Vietnam War

Thoughts/Opinions anyone? I personally think it was a huge mistake.

Big mistake. Shouldn't have been there.

The horror....

I honestly think that the US troops were outa control.

My Uncle told the family that some American soldiers opened fire on some rice farmers because they were just sitting back while they were liberting the country... America is one fucked up place.

It was a giant waste of resources and life and only resulted in the counter culture movement of the 1960s and 70s.

My Lai Massacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre

Stupid war and total waste of lives.

ANTICOMMUNIST FORCES
Total dead: 315,384 – 412,000
COMMUNIST FORCES
Total dead: ~1,177,462
Vietnamese civilian dead: ~200,000 – 2,000,000
CIVILIANS
Cambodian civilian dead: 200,000 – 300,000*
Laotian civilian dead: ~20,000 – 200,000*
Total civilian dead: ~420,000 – 2,500,000

[spoiler:n4v9uu2q][yt:n4v9uu2q]S06nIz4scvI[/yt:n4v9uu2q][/spoiler:n4v9uu2q]

The last war the US has lost so far.

We didn't lose Vietnam. Only an uneducated defeatist or someone with an agenda makes that claim.

We pulled out and Vietnam became a united country under a communist regime, are you saying this means we didn't lose?

In terms of battles we never lost, tough the Tet offensive was a major blow to us. The reality of the situation was it came down to either we where going to have to go destroy the North Vietnamese or they where going to take the south. We didn't go after the North Vietnamese and of course they took the south. (we did however fire alot of missles and bombs into Cambodia and Laos)

But honestly i think we should have never went in the first place.

A full scale war was never out of the question, because at this point Vietnam was supported more by China than Russia. (Sino-Soviet split)

Ironically the Chinese and the Vietnamese went to war.

Ironically the Chinese and the Vietnamese went to war.[/quote:15mnz77p]
This was later after the invasion of Cambodia though.

Ironically the Chinese and the Vietnamese went to war.[/quote:2hbgywl4]
This was later after the invasion of Cambodia though.[/quote:2hbgywl4]

Which i wonder had the united states not gone to war with Vietnam would Vietnam have taken Cambodia and Laos. Oh and the United states did alot of Chemical attacks on the Vietnam population.

You've lost the "war on drugs" and the "war on terror".

Not trying to pick on the newbie, but we already had this one.
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=4907

Lost? Depends on what you think that the objective was.

Last I checked, that offensive was not so great for the communists. Again, it depends on what you consider 'victory'.

Ironically the Chinese and the Vietnamese went to war.[/quote:cts4jcx1]
This was later after the invasion of Cambodia though.[/quote:cts4jcx1]
Which i wonder had the united states not gone to war with Vietnam would Vietnam have taken Cambodia and Laos. [/quote:cts4jcx1]
No. The Vietmanese would never be able to beat the Chinese. Remember that it was the Chinese who trained them. Plus the Chinese were better supplied, better equiped, and in greater numbers. The only reason that the Chinese did not push into Vietnam for attacking Laos and Cambodia was that the Soviets would have backed up the Vietcong [in theory].

Point of view based on goal. Again.

The 'wars' in my eyes, are partcially noble, but impractical.

The Tet offensive just changed the mindset at home, even still had it come down right to it we could have went right into the heart of North Vietnam. Now you also bring up an excellent point with the Soviets supporting the Vietnamese (in theory) like had the Chinese and the Vietnamese really gone to war (not a minor border war which they had in real life) like imagine the implications if the soviets decided to back theme; imagine if you will a Soviet-Sino war and the implications that would have.

Tet offensive casualties:
Viet Cong: 45000
US: 9000
South Vietnam: 11000

Well its to be expected but still the mindset at home changed because of it, and like what how many civilians died throughout the war.

Well its to be expected but still the mindset at home changed because of it, and like what how many civilians died throughout the war.[/quote:1n4m6i3a]
American soldiers did not exactly cover themselves with the fruits of moral superiority in that war...