Tunnel rat- A specially trained Soldier who entered into man made tunnels in Vietnam to search for equipment, documents and prisoners. The American tunnel rat had to crawl or slide through long, narrow and most of the time pitch black tunnels. They faced death every time they entered a tunnel. The tunnels contained various items such as booby traps, mines, snakes and rats.
Returning to the 4th Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) to assume command as the brigade commander brings me much joy to be reunited with great Non-Commission Officers and Officers that I have previously served with. Unfortunately, this brigade is no longer the brigade I remember when I commanded a battalion within the 4th ABCT not so long ago. In the last 30 days, I have had the opportunity to observe the ABCT and review a multitude of historical documents to assess the state of the brigade. During my observation, I believe the critical leadership problem in the 4th ABCT’s is the lack of vision for the brigade. Therefore, this critical problem has led to other challenging issues within the brigade.
the Vietnamese soldiers lost a lot of food supplies and lost some of their hiding positions. The war began with an alert from the two U.S. destroyers docked at the Gulf of Tonkin, they were attacked by North Vietnamese troops. What the U.S. did not know or were confused about was were they in Vietnam waters, or were they in a different area near Vietnam waters? Having several incidents occurring President Lyndon B. Johnson declares war on Vietnam for attacking one of ours without a reason to do so or without a provoke of any sort. That was when the Vietnam war began and Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to Vietnam to try and take them over with just invading
The United States was directly involved in the Vietnam War from 1964 through 1974. A major event in this war was the Tet Offensive, which profoundly affected American history by impacting our politics, economy, military, and society. The Tet Offensive affected politics by influencing the presidential elections of 1968. It affected the American economy, boosting personal prosperity with new jobs but greatly increasing the national debt, due mainly to the vast amounts of money spent on the war effort after the Tet Offensive. The military was affected by the offensive because of America’s increased involvement in South Vietnam, and the fact that many people in the military realized that this was a war we could not win.
In A Viet Cong Memoir, we receive excellent first hands accounts of events that unfolded in Vietnam during the Vietnam War from the author of this autobiography: Truong Nhu Tang. Truong was Vietnamese at heart, growing up in Saigon, but he studied in Paris for a time where he met and learned from the future leader Ho Chi Minh. Truong was able to learn from Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary ideas and gain a great political perspective of the conflicts arising in Vietnam during the war. His autobiography shows the readers the perspective of the average Vietnamese citizen (especially those involved with the NLF) and the attitudes towards war with the United States. In the book, Truong exclaims that although many people may say the Americans never lost on the battlefield in Vietnam — it is irrelevant.
He cites the “domino theory” for communism as the primary reason for the war. The theory was that if Vietnam became communist then, it leave way for other countries to become communist as well. At the end of the war, the United States had wasted its resources, had millions die, growing unrest due to anti-war movements and lost the war. The US lost the war, according to PAT, due to generals’ odd strategies and the president’s reluctance to pursue the war in the first place. Schweikart and Allen explanation differs from Zinn’s, again, due to focusing more on war strategies and fighting rather than the causes and
By 1975 South Vietnam had fallen under the control of the communist government. America’s longest war was over, but it took more than 58,000 American
By 1970 Cambodia was starting to break apart. During the Vietnam war Cambodia’s government became destabilized. Cambodia was invaded by Saigon and Vietnam which caused the country to be in a lot of trouble. This invasion caused 130,000 new Khmer refugees, 60 percent of refugees in Cambodia’s towns gave U.S bombing
The big failure America in the Vietnam War is the shameful history of tragic scene for arrogant American, whose pain is still difficult to ease. The crucial event also had a profound impact on today 's international situation. It is believed that the failure included political, economic, military and cultural background and other aspects, which are that common. When it comes to the controversial subject, I hope to put forward some fresh views from where I stand. 1.
The recent losses and trauma had been slowly building up until they reached their boiling point at the My Lai Massacre. The Vietnam war was nothing America had ever experienced before. America was not used to the guerrilla warfare type of combat that the North Vietnamese and VietCong used. Often times U.S. soldiers did not know if someone was friendly or if someone was an enemy waiting to pounce on them the second they let their guard down. This uncertainty led to oversensitive and short fused soldiers who would lash out and do outrageous things due to the fear of losing their
Even when Americans were victorious they had to be careful. In the victory people are tempted to rip down flags and steal the remaining useful supplies, but the Vietnamese wouldn’t let them get valuables that easily. They added explosives to flag poles, and supplies, even ballpoint pens could be rigged. The soldiers always had to be focused and ready for any kind of situations. These traps could be anywhere so the people first in line, or leading the group, always had to be extremely observant and gained a huge symptom of paranoia.
The Vietnam war took a major death toll in Vietnam, United States, South Korea, Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia. Just in the U.S., “more than 58,000 American soldiers were killed while more than 150,000 others wounded”. On both sides, there were almost 2 million civilians dead and 1.1 simply on the Vietnamese side. The My Lai Massacre, where soldiers brutally killed Vietnamese children and mothers, presents an example where the war mentally changed the soldiers in the war in a very horrendous way. On the other hand, the United States took brutal losses in the Tet Offensive, where the Vietcong slaughtered over 100 towns and twelve United States air bases.
In using artillery and air power of weapons like the M163 Vulcan, M42A1 Skysweeper, and the MIM23 Hawk we were able to take down our enemies. There was 2.7 million soldiers that served in the Vietnam War. In this being said there were 58,000 that died or remained missing, and 300,000 that were wounded. More than one hundred forty billion dollars was spent on this war. The U.S failed to overcome its objective of preserving an independent, noncommunist state in Vietnam, now no one knows how or why we fought this war or weather the military outcome was possible for the United States.
Much like the Narrator, his parents were born in North Vietnam and immigrated to the south in 1958. This was because catholic priests convinced them that the Viet Cong would commit atrocities when they took over. When the communist reach spread to the south, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s mother fled alongside him and his brother, leaving his father and sister behind in Saigon. This was unintentional, as the author describes; “My mother can’t communicate with my father, so she takes our lives into her hands and decides to flee the town on foot”. Luckily, his father had the same idea and through happenstance, they ended up leaving on the same barge.
The Vietnam War was a war the United States should have never been involved in. The “Domino Theory” was a direct cause of the war. The war resulted in much death; innocent civilians and young Americans were killed. The Vietnam war also resulted in rioting, distrust for the United States government, and the loss of many lives. 58,000 Americans were killed and 300,000 were wounded.
