I'll never forget flying the battalion commander of the 3-506th Airborne around in circles watching a company of ARVN soldiers led by a US officer refuse to advance on what turned out to be six NVA soldiers hiding in a wooded area. This US tried his best to get these South Vietnamese soldiers to attack, only to have them stop to fix lunch. Finally, the US, in total disbelief and I suspect shame, said he and another US were going after these NVA alone if need be. I watched as these two US soldiers left the ARVN soldiers having what looked like a family reunion from the air, and move in on these NVA.
This story doesn't have a happy ending, so I'll not tell it. But my boss, Lt. Col. Alves, did everything he could to change the outcome, but it was all in vain. Lt. Col. Alves was never the same after this. He never mentioned this event again, and I knew better than to bring it up, but I'm sure he blamed himself for not calling in an airstrike or calling for an insertion of US troops. But how could he have known that some 70 or so well-armed ARVN soldiers would just watch as two US went it alone? These two Americans didn't give Alves time to react to their decision to go it alone, and they couldn't hear his orders to stand down since their radio was strapped on the back of an ARVN who was part of a social event.
This event was typical of what went on from start to finish of the longest war in US history. I'm not blaming the people of South Vietnam. I'm blaming myself for not coming home and blowing Henry Kissinger and Robert McNamara's brains out. But it was really hard to get close to these two since they're always surrounded by people giving them awards. When Arlington Cemetery could no longer hold all of McNamara's mistakes and LBJ had to replace him, he gave McNamara the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Oh, the one I like best is the credit given to McNamara for advising JFK during the Cuba Missile Crisis. What second grader wouldn't have known that if Russia was going to fire missiles at us, it would be better if they fired them from Moscow than from Cuba? The embargo would have been a no brainer for even George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. Okay, so that's a stretch, but they might have figured it out if given time. Like when the missiles were lifting off from say, Havana.
Bob Miller was shot down twice in Vietnam (1968 and 1969). He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal. Miller is a 100% service connected disabled veteran. Miller ran for a seat in the US Senate in 1992. He has written seven books including his bestseller, Kill Me If You Can.
