My father (USMC) was there in late 63 & early 64 as an “adviser”. Damn near got killed.
Came home in 64 and said we were going to get into it *full scale* and throw a lot of lives away for *nothing*. And he predicted it would all be on the heads of politicians (specifically LBJ at the time).
But as we all know, politicians don’t listen to experienced combat officers. They know everything, why should they?
“My father (USMC) was there in late 63 & early 64 as an “adviser”. Damn near got killed.”
I can relate to that. My father was a US Army LtC at the Pentagon. In early ‘62 his office partner returned from a year in Saigon and said “they may not call it a war but we’re sure using ammunition like it’s one”. Dad shipped out in summer of ‘62 for his year as an adviser in Vietnam.
When you have the chance to listen to mid level officers you can find out what’s going on without all the BS. They aren’t politicians, they aren’t speaking to the press, and they have a very real interest in knowing exactly what they are dealing with. ‘Pretend’ can get you killed. Unfortunately politicians deal in ‘pretend’ all the time and military personnel pay the price.
My Dad,US Army, was there fighting when Kennedy got assassinated. It appears no combat troops were “officially” there till 65.