John Bahnsen - Post-Vietnam Career

Post-Vietnam Career

Although President Richard M. Nixon decided that a military victory of the Vietnam War had become impossible, therefore opting to seek a peace agreement with the North Vietnamese communists, Doc Bahnsen never embraced his commander in chief's take on the war. Bahnsen believed when he left Vietnam for a second time and still believes today, that the U.S., ARVN, and Free-World forces were winning the war militarily and would have achieved a military victory had the "fog of politics" not obscured that reality.

Shortly after his return stateside, Doc and Pat were divorced. He then married Fif, and she accompanied him to Germany where as a newly promoted lieutenant colonel he assumed command of the 1st Battalion, 32nd Armor. Unlike Vietnam where the units he led were engaged in a "hot" war, in Germany he trained his battalion to be ready to fight Soviet forces that they would never engage In the Cold War.

After Bahnsen wound up his battalion command in Germany, he returned stateside to attend the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. Concurrent with his War College studies, he completed courses that led to his earning a master of science In administration from Shippensburg State College.

For reasons he never publicly discussed, Doc divorced Fif after three years and remarried Pat.

On completion of the War College, Lieutenant Colonel Bahnsen joined the U.S. Army Combat Arms Training Board at Fort Benning, Georgia, as the armor team leader. The board's mission was to develop state-of-the-art training methods and systems for the Army. Most notable among the systems the board developed was the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) which, after successive improvements, remains one of the army's most important training systems.

Again, for reasons kept private, Doc divorced Pat for a second time and on 31 August 1974, he married Peggy Miller. Peggy subsequently joined the Army as a first lieutenant in the adjutant general corps, retiring as a lieutenant colonel 20 years later.

Subsequent to duty with the Combat Arms Training Board, Bahnsen took an assignment at the Fort Monroe, Virginia headquarters of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). During that assignment he played a key role in the establishment of the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, directed major studies to improve Army effectiveness, and oversaw the production of How-To-Fight booklets and training films.

Receiving an early promotion to the rank of colonel, Bahnsen rotated to Fort Rucker, Alabama where he was appointed as the first TRADOC Program Manager for Attack Helicopters. He next assumed command of the 1st Aviation Brigade at Fort Rucker, then, after promotion to brigadier general, transferred to Fort Hood, Texas as the assistant division commander of the 2nd Armored Division. Following that assignment, General Bahnsen became chief of staff of the Combined Field Army ROK/U.S. in Korea, and then returned to Fort Hood as chief of staff of the Third Armored Corps, which was the final assignment of his brilliant thirty-year military career.