Decisions will soon be made which will set the future of the "War on Terror". Troop levels and missions will have to be set for Afghanistan. There will be much bowing and scraping to the military experts. Some of it will be out of respect for technical expertise. Some will be as a cover so that responsibility for decisions made can be deflected. Some will be an reflex antidemocratic longing to be lead by a strong leader.
Inspite of the contempt heaped on the Vietnam Vetrans by people like Donald Rumsfeld, the war was fought with skill, courage, and scrafice. I was surprised after all these years to be given a new perspective on my small part in the war, and entreat you to trust your own judgement on the further prosecution of this century's wars and not to defer to our military or political elites.
I was an enlisted sailor on the USS Newport News. It was a marvel of World War II technology. The last of a long line of gun ships. Built to take on Japanese battleships and cruisers with its automatic eight inch guns and fire control radar, it could have kicked ass against any gunship, but naval warfare had passed it by. It was defenseless against submarines, aircraft, and even small Styx missile boats. By 1972 it could no longer be considered a "Ship of the Line" it was gunfire support ship suitable for shore bombardment.
In August of 1972 the American role in the Vietnam War was phased out. Major ground action involving US troops was ending. "Only" 33 Americans died in Vietnam that month. The principle US action was Naval and Air attacks against North Vietnam, and in a support role with the ARVN forces. On the 27th the Navy mined Haiphong harbour and launched history's last multi ship big gun naval battle the commander of the US Pacific fleet made a point of coming aboard the cruiser to ride along for the raid. He was a good admiral while I observed him in the Combat Information Center he stayed out of the way and allowed everyone to do their jobs.
As the Newport News and the destroyer Rowan were leaving the Harbor several PT boats came out. We sunk or disabled at least two of the boats, and naval air finished them off.
The engagement with the PT boats made this the only night time naval surface battle fought by the US Navy since WWII. Here is a link about the battle with an amazing sound clip from the gunners sound circuit and Captain Zartman's after action report to the ship.
From Admiral Holloway's official biography:
He took command of the US Seventh Fleet in 1972 during the Vietnam War, and personally led a cruiser-destroyer gunfire strike against the main North Vietnamese port of Haiphong. During Operation Linebacker Two, he directed the massive carrier strikes against Hanoi which were a part of the intensive joint air effort which led to the Vietnam cease-fire in 1973. Under his command the Seventh Fleet subsequently performed the airborne mine clearing operations in North Vietnam ports in accordance with the terms of the Paris Peace Accords. For duty as Commander, Seventh Fleet, he received a third Distinguished Service Medal.
He makes a point of highlighting this action from his 36 year career which included being the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He includes a full chapter on battle in his book Aircraft Carriers at War: A Personal Retrospective of Korea, Vietnam, and the Soviet Confrontation .
It was a memorable part of my life which I regard with pride, even though I hated that war and tried desparately to stay away from.
Like most of the operations in that war the action was meticulously planned and professionally executed. Tactics were developed by compitent military men using the tools and weapons available to accomplish objectives laid out by the highest Governmental authority.
An Amzon book review by "Swift" of Adm. Holloway's book gave me new insight into the "Battle of Haiphong Horbor", specifically this section:
For example, we are told of the exciting raid on Haiphong harbor -- it's a great narrative and everybody involved was heroic in the actual action. But what's missing is that it was a stupid raid. What, exactly, was the point of attacking shore positions (defended with fixed artillery) with 6 (sic) inch guns? Sure, they blew up a few small ammo dumps (2 or 3 secondary explosions, I believe the tally was). Clearly this was a raid conducted without any sort of forethought as to what the ultimate objective was - as it were, it went more or less ok - but had there been an unfortunate incident, people would have demanded the rolling of heads since there was no real point to it given the risks involved.
book review
Those PT boats got within range to launch torpedos. One or more ships could have been disabled within range of enemy artillery and planes. More than a thousand sailors along with the CINPAC commander could have been left on the bottom of Haiphong Harbor just to blow up some costal defense which were harmless if left alone. Those heroic Vietnamese sailors were presented with the opportunity to humble the world's most powerful Navy and create an legendary Naval victory. It was in fact the best possible outcome, for the US - it wasn't a disastor, but there were other possible catastrophic endings.
Which brings me back to Afghanistan. If you can not clearly see a likely result which makes sense to you it is cowardice to think "Well maybe everything will turn out alright, the experts must know better than me."
As for me I say "cut and run".