but were very much point of time in the war, unit and type organization peculiar. Many of those who tried to scuttle to the rear were not so much multiple tour types but WW II and Korean veterans who had been there and done that in a prior war -- and who were old, out of shape and were tactically rusty because they had been hiding out in homesteading jobs in the odd nooks and crannies of the Army for years. In short, most line units were better off without them. The Army is over-ranked in any event (IMO).

Their numbers are also overstated. Senior officers and NCOs hugging the Fire Bases and Base Camps or seeking rear area jobs was a minor issue but it was virtually non-existent in 65-66 and got only slightly worse as each succeeding rotation came in and the Army dipped further in the pool of RC unit advisers, multi year Recruiting tour types and others who had been away from TOE units for many years and who were considerably older than the norm and than is true today. Even so, many of those old guys got out with great frequency. Far more myths in the 'history' books about Viet Nam than there should be...

Phone calls and e-mails from my son when deployed to both the 'Stan and Iraq the last five years agree with RTK. Most Commanders and senior NCOs were getting out a great deal and generally not in the interfering mode. The few that did not are again a unit personality / individual proclivity problem.

To corroborate another thing Steve said, as a long time observer of the scene, post Viet Nam there were accessions in the 70s of what would eventually be senior NCOs in the 90s that were of less than stellar quality. Most of them are now gone but a few are still in. They got promoted due to keeping their nose clean and doing little but surviving long enough to get time in grade and get relatively easy promotions. Their successors, recruited in the 80s and 90s are a different kettle of fish entirely. Most are sharp and go-getters.

Still, there will always those who believe as did Eisenhower's Army Service Force Commander at the end of WW II; "Now we can get back to real soldiering" or Grand Duke Constantine Petrovich Romanov; "I detest war, it spoils armies." They like the neatness and order of peacetime 'soldiering' and of a large conventional opponent they can talk about and not have to fight. COIN is messy and everyone is not really flexible enough to cope. Usually those types get spotted and forced to behave properly but a few will always slip through.

They just need to get nailed by Commanders and other Senior NCOs.