For the third time in my life I find myself watching the conclusion of another episode of “Vietnamization.” The first time was in Vietnam, then Iraq, and now Afghanistan.

Step 1 is to invade and turn the country into a free fire zone. Step 2 is to withdraw to our fortified bases and support our reluctant allies from the air. Finally, Step 3 is when it becomes clear, after billions of dollars and countless casualties, there is in fact no end to the tunnel, and we pull out, leaving the puppet regimes to collapse in a short period of time to their more determined adversaries.

And then, without sparing a moment for analysis of what went wrong or what we might have done differently, we return to celebrating our military prowess.

It’s one of the advantages of always fighting wars on other peoples’ soil.

I am quietly optimistic that Afghanistan will be the last version of Vietnamization that I need to witness, but without any effort to reflect on the past and draw lessons from it for the future, it is possible we will again find ourselves involved in another unwinnable war halfway around the world sooner rather than later.

Our veterans deserve more than flags and parades. We need to think long and hard before entering into these conflicts.

I offer this in honor of my brother, Lt. Rob Pfeiffer, U.S. Marines, combat veteran, 1968.

Thank you.

Peter Pfeiffer

Solon