Well, what did you expect? McNamara sent in the marching morons.
Instead of upping the draft, calling on more young men to go to Vietnam, he lowered the standards for induction to the Armed Services, recalling many young men who had previously been excused from the service for physical and mental disabilities.
The majority of these men were illiterate or even had below average IQs. Many would have been likely classified as “mentally disabled” in a future generation.
Remember Bubba from Forest Gump? He wasn’t some random stupid guy, he was one of “McNamara’s morons”.
I work with a guy like that, probably autistic and not “lemmy autistic”. “LOL, I’m so quirky and have totally typical human traits! Don’t call me the R word! I have legit mental problems!”
Nah. This guy couldn’t hang working at a hardware store, moving mulch and rocks from point A to B, so they made him the “cart boy”. All he has to do is bring the shopping carts and sleds in from the parking lot. First day, he took the carts from inside and put them back in the parking lot.
Imagine going into combat with this guy, the most unforgiving quarter in human experience, and you must cooperate or die. I’d frag him to save myself and my buddies.
TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee 3 days ago
Feel like this is really belittling to the VC and PAVN, the Ho Chi Minh trail is rightfully known as one of the greatest achievements of military engineering in the 20th century.
The North Vietnamese military didn’t win because America was just that incompetent, they had arguably a couple of the best generals in modern history. I mean they defended against the armies of France, America, cambodia and China within a couple decades.
ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 3 days ago
If Vietnam had the PR machine of America, Võ Nguyên Giáp would be heralded as one of the greatest military minds of all time. Instead he is begrudgingly accepted as a good strategist who probably beat 3 of the biggest, most powerful militaries in the world with villagers.
The West doesn’t want to admit that a lawyer who was untrained in military doctrine and strategy beat France then the USA then Cambodia then China in a long 40 year fight. To Americans, the Vietnam was a gruesome 20 years. To Vietnam that was the second chapter of a 50 year period where someone tried to conquer them.
TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee 3 days ago
Yeah, Giáp is undeniably one of the greatest minds in modern military history. Not only did he defeat some of the most powerful militaries in the world, he did so in strategically different positions.
I can’t think of another commander who excelled against an occupying force as an insurgent, was successful in counter insurgency, and defeated a better armed opponent in a head to head battle.
You’re totally right, if America had a general as successful everything in the US military would be named after them, we’d never hear the end of it.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Extra exhausting when you hear some chest beating 2A loving conservative insist that Vietnam/Afghanistan proves police states can’t ever work in America.
There’s simply no conceptualization of what domestic resistance takes or who you need to win in a protracted insurgency.
We’ve just got a bunch of keyboard commanders who think your League of Legends rank would make you a modern day Rambo.
Stamets@lemmy.world 3 days ago
I feel like racism definitely played a part on America’s side too. Just assumed that they couldn’t possibly be strategically intelligent because their houses aren’t white picket fence nonsense.
MuskyMelon@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Definitely and continues to this day beyond the battlefields
rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 2 days ago
It shows how insidious propaganda is when you can’t even avoid perpetuating it when you’re trying to boost the people it’s against.