had something to say to the american public about the vietnam war that this country was still in and 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." and in that tv appearance he called vietnam a bad war. he said the united states should get out. he basically made the case that it was unwinnable. and you know, 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. but when david hackworth went on tv in june 1971 and called called vietnam a bad war he wasn't a veteran at that point. he was still in the army. he was still serving as a very, very highly decorated u.s. army colonel. so that decision from that position to make that dramatic pronouncement about war on the tv news, that was how the u.s. army lost who vietnam commander