Most soldiers interviewed at
Taegu
are sympathetic toward Kerrey
By Franklin Fisher, Taegu bureau chief
TAEGU,
South Korea — Most U.S. soldiers interviewed here Friday expressed sympathy for
former-Sen. Bob Kerrey over allegations that civilian women and children were killed in a
commando raid Kerrey led in Vietnam.
"I
look at [the allegations] as garbage, until [they’re] proved to be fact," said
Sgt. Maj. Robert Broege, with the G-3 section of the 19th Theater Support Command at Camp
Henry in Taegu, Korea. "That’s like someone coming up to me and saying that 10
years ago maybe something happened that I don’t remember that way. It’s like a
car accident. Three different people will tell you three different things about something
that happened."
One
military police sergeant based in Taegu, who declined to be identified, expressed sympathy
for Kerrey. "I just look at it as, whatever happened, happened back then," the
sergeant said. "I’ve heard a lot of different stories in my family, about
Vietnam and the things that happened in that war. I feel that whatever these guys had to
do, they had to do. I’m not here to judge anybody anyway."
"I
guess it is shocking but that war was really, the Vietnam War wasn’t fought with
definite lines and definite hills," said 1st Lt. Lori Turnbull, executive officer of
C Detachment, 176th Finance Battalion, at Camp Henry. "Progress was counted on the
number of people killed and not land taken. If you know they’re civilians, I guess
that’s wrong, but …"
Turnbull
thinks the disclosures will harm Kerrey’s shot at a run for president, because the
Vietnam-era generation exerts a big role in the nation’s political life.
"Likely,
it’ll end all hope," she said. "The Vietnam War generation is in there and
most of them were against the Vietnam War. And they decide a lot of things — about
who’ll be president. They’ll just construe him as an assassin. I guess it also
depends on how the media construes it," Turnbull said.
Spc. Jose
Velazquez of C Detachment, 516th Personnel Services Battalion, Camp Henry, saw the Mekong
Delta incident as a typical of how things can go awry in the confusion of war.
"We
all know war is chaotic, war is never orderly, and you can’t reverse what
happened," said Velazquez. "It’s one of the things about war, it’s the
harsh reality of it. The one responsible is going to live with that for the rest of his
life. You can’t turn back time."
Staff. Sgt.
Antoinette Tucker, who does logistics work with the 19th TSC’s headquarters company
in Taegu, questioned why the incident had stayed secret so long.
"I
think whatever happened needs to be told, either way," she said. "What I
don’t understand is why it took all these years to come forward. I feel that if it
was so wrong now, it would have been so wrong back then. Someone should have come forward
and said, `Look, we made a mistake’ or whatever it was, and not wait this long to
come forward."
Capt.
Adrian Brockington, commanding officer of HHD, 36th Signal Battalion, at Camp Walker,
Taegu, said he was saddened by the episode.
"It’s
sad. Yes, battle is rough and it’s strenuous. But there’s also certain laws that
war has and you’re supposed to be setting the standards. And you go beyond that, you
follow your emotions and bad things happen, and that saddens me. It also makes me happy
that someone, after all these many years, their conscience was bothering them and
they’re coming out. Especially when people are looked upon with medals as being a
hero and then it comes out that people did things that are not standard, in the legal
realm, to receive that (medal)."
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