Problems That US troops faced in Vietnam

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  • Created by: bella
  • Created on: 31-05-13 18:42

Problems That US troops faced in Vietnam

Causes

  • Low Morale and Inexperience (1)
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  • Vietnam's Neighbours (2)
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  • ."Hearts and Minds"
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Effects

  • after 1967 an increasing amount of soldier had been drafted into the war. (1)
  • Many of these were men who'd never beer in the military before. (1)
  • Many men had just left school, 60% of soldiers killed were 17-21 (1)
  • The soldiers knew very little about the country they were fighting for. They didn't care about the causes they just wanted to get home alive.In contrast the Viet Cong believed in what they were fighting for. (1)
  • People Privileged enough to be attending University could avoid the draft. (1)
  • There were tension between troops and officers. Most officers were professional soldiers looking for a promotion (this meant killing as many people as possible) However most soldiers just wanted to stay alive.(1)
  • There was evidence of "fragging" Troops killing their own officers (1)
  • Many troops turned to drugs when they weren't fighting, and many people obtained and sold things on the black market. (1)
  • General Westmoreland made a policy of one year service - however this backfired because as soon as a troop gained experience they got sent home again.(1)
  • Neightbouring countries were sympathetic to the veit cong
  • This meant that the USA couldn't send their forces into Cambodia/Laos.
  • This gave the Viet Cong a huge advantage the could retreat into these countries and reinforce their losses.
  • Johnson felt it was important to win the "heaert's and minds" of the public.
  • howver because US tactics were based on attrition (killing large numbers of the enemy) this inevitably led to large amounts of civiain causalties
  • this led the Vietnamese people to support the Viet Cong which caused concern in the US

Overall summary

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