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| They Didn't Mind Losing a Few Good Men For a Little Glory |
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By
Linda Bordner U.S. Veteran Dispatch Staff Writer March 2001 |
A veteran of 21 years
and two terms of Vietnam War service under
his belt, Sides recounts a particularly
striking Vietnam memory.
"I remember my last tour in Vietnam when they announced the war was ending, and they'd be sending the troops home. Everybody was glad because we knew we'd be going home. But the battalion commander just kept sending us out and sending us out, trying to get us in a firefight.
"I'd been in the infantry 12-14 years, so it was obvious to me he was trying deliberately to get us into firefights. I'll always remember when it came to me. I was standing up on this mountain in Vietnam and the realization hit me: There are commanders not above losing a few good men to get a little glory."
For soldiers like Sides, the issue of accountability of military authority hits very close to home. "When the brass makes a mistake, they don't particularly want it advertised."
Once home in the U.S., Sides - like many vets - put the experience behind him. "If I was in a room with say 30 people and the subject of Vietnam came up, I was out of there."
But the lack of accountability for lost and missing servicemen eventually got the better of him. He says he came out of that closet of silence in the 1980s, along with lots of fellow vets.
"I thought back to that day on the mountaintop," he remembers, being sent into the firefight for the advancement of some commander's career. Sides admits the practice is by no means new.
During the Civil War, President Lincoln was notorious for allowing his generals to use U.S. soldiers like cannon fodder and there have always been problems with U.S. prisoners of war being abandoned.
Still it seemed to Sides if our own government disavowed their existence, and if veterans didn't stand up for their own, who would?
"I remember my last tour in Vietnam when they announced the war was ending, and they'd be sending the troops home. Everybody was glad because we knew we'd be going home. But the battalion commander just kept sending us out and sending us out, trying to get us in a firefight.
"I'd been in the infantry 12-14 years, so it was obvious to me he was trying deliberately to get us into firefights. I'll always remember when it came to me. I was standing up on this mountain in Vietnam and the realization hit me: There are commanders not above losing a few good men to get a little glory."
For soldiers like Sides, the issue of accountability of military authority hits very close to home. "When the brass makes a mistake, they don't particularly want it advertised."
Once home in the U.S., Sides - like many vets - put the experience behind him. "If I was in a room with say 30 people and the subject of Vietnam came up, I was out of there."
But the lack of accountability for lost and missing servicemen eventually got the better of him. He says he came out of that closet of silence in the 1980s, along with lots of fellow vets.
"I thought back to that day on the mountaintop," he remembers, being sent into the firefight for the advancement of some commander's career. Sides admits the practice is by no means new.
During the Civil War, President Lincoln was notorious for allowing his generals to use U.S. soldiers like cannon fodder and there have always been problems with U.S. prisoners of war being abandoned.
Still it seemed to Sides if our own government disavowed their existence, and if veterans didn't stand up for their own, who would?
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