Flew a Medevac in ‘Nam? Give That Man a Point

The Vietnam mystery deepens. How shall today’s voters judge military service or lack of it in that benighted conflict? I propose a handy ratings scale from 1 to 10.

Start with 1 point for any military service that involved crossing the Pacific during the Vietnam era. Roughly speaking, five years in the Hanoi Hilton rates a 10. One year as an Army journalist gets a 1. Stateside service in the National Guard gets a 0.

For every combat wound, add 1 point. Thus an Army journalist or cook hit by mortar shrapnel would rate a 2.

All infantry troops in Vietnam get 5 points, just for being in the infantry. For company clerks, deduct 1. (I hated my company clerk.) Combat support troops, such as the artillery, get 4. Combat service support--ordnance, transportation, signal--get 3, or, if they had access to air conditioning, 2.

To account for pay grade, add 1 if the soldier is enlisted, add 0 if a company-grade officer, and subtract 1 if major or above. Add 1 if Army or Marine, 0 if Air Force (unless, of course, shot down) or Navy (unless shot down or washed ashore). Subtract 1 if soldier ever served as a recruiter.

Add 1 if soldier came home and protested the continuation of the war as an inhuman and unsupportable disaster. Add 2 if soldier simply came home and went back to his previous life without complaining.

Helicopter pilots get 1 extra for every 100 hours spent over hostile territory. Truck drivers get 1 extra for every 100 hours driving deuce-and-a-half trucks up and down the road from Saigon to Tay Ninh. Medics get an extra point for every month spent with an infantry platoon.

Add up all these numbers and you will be able to get a rough evaluation of what Vietnam service actually meant.

Of course, this point system has its detractors. One veteran has pointed out that everyone in Vietnam, except those in the cool quiet corridors of the MAC-V Headquarters in Saigon, was subject to falling mortars and shrieking rockets. And indeed they were. Everyone was subject to the evening satchel charge delivered around 1800 hours by a local activist. Everyone was subject to the interminable heat, the dysentery, the malaria, the insane time-wasting contradictory orders, the erosion of basic American values and the sneaking suspicion that you were naturally unlucky.

To quantify this is well-nigh impossible, but in general, give yourself a full point if you still think about Vietnam every day, half a point if you think about it once a month and no points if you only think about it when running for elective office. Candidates, excuse me, citizens who legitimately avoided Vietnam service by prolonging graduate school or illegitimately by parading football injuries get -1 points. Those who had relatives on their draft boards get -2.

All service in a war zone is not equal, no matter what anyone says. Patrolling the jungle is different from processing paperwork. Flying a medevac helicopter into a battle to extract wounded is different from flying in the Air National Guard on weekends.

This number system is far from definitive, but in an election year it may help.

As it is said, in war, truth is the first casualty. In politics, too.