[Red Jones]

Let me recount the history I read. In 1973&74 the south vietnamese had some big fights with the north vietnamese. Casualties were high on both sides. The south held their ground generally. The north was being fed ammunition and equipment by the soviets at this point. The south was being fed ammunition and equipment by the americans. In the spring of 75 the US Congress cut off funding for the south vietnamese. The cutoff was effective immediately. The congressmen were so proud of themselves that they'd 'ended' our involvement in vietnam. Of course our troops had left completely in 73 formally while our troops had done very little fighting in 70, 71, 72 & 73. The big fighting for our guys occurred in 64, 65, 66, 67 & 68. Just 3 weeks or so later, after the cutoff in funding, the north vietnamese invaded with everything they had. The south's leaders knew they were going to lose because they were going to run out of ammunition. It wasn't much of a fight, some south vietnamese soldiers did in fact run out of ammunition while resisting. The generals didn't deploy them for victory because they knew it wasn't going to happen. The south's soldiers were scattering long before it was over.

If we'd kept funding them, then south vietnam would be free today and north vietnam would still be communist. The north wouldn't have clamped down on the south the way they did which cost hundreds of thousands of lives, perhaps even one million.

[navigator]

Of course our troops had left completely in 73 formally while our troops had done very little fighting in 70, 71, 72 & 73. The big fighting for our guys occurred in 64, 65, 66, 67 & 68.

Hogwash.

American Casualties only began to tail off noticeably the second half of 71 when Nixon's troop pullout really got some traction.

The number of Americans who died in 71 were similar to the numbers in 66. The numbers in 70 parallel those of 67. (You can check out the monthly figures for yourself.)

It's simple, American deaths went up during LBJ's troop buildup because there were more people in country each month. They went down because Nixon started withdrawals.

btw..my Vietnam service medal says we got mired there starting in 61 not 64.