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Laura Brady
Dr. Fleegler
His 399
19 May 2015

Troubles in Vietnam

The American Soldiers faced unique challenges fighting a war in the

unfamiliar Vietnam. The North Vietnam Army and Viet Cong had the
advantage of being in their own backyard. They were fighting for their
country, they knew the terrain, and the people. While advantages for North
Vietnam, these same factors were a crucial part of the struggle American
soldiers faced. They were fighting a determined force, in an unfamiliar
country.
The terrain of Vietnam, dictated the type of warfare that would be
carried out. Americans, unfamiliar with the terrain, were fighting battles in a
way that was completely new to them. In past wars, Americans used tanks
and heavy artillery to roll through a country and would claim cities as they
went. The thick jungles of Vietnam did not allow for this type of approach.
Tanks were not usable in Vietnams terrain.
North Vietnam, having the advantage of being familiar with the
landscape, was able to use this to their advantage. Their strategy, or style of

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war, guerilla warfare allowed them to cause heavy casualties on the

American ground troops. The North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong used a
tactic called, grabbing onto the enemys belt buckle (Appy, 2003, p. 130).
This was done by moving in quickly, causing as much damage as possible in
a short time and then retreating back into the cover of the jungle. The
strategy had several advantages. It allowed the NVA and VC to cause
casualties but still get out before Americans could get cover from air strikes.
It also allowed the NVA and VC to decide when and where firefights would
take place (Appy, 2003, p. 130).
Dennis Deal, in Patriots: The Vietnam War Remembered from All Sides,
tells a story that demonstrates how the Vietnameses knowledge and the
American soldiers lack of knowledge of the terrain played a role in the war.
While Henry Herricks, an American soldier, company was under fire, his
platoon broke ranks to go after three Vietnamese soldiers. Deal said, They
were swallowed up by the vegetation. One of his sergeants told me later
that he knew Henry had made a mistake the very moment he said, follow
me. Sure enough, the North Vietnamese had rigged an ambush and within
seconds eight Americans were killed (Appy, 2003, p. 131).
Accounts such as Deals were common during the Vietnam War. The
NVA and VC used their terrain against the Americans. Unfortunately for the
American soldiers, their leaders stuck with traditional strategies, despite
Vietnam not being a tradition war. An estimated 200,000 North Vietnamese

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reached draft age every year and Hanoi was able to replace its losses and
match each American escalation. Moreover, the conditions under which the
war was fought permitted the enemy to control its casualties (Herring, 2014,
p. 196). The NVA and VC were able to remain fairly elusive and until they
wanted a fight, on their terms (Herring, 2014, p. 196).
Another advantage, fighting on their home turf gave the Vietnamese,
was the tunnel system. The government claimed to have built 30,000 miles
of tunnels and in heavily bombed areas, the people spent much of their lives
underground (Herring, 2014, p. 193). The NLF Tunnel System was a tunnel
system built during the Vietnamese wars with France and the United States.
The Viet Minh and National Liberation Front connected villages and battle
zones by hand digging tunnels. These tunnels provided places for
Vietnamese soldiers to hide, store supplies, sleep, eat, and much more. The
tunnel system had hospitals, printing presses and even theatres (Herring,
2014, p. 194).
The mountainous, thick, mostly rural terrain not only effected the
ground troops, the terrain of Vietnam played a large role in the effectiveness
of the air strikes. More than half of the money the United States spent on the
war, was spent on air operations. The hope was the bombing would wear
down the Vietnamese until they gave up. It was quickly realized that they
were not giving in. The focus then turned to the hopes that if they
Vietnamese would not quit, the loss of life and supplies, would at least make

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it impossible for them to fight. Unfortunately for the United States, each
time they would increase bombing, the Vietnamese kept fighting (Appy,
2003, pp. 200-202). As more and more civilians were killed in the bombings,
it not only failed to wear down the Vietnamese, it convinced Vietnamese
that, the United States was a foreign aggressor (Appy, 2003, p. 201).
George Herring, in his book, Americas Longest War: The United States
and Vietnam, 1950-1975, called Vietnam, primitive country with few crucial
targets. The bombings in some sense failed, because, Vietnam was not
industrially developed enough to be paralyzed by bombing. Its human and
industrial resources were so de centralized the destruction of any single
target did not have a major impact on the whole society (Herring, 2014).
The United States bombing did cause around $600 million in damage.
Despite this damage, the bombing did not achieve its goals (Herring, 2014,
p. 184). The bombings, while costing a lot of resources and making things
more difficult for the North Vietnamese, they did not slow North Vietnamese
infiltration into the south. In fact, Official American estimates conceded that
infiltration increased about 35,000 soldiers in 1965 to as many as 90,000 in
1967, even as bombing grew heavier and more destructive (Herring, 2014, p.
184).
The weather of Vietnam proved to be another factor of being in
unfamiliar territory that made it difficult for American soldiers. Monsoon
season, September to May, produced heavy rains and fog. The weather

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caused many missions to be put on hold. Pilots had a difficult bombing with
accuracy during this weather (Herring, 2014, p. 184).
The unfamiliar terrain of Vietnam was a huge road block for American
soldiers but perhaps even more powerful was the determination of the
Vietnamese. Many saw the United States as just another colonial power.
They were fighting for their country and they were determined to win.
Vietnam had been at war, off and on, for years before the war with the
United States and they were used to war. Vo Nguyen Giap, a Vietnamese
revolutionary, said, Militarily, the Americans were much more powerful than
we were. But they made the same mistake as the French they
underestimated Vietnamese forces of resistance (Appy, 2003, p. 42).
Dennis Deal, an American soldier learned about the determination of
the North Vietnamese soldiers, on a battle field in Vietnam. He told about a
wounded North Vietnamese soldier. The soldier, had been horrifically
wounded. Instead of giving up, he had taken his hand grenade and booby
trapped himself by attaching it to his gun. Deal, seeing this, thought to
himself, Man, if were up against this, its gonna be a long-ass year (Appy,
2003, p. 135).
Overall, the Vietnamese culture is tougher than ours. Vietnamese
kids, that had been shot, didnt even complain. They had songs about
sustaining for the future (Appy, 2003, p. 63). The Vietnamese were naturally
tougher, they were exposed to war, and they were fighting for their country.

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This just made them a tough enemy for the United States. Henry Prunier
said, I was by no means a Communist, but I knew that the patriotism of the
Vietnamese was going to far outdo anything we could throw at them, and it
did (Appy, 2003, p. 41).
American soldiers faced many challenges fighting a war in Vietnam.
They were faced with fighting a war in an unfamiliar country. This unfamiliar
terrain played a large part in the war. They were also facing an enemy that
had little to lose. They had been controlled and at war for so long. They
were hardened, tough and determined not to lose, no matter the cost. While
critics can say, the United States made bad decisions when it came to
Vietnam War, even all the right decisions would have made for tough war
against such an enemy.

Works Cited
Appy, C. G. (2003). Patriots The Vietnam War Remembered From All Sides. New York:
Penguin Books.
Fleegler, D. (2015, May 14). Vietnam War : Lyndon Johnson and the Americanization
of the War, 1963-1965. Lecture 4. Southaven, Mississippi.
Herring, G. C. (2014). America's Longest War The United States and Vietnma 19501975. New York: McGraw Hill Education.

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