4 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
itself this is per-haps not overly shocking or inte-esting: the fact is
already generally accepted and the general phenomenon of war weariness and
a resulting aecline in morale and discipline is not new. But further
analysis of the causative factors is still important. Can the causes be
isolated? Will similar circumstances produce similar effects in the
future? Can either the causes or the cause-effect relationships be controlled?
To what extent can thes-i th1ings be predicted? It would be presumptuous
to expect to -answer these questions definitively; but material
bearing upon the answers can be presented and,
tentative conclusions can be drawn.
1. Ferment at Home
in some cases at least,
A constantly heard theme--which often takes the form of a complaint
from military leaders--is that the problems experienced within the
military have their origin in society at large. This contaminationfrom-outside
theory is used to explain such problems as raclal tensions,
drug abuse, and class stratification. The Navy Department, for example,
explained that the rising edministrative discharge rate was:
. dus to "adverse attitudes towards military
service, increased disciplinary cases and expanded
incidents of drug abuse." General Edwin Wheeler of the
Marine Corps told the Senate Appropriations Committee
in 1972 that such problems "must be vie2wed against the
background of this country's commitment in the Republic
of Vietnam and recent sociological changes within the
U.S." 79/'
Eugene Linden con,.luded in his comprehensive study of fragging that "the
roots of these murder attempts lie outside the military and even the war.
They lie in the clash ef forces that brought an Army
in Vietnam to its
present state." 80/ Moskos concluded that the antiwar movement, after 1969
at least, had a noticeable effect among troops in Vietnam. 81/
A major US
periodical was reporting in late 1971 that morale, already low, was being
hurt by the GIs' sense that support from home was diminishing and that many
citizens believed that combat was all but over. 82/
A report by the
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