Good Soldier Dresses Right!, A.

A good soldier dresses right!

xxix these soldiers are not about to throw their medals away x

'



By NATALIE MEISLER

As Vietnam Veterans Against
the War (VVAW) recently became
the vanguard of the antiwar
movement, little or nothing has
been heard from veterans who still
support continued military pres-
ence in Indochina. They do exist
and although they may not agree
with the way the war is being
conducted, these vets are not
about to throw their medals away.

A recent’ nation-wide ~ poll

showed 56 per cent of the—

population now favors an imme-
diate withdrawal from Vietnam. If
comments from many local anti-
war veterans are any indication,
then veterans who want the
fighting to continue for one
reason or another are clearly a
minority.

While local VVAW membership
is now around 75, the Daily was
able to contact six Boulder
ex-Gl’s whose opinions on the war
ranged from acceptance of the
situation to a desire to invade
North Vietnam.

Generally, the vets who are
against an immediate withdrawal
keep contacts with other veterans
who have the same _ opinions.
Several antiwar veterans asked if
they knew any other veterans in
the area who favored continuing
the war said “not a one,” or “all
the guys | know are against the
war including those in Vietnam.”
One person active in VVAW said
he has never met any but would
sure like to speak to one.

The relation between experience
in Vietnam and present reasons
for opposing immediate with-
drawal were most apparent with
two former members of the
Special Forces ““A’” Team (green
berets). Tom Crucet and D‘Uyne
Fowler, both 25, spent a year near
the Cambodian border with a
tribe of descendents from original
Chinese settlers in Vietnam.

Between September 1969 and
September 1970 Fowler and Cru-
cet along with six other green
berets set up a hospital in the
village of the tribe whose history,
Crucet said, was comparable to
that of the American Indians.

Although Crucet said he was in

agreement with war policies be-—

fore he went to Vietnam, his
feelings now are more for personal
than political reasons. He said he
believed his unit was really ‘’help-
ing these people.”

“! know for a fact there would
be consequences of immediate
withdrawal — the Viet Cong
would exterminate these people,”
Crucet said. Before the invation of
Cambodia last spring Crucet said
it was frustrating to receive enemy
fire from across the border and
not be able to retaliate.

“| was jumping for joy when |
learned of the invasion,”’ he said.

Crucet said he felt the same way
about the incursion in Laos
because of the number of Viet
Cong supplies along the Ho Chi
Minh trail that went through
Laos.

Crucet like many others inter-
viewed admitted he had mixed
feelings about the morality of the
war but his South Vietnamese
friends could not be deserted
now.

He said he has no antagonism
but little support for the VVAW
but added that everyone who
went to Vietnam had different
experiences. He disagreed with
throwing medals back to the
government because he “worked

hard and earned” his decorations.

All ex-Gl’s interviewed were

asked about their attitudes toward :

the Lt. William Calley trial and
the issue of atrocities in Vietnam.
Crucet said if Calley is guilty of

killing unarmed civilians then he is ~

guilty of murder, but in this war
women and children are consi-
dered combatants.

The atrocities are wrong, he
said, but these things happen
unless you take the time to see if
the women will fire upon you.

Crucet was a staff sergeant when
discharged and is now a business
and pre-law student at the Univer-
sity. He also is a member of the
American Legion although he
doesn’t attend very often because
most of the members are “‘old
men.”

Fowler is a pre-med student at
the University. He attacked the
coverage of the war in the media
as being responsible for the
public’s attitude against the war.

He said he believes the Ameri-
can people have never been
informed as to what kind of war it
really is. It is not conventional
war, but a guerrilla war and a
dirty war, he added.

The green berets should never
have been phased out of Indo-
china Fowler said, and he did not
think the assassination of a South
Vietnamese double agent by a
Special Forces member should
have been announced.

“What you don’t know won't
hurt you,” he said.

The politicians rather than the
military lost the war, according to
Fowler. —



* orig edition

Can’t you hear that rooster crowing,

rabbit running down the road

underneath the bridge where the water
flowed through?

so happy to see you smile

underneath this sky of blue

on this new morning, new morning,

on this new morning with you

It is only a matter of time
Fowler said, before South Viet-
nam falls to the Communists. As a
strong proponent of the domino
theory, he said he believed Laos,
Cambodia and Thailand will also

~ fall.

“‘The war should have been won
in 1967,” he said. Had a complete
blockade of Haiphong been in
effect, we could have “brought
North Vietnam to its knees,” he
said.

To understand their military
strategy, one has to understand
the Oriental mind, Fowler said.
They continue to fight because
they know they have more time
than the Americans.

He said the method of American
military training is responsible for
atrocities. Over a year and one-
half elapsed between the time he
started training and went to
Vietnam. He said highly trained
men are keyed up for the combat
situation as he compared his unit
to a football team preparing for
one special game of the season.

Fowler agreed with Crucet in
support of the Cambodian inva-
sion. ‘It was far overdue” and
nothing was wrong with it, Fowler
said. There were actually three
different wars going on in South-
east Asia with the addition to
Thailand, he said.

He said there was warfare there
in 1966 when he was a civilian
accompanying his father, a civil
engineer.

Fowler, who was not wounded,
admitted that if he had been in
the infantry he might have felt
differently about the war, but he
joined the Special Forces as a
medic so he could help the
Vietnamese people.

While Crucet’s and Fowler’s
main concern about leaving Viet-
nam was the commitment to the

(continued on page 2)







— bob dylan



cesta ea gc

eres