Posted on 12/30/2015 12:07:12 PM PST by Retain Mike
Success would be achieved when the offensive forced the North Vietnamese to meet at the negotiating table and stop supporting the Viet Cong. U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine airmen flying from bases in Thailand and South Vietnam and from aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin were to apply that pressure in the North by disrupting supply routes and destroying resources that facilitated aggression in the South. Specific targets included electric power, war-supporting industry, transportation, military complexes, petroleum storage facilities, and air defenses.
Unfortunately, the campaign was compromised and circumscribed by unprecedented micromanagement emanating from the White House and the Pentagon and relayed through the cumbersome chain of command to the pilots and aircrewmen trying to do their jobs in the actual theater of war. At the start of the campaign, prohibited bombing zones were established around Hanoi and Haiphong, within 25 to 30 miles of the Chinese border, and in other areas. There was also a requirement for specific approval from Washington and the commander-in-chief, Pacific, in Hawaii to strike individual targets above the 19th parallel, which was about 175 miles north of the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Vietnam..
Most aircrews were not particularly discomfited with such rules. That was more a bother for commanders. Flying one or two combat flights each day, the aircrews on the line had enough to do with the missions available. It was the weather that more directly affected them. During long periods of the year, November through March, monsoon-driven fog and overcast precluded visual strikes, and the only truly all-weather aircraft, the A-6 Intruder, was just making its first appearance. In these frequent bad-weather periods the North Vietnamese had ample opportunity to rebuild roads and bridges, replenish munitions, and send support south.
(Excerpt) Read more at usni.org ...
This AT2 thanks you for the post.
Kudos to the Navy, Marine, Airforce and Army vets, who did their best with heavy losses.
Unfortunately, the ROE’s that the bastards LBJ and Mack the Knife set up, made their efforts not that effective. Like the bastards in the White Hut now, LBJ and Mack made it impossible for us to defeat and not really hurt North Vietnam as shown from the link you posted from.
“Unfortunately, the campaign was compromised and circumscribed by unprecedented micromanagement emanating from the White House and the Pentagon and relayed through the cumbersome chain of command to the pilots and air crewmen trying to do their jobs in the actual theater of war. At the start of the campaign, prohibited bombing zones were established around Hanoi and Haiphong, within 25 to 30 miles of the Chinese border, and in other areas. There was also a requirement for specific approval from Washington and the commander-in-chief, Pacific, in Hawaii to strike individual targets above the 19th parallel, which was about 175 miles north of the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Vietnam..”
Boy did my father hate Johnson. Me too when I learned about him when I got older
Most of us with at least bit of common sense hated LBJ for what he did to America and our men/women in the military risking their lives and limbs 24/7.
The two peas-in-a-pod included Robert Strange McNamara - who true to his name, was equally disliked.
The Un-Holy Trinity for my Dad in those days:
LBJ
MacNamara
Jane Fonda
He hated all three, but Fonda was more equal than the others.
i like ti include John Kerry as well.
I loved my part putting Marine F-4J Phantoms In the Air every day.
Thanks for your service and keeping the Marine Air Jocks in flyable.
Happy New Year!
LBJ
MacNamara
Jane Fonda
John Kerry
America’s enemies at home, and the NVNs best buds!
Thanks!
For it’s time, the F-4 Phantom II was the perfect aerial weapon. Hasn’t been an all-purpose plane since. (IMHO)
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