If there’s one thing my time at LSE studying asymmetric war taught me, it’s that we must learn from history or be doomed to repeat it. The recent CENTCOM press release regarding operations against the Houthi forces is very concerning as a virtual carbon copy of the exact mistakes that led us into the quagmire … Continue reading New CENTCOM Houthi Plans Look Just Like Vietnam War Failures
Since the secrecy requirements of the American soliders of the Vietnam War have expired, new exposure is emerging with stories like this one: [Military Assistance Command Vietnam-Studies and Observations] encouraged and incentivized prisoner snatching… There were no overarching standard-operating procedures… SOG commandos inspected their prisoner more closely, only to find that it was a woman. … Continue reading Why Would Vietnam War POW Jump From a Helicopter to Her Death?
File this post under… someone on the Internet is wrong. I was reading a click-bait titled article on Military.com called “‘The Father of Naval Special Warfare’ Almost Changed the History of the Vietnam War” when I ran into this eye-watering paragraph: The seaborne infiltrations by communist forces went on for years. Despite the U.S. Navy’s … Continue reading The Tet Offensive Came Long After Public Opposition to Vietnam War
On the heels of remembering the 1968 massacre of civilians by American soldiers in Vietnam, I was prompted to read an Air War College Research Report from the 1980s called “Parallels in Conflict: American Revolution and Vietnam War”. The TL;DR is Lt Col Robert Daly II arrives at a simple tautology. …military commanders should advocate … Continue reading Comparative History of the American Revolution and Vietnam War