Helicopters In The Vietnam War

Centuries before the Korean War, wars were long and painful events that any man could ever go through. Troops would match from countries to countries, crossing mountains, trial through the forest, and wander the desert to meet with their enemy in battle. The only problem with the troops traveling so far for so long is that before the war ever starts, the men were fatigued and casualty rates were higher than they should be. By the Korean War, an amazing machine was introduced to the military ranks, turning the tide in warfighting and troop survivability. UH-1 Huey Helicopter, or Utility Helicopter, was the one machine that was created by Bell that change the concept in warfighting and giving the United States the upper hand in war. On several

Relating to Appy’s claim, as escalation grew after the Tonkin Gulf, America began to wage an unmoral war that was not supported by the Americans and Vietnamese or understood by American soldiers. Agreeing with Appy’s claim, the prime issue of an immoral and unjust war is one that America must realize and understand the full consequences that this has had on the nation if it is to learn any lessons from Vietnam. Originally told that the war was fought to contain communism, bombing campaigns as Operation Rolling Thunder annihilated many villages and the countryside where it was believed that the Viet Cong were stationed. Proven more often than not to be unsuccessful, only to produce the numbers of unidentified Vietnamese bodies and remains that

NPR’s transcript “Forgotten Ship”: A Daring Rescue as Saigon Fall,”tells readers the the fall of saigon was chaotic and desperate. It’s shown as a chaotic time because of the amount of helicopters that were trying to land on the USS Kirk, Mr Paul Jacobs said “it looked like bees flying everywhere”. I’m inferring that the thoughts going through everyone's head is what is happening in Saigon. An example of the desperation in Saigon is when “a chinook came out...Hovers over the fantail, opened up its rear door and started dropping people out of it”. These people were so desperate they jumped out of a helicopter this is an insane example of desperation.

The Vietnam War that commenced on November 1, 1955, and ended on April 30, 1975, took the soldiers through a devastating experience. Many lost their lives while others maimed as the war unfolded into its full magnitude. The book Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam by Bernard Edelman presents a series of letters written by the soldiers to their loved ones and families narrating the ordeals and experiences in the Warfield. In the book, Edelman presents the narrations of over 200 letters reflecting the soldiers’ experiences on the battlefield. While the letters were written many decades ago, they hold great significance as they can mirror the periods and the contexts within which they were sent. This paper takes into account five letters from different timelines and analyzes them against the events that occurred in those periods vis a vis their significance. The conclusion will also have a personal opinion and observation regarding the book and its impacts.

Thousands of soldiers and other military assets were moved to the isolated base of Khe Sanh, away from arguably more useful bases throughout the rest of the country. When viewed on its own, the strategic military advantages of a victory at Khe Sanh were relatively inconsequential. “Khe Sanh had little impact on the outcome of the Vietnam War. Seen in this context, and given the intentions of the participants at the beginning, Khe Sanh was an overall failure for both sides” (“The Battle of Khe Sanh”). The true significance of the battle at Khe Sanh is the fact that it laid the groundwork for the Tet Offensive, and thus for the psychological turning point of the war.

The growing perceived ineffectiveness and illegitimacy of America’s role in Vietnam was the product of what was viewed as little more than an anti-communist crusade in which neither logistical concerns nor the nationalist motivations of a people who had yearned for sovereignty over centuries carried significant weight. Less and less Americans were willing to bankroll, much less have their sons paying “any price” or bearing “any burden” for what was becoming a quagmire. Bodybag after bodybag was being filled with American boys on a daily basis, not to mention that every dollar of damage incurred by the Communist enemy in Hanoi cost the United States ten dollars , helping to quickly bring an end to an era of unprecedented American prosperity.

and South Vietnamese enjoyed a much stronger position than the French had In addition to all of helicopters and cargo planes that could resupply and reinforce the Marines, they could rely on the heavy bombing capacity of the B-52 fighter planes, which dropped loads close to 100,000 explosive bombs on the hills surrounding Khe Sanh over the course of the battle. Although U.S. officials expected a full scale attack by North Vietnamese forces on the base, it never came (Impact of Khe Sanh). In March, Westmoreland ordered Operation Pegasus, a joint Army, Marine and ARVN ground advance that relieved the base and ended the battle by mid-April, after the 77

Additionally, Brigadier General consulted with the Naval Commander operating in the waters off of the eastern Vietnamese Coast so his forces could from Thailand into west Vietnam undetected. Upon discussions with the White House, it was determined that the November timeframe would be the best course of action to begin the raid.

In Saigon as the situation unfolded, the general of the ARVN asked the US for help. First the US and Vietnamese Air Force were able to airlift in supplies, fresh bodies, and remove the wounded. The AH-1 Cobra were able to stop most of the tank advancement and infantry men allowing the ARVN troops on the ground to continue to defend their positions10. The VNAF, along with the US Air force and US Navy brought in planes to engage and thwart the ability of the VNA/VC advancement. Though this was successful it was found that there was not any form of battle space de-confliction. In this the pilots found themselves not only dodging the Anti-Aircraft Artillery from the VNA/VC, but as well as other aircraft in the fight. Aircraft were seen flying into direct fire from other aircraft and no one was talking to each other. Ground troops were not on the same frequency so they would stumble into the engagement area as well.

With intelligence gathered by the Defense Military Intelligence department “in May 1970 based on imagery” (Amidon, 2005) Operation Ivory Coast was conceived. The imagery showed strong potential for American prisoners of war held in North Vietnam near Hanoi. The mission was to raid a prisoner of war camp near the Son Tay Citadel and rescue approximately 70 personnel held captive by the North Vietnamese deep in North Vietnamese territory. A mission at this scale will be the first of its kind. The mission was to include crash landing a HH-3H into the main compound holding prisoners of war. The mission was

Attacks stretched as far as the northern U.S. military installation, Chu Lai, down to the primary objective in the south, Saigon. The launch of such an intricate and fierce attack caught many U.S. commanders off guard because at the time, the potential of the Northern fighters was severely underestimated. In the years before, Saigon acted as a safe haven for many refugees trying to escape the horrors of war. The comfort of the city soon vanished when the North Vietnamese sent 35 battalions to seize six objectives in the capital. A few of these enemy fighters took over a government radio station with the intention of spreading pro-communist propaganda. The North Vietnamese believed that if they could control the transmitting tower, they could convince the citizens of the South to riot against the U.S. forces. Fortunately for the U.S. troops, this plan was stopped by a Lieutenant of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) who previously decided to cut all transmission to and from the government radio tower. As the Viet Cong were waiting for reinforcements, ARVN troops

The United States of America, one of the most powerful nations in the world at the time, was completely unprepared for the war that it had joined in Vietnam. The terrain was unlike any we had ever fought in. From mountains to jungles to rice paddies, it was wet, hot, cold, and completely unforgiving. To say that the political situation was tenuous would be a drastic understatement. Not only could officials not make up their minds, neither could the general populace. The media had an influence in this war that was heretofore unseen. All of these factors were a great obstacle in and of themselves and then we put into play the greatest obstacle of all: the enemy. This was an enemy like we had never seen. The North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Vietcong (VC) were fast, agile, adaptable, and extremely unpredictable. The VC hid among the common populace and fought like demons. The NVA were well supplied, well organized, and did not restrict themselves the way many large armies do. This forced us to have to rapidly adapt and develop new tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) in order to counter all of these obstacles. Due to these needs and the rapidly advancing technology and versatility of helicopters, the Air Cavalry was born. The Air Cav was composed of several types of airframes including transport aircraft, attack aircraft, and reconnaissance aircraft. The reconnaissance aircraft were also known as Aeroscouts and were known for their boldness, audacity,

are planning a mortar attack, and this was informed by some of the Vietnamese employees. People from town are informing and this never happened before.After that night, Ng meets with the Commander, the Captain and the Lieutenant and talks about how people in town are informing the Americans when they’re going to attack. Both the Captain and the Lieutenant agrees with him.

After a disastrous battle in 1963, in which the U.S. had lost numerous helicopters and their aboard crew, the press identified strategic blunder and saw “reluctant Vietnamese infantrymen” as the reason for the failed mission. The U.S. government tried to depict the mission as successful, indicating a major point of divide between the government and the media, the media turned to “the word of angry South Vietnamese officials, angry U.S advisors, and hostile American pilots who risked their lives daily without recognition” as their basis of evidence regarding the incident and incidents to come. Another question was left to be raised, where were these televised materials coming from? In accordance with the actual content; much of what was recorded was done by the US Army photographic agency beginning after much controversy caused by the filming of burning the village of Cam Ne by American troops.

In 1961 President Kennedy sent a group who’s mission was to report on conditions in the South and assess if the United States should continue to deploy troops to Vietnam -Brigham, 1. In 1962 there was a massive increase of United States troops in Vietnam –MacDonald, 626. The numbers grew so large that they almost tripled. This led for the South Vietnamese to be instructed by advisors, who were attachments in the field -MacDonald, 627. Army recruits in the Special Forces were brought in to train the tribesman in the highlands. They also assisted the South Vietnamese in some of the more remote regions of the country -MacDonald, 627. The Civilian Irregular Defense Groups accompanied the Special Forces advisors, and they were able to disrupt the flow of the North Vietnamese from the country of Laos into South Vietnam -MacDonald, 627. These men were in charge of most parts of the operation, in a country where leadership had never been encouraged -MacDonald, 628. The United States troops also had many problems directing the civilians because of the language barrier. At the same time the Special Force troops were frustrated in directing their tactics -MacDonald, 628.