Blog #12 Life Lessons from War
For several years the nightly news on television reported 300-500 soldiers killed and/or more wounded each week in the jungles and rice paddies of South Vietnam.
As a college student, the apprehension grew knowing my day would come soon.
Fresh out of UMass-Amherst in 1968, it was clear the U.S. Army desperately needed officers for small unit leadership. I volunteered rather than be drafted and proceeded to sign up for every training school I had time for before landing in Vietnam in 1970.
I attended basic and advanced infantry training, paratrooper “airborne” school and Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Fort Benning, GA, operations training, and finally “Jungle School” in the Panama Canal Zone at Fort Sherman.
It was a time of personal transformation and trial.
The life lessons learned after two years of intense military training and a year at war made me value the time and effort spent, although I had different feelings at the time.
The Army’s training, at first tedious, demanding, and always stressful, was truly outstanding.
Everyone knows that “education” is critical to achieving one’s goals in life. If you are going to be in harm’s way, a lesson for survival is that training saves lives. We should never stop learning and always seek all the training possible. After two years of 24X7 training, I felt prepared. I was an active listener and student as I believed my life depended on it…and it did.
The most important lesson learned during nearly six months of combat as an infantry platoon leader in I Corps in the northernmost sector of Vietnam could be stated in one word: “anticipation”.
At every step, it was critical to anticipate your next move in advance. Studying, planning, and preparing are all very important to survival at war and later at home, in the business world. On patrol, one must think ahead about what you would do at any moment if shots suddenly rang out.
In the most exacting detail, what would you do? If this happens, what will I do? What is your contingency plan?
Certainly, the same applies in business and elsewhere.
If you can anticipate, you can survive and thrive.
Another lesson: when all hell breaks lose, forget about calling for help. Seconds count. Act immediately. You must react without hesitation.
The military organizes and functions in teams. It really is all about teamwork. In combat, the simple fact is each soldier is focused on how to safeguard their buddies and bodies.
I believed platoons that avoided contact with the enemy were at higher risk and suffered higher casualties. Those who took the fight to the enemy were more in control.
The aggressor usually has the upper hand.
It’s best to execute an ambush rather than walk into one. With one year in a combat zone – I Corps of Northern South Vietnam – I was ambushed only once and on the Ho Chi Minh Road. It was a bitter lesson as I nearly lost my life.
I will also admit to being ambushed more often in business than in war.
With so many different personalities, it is another advantage to really know your soldiers and what makes them tick. Everyone is different and nothing is “normal”. No matter, double-check everything. Take nothing for granted. Does everyone have their malaria pills, enough ammo, grenades, change of socks, bandages, radio batteries, claymores, and the list goes on?
For me, next to my M-16 and a bandolier of magazines, most important to me was the lensatic compass and maps along with flares and bug juice. Have your tools “at the ready”.
No way can you constantly judge the book by the cover.
Hard to believe that the one disheveled, thin, even frail-looking soldier was absolutely fearless and would chase the enemy deep in Viet Cong territory at night. Yet, the biggest, strongest, and angriest was the most cowardly.
Too often, survival is about luck. Even in business, better to have the right timing than the best plan.
There was the Medic who was a slob and did everything wrong, yet made it out alive after one year. His replacement, only a few weeks in-country, stood up to reach into his pocket when a shot rang out. He died of shock when the sniper’s bullet hit his pelvis.
The point man for my platoon came face to face with the point man of an enemy platoon on the same trail. Both men fired at each other at point-blank range on automatic. My point man was shot six times; the enemy soldier only once.
I put my soldier on a Huey while he was smoking and joking. None of the six wounds were life-threatening. The enemy soldier took one round to his head.
One lost, one won. It was called, “quick kill”.
War shows you the poverty and despair of civilians who spend their holidays rummaging in the local dumps for food or clothing. Americans have no idea how good they have it. Unless they travel to other poor countries, they cannot imagine how awful every day can be and how life is so fragile. In 1970, I realized how spoiled we Americans are and how so many feel privileged and act arrogantly. Yet, how well would they handle the loss of everything and being forced to scrounge for food in a massive town dump? I would see children and parents smile when I approached them. I could see they still had hope.
Fortunately, I got a special privilege to go to a battalion mess hall for a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving and during Christmas at firebase “Hawk Hill”, not far from Danang. I had been promoted to Company Commander and reassigned after completing seven months of field action, sleeping on the jungle floor or in foxholes. At the time, I felt so relieved. We slept in bunkers on cots with a sandbagged roof over our heads. It was great - except for the rats and occasional flooding.
Spending time in a war zone during Thanksgiving and Christmas without being able to call home (we had no cell phones, text messaging, Siri, satellite phones, PCs, or Zoom, ) is hard on your state of mind.
The holidays are an incredibly lonely time. You miss family. You miss all the festivities. You miss the good life. You become so disconnected. You wonder if anyone out there cares.
Ever since, I have tried to remember and enjoy the small things in life, especially five grandchildren.
We all make mistakes, but for some, there was no second chance.
Life is about second chances for those lucky enough to get them.
The greatest lesson is not to waste them.