The American War: The US In Vietnam

Not true, it's a myth that Nixon said while running for President back in 68 that he had a "secret plan." It was made up by the Democrats.

I don't think he had any plan when he entered the White House in January of 69. But he did come up with one.
Vietnamization of the Vietnam War that required South Vietnamese troops to replace American troops.

The downsizing and the withdraw of American troops from the RVN began in late 1969.

When I arrived "in-country" in early June of 69 there were 2 1/3 Marine divisions in l-Corps. When I got on the "Freedom Bird" in July of 70 there was only one Marine division in Vietnam.

America's withdraw from Vietnam began in late 1969. It took three more year before the last American troops exited Vietnam.

 

Ok thanks.

It was not my impression that Nixon began the draw-down until around the '72 elections. I could be wrong. I was obviously stateside not incountry like yourself @APACHERAT .

I do recall distinctly that Nixon had given the impression that he would bring the boys home when he ran in 1968. And my next impression in 1972 is that it was taking him a long time to get out of Viet Nam.

We did not get the POW's back until 1973 because the NVA were still pissed too.

 

"SEA POWER" is my Bible -- the book.

 

@APACHERAT this will give you a kick!

When I was 5 years old I was watching John Wayne on TV in "Sands Of Iwo Jima".

My US Army colonel dad walked in from mowing the lawn and then I asked him, "Dad how come those soldiers have camo helmets? You don't."

He said, "Those are not soldiers those are Marines."

I said, "Wow! I want to be a Marine when I grow up!"

 

The Presidential race in 1960 was all about who was more anti communist and would do a better job of stopping Communist expansion in the world.

JFK claimed there was a "missile gap" when it ends up it was a lie, there was no missile gap.

The people went to the polls voting on who was the bigger anti commie.

Actually Nixon won the election but because of massive Democrat voter fraud, JFK won the majority of the Congressional college.

If Nixon were have entered the White House and stuck to Eisenhower's strategy of containing communist expansion from Laos and denying North Vietnam access to the Ho Chi Minh Trail, there probably never would have been an American Vietnam War.

 

The Japs and Krauts were lucky Truman was a moral politician, unlike their own Bushido and Nazi fanatics.

 

You sound just like my parents then.

 

I gathered you were a military brat when growing up when you mentioned you lived in Morocco. But I figured you were either an Air Force or Navy brat.

So your dad was a colonel in the Army.

 

Yah my dad wanted me to go to West Point.

That sounded too boring to me though.

I took NROTC and the Marine Option in college instead.

One of my high school buddies whose dad was a Lt Col went to West Point and it turned him into an alcoholic. He was retired after only 20 years.

 

Making Lt. Col. in only 20 years aint bad.

 

The academy grads get special treatment.

They are all candy azz clowns who are destined to be generals and admirals.

That's what my dad always used to say.

My dad earned his bars on Utah Beach at Normandy not at West Point.

 

Congress began slowly strangling the war effort early on, in 1970. McGovern and Hatfield were big players, as was Frank Church. By 1975 it took its toll on the South Vietnamese ability to fight off the commie vermin. You can also find the Congressional restrictions the prevented operations in Laos and Cambodia. The Reds couldn't have had any better allies than the anti-Johnson Democrats and their enthusiasm for abandoning people to be slaughtered and enslaved.

http://congressionalresearch.com/RL33803/document.php

Here is an example of the selective spin, denying that was what happened; note the selective timelines and omissions of other actions the Congressional traitors took. This guy tries to make 50%-80% funding cuts look like they didn't matter; naturally the article avoids the earlier cuts and restrictions crippling their ability to take the war to the enemy.

http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/126150

 

I have been to the Wall to read the names of my friends on it.

 

A stupid commitment to a man who was just as bad as the man you tried to kill.
Quite how that makes the invasion right is hard to see.

 

The US government knew, but they lied by neglect to the US public.
That happens a lot, including when your government neglects to mention how it was the US that removed the democratically elected government of Iran, so starting the chain of events that led to an extremist government.
No valid excuses there.

 

Move it to the Mexican/US border - it'll save you a bit of cash.

 

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/gra...inking-words-and-expressions/while-and-whilst

 

Or, in this case, total bloody stupidity that was always going to be destructive and pointless.
Any politician that starts a war, or enters any war that doesn't leave their country in fear of attack should be stuffed in front of a war crimes trial to justify their actions.
That's assuming they survive the front line they would be forced to serve on if they went to war.

 

I see your problem; you have me confused with someone who gives a fig.
It's a pity Vietnam wasn't in a position to attack the US mainland and do to you what you did to them.
If this was a bunch of American kids screaming in pain and terror, you idiots wouldn't be so keen to start wars.

 

Are you actually serious?

 

They bloody were, unless rounding up and shooting unarmed civilians is acceptable.
You may well not like it, but a lot of the men you call heroes and read their name on that silly wall were in fact murderers worthy of only the Tyburn jig.
Damn the lot to hell and get the live ones into court to face trial for their war crimes.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-23427726

 

When Uncle Ho said this, I wonder if he instinctively knew Washington would pull the plug and quit sooner or later?

 

He got the odds wrong, it was closer to 20-1, but the principle was correct. America tried to fight what was essentially a war of attrition, assuming that superior firepower would exact such a terrible toll that the North would decide it wasn't worth the cost. It didn't.

With the full wisdom of hindsight the paths that would have led to the survival of the RVN seem very few & virtually impossible to successfully traverse. The only real hope would have been if the DRV had not decided in 1960 to fully pursue a strategy of war. That might have given the RVN enough time to stabilize itself & create a more effective army. In a war that seemed to many to have been played out in the full glare of the spotlight it is a supreme irony that the most important battle was probably fought in Hanoi backrooms among a literal handful of Communist Party members before the first PAVN soldier started down the Ho Chi Minh track.

 

Hey bigfella

I'm still waiting.
http://www.politicalforum.com/index...e-us-in-vietnam.287246/page-6#post-1067391602

You say my sources are propaganda and I say your sources are propaganda.. Let's do some analyzing. Don't run away.