Hearts and Minds Page #3

But that's how I felt back in '67.

And during my senior year,

I said I've got an

obligation to serve.

I've got to fulfill it.

There's no reason physically

why I would be exempted,

and therefore, I'm gonna enlist.

- What you got there?

- Picture.

Picture? How much picture?

- Three thousand?

- I go beaucoup hungry. I sell 3,000.

- You go here, too much money.

- I buy watch for 1,500.

No, you sell to me?

You lie. You lie, you die.

- You give massage? What else you give?

- Yes.

Huh?

- I buy you one beer, okay?

- You-You buy me one beer?

No, no. No money.

Go home, mama-san.

Please, go home, mama-san.

No. Go home, mama-san.

No. Go home, mama-san.

Okay? No. Go home, mama-san.

- You will like.

- No. No.

Huh?

- How much?

- One thousand.

You? Ah, it's too much. Beaucoup.

Yeah, for sure. No, no good.

We thought of ourselves, I think,

as trying to defeat communists.

Defeat... Accepting a view of, uh...

the Walt Rostow kind of view...

of covert aggression of some kind.

The kind of view that enabled you

to think of the conflict...

in, really, World War II terms.

That was an unquestioned

assumption.

It had an idealistic flavor to it,

but it was the underpinning of

an imperial policy, basically.

I shared the assumption, very easily, and

felt it as an idealistic one really.

We were doing something for them.

I recall that I was in the

New York area at the time,

and I stopped by to see General MacArthur,

who I had known for several years.

Uh, when he greeted me, he made,

uh, quite a prophetic statement.

He said, "Westmoreland,

I-I see you have a new job."

He said, "I hope you appreciate

that this new assignment...

is filled with opportunities,

but fraught with hazards."

And indeed, uh,

this was a prophetic statement.

It can be described

much like, uh...

a-a-a singer doing an aria...

that's totally into what he's doing,

you know, totally feeling it.

He knows the aria,

and he's experiencing the aria.

And he knows his limits, and he knows

whether he's doing it and doing it well.

Flying an aircraft

can be a great deal like that.

What's a race driver feel like?

Why does a guy want to drive

in the Indianapolis 500?

I guess, perhaps,

the risk of dying,

being killed is part of it

that makes it thrilling.

I can tell when the aircraft feels

right, when it's about to stall.

I can tell when I cant

pull another fraction of a pound...

or the airplane will stall,

flip out and spin on me.

I would follow a pathway on something

like a TV screen in front of me...

that would direct me

right, left or center...

follow the steering, keep the

steering symbol, uh, centered.

I'd see a little attack light

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