Taps For David Hackworth

When I was a wise-ass ROTC
cadet back in the Reagan years, I read a book that not only made clear
the inchoate impressions I had of the profession of arms, but put those
first amorphous inklings  into a context that validated for me the
thought that you could recognize the difference between what was true
and honorable about military service and what was complete bold face
bullshit about it.  This book made it possible to look with a
critical eye at the military without being labeled a damn dirty
hippy.  That book was About Face by Colonel David Hackworth.

The quick and dirty story on COL Hackworth was that he lied about his
age to get into the Army at  fifteen.  He then worked his way
up from private to a battlefield commission in Korea.  After a
couple of tours in Vietnam where he really made his bones and was being
groomed for one of the top slots, he blew his stack during a TV
interview and called what we were doing in Vietnam pointless and
futile.  There is something incredibly noble about someone who is
willing to throw their future out the window because they won’t go
along with the bullshit program anymore.

More info about Hackworth and his work since his departure from the Army can be found at his personal website here, and at the Soldiers For The Truth website.

A few years ago Slate ran
a piece on COL Hackworth that was  highly critical of him and his
self-mythology.   Despite whatever pot shots they took at his
particular brand of battlefield prose and his habit of making himself
part of any story,  they couldn’t deny that he was a hero.