11 Things I Learned in Vietnam That Made Me More Successful in My Civilian Career

LTG Robert Cushman, USMC, awarding the Legion of Merit to the Author

by James G. Van Straten

Van Straten is the author of A Different Face of War: Memories of a Medical Service Corps Officer in Vietnam, a new memoir describing his service as a Medical Service Corps during the early years of the Vietnam War. Assigned as the senior medical advisor to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in I Corps, an area close to the DMZ, he traveled extensively and interacted with military officers and non-commissioned officers, peasant-class farmers, Buddhist bonzes, shopkeepers, scribes, physicians, nurses, the mentally ill, and even political operatives. Daily letters that he wrote to his wife from July 1966 through June 1967 are the detailed basis for his book.

After he retired from the military in 1986. Van Straten moved into academia. In 1990, he was appointed dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. In this article, he reflects on lessons learned during his service have helped in his civilian career. All photos in the article are courtesy of James G. Van Straten.