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6. ACG : You and Galloway are writing another book. Can you tell our readers about it?
GEN. MOORE: It’s going to be a series of chapters dealing with subjects such as my postwar talk with General Vo Nguyen Giap and the North Vietnamese commander who opposed me in the battle. Another chapter will be about going back to Vietnam with an ABC TV documentary team and spending a night on the battlefield. There also will be a chapter on General William Westmoreland and one on Rick Rescorla, who fought at the Ia Drang and later died at the World Trade Center attack on September 11. Another chapter will be about my wife, Julie, and one on my three-day visit to the Dien Bien Phu battlefield.
January 1966. Moore (on the radio) leads his troops of the 3d Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. Image Credit: ART ZICH
7. ACG : What do you think of Vietnam today?
GEN. MOORE: I’ve been back to Vietnam seven times since the war. From my perspective, I see a country that has come from misery to a booming economy. Much of this occurred because Americans were there, and hopefully our increased diplomatic relations with Vietnam will also provide more clarity about the fate of our MIAs.
8. ACG : Do you believe the Vietnam War was a military “win” and a civilian “loss”?
GEN. MOORE: I’ve never really thought much about that, and I never concluded that we had won a victory in Vietnam . Giap told me that they were determined to get us out, however long it took. He said, “We were prepared to fight you for 10, 20, or 30 years.” One has to understand they all had bitter memories of the French, and to the Vietnamese there was no difference between the French and the Americans.
October 1965. Moore (left) and Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley at the 1st Cavalry base camp in Vietnam. Image Credit: COURTESY, HAL MOORE We Were Soldiers (Paramount Pictures, 2002). Image Credit: PARAMOUNT PICTURES
9. ACG : Do you see parallels between Vietnam and the war in Iraq?
GEN. MOORE: In Vietnam, we were fighting a highly organized North Vietnamese army and a semi-organized Viet Cong element, which consisted of main force Viet Cong but also individual insurgents. As the war progressed, it assumed a different kind of personality. We were trying to create a democratic country in one that had no concept of democracy. We tried to build a South Vietnamese army in the image of the American Army, and the same with the Vietnamese air force, navy and coast guard. In the end, it didn’t matter because the enemy knew that all they had to do was outlast us.
In Iraq , we went in and ousted Saddam Hussein and expected the Iraqi people to throw us flowers and chocolates. There may have been some of that, but mostly it was hand grenades. We are repeating history, trying to create an Iraqi army in the image of the American Army and an Iraqi police force in the image of New York ’s police force. In Baghdad , in particular, we are trying to chase rabbits with a herd of elephants. I really don’t see how we can get the different Islamic elements to make peace with each other – the Sunnis and the Shiites have been separatists for centuries.
So yes, there are some parallels. Frankly, I hope that in the near future the American government will declare that we think the Iraqi army and police are capable of taking care of things themselves, and then we get the hell out.
10. ACG : Can you boil down your leadership philosophy to a few words?
GEN. MOORE: My leadership philosophy, which I employed in the military and also for years in the civilian sector, can be summarized as “power down.” I pushed the authority to make decisions down to company commanders and told them to push the power down to their squad leaders and the individual Soldiers in the ranks. I told my people, “If you feel you are qualified to make a decision or to take action, do it. Otherwise, move it up a notch for a decision.”
Brian Sobel conducted this interview for ARMCHAIR GENERAL.
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10 Comments to “10 Questions for General Hal Moore”
Here is an outstanding leader. I retired from a metro plice department and this type of leadership is in short supply.
By Alex on Jul 21, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I am currently deployed as a member of the Federal Government
in Speicher Iraq. Having severed 24 yrs. in America’s military I
was lucky enough to find a copy of “A General’s Spritual Journey”
left behind by a former service member. I enjoyed the book, cover
to cover and will ensure it gets passed on to those that take over
this post.
By Richard Brock Hall on Nov 4, 2008 at 9:12 am
Will General Moore receive visitors at his home in Kentucky?
By Bill Mapp on Nov 19, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I am using Hal Moore as the subject of a school project called History day, and recently discovered, Hal Moore is related to me. But would like to know the name of whoever wrote this article, I need the name for an annotated bibliography.
By Nate Moore on Jan 3, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Wow nate… im using him as a subject for a history day project as well… and thats pretty cool
By Jamie Sele on Feb 5, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Dear General Moore,
I teach a course in the Civil War at an adult learning center here in Seattle. On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Col. Johusa Chamberlain ordered his 20th Maine to fix bayonets and at his order, come out of their defensive positions on Little Round Top and charged down the hill to the complete surprise of Confederate Col Oates and his 15th and 47th Alabama. The result was the capture of 400 prisioners and the resulting safety of the Union left flank.
My understanding of the last day at the Ia Drang Valley is that your troops performed the same or similar maneuver. To me the comparisons appear to be more than co-incidence, as Chamberlain’s tactic of the small unit in defense is still taught in most of the major war colleges in the world. I would sincerely appreciate your comments and my sincere thanks for your contributions and service to our country.
By Pete Mazza on Feb 12, 2009 at 6:42 pm
In the movie there is a scene showing you reading a book “les Guerres de L’indochine” How does one get a hold of a copie of this book & is this the correct name of the book. Thank you for your help on this matter… Pierre Labelle
By Pierre Labelle on Mar 3, 2009 at 3:46 pm
10 Questions for General Hal Moore
Brian Sobel | September 21, 2007 | 7 comments | Print | E-mail
An exclusive interview with the hero of the Vietnam War’s 1965 Battle of the Ia Drang Valley and co-author of We Were Soldiers Once … and Young.
There is a photo of General Moore in his combat fatigues in this article that is labeled “Image Credit: Courtesy of Hal Moore.” Can you please tell me how I can contact General Moore to seek permission to use this photograph on a banner depicting images from Vietnam? Thank you, Sandra Bushnell
By Sandra Bushnell on Apr 3, 2009 at 6:56 pm
general hal moore was a great general in the movie We Were Soldiers and in real life
By austin stidham on Jun 10, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Can u please tell me how to contact Gen. Moore –
to seek permission for use of some of his leadership principles quotes, and perhaps his image as well for a motivational poster business I wish to start.
Thank you.
By John Adair on Jul 24, 2009 at 5:56 pm