Training to leave a war, however, is a delicate mission.
Retired Gen. John Hendrix, who used to command the 3rd Infantry Division and the Army's Forces Command, said military planners probably did not have a good idea of what would happen when U.S. troops pulled out of Saigon in April 1975, months before the North Vietnamese takeover.
Military historians say the Army's overall strategy during the Vietnam War failed precisely because it did not understand the nature of the society. It's not a lesson the Army wants to repeat in Iraq, with its rich oil fields and strategic location in the Mideast that will be an important U.S. interest for years to come.
"We never got at the strategic problem in Vietnam. We were not nearly as prepared then as we are now," Hendrix said in an interview. "When that decision was made, we didn't have nearly as good a plan as how we were going to come out. These guys do have a little bit more of a challenge — they'll do the last handshake and the Iraqis will look around and there'll be no one there." ....."
Army's new mission: To exit Iraq - World news - Mideast/N. Africa - Conflict in Iraq - msnbc.com