Revisiting Vietnam
I take you back to that most maligned of wars — Vietnam.
The failure of the Viet Cong insurgency to prevail brought about the introduction of the PAVN(NVA) to South Vietnam. On the battlefield and in the towns, the insurgency was cut to ribbons.
The Chieu Hoi (Open Arms) program produced thousands of “Hoi Chanhs” who had been pressed into service with the Viet Cong or volunteered.
The Scariest
The Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRU), made up of defecting Viet Cong who sought revenge on old cohorts, was viewed by the enemy as the most terrifying tactic of all employed.
But even many in the U.S. military believe we lost a war to a bunch of peasant insurgents.
It is pure bunk.
Winning and Losing
The French Army in Algeria and certainly the Legion were close to, or, in some cases, actually rebelling against the French government.
Because they were losing in a war against insurgents?
No. Because they felt, to a man, they were winning. The problem was not the lack of ability to combat an insurgency.
Bashing a Myth
Some 250,000 Chinese “volunteers” were sent into Korea because of the inability of North Koreans to prevail in conventional or insurgency campaigns.
In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge were nobody until Sihanouk and every leftist in the West joined and supported them in conjunction with an entire corps of the North Vietnamese PAVN. Insurgency my eye!
An Explanation
In Laos, the Royal Lao Army stood by dumbfounded when the much feared Pathet Lao occupied the town of Savannakhet with 50 troops and three tanks they had borrowed from the NVA lurking just outside of town.
Why so few?
There were no more in the area. The central government gave up power to a ghost of propaganda.
Mysterious Boast
People from the Left in America used to brag about participating in the Spanish Civil War.
Why?
That insurgency was a total flop — and not merely because fascists supported Franco.
The real reason?
Even at the height of the Great Depression, selling everyone on joining the “peasant class” did not resonate.
But another myth was born.
Where Did Will Go?
The only thing that will ever make a bellicose insurgency a win for the insurgents is a lack of will on the part of those who oppose them.
Countries united in an honest cause will defeat every insurgency that opposes them.
Two Missing Ingredients
But you must have the WILL and the UNITY to prevail.
Sadly, these are two commodities long since lost from the American character.
“We will oppose any enemy” has been replaced with “insurgency”?
“Oh well. What the heck. Let’s quit.”
Merit Disappears
We are fast becoming a nation undeserving of a leadership role in the world and, as a people, do not merit the victories our proud and gallant have given us at heavy cost to themselves.
Maj. Mark A. Smith, U.S. Army (ret.), served in Vietnam and Cambodia. He also was a Prisoner of War.
