The War in Vietnam Essay

The Vietnam Conflict outlines the support of the Signal Corps throughout the Vietnam Conflict in order to increase the effectiveness of ground forces. By using scatter communications, smaller FM radios, and satellites forces were able to gain an advantage on the battle field that allowed units to more maneuverable against a forces that used primitive and guerilla warfare tactics.

The United States, the most powerful army in the world at the time of the war. The Vietnamese war started in November 1, 1955 and ended in 1975. To many people it was one of the most pointless wars in the United States history. It was like the country was split during the war. There was many protest against the some of which that drew blood. So why did the United States join the Vietnamese war. What was the impact on American society, the people of America. What was the impact of war on the United States foreign policy. The foreign policy determines how America conducts relations with other countries, further certain goals. So why did the United States join the war, what was the impact of the war on America society, and what was the impact of the war on the United States foreign policy.

The United States battle tactics did not fare well against an unseen enemy, who rarely presented himself in a full-scale battle, but rather picked at units one by one. A conversation between a colonel in the U.S. army and a colonel in the Vietnamese communist army summed up the guerilla warfare tactics used: "You know you never defeated us on the battlefield," said the American Colonel. The North Vietnamese Colonel pondered this remark for a moment. "That may be so," he replied, " but that is also irrelevant." The revolutionaries in Vietnam used hit and run attacks. They would assault small groups of soldiers, by sneaking up on them. This worked well, because it allowed the Viet Minh to avoid bigger battles, which they were not trained for. They knew that the U.S. soldiers were unfamiliar with the battlegrounds and jungles, so they used this weakness to their advantage, by being able to move more quickly and stealthily than the U.S. troops. They also knew how to

According to Tim O 'Brien, the Viet Cong 's and United States ' fighting tactics were a waste of people 's lives. The Viet Cong used guerrilla warfare tactics which resulted in Americans being killed and in turn caused innocent civilians to die. The Viet Cong planted mines along the paths and in the jungles to injure American soldiers. The Viet Cong were never out in the open and had the sympathy of the Vietnamese living there. Many young Vietnamese children and women planted mines, spied, and killed American soldiers. The American soldiers could not tell the difference between the enemy and the innocent, so the soldiers indiscriminately killed everybody. The American strategy was to find the Viet Cong and kill them. The American soldiers walked from village to village in search of the Viet Cong. As they went from place to place, soldiers would

The Vietnam War was a conflict, which the United States involved itself in unnecessarily and ultimately lost. The basis of the conflict was simple enough: Communism vs. Capitalism, yet the conduct of the Vietnam War was complex and strategic, and brought repercussions which had never been seen before. The struggle between North and South had an almost inevitable outcome, yet the Americans entered the War optimistic that they could aid the falling South and sustain democracy. The American intentions for entering the Vietnam conflict were good, yet when the conflict went horribly wrong, and the resilient North Vietnamese forces, or ‘Viet Cong' as they were known, refused to yield, the United States saw they were fighting a losing battle.

“You could never tell who was the enemy was … therefore you treated everyone with suspicion”- Thomas Giltner, US Soldier “Contested Spaces”The foreign US soldiers had no knowledge of the geography of Vietnam (jungles, mountains, rainforests, and climate) but the VC did, and used it to their advantage. The US, by engaging in massive firepower, killing many non-combatants, destroyed the US credibility in the minds of the people. The VC sympathised with the people’s hardships and this was effective as they won the people over. The VC had extensive knowledge of guerrilla warfare, it was their war, and the US fought tractional conventional warfare which did have some effected, but eventually the US ran out of will. The military operations were

The United States of America, one of the most powerful nations in the world at the time, was completely unprepared for the war that it had joined in Vietnam. The terrain was unlike any we had ever fought in. From mountains to jungles to rice paddies, it was wet, hot, cold, and completely unforgiving. To say that the political situation was tenuous would be a drastic understatement. Not only could officials not make up their minds, neither could the general populace. The media had an influence in this war that was heretofore unseen. All of these factors were a great obstacle in and of themselves and then we put into play the greatest obstacle of all: the enemy. This was an enemy like we had never seen. The North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Vietcong (VC) were fast, agile, adaptable, and extremely unpredictable. The VC hid among the common populace and fought like demons. The NVA were well supplied, well organized, and did not restrict themselves the way many large armies do. This forced us to have to rapidly adapt and develop new tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) in order to counter all of these obstacles. Due to these needs and the rapidly advancing technology and versatility of helicopters, the Air Cavalry was born. The Air Cav was composed of several types of airframes including transport aircraft, attack aircraft, and reconnaissance aircraft. The reconnaissance aircraft were also known as Aeroscouts and were known for their boldness, audacity,

The Powerful country’s winning streak was broken. During 1954–1973 the United States went to war in Asia with the country Vietnam. This was a really tough battle for both Vietnam and the United States. After the fearsome battle Vietnam came out victorious. This was the first loss for the United States and it left a big impact that still stands today.

“If the tiger ever stands still, the elephant will crush him with his mighty tusks. But the tiger does not stand still. He lurks in the jungle by day and emerges by night. He will leap upon the back of the elephant, tearing huge chunks from his hide, and then he will leap back into the dark jungle. And slowly the elephant will bleed to death.” This quote by Ho Chi Minh emphasises his belief that Guerrilla tactics would be what would result in a win for the Vietcong. The Vietcong made use of tunnels, known as the Cu Chi Tunnels , which was a network of underground tunnels that the Vietcong resided in, and used to store supplies and care for the sick and injured. The use of underground hiding places meant that the US was unaware of the Vietcong’s whereabouts from ground level, allowed them to be

Vietnamese army had a major advantage over the U.S; they knew the forests well, and had

With the free hand recently provided by Congress, Johnson presumed that escalation would help to protect his soldiers. He ordered the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy to begin an intense series of air strikes called “Operation Rolling Thunder”. He hoped that the bombing campaign would demonstrate to the South Vietnamese the U.S. commitment to their cause, and its resolve to halt the spread of Communism. Ironically, the air raids seemed only to increase the number of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army attacks.

The Vietnam War caused one of the great shifts in U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. would no longer be the "world's policeman," which was how she viewed herself since the Second World War. She would no longer recklessly jump militarily into the affairs of other countries, even if major problems occurred, including Communist uprisings or human rights violations. The U.S. government would make more careful

The North Vietnamese Communist leadership's ability to reassess and adapt during the Vietnam War was reflected in how well they combined guerilla and conventional operations to achieve their strategic goal of unifying Vietnam under communist rule. Throughout the conflict, the Viet Cong (VC) were employed to conduct guerilla operations while North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and VC "main force" units were used to transition to conventional operations. Guerilla operations enabled Hanoi to inflict a steady flow of casualties on US forces which increased anti-war sentiment in America. NVA and VC main force conventional operations reinforced the US Army's conventional approach to the fight which caused the Americans to alienate the people of South

The helicopter played a huge role in The Vietnam War, both as a transport and combat aircraft. Helicopters were a huge method of transportation for troops in Vietnam. The attack helicopter was also introduced as a vital weapon and it gave a new strategy for the U.S. military. These attack helicopters intimidated enemy ground forces while giving close air support to troops on the ground. The strategy behind conventional bombing in World War Two was to drop a large amount of bombs and destroy large areas. During the Cold War there was a lot of nuclear tension between the US and USSR. The Cold War was a massive show of force, competing for the superior aircraft. During World War Two, bombers had supportive aircraft but in the Cold War aircraft

My grandpa told me, that I soon looked up that the Special Forces placed many of their defense groups in villages. First the goal was to protect, however the goal surely shifted to focus on the surveillance on the North Vietnam, giving inside missions to detect and interdict enemy infiltration routes.