And what good would it have done? What country fell to communism after Vietnam? What would have been different if we would have won in Vietnam?
The whole thing was a mess that we should have never been a part of.
When called upon by your country and you refuse to fight for it, then you are a coward.....Period!!!!!!
Hindsight is 20/20. You need to understand the context of our intervention in Vietnam. The Cold War was at its highest. We had over 500,000 military in Europe to prevent a Soviet invasion. We had the Cuban missile crisis that involved the Soviets trying to place ICBMs there. The Berlin Wall was built in 1961. The Soviets were in the ME in Iraq and Egypt. The Tudeh party was active in Iran with the Soviets wanting more influence in the region. We had fought a war in Korea to contain the Communists. The PRC was becoming more of a threat in Asia. Our allies like Japan and the Philippines were concerned about the threat. Indonesia and Malaysia faced communist insurgencies.
We assisted South Vietnam, which was being invaded by North Vietnam along with its communist surrogates, the Viet Cong, as part of our containment strategy against Communism We feared that Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand would fall.
We won the war in Vietnam and lost the peace. The millions of South Vietnamese who lost their lives, fled as boat people to freedom, and those left behind who were placed in reeducation camps were casualties of the war, and would have been even if we had not been involved. South Vietnam fought on for two years after we left. The Dem controlled Congress cut off funding and military assistance to the South. And we did nothing when the North Vietnam violated the Truce agreement and invaded the South en masse to take it over.
How old are you? I served a year in Danang (including during the Tet Offensive) and 10 months off the coast on an LPH. I don't regret my service, but I despise the politicians who wasted the sacrifice of those who served. The NVA and the VC never defeated us in any significant battle. And Tet was a huge loss for them, but the MSM portrayed it differently.
Our containment strategy first articulated by George Kennan in his Long Telegram in 1946 worked in the long term and resulted in the eventual downfall of the Soviet Union. Our involvement in Vietnam played a part in demonstrating our commitment in blood and treasure to stopping the march of communism.
No Boat People, no mass extermination.
A free and independent South Vietnam.
That's what would have been different.