Robin Bartlett

While writing a book about my unusual combat experiences during the Vietnam war as a combat infantry platoon leader, the meaning of courage became a central theme. My presentation addresses the many similarities and lessons I learned about leadership, decision making and courage that apply to business, sports, parenting, education, and life in general. From reviews of "Vietnam Combat: Firefights and Writing History": "More than fifty years after the Vietnam War, Bartlett's vivid combat experiences are brought to light in a fast-moving, well-written, first person narrative expressing the horror, fear, anguish, and sometimes illogical humor of that war."

What was it like to lead a helicopter combat assault with the 1st Air Cavalry Division during the Vietnam War? As a platoon leader with A Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cav, I went on more than 50 “charlie alphas” and search and destroy missions during my tour from 1968-69, the height of the war. Sometimes we made two assaults in a day. My presentation provides a platoon leader’s view of what it was like like to lead 28 men on a combat assault into a hot landing zone. When it was my platoon’s turn to lead the assault I always rode in the first bird...and that was a much different view and perspective. Lessons learned in leadership, decision making and courage are abundant.

John Wayne, may have said it best: Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway. My presentation is about courage under fire. It is something all grunts (infantrymen) thought about in Vietnam. Firefights came in a variety of forms: a skirmish with one or two enemy soldiers walking down a trail; a short but ferocious ambush initiated by our own soldiers or theirs, often resulting in immediate death of those ambushed. There were firefights after landing in a helicopter combat assault into a hot LZ. The worst firefights were those that occurred at night. Night fights meant fear, chaos, and confusion because of the darkness and uncertainty of enemy movement. Courage is a central theme of the presentation.