Marines who fought the North Vietnamese Army weren’t interested in God, country, and Mom’s apple pie: They were focused on fighting for a cause that was never fulfilled.
Thomas Hynes, a Marine Corps second lieutenant who led the 2nd Platoon, Lima Company, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, looks back at the challenges he faced undertaking his first command. He quickly learned that the North Vietnamese Army was far more capable to fight in the jungles and mountains.
But that didn’t stop young Marines from fighting for their country and each other—even though it resulted in fifty-eight thousand of them being killed. Seeing so many die was one of the reasons Hynes’ goal was simply to survive the war with his men—not win.
While Hynes would put up his Marines against any other soldier or Marine who fought in Vietnam, he argues that soldiers barely out of high school were asked to fight a war in a country that was beyond hope.
Despite the overwhelming odds, once they were there, they fought bravely for a cause they didn’t understand. He looks back at all of it with honesty in It Wasn’t Like Nothing.
