Overcoming the Vietnam Syndrome

Perhaps I have misinterpreted Conrad’s cartoon (“We could have won that Gulf War with both hands tied behind our backs!” March 4), but it seems to imply that the American soldiers who died in Vietnam are bitter about the success of the allied forces in the Gulf and childish in their feelings. If this is a correct reading of the cartoon, then I believe it is in extremely poor taste.

No one can speak for those no longer living; I have no royal road to those on the other side of life, either. But the names of six of my buddies are on that wall. One died about 30 feet from me during one of two times that I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I was going to die in just a few seconds. So I feel that my name could be on the wall, but for the grace of God. I write from this perspective.

The Gulf War has been very hard on me emotionally, as it has been on many Vietnam vets. I am both sad that our war was not run like this one, and proud to know that the success of this war was in large part due to the lessons we learned from Vietnam.

We have been rejected or completely ignored for more than 20 years by the people we risked our lives for. This is hard to live with. More Vietnam vets have committed suicide since returning to the United States than were killed in that war.

I do not believe we were better soldiers than soldiers today. I do believe we suffered a lot more on the battlefield. Articles about finally getting over the Vietnam Syndrome, a syndrome of military failure and incompetency, are hard enough for Vietnam vets to read. Fortunately, not everyone has tried to forget that war. The lessons learned are readily acknowledged by the military, especially Gen. Schwarzkopf. Here is an opportunity for the American public to appreciate the fundamental role Vietnam soldiers played in the incredible victory in the Gulf. Why not reprint the cartoon, but without the spoken words, and instead title it “The real heroes of the Persian Gulf?”

JOHN WOLCOTT, Los Angeles