(Via Milinet)
Fayetteville (NC) Observer
July 31, 2000
Vietnam-Era Veterans Retiring From Active Ranks
By Henry Cuningham, Military editor
Command Sgt. Maj. Francis A. Cortez Jr. retired from the Army
last
week at Fort Bragg. He was among a shrinking number of
active-duty
soldiers who served in the Vietnam War.
''It's time to go,'' Cortez said. ''It's time to let the new
generations of the United States come to grips with what they've
got
to do as their part in America's patriotism.''
The most recent figures show the U.S. Army has 1,379 people on
active
duty who are Vietnam veterans, said Martha Rudd, a spokeswoman
at
Army headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Army has 468,649
people on
active duty, according to the figures.
You might find more Vietnam veterans in the Army Reserve and
National
Guard, but their numbers in the active ranks, especially combat
units, are rapidly dipping. The Vietnam vets represent about
one-fourth of 1 percent of the active Army. And about one-fifth
of
the active Vietnam veterans are warrant officers, the Army's
technical specialists.
Cortez, who is from the Los Angeles suburb of Azusa, fought with
the
1st Cavalry Division in Southeast Asia. He has been an
operations
sergeant major in the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the
82nd
Airborne Division.
He marvels at the advances the Army has made in weaponry and
night-vision technology.
But he is amazed to see sergeants major wearing Expert
Infantryman
Badges that show proficiency in tests rather than Combat
Infantryman
Badges that show they knew how to stay alive in a combat zone.
Cortez is 52 years old. His once jet-black hair is showing gray,
but
people in his unit speak of how Cortez continued to call the
chant-and- responses known as cadences to set the pace during
morning
physical training runs on Ardennes Street.
Some younger soldiers are impressed to have served with a
soldier
whose experience in Vietnam is documented in books.
Cortez is pictured as a young soldier on the cover of the book
''LRRPs in Cambodia: MIA Rescue,'' by Kregg Jorgenson, with whom
he
fought. The author also mentions Cortez in his book ''Acceptable
Loss.''
Cortez may have been the only person in the 82nd Airborne
Division
wearing the Silver Star, the military's third highest award for
heroism.
He received the Silver Star for his actions on June 18, 1970, in
Cambodia. He was a squad member of Blues Platoon, A Troop, 1st
Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, on a rescue mission to save
soldiers
from H Company of the 75th Ranger Regiment.
During a firefight, Cortez rose from a covered position to save
two
soldiers who were wounded and lay on the ground in range of
enemy
fire. The citation said: ''With complete disregard for his own
safety, he extracted the two wounded soldiers, one at a time, to
his
covered position, while taking fire from enemy force in the tree
line.''
''The Silver Star puts him in a class by himself,'' said Col.
Leo
Brooks, commander of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The
82nd
Airborne Division had no Silver Star recipients during the
Panama
invasion in 1989 or the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
''To know what it takes to be awarded that award and to be done
as a
young soldier, which generally means more heroism,'' Brooks
said.
''That, everybody stands in awe of.''
Leaving the army
With their departure, the Vietnam veterans are leaving the Army
without anyone who has known sustained combat.
It is the first time in decades that there will be no veterans
of
long wars in the Army.
World War I veterans were the senior leaders in World War II.
The
World War II veterans were there in Korea and Vietnam.
The Vietnam veterans until recently have been represented among
the
ranks of the senior sergeants and officers.
''Your Vietnam veteran is now out of the picture,'' Cortez said.
''With them, goes a lot of expertise. We've had different
conflicts.
We've got well-trained soldiers. They can adapt, and they
will.''
Before his departure as commander of Fort Bragg and the 18th
Airborne
Corps, Gen. Buck Kernan reflected on the vanishing Vietnam
veterans.
''The experience factor is missing from those who have not
served in
Vietnam,'' said Kernan, who served with the 101st Airborne
Division
during the war. ''You can't build that into training. I think we
are
mentally and physically prepared for it, but we have not
experienced
it.
''If we were to get into a long, protracted war, would there be
challenges? Absolutely. I think that's something we would get
through.''
In a sense, Vietnam was the baby boomers' war. Sadly, the
country
called on its young men and turned on them as the nation turned
sour
on the war in the late 1960s. Cortez was drafted into the Army,
but
the words of the late President John F. Kennedy rang in his
ears:
''Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do
for
your country.''
He reported into the Army in January 1969 and arrived in Vietnam
in
August. On his first day in Vietnam, there were 27 casualties
among
arriving soldiers.
''It was an ugly war,'' he said. ''You were a young kid getting
pulled off a football field. Next thing you know, you've got a
weapon
in your hand, and you are trying to stay alive.''
During the next year, he found himself patrolling in small
groups of
soldiers behind enemy lines.
''It was very hard,'' he said. ''Everybody had the same thought
process. I've got to fire to stay alive. I've got to be on my
toes.
I've got to see the enemy. I've got to engage the enemy, take
him out
before he takes me out.''
Cortez pauses with emotion as he recalls his return to the
United
States. Instead of being thanked, he was spat upon and called a
baby
killer by two young women in California.
'' I didn't care what anybody said but, 'Thank you,' '' he said.
''But to call me a murderer, to call me a baby killer, to spit
in my
face. That hurt. ... When they did that to me, it really put me
in a
world of limbo,'' he said. ''I was really tormented by it.''
Cortez credits his wife, Rose, 47, with helping him get his
perspective back. He left the Army for seven years.
Mrs. Cortez had several brothers in the military and could
sympathize
with what he was going through.
''I didn't laugh a lot or make fun of him when he would jump
from a
backfire or certain things that would trigger off a sound of
Vietnam
or helicopters,'' she said. ''Sometimes he would hear the
helicopter
and I could tell. He would just go off in a distance.''
Dreams haunt him, he said.
Cortez plans to return to California and spend time with his
wife,
children and grandchildren.
He said he is optimistic about turning the Army over to people
like
1st Sgt. Michael Huffman, whom he knew 20 years ago when Huffman
was
a young private.
''I remember back then the Vietnam vets were all our squad
leaders
and our platoon sergeants and our first sergeants,'' Huffman
said.
''There were very few noncommissioned officers that weren't Nam
vets
except for the team leaders and the younger sergeants.''
Cortez said the soldiers today have good training and equipment.
''The only thing they need to do is pay attention to detail, and
they
will never have a problem,'' he said. ''I don't think there's
anything that will hold up against them.''
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