I'm 81. Vietnam vet when I was 23. We attempted regime change in Vietnam.
Some of my colleagues who were lifers taught regime change. The idea was that we would take over, In Vietnam we had "Vietnamization." In essence we inserted a president -- a Catholic in a sea of Budhists -- set up a government.
We replicated this later and improved on it but failed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not history courses -- theory -- a friend of mine was a member of the Kentucky National Guard, a judge at Dept. Of Agriculture, who became the military governor of Falujah province..... When Buttigieg was in Naval officer in Afghanistan, he serverd in the same type of capacity,
Drafted, I had 2 combat tours in Nam ('72 Rung Sat & '73 Central and North VN) I never viewed what I was doing as regime change. I was focused on doing what I was told and bringing back all my men alive - which I did. The war, as I saw it, was due to some automotive tycoon playing at SECDEF who was trying to win a game of dominoes measured in body-counts so the US could later exploit China for profit. Vietnam was just to keep Mao in his place.
I spoke Vietnamese and read up on the culture and history of the place. It was clear from the get-go that Chinese communism was never a true threat to SE Asia. As for Vietnamization, that was about turning over US assets to the locals so we could beat feet out of the country. Both the north & south of Vietnam seemed more interested in turning French colonial capitalism to their own national advantage - which eventually they did.
I don't even want to comment on Bush's shock-n-awe which was as dumber than Nam.
We did "search and destroy" operations in the Iron Triangle, cleared the areas of civilians and moved them to new villages. I was TDY to CIDG, ARVN, even Korean allies - White Horse Div.
No, I attended war AFTER college.
I'm 81. Vietnam vet when I was 23. We attempted regime change in Vietnam.
Some of my colleagues who were lifers taught regime change. The idea was that we would take over, In Vietnam we had "Vietnamization." In essence we inserted a president -- a Catholic in a sea of Budhists -- set up a government.
We replicated this later and improved on it but failed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not history courses -- theory -- a friend of mine was a member of the Kentucky National Guard, a judge at Dept. Of Agriculture, who became the military governor of Falujah province..... When Buttigieg was in Naval officer in Afghanistan, he serverd in the same type of capacity,
The Russians have a variation....
Drafted, I had 2 combat tours in Nam ('72 Rung Sat & '73 Central and North VN) I never viewed what I was doing as regime change. I was focused on doing what I was told and bringing back all my men alive - which I did. The war, as I saw it, was due to some automotive tycoon playing at SECDEF who was trying to win a game of dominoes measured in body-counts so the US could later exploit China for profit. Vietnam was just to keep Mao in his place.
I spoke Vietnamese and read up on the culture and history of the place. It was clear from the get-go that Chinese communism was never a true threat to SE Asia. As for Vietnamization, that was about turning over US assets to the locals so we could beat feet out of the country. Both the north & south of Vietnam seemed more interested in turning French colonial capitalism to their own national advantage - which eventually they did.
I don't even want to comment on Bush's shock-n-awe which was as dumber than Nam.
Tsoi oi.
We did "search and destroy" operations in the Iron Triangle, cleared the areas of civilians and moved them to new villages. I was TDY to CIDG, ARVN, even Korean allies - White Horse Div.