We have a certain number of threads on Viet Nam already, but one thing interests me as a civilian. Before joining these boards I had no doubts the US had lost the war in Nam. As I talked to the cool guys in here though, I learned how different the general opinion might be from the actual truth of what happened on the ground. I heard many times that the US decided to withdraw only because the war was being lost at the homefront (universities, Hollywood, pacifists) and not really in VietNam. As I have some Vietnamese-American friends I'd be curious to hear your opinion on this, specially the veterans one.

I also enclose a poll. Thank you, I'm really interested.

Both statements are true. But as we have found out in the last 50 years all of America's enemies have attempted to win (and have succeeded at times) by targeting American popular opinion. Remember Somalia? Gulf War(1991) Saddam throught if he could just bloody our nose with a thousand or so casualtied we'd give into him. In terrorism, as a strategy, the objective is COMPLETELY non-millitary, it's to go after the hearts and minds and convince them that war is no longer worth being waged.

So even though the US won every major battle in Vietnam, it LOST the war because the strategy of the North only required funnelling money into American peace movements and parading POWs infront of cameras. For whatever reason, America is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded when it comes to 'propogandist' warfare.

Overall, I think the US lost the Vietnam War, even though they did their part...I think a lot of the reason why they lost was because of the media and all the people back in the states. They didn't support them in any way which is just plain crazy and stupid. When your countrys soldiers go to war, you need to support them in what they are doing. It's not their choice to go to the battlefield. It's our country's leader's choice. And it was kind of like the media and people in the states that pretty much blamed all of the brave soldiers for that choice. I think that's just plain wrong. So that's what I think....that a lot of the cause of the loss, was from the states.....discouraging the soldiers that had to go to Vietnam.

We lost VietNam, not the VietNam war. America won every major battle it fought and losses in the NVN army and VC are still unknown and probably never will be known. People like Walter "Crankcase" who reported just after the Tet offensive ended in disaster for North VietNam that "It is now evident to this reporter that the war in VietNam is a stalemate."

Some of the so called famous correspondents definitely had the ear of a lot of Congressmen and Cabinet who were also listening to the Fondas who were a part of the so-called popular culture.

Here are some casualty reports from the war.
http://www.vietnamwall.org/pdf/casualty.pdf

Thank you Missileer, now that's a great link. I already have a folder in my Documents about VN, but I didn't have this page. Added

Italian Guy, have you run across any information that the NVA and the North Vietnamese in general were coming to feel defeat was imminent? I don't remember where I heard the conversation but the subject was about the media negatively reporting downright lies.

I don't think the Vietnamese ever considered that they would lose.
Asians are a very patient people, they had experience with fighting the French colonialists, backing from other communist countries and an excellent politcal cadre.
From an Australian point of view I have always been disapointed that a country like ours that had experience fighting this type of warfare pretty much from WWII onwards was regulated to only one region in Vietnam.
The experience we had could have been used more adventageously by the USA to lesson the casualties and guide the tactics at battalion level down more sucessfully than what was used.
Always the poor cousins in USA armed forces eyes I think.
On the other hand it was nice to be on exercise reacently with Yanks and have them drool over our equipment for a change.

USA lost Vietnam and the Vietnam War, but the veterans are still fighting.

Originally Posted by sunb!

USA lost Vietnam and the Vietnam War, but the veterans are still fighting.

How so? The NVA and VC lost most battles, the Tet Offensive was just them hoping to pull off another Den Ben Phu.

The U.S. won every major battle, we dominated the land, besides it wasn't just our war the Aussies and Korean's where there too.

Most civilians don't see that Veitnam could have been and was won as a tactical military battle. The real battle was political.

I think that for every US soldier that died ten NVA and VC died. (Not actual numbers, just my opinion.)

A war is never won.