For me, it became the launching pad of the journey I'm still on today -- to do everything in my power not to let that sort of bloodbath happen again. Vietnam gave me a new mission: To speak the truth and not let my children or your children or our country be doomed to repeat the horror, the waste and the futility of Vietnam. Thus began my crusade to wake up the American people.

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Col. David Hackworth (retired) is the author of Hazardous Duty and is now Military Affairs Editor of Newsweek.