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The Vietnam War—as seen
through an officer’s eyes
By Sue Krenek
Battalion News Editor
America’s images of Vietnam are
seen through the eyes of the enlisted
man, a nightmare of rice paddies and
Hueys, firefights and napalm.
Or the images are glamorized, fictio
nalized and Hollywoodized, enshrining
Rambo as the epitome of the Vietnam
warrior and making it possible for Rob
ert Duvall in Apocalypse Now to de
stroy a village so he could capture a
good place to surf.
Bryan Cole knows neither of these
Vietnams.
As an Army captain assigned to a mil
itary assistance command unit from
March 1969 to March 1970, Cole didn’t
experience the “heat of direct combat.”
Instead, the West Point graduate, who’s
now the associate dean for student af
fairs for Texas A&M’s College of Edu
cation, acted as an adviser on personnel
matters for Vietnamese troops and later
directed in-and-out processing for
American forces in the military assis
tance command.
Cole’s experiences in Vietnam often
bore little resemblance to those of the
enlisted men. While stationed in Phu-
Cuong, he lived not in barracks but in
the town’s only hotel, a decidedly spar
tan affair.
He tells of evenings spent on the
roof, four stories up, playing cards and
watching firefights around the village.
“It was a strange situation,” he says,
“that you could be a part of it and at the
same time you were removed from it.”
Often the officer-enlisted man dis
tinction was far less defined.
Enlisted men in Vietnam were thrust
in and out of combat situations in ex
tremely short periods of time. After the
war, they were often sent directly home
— sometimes still covered in dirt from
the jungles.
Advisers were subjected to the same
sudden changes. The American advis
ers Cole worked with were responsible
for advising Vietnamese units militarily,
and he says it wasn’t unusual for an ad
viser to get a radio call from a sur
rounded unit and be taken to join the
For most people, the Vietnam War
will probably be remembered as a dark
page in American history. But for some,
the war is more than just history — it is
an experience they cope with every day.
The number of Vietnam veterans
suffering from post-traumatic stress
syndrome is hard to determine, says Dr.
Merrill Lipton, a psychiatrist with the
Texas A&M College of Medicine.
Because a person can develop symp
toms many years after the traumatic ex
perience has occurred, estimates of vet
erans suffering from post-traumatic
stress are not conclusive, he says, add
ing that many veterans don’t develop
symptoms until they are in their 50s or
60s.
“It’s only recently that people began
recognizing post-traumatic stress disor
der as something normal that can hap
pen to anyone,” Lipton says. “Post-trau
matic stress syndrome is far more
men in the field.
In these cases, the difference be
tween a card game and a battlefield was
a ten-minute helicopter ride.
Cole has faced many of the same
questions and problems as other Viet
nam veterans, but his military training
gives him a different perspective on
U.S. involvement in the area.
“It was a legitimate mission,” he says,
“but it was not carried out in such a way
that we could fulfill that mission. What
we were trying to do was good but the
way we went about it was bad.
“Several basic principles of war were
violated because of the position that we
took as a nation. . . . This meant that it
was an unwinnable war under those
conditions. From a military standpoint
it was definitely winnable. From a politi
cal standpoint it was an unwinnable
war.”
These restrictions on U.S. involve
ment, Cole says, are what make Viet
nam different from any other U.S. war.
Restrictions imposed by the Vietnam
ese bureaucracy meant that U.S. units
could not act without approval from the
Vietnamese, and U.S. political restric
tions affected military decisions as well
as the troops themselves.
“We as a nation never declared war,”
common than was once believed.”
Although most people associate post-
traumatic stress syndrome with Viet
nam veterans, veterans from such wars
as World War U and the Korean War
have been diagnosed with the disorder.
Lipton says many people have mis
conceptions about post-traumatic stress
syndrome, which is a group of symp
toms that result from traumatic events
outside the realm of ordinary human
experience.
Anyone can suffer from post-trau
matic stress syndrome — war experi
ence is not the only cause. However, all
traumatic experiences don’t result in
post-traumatic stress syndrome.
“While the death of a relative may be
very traumatic, it is not outside the
realm of ordinary human experience
and therefore cannot result in post-
traumatic stress,” Lipton says.
However, he says, rapes and hostage
situations are among the many differ
ent traumas that can cause post-trauma-
he says, “and because of that there were
a lot of political and military things that
we could not do legally. It also left us
without a national commitment.”
That lack of commitment made mo
rale a problem for many soldiers, but
Cole says he simply continued to try to
do his job.
“I think in a case like that it makes it
difficult, but you have to, within your
own mind and soul, resolve what you
think is right and then do the best job
you can.”
Although Cole says he wasn’t really
affected by the national attitude toward
the war while he was in Vietnam, re
turning home made him realize how far
removed most Americans were from
the reality of the war.
“My dad asked me to go to a golf as
sociation meeting,” he said, “and I went
out there and this guy I’d known all my
life came up to me. I wasn’t expecting
accolades, but it wasn’t ‘Good to see
you,’ or ‘Glad you’re back’ but ‘You sure
have a good tan.’ And that was all the
relevance it had for him.”
Cole has experienced no psychologi
cal after-effects of his tour of duty in
Vietnam, something he attributes to his
military training.
“My classmates and the guys who
have come out of the Corps or things
like that have a different degree of in
tensity of training and, I think, a better
understanding of what happens or what
is to happen,” he says. “They’d have a
greater appreciation of what was ex
pected and, again, the ability to deal
with the reality once they got into it.”
That reality is never far away for
Cole. “It’s still very much alive,” he says.
But he feels that America’s experiences
in Vietnam make involvement in future
conflicts much less likely.
“If it does make us shy away from a
situation in the future, that’s good,” he
says, “because what it does is it makes us
more cautious, and I think it also has
been helpful from the standpoint of
making us realize that we are not inde
structible, we are not invulnerable, and
therefore when we go into a situation
we’d better know what we’re getting in-
to.”^
tic stress.
The symptoms associated with the
disorder were diagnosed as other prob
lems until 1980 when they were
grouped together and labeled. It is
usually treated with individual or group
therapy and medication.
Research has shown that people who
are brutalized by other people have a
higher rate of post-traumatic stress than
those suffering from trauma as a result
of some natural phenomena, Lipton
says.
Lipton is currently conducting re
search on preventing post-traumatic
stress, and says that a decompression
period, or a period of rest, before re
turning home may be one prevention
method.
“It is very important to convey the
message that having emotional prob
lems or post-traumatic stress is nothing
to be ashamed of— it’s a common prob
lem and there’s help available,” Lipton
says. ★
Aggie KIAs
Maj. Bruno A. Hochmuth ’35
Col. Leonard D. Holder ’42
Lt. Col. John S. Bonner ’44
Lt. Col. Edward L. Williams ’49
Lt. Col. Elden Golden ’50
Sgt. Graham H. Howison ’51
Capt. Royal Clifton Fisher ’52
Capt. Heriberto A. Garcia ’52
Maj. Teddy J. Tomchesson ’52
Capt. Russell W. Condon ’55
Maj. Hadley Foster ’55
Capt. Julius J. Johns ’55
Capt. Richard E. Steel ’55
Capt. Dalton M. Estein ’56
Maj. John M. Kessinger’56
Capt. Ernest McFeron ’56
Capt. Condon H. Terryjr. ’56
Capt. Charles C. Jones ’57
Maj. Tedd M. Lewis ’57
Capt. Foy Manion Mathis ’57
Capt. James C. Caston ’58
Capt. Don Thomas Elledge ’58
Lt. Cmdr. Robert D. Johnson ’58
Capt. Donald D. Blair ’59
Maj. Allen G. Goehring ’59
Capt. Donald R. Hawley ’59
John F. Martin ’59
Maj. Allan L. Smith ’59
Lt. Ronald D. Stewart ’59
Lt. Billy J. Coley ’60
Capt. William F. Cordell Jr. ’60
Capt. Floyd W. Kaase ’60
Capt. Byron C. Stone ’60
Maj. James M. Vrbajr. ’60
Lt. James C. Thigpin ’61
Capt. Gerald J. Walla’61
Capt. Gregory K. Whitehouse ’61
Capt. Thomas H. Ralph Jr. ’62
Lt. James L. Reed ’62
Capt. Ralph B. Walker II ’62
Capt. Charles F. Allen II ’63
Donnie Ray Dehart ’63
Capt. Johnny L. Garner ’63
Lt. George Gutierrez Jr. ’63
Lt. James R. Hottenroth ’64
Capt. George L. Hubler ’64
Lt. Colin E. Lamb ’64
Capt. Thomas A. McAdams ’64
Capt. Henry G. Mundt II ’64
Lt. John B. Price ’64
Warrant Officer Wesley W. Carroll III
’65
Lt. John C. Dougherty ’65
Lt. John Hernandez ’65
Capt. Charles D. Jageler ’65
Aubrey G. Martin ’65
Richard A. Oman ’65
Lt. Jose C. Santos ’65
Lt. Victor H. Thompson III ’65
Capt. Albert A. Tijerina Jr. ’65
Lt. R. Bryson Vann ’65
Capt. Jack Patrick Blake ’66
Capt. Joseph Bush Jr. ’66
Lt. Michael R. Callaway ’66
Lt. Clyde W. Campbell ’66
Lt. James A. Dimock ’66
Sgt. Larry K. Kaiser ’66
Capt. Carl E. Long ’66
Lt. James E. Neely ’66
Capt. Eugene C. Oates III ’66
Lt. Stephen R. Tubre ’66
Maj. Elbert A. Welsh ’66
Sgt. John T. Whitson ’66
Lt. Layne Hale Connevey ’67
Cpl. Converse R. Lewis III ’67
Lt. John E. Russell ’67
Lt. Andrew D. Smith ’67
Cpl. Tom M. Boyd III ’68
Lt. Marvin S. Arthington ’68
Lt. James M. Butler ’68
Lt. Richard E. Harlan '68
Capt. Steven B. Johnston ’68
Capt. James E. Morton Jr. ’68
Lt. Michael D. Noonan ’68
Lt. Kevin A. Rinard ’68
Lt. Rayburn L. Smith III ’68
Lt. George T. Taff ’68
Spec. 5 James Ned Woolley ’68
Lt. James H. Cartwright ’69
Sgt. Jeffrey E. Cowley ’69
Lt. Robert H. Johnson ’69
Spec. 4 Sanderfierd Jones ’69
Pfc. Bill Kildare ’69
Capt. Walter S. Mullen ’69
Lt. Vincent C. Anderson ’70
Chief Warrant Officer Phillip R.
Pannell ’72
The remains of the following, once
listed as MIA, have been returned:
Maj. William Eugene Jones ’62
Lt. Col. Irving B. Ramsower II ’57
Capt. George P. McKnight ’58
The following are listed as KIA. Their
bodies have not been recovered:
Lt. Col. Walter VanCleave ’48
Lt. Donald J. Matocha ’66
Number of veterans who suffer
from stress syndrome inconclusive
By Curtis Leonard
Reporter