03/31/2003

By GARY D. ROBERTSON / Associated Press

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — Pete Franco's hearing has faded from standing too near artillery batteries during two tours in Vietnam. But he says the lessons of war still ring loud and clear.

Franco and other veterans who live around this town that's home to Camp Lejeune say their military descendants in the Iraqi war need only follow a simple formula to win.

"Listen to their leaders, follow orders and don't lose faith," Franco said, "and have faith in us back home."

It's difficult to find people in this garrison town who aren't firmly in support of the war to disarm Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power. "He's nothing but a savage," Nicholas Filippone, 72, said while playing video poker Friday with his brother at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post. "Anybody who shoots his own people doesn't deserve to live."

Having witnessed life and death on the battlefield tempers the comments of many with solemnity. Reports of friendly fire and civilian casualties are also on the minds of ex-soldiers.

"I bet you they're all scared inside," said John Lynch, 69, a Marine who served 31 years and saw time in special operations in Vietnam. "I'm sure they're experiencing some hard times."

Lynch and other retirees are not surprised by the casualty reports from Iraq, particularly by the deaths of 12 Camp Lejeune Marines. An additional seven from Lejeune are reported missing.

Even so, they said, the casualty reports still raise gut-twisting memories of buddies dying at the hands of the enemy.

"You're never prepared for that, no matter how many times you see it," Armand Sargen, 68, said as he sipped a lunchtime beer at the VFW Post 9133 canteen. Sargen saw two infantry tours in Vietnam with the 3rd Marine Division.

The first reported suicide attack in Iraq happened Saturday when an Iraqi officer reportedly blew himself up inside a taxi, killing four American soldiers approaching him. The report worried Post 9133 Commander Quinzell Hayes, a platoon sergeant who trained young infantrymen and was wounded twice himself in Vietnam.

"Do not fall for these tricks," Hayes said. "If people want to give up, one of them should go over and the others should provide cover."

With the threat of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, oil well fires and other chemicals, 52-year-old Roden Smith said he expects postwar problems for the current soldiers. Smith, a Vietnam vet, believes he has Gulf War syndrome after also serving as an aircraft mechanic during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Tens of thousands of veterans who served in the 1991 war returned home with a variety of unexplained symptoms collectively labeled Gulf War illness or syndrome.

"These kids are going to come back with the same problems and they'll have the same answers: 'We cannot diagnose you, because we don't know,"' Smith said.

The retirees avoid the temptation to play armchair general while watching war coverage, saying the generals in charge know best.

"This is a war that should have been completed 10 years ago," Sargen said, adding that President Bush's father could have removed Saddam Hussein from power in 1991.

Across the room from the canteen bar, Post 9133 keeps a Christmas tree decorated with patriotic cards inside their building.

"We'll probably keep it up until the war is over," Hayes said. While confident in U.S. troops, he worries about the impact a prolonged war will have on the chances of victory.

If the tree is still up when next Christmas arrives, he said, "We're in big trouble."