The Vietnam War: Alain Enthoven

The war of Vietnam was caused by men who didn’t really understand the impact their decisions would make. They were not strategic and they didn’t take any advice from the militaire that actually knew what they were doing. Kennedy didn’t trust the Eisenhower and JCS, and didn’t take advice from the Pentagon or the old guard. One of the men in command, Alain Enthoven, was very arrogant and hotheaded. In McMaster’s words, Enthoven, “held military experience in low regard and considered military men intellectually inferior.”

This was a nightmare for the military. The men in command didn’t really know what they were doing, and they didn’t listen or take advice to the people who did know what they were doing.

One of the very influential commanders in the Vietnam war was Defense Secretary McNamara. McMaster does not agree with the way McNamara went about the Vietnam war. He makes it sounds like McNamara was a

In McMaster’s words, the battle was, “was lost in Washington, D.C., even before Americans assumed sole responsibility for the fighting in 1965 and before they realized the country was at war; indeed, even before the first American units were deployed.”

One of the reasons McMaster decided to study the Vietnam war is because he wanted to learn from the other commander’s mistakes. He did not wish to re-due a poorly strategized war such as Vietnam. He wanted to lead his troop’s confidently, using good and effective war plans that would result in America winning wars--instead of losing them drastically.

McMaster expounds in his book about how the military men viewed their commanding officers, such as McNamara, as an enemy instead of an ally. I’m sure that from those mistakes that McNamara made, McMaster has learned to treat the fellow militaire with value and respect. He has learned to take advice from fellow militaire, and learned what strategies do and don’t