Posted on 05/05/2021 1:34:39 PM PDT by redcatcherb412
In 1968, May was the month that recorded the highest number of U.S. casualties. The losses were just a few hundred less than the U.S. would see in Afghanistan's 20 years.
Multiple wiki excerpts
On 5 May, communist units initiated PHASE II of the Tet Offensive of 1968 (also known as the May Offensive, "Little Tet", and "Mini-Tet") .
The May Offensive was considered much bloodier than the initial phase of the Tet Offensive. US casualties across South Vietnam were 2,169 killed for the entire month of May making May 1968 the deadliest month of the entire Vietnam War for U.S. forces, while South Vietnamese losses were 2,054 killed. PAVN/VC losses exceeded 24,000 killed and over 2,000 captured. The May Offensive was a costly defeat for the PAVN/VC.
Thanks for losing us the war, Walter Cronkite.
"Trust The Plan".
The most credit should be given to LBJ and Robert McNamara.
Was the south worth fighting for? Ask the French. Same goes for Ukraine. Taiwan? Doesn’t matter what the rest of the world thinks. They gotta know we’re on to them. Trump showed the way.
Every time I see one of those pink license plate holders I'm like "SHOW ME YER TETS!"
+1
5.56mm
The ironic part about this is that the much impugned Phoenix Program, a joint venture between US Special Forces and a limited, reliable subset of the ARVN, had so eroded the Viet Cong structure operationally, that they were pushed to the wall, and were goaded by the NVA to make one last blowout offensive in a sink or swim gamble.
The NVA thought little of the Viet Cong, and figured that they would lose and be wiped out, a small loss of a no longer important part of the war, and they were right.
The Tet offensive was a disaster for the Viet Cong, with the three phases costing them about 100,000 killed and that number of casualties (wounded).
In one sense yes. But it was Cronkite’s lies that really turned public opinion. The administration didn’t have the competence to counter his BS.
TET 68 was the largest win for the Military since WWII, at least till the lame stream media got ahold of it. CONkite said the war is lost which was true for a communist like him. The military set back the commies four years.
When I got home form Viet Nam the news media was reporting much different war than what I left. They are still lying.
The entirety of Asia wasn’t, and isn’t worth one drop of American blood or one taxpayer cent.
The May Offensive was considered much bloodier than the initial phase of the Tet Offensive. US casualties across South Vietnam were 2,169 killed for the entire month of May making May 1968 the deadliest month of the entire Vietnam War for U.S. forces, while South Vietnamese losses were 2,054 killed.
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Just imagine, in WW2 the Wehrmacht averaged about this many men killed in action every day for almost 4 years on the Eastern Front. A full regiment KIA every single day.
according to John F’n Kerry
LBJ war good.
RMN war bad.
McNamara was the genius who tied the military’s hands and destroyed morale with his ‘rules of engagement’.
I arrived in country in February ‘68. Imagine my surprise in March ‘69 (After I sobered up) on learning we had lost the war.
I arrived in country in February ‘68. Imagine my surprise in March ‘69 (After I sobered up) on learning from CBS that we had lost the war.
It's obvious the perfumed princes in the Pentagon have never heard of George Santayana. Our ROE in Iraq and Afghanistan were just as deadly to our servicemembers.
About a year later, I was the PL for one of our towed Vulcan platoons (I was ADA, Chaparral/Vulcan). 3 of my 4 squad leaders were acting jacks...probably the most fun I had in 8 years of active duty. We ended up being the only platoon in our battery to pass our ARTEP. There was some major egg on some faces during the outbriefing. Two of the other 3 PLs were ring knockers, and the other was an Airborne Ranger.
Most of their squad leaders were E6s, with E7 Platoon Sergeants. Mine was an experienced E6, and we got along great.
LOL! I wonder how many of the others on this thread understood all of that. Of course, I was FA, rather than ADA but any ARTEP was bound to result in much egg on the faces of butterbars who lacked the steadying hand of an experienced NCO.
My tour in RVN was bookended by a stint at the Officer Basic Course at Ft Gordon and, on returning, at the Field Artillery OC School at Ft Sill. Staff, not student.
The Regular Army during the Carter years was insufferable so I didn't re-up for the last six. I missed out on a small pension but I can't say, forty years later, that I am any worse off for it. The Army sent me to Hawaii for my last duty station, beginning a thirty-year chapter in the islands...
In Germany, as a field artillery FDC chief, I had several opportunities to 'break-in' new West Point butter bar FDO's, all had been instructed to listen to and trust their NCO's, some ignored us and attempted to do things their way.
Those were summarily given an ass-chewing by the battery commander.
In Vietnam I never had a problem with a new ring-knocker.
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