Page 153 - Stand Down Vietnam

As for officers, until about 1976, I did not meet a
single officer I thought really had my best interest at
heart. They were all right out of West Point, ROTC or
OCS. They were going through the motions too; learning
as they go instead of trying to learn from the ones
that had already been to Vietnam. The new officers had
no basis or experience except military schools.

Until 1976, it was pretty much surviving on your own.
Leadership was not good. There was a lot of demanding
that you do things just because they outranked us, but
no real reason for it.

It didn't take long for me to understand it didn't
matter what the military “leaders” wanted to do; the
politicians in Washington D.C. ran the show. If
General Westmoreland wanted to tell you to go do
something he was often “handcuffed”, so to speak. It
was simple, if the “leaders” in Washington did not
agree to it, then it was not going to happen. The
Vietnam War was controlled by politicians.

There was a lot of apathy. Apathy is the word that
would describe many of my units. Almost everyone just
wanted to get through the day. If you were a mechanic
working on a jeep, ok, replace that part and hope you
got the bolts tight enough.

Whatever the job, “just get through the day”, stay out
of trouble, and soon you'll go home. You will have
served your time and hopefully, you have not gone to
Vietnam. Perhaps weariness or disillusionment is
another way to describe the general atmosphere.