Retired Army Colonel talks war

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Tammie Moore
  • 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  Everyone has a story to tell. For some, it is a story for their children of how they met the love of their lives, and for others, it is a story of adventure to share with their friends.

Retired Army Lt. Col. Lewis "Bob" Sorley III, Vietnam veteran, author and Johns Hopkins University doctorate, has several stories to share. He visited Seymour Johnson Feb. 10 to shed some light on the content of his book "A Better War," which provides insight into the final years of the Vietnam War.

"Many people, including me, are proud of their service in Vietnam," he said. "If you want to apply the lessons learned you have to know what they are."

The event was attended by veterans from a variety of wars, including area Medal of Honor Recipient Joe Marm. In addition, Colonel Sorley's former student, 2nd Lt. Christopher Dommert, was also in the audience. While at Virginia Military Institute Lieutenant Dommert participated in an honors discussion forum led by Colonel Sorley.

"The honors forum is usually insignificant and lost among the many classes that counted for credit; however, Mr. Sorley gave assignments and required more action and participation from us," said the 4th Civil Engineer Squadron project programmer. "At first, I was less than enthusiastic about his teaching style, but it turned out to be the best honors forum during my cadetship."

Despite the fact that Lieutenant Dommert only had one class with Colonel Sorley, the colonel still remembered his former student.

"I was impressed by the fact that he not only remembered my first name, but he took the time to introduce me to his wife," the lieutenant said. "He seemed to genuinely care about me, being his student only a semester, which speaks a lot about his character and his leadership."

Lieutenant Dommert has heard Colonel Sorley talk about Army Gen. Creighton Abrams before, but never about his involvement in the war.

"It was interesting to learn how drastically the war changed due to the leadership of one man,"
Lieutenant Dommert said. "I had never realized that Gen. Westmoreland and General Abrams each had such control over the style of war fought and our level of involvement."

Colonel Sorley spoke a great deal about General Abrams during his discussion.

"You can never underestimate the power and effect of one person," Colonel Sorley said. "General Abrams is a very realistic man."

For many, including Lieutenant Dommert, the past is not merely something to be forgotten about, but something to learn from.

"We have so much to learn from our history and from the actions we take and that our enemies take against us in war," said the native of Chester, Va. "First we need to be able to recognize when we are truly in a repeat scenario or not, then we can apply the lessons we have learned from our successes and failures."

Likewise, Dr. Roy Heidicker as the 4th Fighter Wing historian understands the importance of understanding the wars of the past.

"SJ AFB was honored to have Dr. Sorley give such an inspired lecture about his book," Dr. Heidicker said. "His analysis of the final stage of the Vietnam War is an insightful and masterly researched analysis of one of the darkest periods in American military history. We must learn from history and thanks to Dr. Sorley's contribution we can better understand and learn from this traumatic era."