Vietnam & After

      " Maybe I was being unfair, because there were many things reported about the Americans and South Vietnamese that were never reported about the VC and NVA." ( Hearts and Minds, 311)

        When I started reading Hearts and Minds, I found it one of the most interesting things that I have read so far in this class. This quote shocked me because many people don't really know what is going on. For someone to be there at one point and then go back and see everyone is shot and dead is shocking. The fact that it was a sneaky attack is crazy. Eventhough that is what war is about and sneaky attacks are seen for this man to personally see this is amazing. To read something that is reality helps me better understand what this war was about. It came from someone who was actually there.

Technology Versus Nature

"The rationale for much of American technology had been the conquest of nature.  But in Vietnam, the VC/NVA used nature for the conquest of technology!"

According to Gibson in "The perfect War"  American technology was supposed to be the deciding issue in victory.  What the American military machine didn't understand was the ineptitude of the technology they possessed in the character of the war they fought.  The infiltration of the enemy into every part of Vietnam, and the cooperation of the people to the VC proved invaluable.  Enemy communications were hard to disrupt and intercept.  Most contact in battle was initiated by the enemy.  The tunnel system that was created by the VC in South Vietnam totally confused American response in retaliatary strikes and search and destroy missions.  Noisy Amerian machinery gave early warning to American attacks and also gave away American positions.  The American military machine was forced to initiate contact by using their grunts as "live bait", which resulted in heavy loss of life.  Even after contact, the VC knew they had time to leave the area before the heavy technology descended upon them.

The U.S. formula for body counts, field operation effectiveness, and military promotions criteria, lowered U.S. morale.  Apparantly the numbers game did not create the equation that the technology masters had predicted. The VC/NVA proved "natural" intelligence a lot smarter than technology!   

NLF were they good or not?

          This quote that I have picked out I found to be quite interesting. Especially about the United States and groups they were involved with.

"Demonstrations of popular political support, which should have persuaded the United States to give up its support for an incompetent, dictorial, minority anti-Communist government in the south, instead intensified Washington's conviction that it must do more to prop it up."

          The NLF was a great success that had irony to it as well. The NLF had a lot of military and political strength to it. Washington had no interest or intention in compromising at this point in time, but did have determination however. They were determined to start a separate anit- Communist state in the South. Since they did have such strength it was a good idea to induce the governement of General Nguyen Khanh at this particular time. This was set out for some sort of agreement to try and negotiate the United States and their intervention. Washington however didn't see the NLF as a positive group . They saw it as instablity  and "Deterioration."

NPR Radio Report: North Vietnamese Diary

National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" aired a great story about the diary of Dang Thuy Tram, a young North Vietnamese doctor. The diary was saved  from destruction by an American soldier who tried for years to return it to her family.  The diary has become a best-seller in Vietnam and will be published here next year.

To listen to the story by Michael Sullivan click on this link: A Wartime Diary Touches Vietnamese