Vietnam War : Part 5

The Vietnam war was an interesting period that has interesting pieces with the war vs hippies and an antiwar movement. The Vietnam War book was requested by my cousin as it was an interesting period and the start of the war against the enemy. The Vietnam War was one of the longest wars in history, and one of the few that they lost with the United States being a rare country that has a plus 90%-win rate in wars. This is another piece of writing on first person sources!

First Document:

 Document written for Lyndon B. Johnson - From the secretary of defense on Oct. 14: 1966: Robert S. McNamara

This document came from a military advisor to Lyndon B Johnson: The document states: By early 1967: there would be a military standoff with extremely high levels of conflict, and we have done even better than anticipated militarily (Sheehan 554.) The United States military was doing even better than anticipated and still was faced with a massive issue with fighting the Vietcong- even with suggested troop number and deployments. The average number of deaths was over 60,000 a year. The United States Airforce bombed crazy amounts of the Vietcong’s bases and of North Vietnam between 1961-1965 and the United States still lost 60,000+ men a year a catastrophic casualty number for a force of 470,000 men ~13% of the entire deployed force a year. The Analytics said that the increase in men should only be 70,000 men a year and maxed at 470,000 men a year. “A Portion of the 10,000-20,000 troops- should be devoted to the construction and maintenance of an infiltration barrier.” (Sheehan 556.) This troop number was designed to help keep North and South Vietnam separate to protect them from the Vietcong and to save American lives. The United States sent troops to patrol the American bases with barriers to protect American Troops and South Vietnam from the Vietcong and Chinese Communists.

Second Document:

              Documents Written: by CIA officer: CIA report on Vietnam on 12, September 1966.

The CIA analyzed that the South Vietnamese and the Americans had plenty of food for there people.  The airstrikes into Vietnam went against all forms of religion against the North Vietnamese which depressed growth and hurt chances for economic development in Vietnam. They bombed the Viet Congs transport of what went into Vietnam.

Third Document:

Written By: Joint Chiefs memo by joint Chiefs of Staff by General Wheeler- Secretary of Defense on October 14, 1966, in Pentagon Study

Joint Chief of Staff of United States Recommendations for the Vietnamese War. The Joint Chiefs did not recommend increasing the amount of air bombing they recommended increasing the amount of Air Bombings (Sheenah 564.) The President tried to end the war by peaceful means however the Vietcong, the Chinese Communists and the South Vietnamese did not agree to this principle. The “ROLLING THUNDER 52 (Sheehan 565.) The Joint Chiefs of Staff advocated for better bombing campaigns and the North Vietnamese troops cessation into there military assets.

Analyses of the Documents:

These documents show that the Joint Chief of Staffs did not approve of a military force above 470,000 men, only increasing deployment by 70,000 more men and increasing bombing campaigns. The President suggested and tried to end the war peacefully by negotiating with the North Vietnamese and Congo. The Americans Bombed the Vietcong- which was a guerrilla warfare group - insurgency group- transports which was great and heavily important. The Americans lost 13% of the military total in Vietnam per year 60,000 men for every 470,000 men. The United States has a 90%+ win rate at war which is in the top 10% of countries war win rate and this was one of the few that they lost. The United States advisor recommends that the United States put 2.5-5% of the military on construction duty to build defenses to defend US troops and the South Vietnamese.