The Vietnam Story

[dmccarty]

Some talk of Military Industrial Complex & following the money. So something I have pondered: Do helicopters used as troop carriers to carry our soldiers into dangerous places really represent a sound military strategy? America has certainly never won a war since the advent of Air Cav.

It seems our military strategy since 'Nam is to drop our soldiers in places to get shot at. After a few dozen casualties on our side we abandon the position and regroup the survivors to drop them someplace else. To what purpose?

It would seem to be a strategy to use up as much material as possible within some definition of "reasonable" casualties.
...

If the enemy is in the jungle how do you get to them? The enemy certainly watches the very few roads and can easily set up ambushes on any units using said roads. There are trails in the jungles but trails have the same issues as roads. So walk through the jungle? Well that got done but the unit will not move fast and is pretty easily detected. Now you are back to the problem with roads and trails.

With helicopters one can move very fast, much faster than a ground unit moving on foot, and the helicopter unit can travel much greater distances. Helicopters are a big advantage.

Air Cav is just an evolution on paratroopers.

Later,
Dan

 

[aczlan]

Air Cav is just an evolution on paratroopers.

A chopper is much better at picking up people than the planes that they jump out of...

Aaron Z

 

[houstonscott]

If the enemy is in the jungle how do you get to them? The enemy certainly watches the very few roads and can easily set up ambushes on any units using said roads. There are trails in the jungles but trails have the same issues as roads. So walk through the jungle? Well that got done but the unit will not move fast and is pretty easily detected. Now you are back to the problem with roads and trails. With helicopters one can move very fast, much faster than a ground unit moving on foot, and the helicopter unit can travel much greater distances. Helicopters are a big advantage. Air Cav is just an evolution on paratroopers. Later, Dan

You don't fight there, you bomb generals sitting in there city, and like the end brought them to their knees in eleven days.

 

[hslogger]

But they weren't the greatest of the self-named greatest generation.

Roger that.

 

[Rock knocker]

You don't fight there, you bomb generals sitting in there city, and like the end brought them to their knees in eleven days.

What? Your sentance structure makes no sence.

 

[RichM752]

What? Your sentance structure makes no sence.

Yes, but your sbelling is incorrect.

 

[Rock knocker]

Point on. But at least you can figure out what I'm getting at. I have no idea what Houston Scott is trying to get at.

 

[tcreeley]

Good article here:
Pilger's article on Burn's Viet Nam docu.
The Killing of History

 

[dmccarty]

Check out the link below before wasting time watching the documentary starting tonight; which many consider a communist propaganda story. It is your decision just as I have made mine. I was there; saw the aftermath of the devastation of HUE in the sacking of 1968.

Review Of Ken Burn's Vietnam PBS Series - Maggie's Farm

Ron

When you first posted the link, I read it but did not have time to comment.

One of the things in the link that is interesting/odd is that they mentioned 6,000 people being executed by the communist's at Hue. My memory says there were several mass graves with a total of 15,000 executed civilians. Some buried alive.

The executed people were government officials, government workers, and teachers. What Pol Pot did later in Cambodia, was done at Hue where the educated were killed simply because they were educated.

If the series did not mention what the communists did at Hue on a large scale, and what they did around the country on a smaller scale, it just shows the bias of the documentary.

Later,
Dan

 

[Rock knocker]

My memory says there were several mass graves with a total of 15,000 executed civilians. Some buried alive.

Most accepted sources, American, European and Asian back the numbers given by Ken Burns, and not this extremely high number.