colonel in 1971 when having just served those four hard tours in vietnam he decided back in the united states that he would go on tv as a serving u.s. army colonel because he felt like he had something to say to the american public about the vietnam war that this country was still in, that he had been fighting in for all those years. on june 27th, 1971, david hackworth appeared on an abc news show called "issues and answers." he called vietnam a bad war. he said the united states should get out. he basically made the case that it was unwinnable. it is a powerful thing in our country when a veteran, especially a decorated veteran like him decides to speak out about a war that america is currently engaged in. when david hackworth went on tv in june 1971 and called vietnam a veteran at that point, i wasn't a veteran. he was still in the army. he was still serving as a very,