European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 28, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday. May 28, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 13 commentary Leslie h. Gel Gulf War restored military professionalism . Service members who fought and died in the persian Gulf earned Back Honor for those who served and fell in Vietnam. Done task me exactly How. There is no real link of Honor Between the two wars. Nor should there be. Yet there is. The feeling is somehow connected to the resurrection of professionalism. Vietnam left military professionals with a deep inferiority Complex. They had fought an ultimately unwinnable War and conducted it in ways they themselves regret. Vietnam was not their War. They did not ask for it. It was a political War ignited by the false Assumption that the North vietnamese were agents of a sino soviet Monolith Bent on toppling Southeast Asia As the first of a Row of worldwide dominoes. But american soldiers sailors airmen and marines had to fight there and die there some 57,605 were killed. Most fought gallantly and with Dedica Tori. That is the truth. I remember a letter in 1966 from a lieutenant colonel a West Pointer who shared graduate school chores with me. He was commanding an air cavalry battalion and he wrote with great Pride about the bravery of his Young men and with pessimistic Awe about the nationalism that inspired the vietnamese enemy soldiers. But the War a with its unfocused political goals the doubts Back Home and the corruption of our South vietnamese allies a infested the military with a profound cynicism defense Secretary Robert mcnamara7 compounded the cynicism with his drive for numerical truth with his demands for objective measures such As body counts. Military leaders made up the numbers and passed them along. They rotated most commanders every six months before jobs were Learned just to punch career tickets. They wasted lives american and vietnamese. How ironic that this cynicism flourished in the Kennedy Johnson Era of fiery idealism. How stunning that the military restored itself in the my first years of the Reagan administration a 8y 6oq be to Max Kkt amp Levi eth amp no Onet w f. A a a a a a a a a a a a. A a a a to n0\u, ev60pv Okonma Kex the s Iuca amp my / Quot the men who actually did the fighting in Vietnam led the Way Back. They were smart sensitive educated dedicated and filled with anger and shame. I knew Many of them Well fro if my Vietnam years in the Pentagon and later in the state department. And us David Halberstam and Neil Sheehan and others who chronicled the Vietnam years recognized Many of these men in arms and not their Washington masters were the Best and the brightest. Edward a a shy Meyer a brigade commander in Vietnam became army chief of staff in 1979 and declared War on what was killing his troops race conflicts and drugs. A1 Gray who led marines in Vietnam later became Marine commandant. He took his charges out of running suits and sneakers put them Back in full gear and reminded them that their business was to fight wars. They and most of their comrades in arms would be the last to glorify the War against Iraq. The chortling and Chest thumping comes mainly from fawning politicians who decline to notice that the War pitted a first rate. Military Power against a third rate upstart who feared even to fight Back. I regret Only that the military did no to have the Confidence to let the press do its Job. The truly confident do not. Fear wit a. A Nesses. A a a a a a a a a a. A a. A a a a a a a a a a. None of this however undermines the principal Point that the . Military conducted the Gulf War with the highest degree of professionalism. They moved 541,425 people with arms into place within months ready to fight a feat that not even the most efficient corporations could match. The equipment worked or they made it work. They it did t waste lives and they made Iraq fight the War on american terms. These Are the Marks of Fine generalship. It Plain feels Good to see such a High degree of professionalism in the service of a just cause. The rebounding of the military is also Good for the country. For so much of our history the military has represented the Best of american egalitarianism and meritocracy and it has been Way ahead of our society in confronting racism and gender  a a Mick a Trainor former Marine battalion commander in Vietnam and now a retired general teaching at Harvard reflected on All this and the Bonds to Vietnam As we strolled along the Charles River. A a a you know a a lie said a live never gone to the Vietnam War memorial. Now i a a can.�?�. A a a a a. A a Tho now York times William f. Buckley  should be Able to set own rules George Roche the president of Hillsdale College resolved with the backing of the trustees to sever All connections with the Federal government. He did this in 1985 in response to the civil rights restoration a act. A a a a. Its purpose was to ensnare the whole of any College or University if anybody or anything in that College was receiving any Money from the Federal government. The history of Hillsdale College later joined by Grove City College is. The department of education is of continuing interest. In 1975, the government called on Hillsdale and everybody else to come Forward with documents to prove that the College was not discriminating against women. Hillsdale had been founded in 1844 and had a woman among the first Batch of students. It was admitting a a Blacks at a time when the government was passing the fugitive slave act. Now it was called upon to a a prove that it was not discriminating against women. Hillsdale it Al. Replied that they were not subject to the governments probing because they never solicited and  accept government Money. There was litigation. The supreme court gave an ambiguous decision whereupon under the leadership of civil rights Hawk Teddy Kennedy the fresh act was passed and it said that if any student accepted Federal Aid the entire institution the student attended was subject to the myriad civil rights Laws and regulations. Whereupon Hillsdale moved again a forbidding its students to seek government Grants or Loans and providing them itself. It costs Hillsdale a lot of Money but it is True to its principles. Now hear this. Rep. Henry Hyde r-lll., a conserva Tive and a strict constructionist is proposing a Law fashioned can the civil rights restoration act. His Bill says that no institution of learning in any Way subsidized by Federal Money May disciplined students for expressing any opinion. The Bill is designed to protect such As the Young Man recently kicked out of Brown University for getting drunk one night and muttering genocidal thoughts about jews Blacks Gays arid Mackerel snappers for All we know. _ and the question before the House is ought bad legislation the civil rights restoration act be used to effect desirable ends if indeed it Jimj desirable to protect All free speech on Campus ? at Grove City College resides a fiercely libertarian professor who is unswervingly devoted to his principles. Hans Sennholz is very nearly of retirement age and will not apply for social Security or medicare. Why because he disapproves of social Security. A so you say to him a but you had to contribute to social Security. At least you ought to withdraw As much As you put  to which he answers a is it right because someone stole from you for you to steal from someone else a the reasoning Here is that everyone a social Security Money is being spent the Day after it is collected on everything from Patriot missiles to sugar subsidies. Since professor Sennholz did no to want to participate in social Security he reasons that the government stole his Brioney. Now when he qualifies for benefits he will refuse to accept them because to do so is to spend Money stolen from younger people. A the Hyde Bill poses two questions. One of them is whether it is Wise for the government to impose first amendment rights on Campus. The second is whether arrant interference of government on Campus in behalf of civil rights which nowadays Means affirmative action is an instrument legitimately used for other  own View is that campuses ought to set their own rules on tolerable behaviour that these should be announced carefully to students applying for admission and that the government should stay out. But the lesson is Plain american colleges with the exception of those As valiant As Hillsdale and Grove City Are subjects of the government. Who would Ever have thought such a thing could happen the answer to that is the presidents of Johns Hopkins Union College the California Institute of technology the University of Missouri Stanford and Brown a former president of Columbia and the Provost of Harvard. On nov. 19, 1952, they spoke the findings of the commission on financing higher education a Branch of the association of american universities a we Are Cyri Viricel that it would be fatal were Federal support to be substantially extended. Power Means control. Diver sity disappears As control emerges. Under control our hundreds of universities and colleges would follow the order of one Central institution and the Freedom of higher education would be lost a they were right. A a  Pross Syndicate. I he opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of i he stars and stripes or the United states government