Three veterans of the Vietnam War met recently to discuss the war and share their experiences, thoughts and opinions of the war and its effect on their lives.
The veterans were: Ryan McCombie, a retired Navy SEAL; Brent Pasquinelli, a former Army engineer; and Bruce Heim, a former Army Airborne Ranger.
The war was unpopular with the American public, and was seen by many as an unnecessary conflict.
This produced two very different perspectives among the troops, according to the vets. Troops who had been drafted saw their service strictly as fulfilling a legal obligation, while officers saw it as a step in their career path.
Pasquinelli describes his feelings upon arriving in Vietnam. “I landed there in 1969. I was 19 years of age. Within three or four days, my head was spinning from two things: poor morale among the troops, even the officers, and the people tested us – they didn’t want us there,” Pasquinelli says.
McCombie concurred with Pasquinelli that the South Vietnamese people did not want the American troops in their country. He noted the history of Vietnam, and how it had been occupied by numerous other countries: China, Japan (in World War II), and France, which had colonized Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The Vietnamese defeated the French in 1954, and beginning in the late 1950’s, American advisors began arriving with the goal of preventing Vietnam from becoming a communist state.
“They finally throw off the yoke of France, and in comes the United States,” says McCombie. “They saw us as just another colonist country. I doubt if they knew why we were there.”
Pasquinelli describes the Vietnamese as “gentle people.”
During his stay in Vietnam, McCombie lived with Vietnamese civilians. “It absolutely gave me a different perspective on the world. That was the first time I was exposed to people very different from me who had homes, who had families, who had hopes, wishes, and dreams,” says McCombie.
The vets agree that Vietnam was a different type of war than previous wars. It was a jungle guerrilla-type conflict with no clearly defined battle lines.
“We fought it according to World War II strategy and tactics, but it was a different war,” says McCombie. “Taking and holding land was useless.”
The men talked about their daily experiences in Vietnam. “My experience was from absolute, complete boredom to sheer terror. I think that can be said for any war,” adds Pasquinelli. McCombie agrees. “You get into a routine – this is what you do – and then you have those moments or events interspersed in that routine,” he says.
McCombie spoke of how returning Vietnam veterans were treated by a sometimes hostile American public. “When I came back from Vietnam, at Travis Air Force Base, I walked out of the airport to get my civilian flight, I went through the protest lines of San Francisco, where they were throwing things at us,” he says. “The bottom line is we know what we did and we’re proud of it,” says Pasquinelli. “But we didn’t talk about it for decades.”
Political factors figured heavily in the war’s outcome, the veterans say. The North Vietnamese mounted the Tet offensive in January of 1968. It was an all-out attempt to overthrow the South Vietnamese government, but was crushed by the Americans and our allies. It was a military victory, but a political loss for the Americans, fostering mistrust in the government. “Our government had gone out and said we won this war, but the journalists said ‘if we already won the war and destroyed these people, how in the world could they do this?’” says McCombie. “We won the battle, but lost the war at that point,” says Pasquinelli.
The vets agree that their Vietnam War experiences have affected their lives in major ways. “By almost losing your life, you come out of that experience with a sense of urgency and gusto as to how to approach life, and since that time I have always tried to grab as much life as possible,” says Pasquinelli. The other vets agree that they value life more since their Vietnam service.
Heim notes that Vietnam veterans are rapidly disappearing from the American population. “The death rate (of Vietnam veterans) is 600 a day, and in less than 10 years at the same attrition rate, there will be no veterans alive from Vietnam, and the death rate of Vietnam vets is way faster than the general population,” he says.
Pasquinelli sums up his overall feelings about the war.
“In spite of all the low morale among the ranks and the officers, and not having the backing of most of the country, and the political controversy, I have so much respect — completely inspiring — that under the most difficult circumstances you can imagine, we still prevailed, and that I am very proud of,” he says.
Centre County lost many men in the Vietnam War. Their names and hometowns, as near as can be determined from available records, are as follows:
Denis E. Abbott, Philipsburg
Aaron B. Aumiller, Bellefonte
William B. Breon, Philipsburg
Melvin L. Dolby, Philipsburg
Raymond A. Dubbs, Bellefonte
Francis E. Dunlap, Jr., Bellefonte
George E. Eaton, Blanchard
David J. Eckenrode, Bellefonte
Dale C. Fisher, Bellefonte
Robert L. Gable, Philipsburg
Stephen T. Kucas, Bellefonte
Donald R. Lucas, Centre Hall
William F. Merrill, State College
David G. Myers (MIA), State College
Theodore M. Ropchock, Philipsburg
George B. Rusnak, Philipsburg
Michael P. Segich, Philipsburg
Lewis P. Smith II, Bellefonte
Thomas D. Steele, unknown
Robert W. Swigart, State College
Milford H. Wensel, Howard
Danforth E. White (MIA), State College
William I. White, unknown
May they not be forgotten.
— Compiled by Sam Stitzer
