41 Years Later, Wilbur Reflects on the Article, His Response and His Current Feelings

Photo by Brad Markel , Andrews AFB, 1991 - from “The 100 Greatest Military Photographs,” Number 89 on the list.

I should make it clear that I was a logistician, not a war fighter. The only shots I heard fired were by soldiers committing suicide at Christmas, 1966. That had a profound impact on me. I came home as I've said in November 1967, before Tet '68. I basically spent the rest of my career trying to repair the "hollow Army."

Repairing it with people and equipment. I went back to Vietnam for a year in 1970, but by then everyone knew we were just hanging on until Kissinger or someone could negotiate a peace and we could leave with some dignity.

I reread my letter a couple times, and I believe it represents my attitude and opinions at the time. My only regret on my letter is that I probably overstated my willingness to provide free gas and matches to the demonstrators who, at the time, were getting a lot of free press. I guess they were entitled to do that, I'm not sure.

I have a totally different attitude about war now than I did then. In summary, it's a good thing that the fighting Army is young. They are going to get this thing right, once and for all, and that's a laudable objective! God bless 'em!I was in a pretty structured environment at the time and had little tolerance for those who wanted to be free to do whatever they wanted to do which seemed to be what Neil was advocating. I thought you should join a commune if you wanted to do that but that a course of instruction should be just that.

It seemed to me that what Neil was advocating was a set up where the student leaders incurred no risk. If it worked, fine. If it didn't work, blame it on the establishment.

Having spent two years of my life away from my family in Vietnam with the suicides at Christmas time and then having dealt with all the drugs, divorces, child and spouse abuses that follow, to say nothing of the wounded and emotional casualties that left the Army that I never saw again, and the lack of funds to rebuild the "hollow Army," I have a totally different attitude about war now than I did then.

I think about this often, and with these latest wars, we are a victim of our own success. We save many more wounded than we did in Korea or Vietnam, but at a great cost. I hope our country is prepared to spend the resources it's going to take to care for these injured soldiers for the rest of their lives. It seems to be so easy and heroic for politicians to say we're going to war, but many or most have not a clue what that means! Maybe that's a good thing, I'm not sure

Neil Buckley and the antiwar demonstrators of the world do cross my mind occasionally. But every time, and instead of my heated emotions of that time, I thank God that we have Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press, otherwise we're just Third World.

- Col. Wilbur C. Shirey, U.S. Army, Ret.