Fighting the Vietnam War

• 1) Explain three disadvantages the US soldiers had fighting the Vietnam war.

• 2) Explain 3 advantages the Vietcong had fighting the war.

• 3) Evaluate if Americans should have been drafted to fight the Vietnam war. (Be sure to include the inequality in the draft process)

Ho Chi Minh Trail- supply line for SV Communists from NV, goes through Laos and Cambodia (not Vietnam)

• Operation Rolling Thunder- campaign to halt the flow of supplies into SV by constantly bombing the Ho Chi Minh trail and surrounding arreas– *US strategy- idea to increase military pressure to make SV

resistance cost more than enemy was willing to bear• Evaluate if more bombing and killing by US forces will motivate the

Vietcong to surrender? Explain

*More bombings did not work, US dropped more tonnage of bombs in Vietnam than every country in WWII did combined

1) Vietcong are fighting a war for independence (Vietnamese simply want the west (Imperialism) out of their country, bombing furthered their resolve to fight

2) Vietnamese believe in reincarnation, not afraid to die3) Ho Chi Minh trail not visible Vietnam is a jungle and difficult to see where the enemy is

What should be the next US response?– US Sends more troops to Vietnam (Where is the US going to get these troops from?)– US troops in Vietnam- 1965- 185,000 troops

• 1968- 566,ooo troops

Soldiers War-Draft restarted forcing males 18-29 to fight

Would you go to Vietnam if called up? Explain (How could you get out?)

• Ways to get out of draft– Deferment- college, family and baby– Physical- fail it (weak knee, high blood pressure, bad eyes, gay) get a doctor’s

note, ½ of draftees flunked the physical– What group of people would be most likely to take advantage of those

two requirements to avoid serving in the war?• *both favored the rich (afford college and friends with doctors)

– Middle Class and Minorities- took the brunt of the draft• *19 average age of a soldier• *40% of soldiers Af/Am yet make up 15% of US pop.

– Now, think if you could get out of the war? Explain

US TacticsSearch and Destroy- troops moving through the jungle looking for “Charlie”

Problems US soldiers faced• Uncertain enemy- Vietcong blended in with civilians (farmer by

day, VC by night)• Hardships- jungle (can’t see), booby traps (legs blown off, unseen),

moving on (take an area, leave, come back and fight to take it back again in one week)– *How do you claim you’re winning the war if you are not taking

land?

• Body Counts- # of Vietnamese killed– Problem- #’s were inflated (Gov. lied about the number of Vietnamese killed)– War was on television every night and the graphic images of US soldiers

being shot did not correlate with body count numbers (Images looked like we were losing)

• Fighting Units- new soldiers brought in continually when others died, 1yr. and go home

• What problems do you think will arise in a unit where new troops are constantly replacing troops that were likked in action?

• What are the Vietnamese fighting for? What are American soldiers fighting for?

– soldiers are fighting to survive

Technology- US tried to use sophisticated weapons to destroy a primitive enemy

• Napalm- incendiary explosive (gel that stays on fire and sticks to whatever it touches)

• Agent Orange- toxic pesticide to kill jungle foliage – *problem- causes cancer, skin disease, etc (often dropped on or

near US troops)• Analyze how these weapons will make it harder to win the war

(win the hearts and minds of the South Vietnamese were are fighting to protect from Communism)

– *War cost $2 bil. per month

• Vietnamese Advantages- – Guerilla Tactics- hit and run– Booby traps- scare US soldiers– Know the terrain- fighting on home soil– Underground tunnels- villages underground, protected from bombs– Foreign aid- from North Vietnam (troops), China, and Russia (military

supplies)• *fighting a war for independence and willing to die