The Tet Offensive A Brief Summary of What Should Have Not Happened!

The Tet Offensive A Brief Summary of What Should Have Not Happened!

In December 1967, President Johnson. Secretary of Defense McNamara, and  

General Westmoreland considered  victory in Vietnam was near.

Just after midnight on January 30, 1968, some 84,000 Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese Army soldiers launched a coordinated attack on all of the provincial capital cities of South Vietnam. This surprise attack took place during the Lunar New Year or Tet holiday, which had been a time of ceasefire in previous years of the Vietnam War.

The war between North and South Vietnam had already been raging for 13 years in 1968.Ground combat forces from the United States, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and other SEATO allies had joined the fight. While the military and political leadership of the US publically expressed complete confidence in a swift victory for the anti-communist forces

At the policy level, the American brass and the Johnson administration had convinced themselves that the communists were incapable of mounting a coordinated attack on southern cities. The North Vietnamese, however, believed that such a show of strength would convince the population of South Vietnam to rise up en masse to overthrow their corrupt military leaders and reunify the country under communist rule.

The Viet Cong, with support from the North Vietnamese Army, began a series of attacks that would strike more than 100 southern cities between January 30 and February 3, 1968. In each case, the communists unleashed a barrage of mortars and rockets, using weapons brought south via the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and followed with a ground forces invasion.

South Vietnam lost almost 5,000 soldiers killed, 16,000 wounded and around 1,000 missing in the first phase. Its SEATO allies lost over 4,000 troops killed and about 20,000 wounded or missing. In addition, 14,000 South Vietnamese civilians died in the fighting, and approximately 24,000 were wounded.

American President Lyndon Johnson (COMMANDER IN CHIEF) grew so unpopular that in March of 1968, he announced that he would not run for a second term in office. His successor, Richard M. Nixon, initiated a program of "Vietnamization," meaning that the US withdrew its ground forces over the next several years and turned over responsibility for South Vietnam's defense to its own army.

March 22, 1968- Gen. Creighton Abrams takes over command from Gen. Westmoreland.

As much as any other individual, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara personified the American commitment in Vietnam. He was "the can-do man in the can-do society in the can-do era,".  McNamara's tearful departure from the Pentagon at the height of the Tet Offensive in early 1968, as much as Lyndon B. Johnson's March 31, 1968, speech, marked the inglorious end of an era once bright with promise.

The Very Top of Our Military Command totally collapsed. This seriously hurt the moral of the brave troops fighting on the ground!

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Gulf of Tonkin Incident = THE REAL UNNCESSARY BEGINNING OF THE VIETNAM WAR

http://gulfblogspot.blogspot.com/2016/02/gulf-of-tonkin-incident-duh-real.html

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A Must Listen!!!
I WAS ONLY 19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gmgwx77osw&ebc=ANyPxKrEugSSQdo7bvQlQ7zLf77WgZ3YFItubDhmIFshYixjqlbq_AWCMWN9QNohocq9avrfc3Zn3HqWBZpBX9iEhVh1_r70vg

Mark R. Rienzie

E-mail: mrienzie@msn.com

Call for more information: 516-313-3112

Co D 75 Infantry LRRP - The Elite Combat Fighting Force

1969-1970 Vietnam

Airborne / Ranger Team Leader
5th Special Forces Recondo** - CERTIFIED

Staff Sargent (E6 11B4P)

38 Combat Missions - Never Lost a Man

Air Medal, National Defense, Vietnam Campaign, Combat Infantry Badge

Discharge: Honorable

EXPOSED to AGENT ORANGE - Cancer, Kidney, Liver Spleen, Neuropathy, etc


PTSD CONFIRMED!!


**Recondo is an American military term for a combination of RECONnaissance and DOughboy (or CommanDO) special training or a graduate of a Recondo school. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGIqUJfR6qI&ebc=ANyPxKqbtbgW4k3cHZg8-dprAozY-UgGoto9v087_KK_9j1qqc49Ws0gmyuYWW03wTpAAZ0DR0eS89WEd5W_I4BMrUTPkGdnTw