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From:
Date: 3/9/2002
Time: 3:52:14 PM
Remote Name: 4.60.161.134
Lloyd,
I haven't seen the movie but I read the book several years ago (Random House - 1992). Last evening (3/9/02) the History Channel reviewed the movie and interviewed several members of the 1/7 CAV. The troops agreed that the movie was 70% accurate, which is pretty fine by my standards. I wasn't there in 1965 but I did make it in early 1969. I spent 210 day in-county, first as an 02B30 and then an 11B40 (yea, I agree, strange). The '65 troops made some outlandish statements about the attitude and conduct of the troops that followed them. I personally didn't give a hoot about John Wayne, his rendition of "The Green Berets," which I saw in-country, was pathetic. Maybe it was different in the Delta. We called dumping a battalion into the mist of three enemy regiments a cluster..., well, you know. I really don't think that the 1965 Ia Drang battle changed chicken-shit. It was the first major engagement and a tactical screw-up. What did the initial engagement change? There was no previous prescedence to change. HOLLYWOOD and creative advertising.
Based upon what I have seen on TV, I really don't want to see the movie. Something was very wrong with the tactics and quality of leadership in Vietnam. I think, if anything, this is what the Ia Drang campaign heralded.
Bob Fischer 9th Infanty Division (1969)