...As a young male teenager, I was lucky the VN ended because I was full of hormones and stupidly wanting to go, without knowing what it was really like and the lies that were told to make it seem so important/noble.
I forgot to comment on this.
My best friend at work, a colleague I worked with for 20 years at two different megacorps, served in VN. He is 70 now, and was there in 66-67 as an evac chopper pilot. We did not talk about VN war often, but I learned the following from him.
He watched the movie "Dr. Zhivago", and it made him want to go kick some Commies' ass. When he failed to stay in college to get deferment, he knew it was a matter of time he got drafted, so volunteered to get a better treatment, hence the pilot training. Once he was in, he saw that it was not what he envisioned, and all he could do was to survive until his term was over. When he got out, he went back to college and did a lot better with his study this time.
As an evac chopper pilot, he did not participate directly in the fighting, but saw plenty. He told me once they flew over a hamlet, they kept getting shot at. So, they went into the village, and told the peasants that if it happened again, they would burn it down. Well, they got shot at again, and so they came back to burn the hamlet down and relocated the villagers.
This incidence shows how the guerrillas fought. They hid among the villagers. The peasants did not want, nor be able to take side. They couldn't. If they denounced the VCs, they would come back to slit their throat at night. When you cannot protect the civilians 24/7, you cannot expect them to be on your side. The VCs knew this, and any action you took against the peasants would be to the VCs' advantage.
When you don't know who's friend or foe, how do you fight? How do you win? It's impossible.