Vietnam: The Course of a Conflict

Vietnam: The Course of a Conflict

James H. Willbanks

US Army Command and General Staff College Press US Army Combined Arms Center Fort Leavenworth, KS

Cover Image: Infantry Soldiers, by Roger Blum, Oil on Canvas, 1966. Artwork courtesy of the Center for Military History.

Vietnam: The Course of a Conflict

James H. Willbanks

US Army Command and General Staff College Press An Imprint of Army University Press

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Willbanks, James H., 1947- author. | Army University Press (U.S.), publisher. Title: Vietnam : the course of a conflict / by James H. Willbanks Description: Fort Leavenworth, Kansas : Army University Press, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: LCCN 2018015159 | ISBN 9781940804408 Subjects: LCSH: Vietnam War, 1961-1975--United States. | Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Indochina. | Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Campaigns. | Military assistance, American--Vietnam. Classification: LCC DS558 .W53 2018 | DDC 959.704/3373--dc23 | SUDOC D 110.2:V 67/3 LC record available at

2018 Army University Press publications cover a variety of military history topics. The views expressed in this Army University Press publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense. A full list of Army University Press publications is available at: . army.mil/Books/.

The seal of the Army University Press authenticates this document as an official publication of the Army University Press. It is prohibited to use the Army University Press' official seal on any republication without the express written permission of the Director of the Army University Press.

Editor Michael L. Hogg

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Preface

Five decades after the end of the Vietnam War, the Army is still coming to grips with how the conflict affected American soldiers and the institution itself. The war challenged the US military in unexpected ways while also testing the nation's social cohesion. The conflict evolved over time, from an advisory effort to a campaign largely characterized by conventional combat operations, often against a near peer adversary--the North Vietnamese Army. In its last years, the US Army once again took up an advisory role as it gradually returned responsibility for the war to the South Vietnamese government. The US military's withdrawal in 1973 and North Vietnamese victory in 1975 ensured that the war's legacy would remain fraught, for both American society and its Army.

This collection traces the evolution of America's involvement in Vietnam. The author of these chapters, James H. Willbanks, has devoted much of his professional life to service in and study of the conflict. As a young US Army Infantry officer, Jim served as an advisor to the South Vietnamese Army during the North Vietnamese Easter Offensive in 1972. He served 23 years in uniform, received a Doctorate in History, and after retiring from active duty, continued his service as the Director of the Department of Military History at the US Army Command and General Staff College. In 2016, he was appointed the George C. Marshall Chair of Military History at the college, the position from which he retired in 2018. Jim published 12 books on Vietnam during his career. He also published multiple article-length works on Vietnam, 11 of which appear in this volume. These chapters cover, albeit loosely, the course of the conflict, from the initial advisory effort and the buildup of conventional forces through the Tet Offensive and the ultimate decision to "Vietnamize" the war.

Because of its broad treatment, this volume is relevant to the challenges faced by current military professionals. Its chapters offer insights on security assistance, conventional combat operations, irregular warfare, and other related subjects. While the Vietnam War is now five decades in the past, the experiences of the Soldiers who fought it can and should be used to illuminate the path ahead for today's Army. CSI ? The Past is Prologue!

Donald P. Wright

Combat Studies Institute

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Acknowledgements

I wish to acknowledge and thank the staffs of the Military History Institute and Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, Pennsylvania; the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan; the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library, Austin, Texas; the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California; the National Archives, College Park, Maryland; and the Vietnam Center and Archive at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. A special note of thanks goes to the staff and administration of the Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

I would also like to thank the Command and General Staff College, Army University, and Army University Press for the support I received as the General of the Army George C. Marshall Chair of Military History and as a member of the faculty for over twenty-five years.

A special note of thanks goes to my co-author of "CORDS/Phoenix: Counter-insurgency Lessons from Vietnam for the Future," Dale Andrade, of the Pentagon Joint History Office. He is one of the best Vietnam historians I know.

Last, but certainly not least, I would like to express my appreciation and that of many of my colleagues to Merle Pribbenow, who is an expert on all things Vietnamese and has given freely of his time and expertise to translate Vietnamese documents and educate a generation of Vietnamese War scholars; we are all forever in his debt.

As in all my endeavors, I am forever indebted to Diana, my wife and best friend of almost fifty years, for her unstinting support and encouragement.

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