What Book Are You Reading at the Moment?

[heydaralon]

The North Vietnamese had a Grand Strategy.

Information Warfare.

Co-opt American academia and media to undermine American morale.

Win the war in Washington.

Wins the war on the battlefield by default.

The problem with the ARVN goes back to Diem, Diem corrupted it from the beginning.

Many ARVN fought very hard and valiantly, but the officer corps was rotten to the core, thanks to Diem.

The NLF was all due to Diem. It was the Anti-Diem coalition.

NVA troops were naive and idealistic and that was the source of their bravery and determination.

The NVA troops were so naive and idealistic, the chain of command allowed them to go AWOL to go home to visit their families, because they knew that once they had seen their mommas one more time, they would come back to the front on their own.

They were so young naive and idealistic, they were like child soldiers for all intents and purposes, they'd do anything for you if you ordered them too.

The South of Vietnam was more industrialized and cosmopolitan right? Do you think all that shit, business, entertainment, decadence, etc, made the South weaker and more effete than their Northern counterparts who were wiping their ass with banana leaves and eating one handful of rice per day, all the while fighting off Malaria? Did capitalism spoil the South and make them unable to put up as good of a fight?

[Smitty-48]

The Achilles Heel for America was Hubris.

Went in overconfident.

This results in an offensive.

Search & Destroy.

This causes a logistical defeat.

Too many casualties suffered too fast.

This incites a political defeat.

North Vietnamese information warfare incites a collapse of American morale.

The South Vietnamese were neither here nor there, they were just passengers.

[Smitty-48]

Alternative American Strategy;

Go in with less troops.

Dig in along the coast.

Don't chase them.

Let them come to you.

When they do, Arc Light the shit out of them.

[Smitty-48]

Don't fret about the VC.

They are not going to take Saigon.

Focus on the NVA, yes.

But not in the Central Highlands.

Don't chase them up there; they'll just hug the belt.

Let them have the Central Highlands; there's nothing there.

[heydaralon]

Don't involve the fucking media either. What is hilarious about the media is that often they are 100% on board with the war in the beginning and then they just decide to be against it after a year or two. I mentioned in an earlier thread how the New York times was for every war and CIA backed coup in American history. Until they weren't.

I don't think America should have gone to Vietnam (though I do think we should nuke them now and I hope one of our presidents does), and I question many of her engagements since and before then, but the media often acts as cheerleaders for these crusades, and then backs out when they realize what a war is. Then they write some faggy memoir about how rough it was to have to go to the combat zone and interview soldiers and how it traumatized them. What a bunch of sanctimonious pieces of animal shit. I have used an oscillating fan to cool down my house, but if I want an oscillating fag I will just pick up a newspaper. Fuck the media and Han(oi) Carlin and his gaslighting fuckery. Cocksuckers that they are.

[Smitty-48]

Forget about ARVN

ARVN is a write off.

Get rid of as much of it as possible, just pick out the best of them to be assassins for the Phoenix Program.

In terms of training, don't bother with the South Vietnamese.

Use the Green Berets to train your own troops in country; mo Recondo.

Put Beckwith in charge.

[Smitty-48]

The Phoenix Program was working.

The Phoenix Program pushed the NLF to the brink.

Mo Recondo.

Mo Pheonix Program.

Mo Arc Light.

No Search & Destroy.

Let them come to you.

[heydaralon]

The Phoenix Program was working.

The Phoenix Program pushed the NLF to the brink.

Mo Recondo.

Mo Pheonix Program.

Mo Arc Light.

No Search & Destroy.

Let them come to you.

Arc light?

[Smitty-48]

No Rolling Thunder.

Escalating coercion against civilian population while deliberately sparing the regime targets.

Absurd.

Change to Operation Damocles

Strike only regime targets.

Starting with the Politburo.

[Smitty-48]

Arc light?

B-52 in the tactical role.

When the NVA finally made their big move, the B-52's stopped them cold.

Problem was, America had pretty much pulled out by then, so it was reduced to a parting shot.

None the less, Le Duan believed that his army could stand in the face of the B-52.

Didn't work out, they were utterly annihilated.