Mc Namara's Revenge

Robert S. McNamara (1916 – 2009) has passed away and I was not sad at first. I had for years blamed him for my being in the military. Now after all these years, my thoughts have changed a little. I know that it was my own idea to join the Army. I know that my mind was way out in front of my body. I had reasons for changing the course of my military time, moving from officer candidate school to eventually the same area at Ft. Gordon GA (the White barracks) where I attended signal school. I know that the long time I spent in basic training were the results of the program Project 100,000 that was designed to provide more troops for the military. It was set to provide men to do the ordinary jobs, so that the more physically proficient could do the combat roles. It was completely different than that.
Many of the participants did have a high education level and those people did do more skilled jobs including serving in combat areas such as Viet Nam. Yes some were eventually ground troops who did a lot of very messy fighting. I did end up in communications, the military police, a base librarian and yes I did do reenlistment interviews for a somewhat lazy second lieutenant. What I now like to remember is that without this program I would have missed meeting my best friend. I would never have spent 11 months in South Korea. I would never have known the area were the TV show M.A.S.H. was set. I do not want to write a book about my experiences at this juncture. All I want to say is that as Mc Namara’s feelings about the war changed my opinion of him changed. Not just because he was more in agreement with me but because, with time, I remember more of the fun times I had and have come to believe that he did help me.

Historians have written that Project 100,000 was not a success, but it was not a total failure, either. Some of us did come out of it better people.

To those who did not make it home, the rest of us do know what you had to go through to accomplish those things that you did accomplish.
We are here to remind the current generation of your sacrifice and to remind people that those who gave it all in Viet Nam are just as good as those who fought and died in any other fight.