Editor’s Note: Meeting the General

Posted on February 12, 2017 by bob in EdNote

(Originally published in May, 2010, in the print and on-line edition of Prime Magazine)

I “met” retired Lt. General Hal Moore during a phone conversation in 2003, shortly before the U.S. went to war in Iraq. Working for Alabama Public TV’s For the Record news show at the time, I was looking for guests to engage in a TV discussion about the pending war. During my research I had read about a battle-tested soldier and commander living just 60 miles away, in Auburn — the protagonist played by Mel Gibson in the then-recently released film “We Were Soldiers.”

“General, I’d like to talk with you about your thoughts on U.S. engagement in Iraq,” I said, “including where you stand on the issue.” There was a long pause. “I don’t understand what we’ll gain from a war against Iraq,” I was surprised to hear the Korean and Vietnam war veteran say. He spoke slowly, carefully choosing his words. “It’s just not clear to me, and I haven’t seen any arguments that have made it clear.”

Despite my attempts to persuade Moore to address the point on television, he resisted. A more egotistical individual might have done it, given the attention-grabbing headlines such an admission might attract. But I sensed that the general felt it inappropriate, and perhaps even disloyal, to disagree in such a public way with his commander-in-chief, to say nothing of military personnel with whom he’d fought shoulder-to-shoulder during 32 years of active service.

I haven’t spoken to Hal Moore since then, but I will always remember the sensitivity with which he approached the subject, and the respect he had for those with whom he disagreed.

Sandra Polizos, Partner, Polizos/Corley Group, LLC polizoscorley@gmail.com