What mistakes did the US make in the Vietnam War?

Answer 1

Keeping in mind that armchair generals and everyone else has 20/20 (hindsight); there really weren't that many mistakes made during the war; other than consistently underestimating the enemy...on a fairly steady basis: 1. We didn't bomb "all" of the man-made structures into atoms, nor use ATOMIC WEAPONS as some US pilots & Aircrewmen "wanted to", because the President of the United States (Johnson) didn't want to kill or wound Soviet/Red Chinese techicians or merchantmen unloading war material from North Vietnam's harbors. President Johnson KNEW that Red China had entered the Korean War in 1950 when US forces neared Red China's border; US Airmen may or may not have "remembered the Korean War with the Red Chinese", nor might not even have cared...with over 240 F-100 Supersabres, over 390 F-105 Thunderchiefs, and over 360 A-4 Skyhawks (Presidential candidate John McCain's jet aircraft)...to name but a few of the US jets shot down over NORTH/South Vietnam; the US Airmen wanted to destroy the North! But the President remembered Korea, and cooler minds prevailed. 2. We couldn't invade NORTH Vietnam, as we DID invade North Korea in 1950...that brought in Red China; a far bloodier war was Korea...33,000 dead GI's in 3 years. Vietnam nearly doubled that figure, but it took about 10 years or so. To avoid another "Korea" we didn't invade North Vietnam (as the hawks of the 1960's used to scream for). 3. We never fought a war like this one before; Korea was close...but was on a peninsula; easily isolated by the United States Navy. Vietnam couldn't be isolated, it wasn't a peninsula! 4. All other US wars (minus Korea) were total wars. So Vietnam was a first. We did the best we could under the restrictions of numbers 1, 2, and 3 noted above...and so tried a new technique for a new type of war...ATTRITION. This brought out the new terms of "Search and Destroy" with the accompanying "Body Counts." After some years of using this strategy, that seemed to fail too...so in the end, frustration over came determination; and we left. As far a "mistakes" is concerned; you just keep trying, fall down, get back up. In Vietnam we kept getting back up...then decided we had had enough.