Veterans both cool rad in article as and brothers tom an chuck hagel both volunteer to go to war and fought in the same Army Infantry unit. In our year of war, daniel recounts journey from Middle America to vietnam at the height of the war and then home again. As we observed 50th anniversary of the war, privileged to hear are from these two eyewitnesses. The author daniel served in u. S. Army for 35 years retiring as a lieutenant general. He commanded troops in both afghanistan and iraq, earning five bronze star medals one for valor and combat action badge hes a contradicting editor for Army Magazine and author of eight other books he currently teaches history at North Carolina state university. Chuck hagel has long served our country. He was secretary of defense from 2013 to 2015. And before that, a u u. S. Senator from his home state nebraska during the vietnam war he served in combat as a sergeant in the u. S. Army and earned two purple hearts. The combat infantryman badging and the vet that hes cross and after graduating at omaha he was a congressional and served as document head of the u. S. Veterans administration, and cam to president and chief executive officer of the rks so. Hes the author of america our next chapter. Tom hague until combat earned three purple hearts, the bronze star with a v for valor, and the combat infantry man badge. He graduate from the university of nebraska at omaha and university of Nebraska School of u law. After working as a public defender in nebraska, he taught law at Temple University and then joined the university of dayton retiring at professor. In addition to his professor role he served as acting jj for the Municipal Court in dayton, ohio, author of two books and numerous articles on legal subjects. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Daniel Chuck Hagel an tom hagel. [applause] thanks very much for that kind introduction, and thank you ladies and gentlemen for coming the on this rainy election day. To spend some time talking with the hague pl brothers, and to my right, chuck hagel and to his right is brother tom to start off i would like to ask both of these gentleman 50 years ago, november 7th, 1967, where were you . [inaudible conversations] no, not 1967, 67. I cant remember that far back. Well no we were in california where did he go . Both in oregon and i was getting ready to leave to go to fort dickson, new jersey because i had orders to go to germany, and youre finishing right we were many advance infantry training. And i followed chuck all the way u through. I was about what four, six weeks behind you this Training Cycle both in the basic training and then infantry training. Where did you do your basic training . In el paso. Hot lovely place. If you like desert. Yeah. Fort bliss theres a reason they call it police. Everybody is happy. Everybody is happy. Yeah. So then by november 67 you had orders to germany now of course cold war was going on then ladies and gentlemen so there was a substantial u. S. Force in germany with but of course the vietnam war was also going on. So did you ever go to germany . No. I got to fort dix new jersey in late november and as bus was get ting ready to pick up ten of us to take us to germany and we were the first class of the red eyed missile tabun which was the first shoulder fired missile in our arsenal, and it was designed to bring down low flying jets coming in big from the soviet union or the and through the fold and pass through germany, and i decided if i was going to be in the army, ands i going to serve my country at a time where we were at war, then i wanted to go to vietnam so i went down and tom will tell this story but he did the same thing and i said im private hagel hear my order from germany i want to volunteer to go to vietnam and i recall vividly in orderly room there was there this stunned silence, an they put me in the back of the room and said, son, come back here. They brought a chaplain in and they brought i think a Security Officer in. Because immediately they thought something was very suspicious you was running away from a crime or something was wrong. I end up then i stayed there two weeks got new orders i go to vietnam with back home for a few days and then went california and processed out for vietnam. And then it about oh four weeks later. I ended up in fort dix, new jersey i remember riding from the airport and the back open two and a half ton army truck. And it was freezing. Deep snow, and i remember driving by the px and i saw poor guy and this was midnight. Poor guy walking he had a little trail around the px and keep in mind this is new jersey and United States not exactly a lot of enemy arranged with a rifle im sure was temp empty walking arranged the px in a little trail with i remember a outdoor light glairing on him im thinking my god i cant do that and im supposed to go to german as well, and i have this thing about cold weather to begin with. [laughter] i couldnt do that because we were told our group was told that were going to spend i think about six months living out in the black forest running maneuvers in the snow. In germany, and then go to vietnam. Which turned out and like i ran into a couple of my fredz who did go over and i ran into them in vietnam. They were just getting over there. So i went and volunteered to go too. They didnt call any security people or chaplains for me they were happy to do that. And keep in mind im what 18 years olds Something Like that, and i got it in my head i remember seeing movie about brothers you know, if you have two brothers, more brothers in a combat zone they can only have one there, and the rest can go to a noncombat unit so i thought well, you know, ill go over and chuck can come back they said yeah no problem just get ahold of the red cross when you get there. Keep in mind i was 18 i dont know anything straight up. So i went over there, landed, and went to the Assignment Center where they give troops up to different units, and i said well wheres the red cross, and they pointed to some tents somewhere, and i walk withed in told them well after all my name is tom hagel you know you probably know all about this and youll sending chuck who are you . Well obviously didnt work so we both ended up there. And to follow on that, hagel brothers were drafties but in each of your cases it wasnt it wasnt the standard draft where you just get the note in. Both of you went an which action did you take . Wells i called home. I had been to three colleges, and not an come back career to be emulated. At that point, and so who was the director of the service and has been director during world war ii been there a long time, and draft war plaque county, nebraska said well give you six months to get back in the school and then were going to have to attack you because the levy was coming back and big buildup over half a million troops in vietnam i got there. And they built that even bigger. But i just said you know i think it is waste of time. Certainly for any respectable Educational Institution for me to go back. Im not getting anything out of it. How soon could i leave ill volunteer for the draft. But i want to go right now. I mean, they looked at each other and said theres actually a bus leaving in two weeks. I said put me on it. I signed up there. And i was that was it. And youre still in high school right . Yeah, i got my i took my physical, and got any draft notice while i was still in high school an i was i got the same letter they said well, well send you this in i think it was september. And i was not going to sit around all summer with that hanging over my head so i said ill go now. And i was in the army i think five days after high school. And a i mentioned that just because when we, you know, you also hear people say well the army and vietnam was a draft army which was true and army today is volunteer army also true. But here you have two Vietnam Veterans who were basically volunteer even though officially their records show they will as drafty now there was one other o opportunity both of you got if you want to comment when your potential was recognized and recommended for officer candidate school both had that opportunity so concern well, ill give you my take on it and tom had the same thing but hell have his story. I wasnt or particularly interested in it because it meant another year. And i wasnt sure i wanted to take another year that would be three years. And the other thing that kept going through my mind was the fact that our dad was in world war ii. And over in the South Pacific was a tail gunner to be 25 bomber, and spent quite a bit of time there and he was enlisted and came out a tect call sergeant and i dont know maybe there some romanticism about our dad or his service or being a sergeant. But i think that sub consciencely affected me a little bit too but main thing i didnt want to commit to that third year. I didnt know how that was all going to work so i so i said no. When when i was offered it keep in mind once again im 18 years old not too bright and i was sitting there thinking i learned very quickly that officers had a lot of better life to lead than being in a man especially the low private e1 that i was at the time so they plained it was a 52 week program so im thinking okay and then by the way, both of us had to go through advance infantry training to be able to then go into officers candidate school. So no matter how it shook down we were going to be trained as infantrymen which is fine. But im sitting there thinking okay bairveg training last so long. Advance infantry intraing last so long. And it is a year in school so by the time i get out of o school i have about six months left i said this isnt a bad deal so i went along with it until i finished infantry training that got a group together to take off for i think it was fort banning is where they trained at they said well we want to go through this one more time. Keep in mind, and key part is 52 weeks that you spend there doesnt count against the two years [laughter] youre already in for, i said well, forget it. So i refused to go. So it was probably everybody best interest. So two brothers both volunteered for the army. Volunteered again for the infantry, and i think at one point they didnt want to put you in infantry chuck mentionedden pantry specialty at that time. But tom didnt i thought that after they did the military screening they actually recommended you for another possible specialty. I cant remember that. Ive seen records i believe it was cook [laughter] oh, no what that was is that i had had a ton of jobs i spent much more of my life as a teenager working than i did in high school if you saw my record you would understand why. But one with of the jobs ive had was pizza maker, cook thing like that. And when i refused to go to that they didnt it want to do with me because orders were already cut so they sent me back to Training Unit and made me a cook for about a month and then cult me new orders for germany, and the rest is history. As they say culinary art. I can still keep about 20 eggs without burning one. Impressive and you know your comment about working one of the things you should note the hague what l brothers were raised it in nebraska which which is almost Geographical Center of the continental United States. And raised the in the sand hills which is a rural area, and both of you gentleman you mention this work both of you guys work from a very young age as i recall. In fact, chuck was nine and i was 7 when we got our first job together in a Grocery Store sacking potatoes and ice all of this is manual, of course. Ten pounds so i was looking i think i mentioned this to you tom. You know how the Social Security system works so you get i think an annual review of how much youve paid in and when you started paying many. And i was looking at mine the other day. And i started paying into Social Security when i was 8 years old. Right. I was 8 years old and i remembered the job it was at a drivein next to next to the Grocery Store. Out in rush hill, nebraska i was a car hop and i had to tack a little box out because i wasnt tall enough to get up to the window. And stand on the box to take the order. And its i always look back on that as why they would have taken Social Security out because i think i only probably made enough money to buy a hot dog and that was that was it. But anywayest that when i started paying. So we worked all of our lives like tom said probably every job that they have. I think thats good, and that work ethic of course would help you during your military Service First so both of the chairman arrived in vietnam, chuck got there in december. Tom got there as mentioned in january. And initially you were both in the same division the 9th Infantry Division but thats a Big Organization that is like 20,000 troops but not the same unit. Not the same company. Initially yeah. And i and thats a tom and i still dont understand all of that how that happened. Because as you say he was up north with colonel patents the cab and i was with the second and 42nd, and we tried to put in for transfer to see if we could get together we talked with ting a couple of times on the phone once you got there. But one day tom appeared. In our unit which is still kind of a mysterious because they were going sending me somewhere south to be somewhere around but of course one of the intervening events that was kind of important was that not within a few days after tom arrived in country, the most, largest enemy observancive at war broke the on january 30, 31st, 198 both of you gentleman were involved in that, right . I got there in landed on december 4th, with 1967, of course, ted was january 30th. At the end of january. And i mean that as you said was a defining time. For that war for the on it ticks of it and for casualties and those with an opportunity to look at burns magnificent documentary gets some historical reflection on what really happened about that. Its still being debated and so on. But that really did define our service, tom, in vietnam and it defined everything in direction, absolutely. And it defined the war. Turn point many america and every way and for the rest of your time particularly in Public Service you kept a picture from that. Tom is not with me but when i was in the sthat, and i think youve met him, tom. I got a letter within day from a retired army colonel in wisconsin. Who i remembered the name and i could not put it altogether but it was a very nice letter and he said, senator i dont remember if journal this or me but i was a lieutenant in in the same company. Not the same platoon. And we were mechanized unit in health care we were first unit into lawrence Head Quarters that morning and village and he said i took a picture with my little brownie camera behind your track. Of the ammo and long bin which was the largest in the world. Blowing up and he said i would like to come by when im in town and give it to you. So we set up a time that he came by when i was in the senate, and had a long conversation and he gave me an eight by ten picture of this little brownie systemic camera picture. It looked like atomic bomb going off everything was astangedding that he autographed it for me and ive kept it on the wall and rest of the time in the senate, secretary of defense i have had n my office as well so it was a reminder which tom and i have discussed many times about again, the significance of it. And the scale of the destruction, i mean, because all of this ladies and gentlemen, for chuck hagels unit at the time they were in and aired city of saigon largest city in South Vietnam and capitol today now called ho chi minh so so how about you i was in long bin and they came in and said how many of you have that infantry are on the left and collected us and put it on a perimeter so we were involved many it from trying to keep him out of the long bend base it was a huge base and then i think after a couple of day thats when i got orders to go to third and fifth cavalry up in dmc and up there was just as crazy. And most people when you, if you bought the special or if you are familiar serving vietnam or know people who did, the north was the area where it was right next to the socalled Demilitarized Zone in North Vietnam so all of the regular troops their best troops filtered down through that area, and marines had a lot of forces up there as well and you were up there. We worked with them in the marines it was a tank unit. E so major fighting o occurring where tom hagel unit was in places where you probably heard about like that whole area was was all under attack during the period. Yeah so you mention you both sent in request to serve together whatever happened with the red cross idea that if you could get a country that sent chuck home believe me they never got back to me. Shockingly enough. [laughter] now this is one thing where it help when is youre the author and its decades later you can actually dip up actual paperwork so heres what i found. There is not only a regulation within the department of defense that secretary former secretary of defense hagel would know about but its also a United States law that was passed after world war ii. Some of you all may have seen movie the fighting or heard of the five Sullivan Brothers from iowa and world war ii five brothers listed in the navy and served together on the light cruiser uss geno that was by the japanese off the island of the canal during a night act. And many of the crews were lost including all five of the Sullivan Brothers. And were so devastating for the Sullivan Family and by the way, our navy in world war ii named destroyer the soul vans thrftion a destroyer today a new class called the sullivan so memorialized t