This paper presents the results of a telephonic interview with a Vietnam-era U.S. Army veteran who served as a stenographer and later as personal secretary to senior commanders, including General Alexander Haig at SHAPE. Despite transitioning from anti-war demonstrator to career soldier, the veteran maintained throughout his service that the Vietnam War was a political mistake. The interview covers his early opposition to the war, his draft and enlistment, tours in South Korea and Thailand, and his honorable discharge in 1977. The paper concludes by reflecting on the consistency of his views despite a distinguished military career.
This paper demonstrates effective use of the oral history interview as a research method. By allowing the subject's direct quotations to carry argumentative weight — for example, "This was a stupid war that taught us some expensive lessons in blood and treasure" — the writer lets primary evidence speak for itself while framing it analytically in the introduction and conclusion.
The paper follows a clean three-part structure: a brief contextualizing introduction that situates Vietnam veterans in postwar American society; a detailed interview summary that traces the subject's biography chronologically from high school activism through military discharge; and a short conclusion that highlights the most striking finding — the veteran's unchanged anti-war conviction despite years of honorable service. This structure suits the oral history format well.
Just over 53,000 men and women died in the Vietnam War, but the ravages of this conflict did not end in Southeast Asia. Although many Vietnam veterans experienced problems readjusting to civilian society, most used their GI Bill benefits to attend school, secure meaningful employment, and build families of their own. Today, many of these veterans are political leaders, captains of industry, successful entrepreneurs, and senior executives. This paper presents the results of an interview with a 60-year-old Vietnam-era veteran, a former Specialist Six of the U.S. Army Support Command, Thailand. The results of the interview are followed by a summary of the experience in the conclusion.
On March 2, 2013, the veteran was telephonically interviewed from his home in Sperry, Oklahoma. When asked about his relationship to the Vietnam War, he stated that he served in a non-combat role with the Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Army Support Command in Sattahip, Thailand, from 1974 to 1975.
The veteran made it clear that he was initially opposed to the war while attending high school in Wichita, Kansas, and admitted to openly demonstrating against it on several occasions in 1969 and 1970. He was tear-gassed during a demonstration outside the Wichita Civic Center during a speech by then-Vice President Spiro Agnew. He stated that the organization he belonged to, the Committee for Student Rights, was distributing baloney sandwiches to demonstrators as a way of mocking what they saw as political nonsense being delivered by the Vice President, when Wichita police arrived and dispersed the crowd with tear gas. These experiences, combined with receiving his draft notice shortly after high school graduation, convinced him that the United States was headed in the wrong direction — both morally and politically.
Following graduation, he reported for duty and was trained as a stenographer, MOS 71C. He was subsequently assigned to Camp Casey, Korea, in 1972, where he served as the commanding general's secretary. His training and tour in South Korea shifted his perspective: although he still believed the Vietnam War was wrong, he came to see that the fault lay not with the military but with the country's political leadership. He reenlisted for five years, in part because a $6,500 reenlistment bonus was available for his MOS — a considerable sum at the time.
He was then assigned to the U.S. Army Support Command in Thailand, where he worked for the Inspector General during the drawdown of operations as the War in Vietnam ground to its bloody conclusion. When asked whether the Vietnam War had impacted the evolution of the United States, he replied, "This was a stupid war that taught us some expensive lessons in blood and treasure." After completing his tour in Thailand, he was assigned to Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), where he served as personal secretary to Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., until his discharge in 1977.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the interview was that the veteran's opinion of the Vietnam War did not change substantively after his enlistment in the U.S. Army and several years of honorable service. Even though he received an Army Commendation Medal — among other decorations — and attained senior noncommissioned officer status during his tour of duty, he remained adamant that the United States made a major mistake in fighting the Vietnam War. His story illustrates how personal conviction and military duty can coexist, and how the lived experience of a single soldier can offer a window into the broader moral and political questions raised by the conflict.
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