re: Vietnam War: Mistake or not

Yours is one of the most cogent analyses on this thread most of which is uninformed drivel. Keltic Tiger for instance lied about his draft status then later claimed to have served two tours in Vietnam in a thread several years ago that NHTiger and I discussed. I was there. In the mechanized infantry. Draftee enlisted man. 1969.

The biggest mistake was by circumstance having to embrace and support those who had been allied with the hated French colonials. The country was 80% Buddhist, not Catholic.

Of course, the communists were anti-religious, but exploited the divide.

BURN IN HELL LBJ

Johnson Rumsfield Made a Cluster frick of this Tragedy

We could have ruined Hanoi in the early days, by total destruction with B52’s example (Hiroshima, Nagasaki)

General Giap admitted it

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Vietnam War: Mistake or not

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Lyndon Johnson was an evil piece of shite. I believe 11/22/1963 was the day this country started going downhill.

I am of the belief that he was behind the Kennedy assassination because he would gain tremendous personal benefit by escalating Vietnam.

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LBJ was a big mistake.

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His policies are responsible for what’s going on right now. We’ll have these N-Words voting democrat for the next 100 years. He was a POS.

Mistake. They had no endgame. No way out. Afghanistan was the same thing.

We could have finished the North Vietnamese soon after Tet.The Tet Offensive was a crushing loss for Charlie the VC were essentially finished but the media lost the war for us right there by aiding and abetting the enemy, painting it as a huge victory for them. Walter Cronkite and others were traitors.

But I digress. We kept sending airmen into the most heavily defended airspace on earth bombing useless targets losing aircraft men and filling prisons when all we had to do was destroy Haiphong Harbor with our battleships and cruisers mine it and then cut off the Ho Chi Minh Trail using the planes. It could have been done.

Gung ho, brother.

(We old grunts never said ooh-rah — but I like it.)

By the way, fighting in a war like Vietnam darn near turned me into a pacifist. Killing people like we did and losing friends like we did ain’t no way to settle a dispute.

It sounds noble and glorious but like so many have said before me, fighting in combat is all about fear and adrenaline, nothing more.

It’s why they get naive young men to fight wars.

You and I have similarities but also differences.

I also served in the Marine Corps (1967>1971) and was in Viet Nam June 24, 1969. I shed not a tear when fellow Marines in my unit were killed in combat. However I did after locating their names on the memorial wall in DC and I also did cry when I lost my thirteen year old Black Lab.

How can you expect young Americans to learn from the past when they didn't share the past with us but only the present? Isn't that the point of history? They seem to have a fair and accurate view about Lyndon Johnson.

For what it is worth, I didn't view Communism as much of a threat to me having a cold draft with a bowl of hot gumbo when I enlisted. I honestly believed that I signed up as a means to avoid adulthood.

After the Tet Offensive which was a great Marine Corps victory, the American Press make it look like we were losing. Washington DC started calling the shots and removed decision making from the field commanders.

In 1968 Johnson was in a bind. He was fearful of abolishing student deferments and calling up the reserves.
Thus the "Great Society" program which became better known as "McNamara's Folly." Military recruiters inundated urban ghettos and rural southern communities to sign up those who had previously been rejected for failing to meet the armed services' physical and mental requirements. It was touted to provide an education and escape poverty.

You might recall the Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN). The Americans took over the ARVN's role as fighters from being advisors. The ARVNs were more interested in their new Sony radios and gave up after the American military got fed up and pulled out.

For the interrogative "Was the Vietnam War a mistake or not?" Even after all of these years, you answered "probably." I say definitely a mistake. Hopefully you can find an answer someday.