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Col. Hackworth (correctly) was displeased with the conduct of the VietNam war (it was run by civilians, often against military advice) and was not one of the stereotypical ticket-punching officers who kissed ass on the Pentagon as soldiers and marines won battles, only to have the victories taken away by Washington, liberals, and the NEW Left. Although he did not keep up to speed on the integration of the Armed Forces branches as applied to modern warfare ('a la General Franks) and lacked adequate knowlege of newer weapons, logistics and tactics, he was a soldiers' officer and a division/batallion tactical battlefield genious.

Goodbye, Sir.

HOW THE VIETNAM WAR AFFECTED ME by ~~David Hackworth~~ John F. Kerry

The Vietnam War scarred me more severely than any of the eight Purple Hearts I'd received during almost eight years of combat. Up to Vietnam, I'd always been a Don Quixote-like idealist who believed that those who served our country as professional military officers did so only from the point of view of DUTY, HONOR, AND COUNTRY. But during Vietnam I finally got a look inside the inner circle of the Army's top brass -- and witnessed corruption and evil so great it broke my heart and arklighted my belief system.

In Vietnam, I also discovered that most of those at the top were concerned only with themselves, and few senior leaders understood the nature of the war or had a clue about the impossible mission with which they had tasked their soldiers. Most generals and colonels were there only to get combat command assignments and the right glory medals that would punch their ticket. Few cared about their men or the mission, most cared only about clawing their way up the promotion ladder. All but the brain-dead among them knew that it was a bad, unwinnable war that had no military objective; yet not one serving general stood tall and told the American people this truth. Instead, they just went-along-to-get-along, lining up our young men to become the pulverized filler for bodybags.

After observing this obscenity first-hand in the trenches of Vietnam for almost five years, I told the American people -- while in uniform and from Vietnam -- that the war was not winnable, they were being lied to and we should get out now. This act caused a General William Westmoreland-led counter-attack to destroy my credibility. The generals and their synchophants employed every dirty trick in their slimey attempt to silence me (for details, see About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior, Simon & Schuster 1989). They had to prove that I was wrong and they were right, and in so doing they violated every principle that makes America a free land.

Disgusted with the US Army and disillusioned with my country, which my forefathers had settled in 1622, I went to Australia in self-exile. There, I made a new life and tried to forget Vietnam, but I couldn't shake that nightmare. It wouldn't go away not only because of bad dreams but also because Westmoreland and his followers launched a deceptive campaign of disinformation to rewrite the history of the Vietnam War. Their propaganda insisted that we lost the war not because of their poor leadership, but because of: THE PEACENIKS, THE COMMIE PRESS AND THE WEAK-KNEED POLITICIANS. They started the lie: "We won all the battles, but THEY lost the war."

I knew this was a lie, and this lie is what caused me to write About Face so that present and future generations would know and learn from the truth. Since About Face was published and I began my new career as a defense reporter, I sadly discovered that most of today's senior military leaders' values are frighteningly similar to these generals of the Vietnam era who sold their men and their country down the bloody drain. Most of the present crop of senior leadership are all into ME, ME, ME -- which explains the Somalias, Haitis, and Bosnias (for more details see Hazardous Duty, William Morrow 1996).

For most of the 2.5 million Americans who fought there, Vietnam was a bad trip. For me, it became the launching pad of the journey I'm still on today -- to do everything in my power not to let that sort of bloodbath happen again.

Vietnam gave me a new mission: To speak the truth and not let my children or your children or our country be doomed to repeat the horror, the waste and the futility of Vietnam.

Thus began my crusade to wake up the American people.

Col. Hackworth (correctly) was displeased with the conduct of the VietNam war...

Replace Hackworth and Vietnam with any other leader, Washington, Grant, Lee, Patton, McArthur... or war and the statement is true. Difference is the great leaders did not admit defeat during thier respective duties or committ treason in uniform.