face. 1'er ooliv. it s,tnm that it would he better on the whole We annihilate a North to lose a little face now Vietnamese company with air right now - ban to sec 10 strikes, artillery, helicopter or 15 or 20 thousand Americans gunships, and firepower on the die for an end result that can ground, and the colonels and be foresc-n now. Of course. generals wdoop it rip because this might be. hard to see for ' we killed 122 of "them" and someone who doesn t have anyone only lust six of "us" and all direcliv involved in the war. the wheels Nick at the Tactical Operations Center at the base If the people of South Viemar ramp light cigars and pour scotch really carrel, it might M celebrating lire victory. somewhat different. MayM Meanwhile, a North Vietnamese same do; I can't speak lot battalion is six miles from the them all. The vast majorib spot of that victory, in the of tin ones I had dealings *id jungle. in the dark, planning cared - about the $1.50 the some new surprises for the Yanks were getting from a GI to the !text day. They keep of a can of black market" mmina. American beer, or the village Better To Lose face In. Vietnam (Continued From Page 13A) over the war completely (this they don't want to be a part probably should have been done of it. I don't blame them for not wanting to go, but this reason alone isn't cause enough to say, "Pullout!" But! Something has to be done, and if moratoriums are putting any pressure at all on Mr. Nixon to step up his de - escalation plan, let's have them. It just seems that as intelligent as some of the major college student leaders are, something much more effective than moratoriums could be devised to hurry the pullout. It's my feeling that after almost nine years our obligation is more than over in Vietnam. We've given our share. My answer is for the President to set a specific date for South Vietnam, with jet air support, to take two years ago). After eight years of being advised and fought for, if the South can't handle the Reds, we wouldn't have to feel that we didn't try. I don't think that after 39,008 deaths and almost nine years a pullout would indicate a loss of face. I think continuing a pointless effort shows extreme ignorance, which, in its own way is losing face. We've done all for South Vietnam that we can do. If the moratoriums are having any result is a question that will be answered soon. Something must be done. As far as current Vietnam policy;, more of the same won't do.