If you have ever read We Were Soldiers Once and Young you should read the follow-up book We Are Soldiers Still by Hal Moore and Joe Galloway. It is the story about Hal Moore, then a retired Lt General taking a group of his men from LZ X-Ray back to South Vietnam and into North Vietnam to meet the men they fought against. It is an interesting study in the different military cultures and the effect of war on both sides during and after a conflict.
One of the very poignant moments in the book is when they were in Hanoi, all seated at a banquet table, alternating, NVA officer, American, NVA, etc. A NVA Colonel during the meal asks the American sitting next to him: What rank were you during the battle. I was a Sargent. What did you do during the battle: I was a machine gunner. Where were you during the battle: I was a machine gunner overlooking the dry creek bed. The NVA Colonel gasped and exclaimed, "You killed my entire battalion."
Hal Moore is a very impressive man, he re-wrote the training manual for basic training, changing the emphasis from training through fear and intimidation (Patton Method) to training through leadership, love and respect. He was an instructor at West Point and his students, his disciples, are the who's who list of modern US Generals, in the modern US Army. One General in particular regarded Moore as his personal hero and the man that taught him the most about leadership, Norman Schwarzkopf. Hal Moore is regarded as the most influential General in the US Army in the last 50 years.
Ed
One of the very poignant moments in the book is when they were in Hanoi, all seated at a banquet table, alternating, NVA officer, American, NVA, etc. A NVA Colonel during the meal asks the American sitting next to him: What rank were you during the battle. I was a Sargent. What did you do during the battle: I was a machine gunner. Where were you during the battle: I was a machine gunner overlooking the dry creek bed. The NVA Colonel gasped and exclaimed, "You killed my entire battalion."
Hal Moore is a very impressive man, he re-wrote the training manual for basic training, changing the emphasis from training through fear and intimidation (Patton Method) to training through leadership, love and respect. He was an instructor at West Point and his students, his disciples, are the who's who list of modern US Generals, in the modern US Army. One General in particular regarded Moore as his personal hero and the man that taught him the most about leadership, Norman Schwarzkopf. Hal Moore is regarded as the most influential General in the US Army in the last 50 years.
Ed