Hindsight: History in clear rearview

  • Published
  • By Squadron Leader Guy Wood
  • 343rd Training Squadron
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas --  Take yourself back to 1965; communism threatens the U.S. homeland and President Lyndon B. Johnson - LBJ - faces the challenge of Dr. Martin Luther King and the civic rights movement. But even more pressing is the ever-growing conflict in Asia, or more specifically, Vietnam.

On July 21st of that year, some of LBJ's closest aides wrote a robust letter to him insisting that the Government had reached a tipping point in regard to its policy in Vietnam. A decision had to be made to either increase the commitment in Asia, or get out; but, what was no longer acceptable was the ongoing plan to hold the middle ground.

Jack Valenti, a close personal advisor to LBJ wrote in his memoirs '...Lyndon Johnson was the only one of four Presidents to be confronted with the lepouros alternative: get out or get in with more, much more. All the previous presidents escaped, through circumstance or chance, an ugly confrontation with this decision...it had to be answered...and on July 21, in the Cabinet Room of the White House around the immense octagonal table sat 15 men. The President had not yet joined them. In front of the vacant chair was a yellow foolscap pad, three sharpened pencils and to the side was a carafe of water with two glasses...at precisely 10.40 A.M, the meeting started."

We all know the history that followed this meeting, LBJ committed thousands of troops and the USAF's contribution became Operation Rolling Thunder and then Operation Line Backer I & II; essentially the conflict became a war.

Today, the education staff at the LBJ Library & Museum in Austin, Texas, provide a training event that allows participants to go back to that very meeting and see if they could change the course of time. Recently the team from the Security Forces Academy (343rd Training squadron), part of 37th Training Group from Joint Base San Antonio, Lackland had the opportunity to face that moment in history.

A group of 343rd TRS officers, SNCOs and NCOs , took part in the 'Presidential Decision' event in May. Each member of the 13-strong team assumed the role of either a senior member of the Security Council, or a senator who would later sit on the Senate Committee to cross-examine the President's advisors. For example, Capt. Jamie Hart, Course Chief for the SF Basic Officer's Course became William Raborn, the CIA Director, whereas MSgt Eric Kennedy, S1 Flight Chief, played the role of General Earle Wheeler, Chairman Joint Chief of Staff.

After a quick tour of the museum to set the tone, we were each given 60 minutes to read from contemporary documents that have since been released from their classification of the day. A wraft of memos, letters, intelligence reports and transcripts made for an intense hour to prepare for the committee meeting, which was to be chaired by a UK Exchange Officer, Wing Commander Gus Powell, playing the role of LBJ himself.

After a brief pause the debate began. Master Sgt. Demetrius Booth, Deputy Course Chief for the SF Basic Officer's Course, playing the role of McGeorge Bundy, National Security Advisor, got the proceedings going by offering an aggressive stance to commit hard to winning Vietnam, but within minutes, Master Sgt. Jen Marshall, Ops Superintendent, playing then Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara and Tech. Sgt. Gabe Rodriquez, Basic Officer Course Instructor playing Ambassador Henry Cabot got into the debate vying for the President's support. As we explored the evidence and questioned each other's opinions it was clear that the collective passion around the table that we generated in 2013 was merely an appetizer to the entree all those years ago. As our allocated hour for debate came to a close, 'LBJ' was left to consider his decision and the Committee retired for a well-earned rest, albeit with a few intellectual bruises. The President then announced his decision to commit further to Vietnam in a press conference, which was much to the disappointment of my character - Dean Rusk, the then Secretary of State - as I had clearly failed to convince LBJ of my chosen path.

With the temperature down, in came the Senate Committee, whose role was to subpoena any member of the Security Council in order to question and examine the advice that each member had given the President. A short, sharp grilling from Major Shane Cordrey, Ops Officer, Tech. Sgt. Justin Forsgren from the Combat Leader's Course and Staff Sgt. Trina Priddy also from the Combat Leader's Course playing Senators William Fulbright, Arkansas (D); Bourke Hickenlooper; Iowa (R) and Earnest Greuning, Alaska (D) left few stones unturned.

After the proceedings were complete, we had a moment to reflect upon the training day. All up, our team was able to spend a few hours in the heart of national government during one of the biggest crisis this nation has faced. We were able to immerse ourselves into the reality of decisions at the very top and you cannot leave this training without a revised opinion of the endeavor, risk and true responsibility of those who face this sort of pressure every day.

In terms of value, a chance to examine your own ability to gather factual information quickly, present a convincing argument in the face of criticism and then accept responsibility for the outcome, little can match a day with Amanda Melancon and her team at the LBJ museum. I would describe the day as being 'history in 3-D' and the value is incredible because it is available for all of us, with the only cost being some energy and a willingness to participate. The LBJ Presidential Decision offers us all some unique and demanding Professional Military Education.

Many thanks to the 37th Training Group commander for allowing us to visit and of course to the LBJ Museum team, who are contactable via their website: http://www.lbjlibrary.org