I was the General Foreman on this one:
USS HAROLD E. HOLT's history includes the reclamation of the containership SS MAYAGUEZ in May 1975. MAYAGUEZ was seized by the Cambodians and the crew was held captive. HOLT went alongside and boarded the MAYAGUEZ. Together with other Navy and Marine units, HOLT repatriated the MAYAGUEZ crew. Decommissioned on July 2, 1992, and stricken from the Navy list on January 11, 1995, the HAROLD E. HOLT was disposed of as a target on July 10, 2002, during RIMPAC 2002. The ship was sunk by the USS PAUL F. FOSTER (DD 964) at 023° 02' North, 160° 04' West.
I had subordinates who had been in Vietnam. They all replied" You don't want to know" when I asked about Vietnam.
Later, I was with the California Highway Patrol, where several officers are Vietnam Vets. About 1975, they started opening up:
Tales of a pilot who wasn't allowed to bomb a munitions dump near Haiphong.
Tales of not being able to fire at anything without permission.
Tales of having to wait for permission from far up the chain before engaging an enemy force.
Tales of bombing bridges, and having them rebuilt overnight.
How books like "The Flight of the Intruder", "The 13th Valley", and "Everything we had" were very accurate accounts.
You guys did it right, and as well as the WWII guys. It was just Management by Over-reaction that had your hands tied.