Is there anyone on DU-3 who lived through Vietnam War Era..whose life was changed by the DraftWar?

[AnotherMcIntosh]

97. Notwithstanding the inter-service rivalries, there are some cultural differences

between careerist Army officers and Marine officers. The causation is due to a number of factors. One of which is that, at least in '67 and '68, most Army officers tended to be college trained while approximately 85% of Marine officers came up through the ranks. (The percentage in more recent years may have changed.)

This difference is part of a culture which creates a different mind-set. Some may misinterpret and discount this observation as being due to nostalgic pride, but it's not and such views do not change the reality. If you are familiar with Korean War history, you can verify the different mind-set by comparing the actions of the Army officers under Army General MacArthur with the officers under Marine General Smith (short bio at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_P._Smith).

Experiences of different people vary, but I found that Army officers tended to readily agree with whatever the higher-ups wanted while Marine officers were encouraged to speak the truth to one another and even be skeptical. There is a difference between being skeptical and pessimistic, which in the Marine ethos are good and bad, respectively.

Army officers, including those who were trained in college to go-along-to-get-along and repeat the orthodoxy of their professors to get approval, seemed to be less skeptical. Even in the build-up for the Viet Nam war, there were well-respected Marine officers who rejected the optimistic view that we could successfully invade and hold that portion of Asia. One was General Shoup who resigned in 1963 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Shoup) and thereafter wrote in opposition to the war.

Westmoreland is not solely at fault for the bogus numbers and the intelligence leading to his "light at the end of the tunnel" comments. He was dealing with an Army culture that was already in place and which he could not change if he wanted to.

Our risk, as a country, is that we will now have too many yes-men in the military who will not speak truth to power. They will squander our resources for foreign adventures until there are no more resouces to squander.