Students in Mr. Shale’s AP US History classes recently had the amazing opportunity of listening to guest speaker Hank Luce, a Vietnam War Veteran. Over the course of the speech, Luce talked about his life as a soldier, and students were able to ask questions about his various experiences in Vietnam.

Luce enlisted in military service after he was kicked out of college during his sophomore year. From there, he was deployed to Vietnam, where he served a year as infantry. He first ended up in an area called the “Iron Triangle”, which was a hotbed of violence and fighting. To make matters worse, Luce was assigned as a “tunnel rat”, whose job was to clear out complex systems of tunnels using smoke grenades and tear gas to flush out enemy soldiers.  Once this was done, armed only with a pistol and a flashlight, Luce was told to “Go in and see if we got everybody”. Along with enemy soldiers potentially lying in wait, the tunnels were filled with booby traps, making this job one of the most dangerous positions a soldier could be assigned.

After Luce’s harrowing tunnel rat experiences, he was assigned to long range recon. Essentially, this consisted of dropping deep into enemy territory and “look for concentrations of the enemy” Once he found them, he called in a helicopter team to dispatch of the enemy.

A very interesting point that Luce brought up was that in Vietnam, “You don’t have any politics”. He said that while the war effort was a concern to him and the other soldiers, their only personal goals were “to stay alive… and to try to keep your buddies alive”. “The larger war effort had nothing to do with us, it was just how do I get through tomorrow, how do I keep myself alive, and how do I keep these other guys alive”. Throughout the war, there seemed to be a disconnect between the generals and government officials with the soldiers fighting the war. Luce mentioned that “Every once in awhile, some Congressman would try to come over and give a pep talk”. However, the soldiers only wished that they would “get out and go away”.

Along with the brutal physical challenges of the war, Luce said that the fighting took a mental toll on him as well. When he was in Vietnam, he had to “build an emotional wall… and [he] didn’t let [himself] form any emotional attachments”. While serving him well during the war, this strategy left lasting emotional effects on Luce because “When you get home, [the wall] doesn’t collapse right away”. He eventually overcame this emotional barrier after meeting his now wife but during that time, it was hard to form any real connections on an emotional level with anyone, which stifled his social life when he finished up college.

After his experiences in the war, Luce said that he has become a proponent of the Powell Doctrine, after former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s views on war. He believes that war should be used only as a last resort, when all other means are exhausted. However, when the time comes to use military force, it must come with a precise mission, strategy, and clear date to finish, along with the use of overwhelming force to accomplish these goals.

The students found Luce’s speech interesting and insightful. WHHS junior Amanda Laguardia said ” I really enjoyed having him come and talk about his experiences, it really puts the war into perspective when someone who actually fought it is talking about it”.

Overall, Luce was an amazing speaker and was very enjoyable and insightful to listen to. I personally feel that listening to him speak helped me better understand some of the details of the war that textbooks do not go into.