Leadership: May 7, 2000

Archives

Only 2,857 of the 1.37 million men and women currently on active duty have Vietnam combat experience. Within ten years there will be none. In the last only four of the 43 generals and admirals have served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff were not Vietnam veterans. Most of the coming generation of military leaders have not "seen the elephant" (been in combat.) In the past, this has meant that combat leadership in a future war will be shaky, since a lack of direct experience with combat leads to more bad, and costly, decisions under fire.

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close