European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 19, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A . Helicopter hovers in the vietnamese Jungle picking up dead and wounded  Vietnam the War correspondent s last Hurrah War correspondent Ernie Pyle died on the Battlefield while covering world War  George Esper associated press Western War correspondents and photographers waded ashore in Normandy on a Day and at iwo Jima during world War ii climbed pork chop Hill in Korea and slogged through the paddies of Vietnam with american gis. They shared their a rations dug their Foxholes and lived and died with the fighting men. Their like May never be seen again. The High tech nature of the Micro wars since Vietnam government restrictions and sensitivity to eyewitness accounts from the fighting front have sounded a Mournful Dirge for those journalistic legends of the past. Changing times and circumstances Are placing the War correspondent on the endangered species list. Since Vietnam military actions in Grenada the falklands and Panama in which Western forces were involved have been basically communique wars with on the line War correspondents acting As chroniclers and monitors almost entirely shut out. Long wars Are for third world countries now like the eight year War Between moslem rebels and the afghan soviet forces. Only a comparative handful of Western correspondents reported directly from Afghanistan either from the guerrilla or government Side and then Only sporadically and under tight restrictions. In Afghanistan and in the eight year War Between Iran and Iraq there was no commitment of american forces. Quot it was t grunts and it was a different kind of War Quot says Sydney Schanberg columnist and associate editor of new Day and himself a pulitzer prize winning War correspondent in Vietnam and Cambodia for the new York times. Quot there has t been any really continuous chronicle of these wars the Way Vietnam was chronicled. Its very episodic and therefore it does t have much of an Impact on the  Quot i think if we got into a protracted engagement american reporters would be part of it Quot says former Vietnam correspondent David Greenway now associate editor of the Boston Globe. Quot. I can t imagine the United states in our lifetime getting involved so slowly and hesitantly and staying so Long Quot As it did in Vietnam. Another Vietnam correspondent Alvin Shuster now foreign editor of the los Angeles times says the nature of War determines the role of the War correspondent. As to the kind of Access the War correspondent had in Vietnam he says Quot i think those Days Are probably gone just because of the nature of the conflicts that we be been involved with since. The circumstances Are so much  the 14-year Vietnam War might Well have been the last Hurrah for the War correspondent 500 of whom reported from there at the height of the conflict. In the latest showdown Between Iraq and the United states in the Middle East More than 50,000 american soldiers sailors and airmen were in the persian Gulf and saudi Arabia in less than a month. Cruise missiles were apparently targeted and programmed. It took six months to get 50,000 troops into Vietnam. American correspondents weren t allowed into saudi Arabia and the persian Gulf until nearly a week after . Forces arrived. And then on a Pool basis later disbanded. Quot the Pool arrangement is hardly satisfactory a says Shuster whose newspaper had a reporter in the Pool. Quot its better than  the Pool reporters operated under heavy restrictions. But Fred Hoffman a former Pentagon official and an originator of the Pool concept says its not intended to be a substitute for open coverage. A in the initial stages of some military operations there has to be secrecy Quot he says. Quot i Don t think Well Ever see anything like Vietnam again. I think this is an Era of Micro wars like Panama and Grenada. I think Vietnam was an  correspondents prepare for War today with Laptop continued on Page 14wednesday, september 19, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 13