I wasn't a perfect thing at 17. I didn't have confidence. I was hunched over and real embarrassed, and I didn't want to be in the limelight. But it changed over time.
Conventional dogmas, even if endowed with the authority of an Aristotle - ancient or modern - must be tested vigorously. If they are found wanting, we need not bother with them. But if they are found to be substantially correct, we may not overlook them.
My solution to the problem would be to tell the North Vietnamese Communists frankly that they've got to drawn in their horns and stop their aggression or we're going to bomb them into the stone age.