I have read many posts about the Vietnam War on the Forum. I am amazed at the general ignorance, and the ready acceptance of the "We can't Win" mentality. Nothing can be further from the truth. Col. Harry Summers was a part of the Paris "Peace" Accords group that was tasked with reclaiming US POWSs in an orderly manner. According to Col. Summers, his NVA counterparts believed that 3 times they had lost the war, and named them 1) TET '68 which was a terrible military defeat for the communists 2) The Cambodian Incursion of 1970, and finally 3) the 1972 Easter Offensive in which the North admitted to "at least 100,000 killed." This defeat was inflicted by ARVN troops and massive American airpower. The NVA officers at the "Peace" Accords could never understand "why you did not cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail. We were so [vulnerable] there."
Elite units such as the 101st Airborne, 173rd Airborne were mainly volunteers early in the war. Later on they were filled with draftees, but still performed well. Combat refusals did not begin, at least to my knowledge, until 1970. The war was ARVN's war to win or lose. The majority of ARVN units were ineptly led by political generals who were little better than warlords, cared little for their troops, and had no interest in winning the war. Several ARVN units fought well, the Airborne, the Marines, most Ranger outfits, and the ARVN First Infantry Division. American politicians refused to allow the military to run the war, or to even overhaul the ARVN Officer Corps. Unfortunately, over 58,000 Americans would die in a lost cause that tore the fabric of our nation apart, and in some ways we are still reaping the harvest.
Elite units such as the 101st Airborne, 173rd Airborne were mainly volunteers early in the war. Later on they were filled with draftees, but still performed well. Combat refusals did not begin, at least to my knowledge, until 1970. The war was ARVN's war to win or lose. The majority of ARVN units were ineptly led by political generals who were little better than warlords, cared little for their troops, and had no interest in winning the war. Several ARVN units fought well, the Airborne, the Marines, most Ranger outfits, and the ARVN First Infantry Division. American politicians refused to allow the military to run the war, or to even overhaul the ARVN Officer Corps. Unfortunately, over 58,000 Americans would die in a lost cause that tore the fabric of our nation apart, and in some ways we are still reaping the harvest.