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The Marines ought to have been in the Delta and cooperating with the Navy. The Marinesr lacked the heavy equipment for up North.

Doesn't sound like the war I remember.

Calling that op a Suicide Mission was an Understatement!!!!!💀💀💀

amazing vid Dawson, ty

After the Tet Offensive US should have supported ARVN for a march north with tanks. Deploying an invasion force on the coast would force the NVA to the North. War was fought by imbeciles with one hand behind it's back.

And people wonder why no one trusts what the government tells them and why so many believe in conspiracy theories. May Johnson & McNamara souls burn in hell.

Looking back, and even as a high school student, it’s stupid that you don’t go after an enemies logistics … this wins and loses wars

my dad serv in nam 69/70 he told me had they just given the order US forces would have steam rolled into the north and ended the war in 6 months but the criminals in DC made to much money with the ongoing war

Well narrated, brief but clear presentation. Gives an excellent historical outline that can be expanded by anyone interested in learning more. The images are well selected to reinforce the story.

My father was a Navy Seawolf often working with Seals, LRRPs and on occasion MACV-SOG. He told me about running ops into Cambodia years before the Cambodian invasion. Same BS just like Laos. My Father also participated in the invasion of Cambodia and when it was conducted set the communist back years. Everyone knew the NVA had supply dumps all over the border of Cambodia for years. Heck my father enaged a PT-76 light tank with his Avation 50.cal. they didn't hang around long enough to see how much damage they did but not to long after that the USAF/U.S Navy put several Airstrikes into the area including the all to famous ARC Light Strikes by B-52s.

Democrat politicians lost the Vietnam war

Jar heads are always whinning about something, unless there happens to be someone with a camera nearby, then they'll trample whoever is standing in front of it.

I notice the US Army is weaseling their way into the Pacific theatre to replace the USNavy as the lead command. I guess The US Army is being overshadowed by Europes new found efforts to defend themselves with the US?

This channel called "Story of the Type 56" just recently came out and has began posting quite academic history videos on Chinese Military History. Their video on the Chinese India war points out that the PLA, compromised mostly of infantry was incredibly capable of manouvering through mountains at speed. While i doubt China would have declared war and moved to Laos i do think it worth mentioning that Chinas ability to do just that was not entirely out of question at the time. Most importantly to the US decision makers

No doubt the white house politically intervened to halt incursion into Laos!!! BIGGEST MISTAKE OF THE WAR!!!

Schiller Stravenue

The LEVELING OF HANOI WOULD HAVE WON THE WAR AFTER 3 MONTHS.

This guy has no idea what he's talking about. Laos was and still is a key strategic ally of China. If North Vietnam fell and Laos fell then Cambodia that would mean China had no buffer states to protect them. They already had troops stationed in Vietnam. Theybwould have intervened in Laos. Second the South Vietnamese army consistently got beat in every engagement and could only win with air support. Even the CIDG hes bragging about would get routed by the NVA. In 1965 the NVA steamrolled through several green beret bases. There was no way America could win the war unless they were willing to fight the Chinese.

That's rich when Westmoreland was the originator of the body count strategy. Not only were the communists elusive, but they would retrieve and withdraw their dead comrades from the field of battle so as to prevent the US from being able to positively confirm their kills. How can you defeat an idea? The Marines had a much better strategy with Victor Krulak's "Clear, Hold, Build" plan, as well as the Combined Action Program. Neither Westmoreland's rank of general nor his service in pervious wars mean that he should be free from criticism.

Mr. Dawson, I believe you are mistaken about something. From what I read in Westmorland's memoir he knew how the VC/NVA carried out the Tet Offensive, because he had been begging for permission to invade Laos from Khe Sanh and cut off Ho Chi Minh trail for years - and picking up intelligence that the VC/NVA were building up to something big in the winter-spring 1968 campaign. What he believed was that the main VC/NVA effort would be directed at taking Khe Sanh, and didn't know it was going to be on Tet.

Amazing video

After the war McNamara asked the N. Vietnamese envoy why did you send 1.5 mil. troops to die in the South. The envoy replied, because we thought you would occupy like the French did. Th envoy asked, why did you send 1mil Rvn and 58,000 Americans to die, McNamara sais, because we thought the Chinese were moving in to support you. The envoy replied, but you don't understand, we've been trying to get away from the Chinese for a thousand years. How did our leadership miss that ? I was in Pleiku during Tet with the 4th. from Aug 67-Aug. 68.

This was amazing! If you could do a few more stories in this format, that would be awesome

Sad that power is indifferent to death.

Nothing changes until open eye leadership with logic and determination prevails

Many of my friends that went to Nam, said westmoreland was a moron PERIOD!

Wast more land😢

Arms industrial complexes need war to make money for WS... The corruption of the State Department as can also be seen in Ukraine...

Fugg Off hat nix mit Jagen zu tun

I remember reading this from SOG. Incredible story.

When Americans say they can win any war, they forget who is leading them. What’s the point of being there if you don’t want to win? The MIC is so profit driven that it even gets in the way of victory so troops can go home

As a great reporter said, "They were the greatest of their generation." Referring to those who fought in Vietnam.

Terrible war. I made 4 tours and it was hell, I believed in the flag until the end. I soon left America for good. Still can't get it out of my head.😂

Walter" Concrete ", I wonder what was in his past , was he caught up in something i.e epstein, diddy activities was he a commie etc etc

The Swamp at work in all its glory...but , don't worry for the Swamp it's just as strong today ,if not stronger!

You could be forgiven for thinking displacing all of those people from North to South and dumping them in a part of the country they had no knowledge or familiarity with - along with seemingly playing both sides of the French conflict years earlier was solely designed to create the conditions for war .... almost like they'd gameplanned it out years earlier ...

Saigon sounds like a mix of awesome fun and crazy, surprised the "local gang" was willing to take on hardened US special operations soldiers so openly like that. Was it that you had no identifying badges that showed you were special forces ?

I think my SMAJ in 12th SFGA was in MACVSOG, name of Merle Eckles. If you knew him, I'd like to hear from you. DS

Our uncle chet was a marine 60 cal. hilo door gunner based out of da nang.tried to see him once in vegas a ways back but missed my chance somehow...

a hilo pilot who was there right in front told me once that johnson was a big drunkard...😮and when he flew nixon and bebe rebozo he remarked to me that 😮they were both crackerjack nutjobs...😢made sense

THE GOVERNMENT IS MORE INTERRED IN MAKING MONEY FOR THERE BUDDIES THAN WINNING THE WAR

The county seat of Pott. County in KS is named after General Westmoreland. He was a great American.

... Westmoreland is a cull. A gift to the North and the trail.

My intro to the war was in grad school, to the political aspects and to some of the blunders made by elected and appointed officials. Everything from selling off WW2 munitions and later buying them back to the geo-political and party politics that shaped our plans. It did not look in 1968 as if we had a clear path forward. My next lessons were those learned as a pilot with the 11th ACR scouting in Cambodia. From 200 feet it was obvious that the logistics network was a good one, and that for the most part the NVA simply pulled back to watch us blow things up. No one could miss the implication that we could have and should have cut the trails/roads/depots much earlier. Other things obvious to anyone who could look around was that the civil governement in Saigon was both incompetent and corrupt, even as many village civilians were standing nightly guard and taking casualties to protect their hamlets and fishing villages. B-52 missions were never secret, the NVA knew within minutes of take off where they were going. We were required to coordinate all combat missions, air and ground, with the SVN and many of them, along with many of the locals employeed by us, where direct lines to the NVA. I don't speculate about this I saw it action. Clear signs of hasty withdrawal from target areas, SVN nationals reading the material in the burn box, and most disgusting the civilians in their limos and bikini clad young women, at the beach after a tough day in Saigon. A restaurant filled with ranking SVN officers and civilians, speaking French with the waiters and giving two American junior officers an unfriendly and making impolite comments in French. When I responded in French we were suddenly good enough to be seated. In the field we had the firepower and the will to shred the NVA, good though they were. Some ARVN units as we saw much later had the stuff to stand and fight. The AF and Navy had the stuff to destroy the supply routes at the port. Know one knows if China would have sent troops. I rather doubt it. Russia had nothing to gain and a lot to lose if it raised the stakes, beyond supplying anti-aircraft and other weapons, or flying some of the fighters. But now we come to Nixon, god damn him for eternity, He dragged out the war for domestic political reasons, and a lot of people died. On my second day with the 11th at an awards ceremony, a cobra pilot made a little speech. He said, you have to ask yourself if what we were doing was worth cost. For me he said the answer is no. My thought was that it was a hell of a thing to say to those of us just starting our year. What I would have said then and will say now, is that it is never worth it. Before we send Americans two things must be true. The fight must be critical to our national survival and the people that we propose to help must be willing as a people to carry the load. That makes All of our interventions in Eastern Europe, Africa and the middle east foolish and a deliberate waste of American lives. No nation which denies its citizens the basic rights we have in America, no nation that as a matter of law embraces Islam, no nation that by law or custum is Marxist or totalitarian, is worth spit, let alon dying for. Nations build themselves; we cannot do it for them

"“The Americans were more interested in continuing the war than winning it.” As anywhere else, the rot started at the head, in this case with LBJ who never had a plan to win and was more afraid of provoking the Soviets & Chi-Coms than he was of losing the war. Also, as you said, Westmoreland was no Patton. Great video! Much enjoyed.

The military did not lose the war. They abandoned it. Johnson lost the war. You can't fight a war 10,000 miles away in the White House.

I was seriously wounded by mortar shrapnel in the head, and four other locations on my right arm and leg on Rt. 9, down the hill from Camp Carroll on Jan. 25, 1968. My Marine unit was India Company 3rd bn / 4th Marines / 3rd Marine Division. My brain surgery to remove the shrapnel was performed aboard the USS Hospital Ship Repose. During the 12 months of 1968, the 3rd bn / 4th Marines ( roughly 1,200 Marines ) sustained 88% casualties: 187 killed and 871 wounded. The 2nd bn / 5th Marines fought in the battle of Hue City. During that 28 day battle, 2/5 sustained 45% casualties. For the entire 1968, 2/5 sustained 140% casualties ( killed and wounded ). Amazing and true. I was in Vietnam only 46 days, and in the Marines less than 7 months from the day of my enlistment on June 30, 1967. I received a medical discharge as unfit for further duty due to my head wound, a day after my 19th birthday, July 31, 1968. Attached is a link to an article about my Vietnam experience that I sent to Tulane University which was published in their quarterly magazine, " The Tulanian". I am very proud to have served with my fellow Marines during a very difficult period. I have no regrets. tulanian.tulane.edu/march-2019/vietnam-conflict-and-path-to-tulane-education

The Americans did pull the rip cord. They just took a really long time to do it.

“I do not believe that the men who served in uniform in Vietnam have been given the credit they deserve…” General William Westmorland 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

My dad was in Vietnam 61-62, he retired in 1967, 27 3/4 years Lt.Col. I enlisted in the Marine Corps 10/3/67, my tour dates were 68-69, I was last wounded 10/18/68, Medically Retired in 1970. Semper Fi