Vietnam Veteran News with Mack Payne

Episode 1170 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature part four of Exeter University history professor and FPRI Templeton Fellow, Jeremy Black's dissertation on the Nguyen Hue campaign (or Easter Offensive). It began in March 1972 when the North Vietnamese figured they could jump on the hapless ARVN and finally ring the death knell for them due to the fact their American benefactors were departing the Vietnam War arena. They invaded the south with large numbers of troops and for the first time lots of tanks.

Professor describes the event in part four of his dissertation titled: The Easter Offensive of 1972 and the Failure to Translate Operational Strategy. It is found on the Foreign Policy Research Institute website and is titled: The Vietnam War: A Lesson in the Geopolitics of Southeast Asia.

Topics covered in part four about the Easter Offensive include:

Comparisons of the 1972 Easter Offensive with the Egyptian and Syrian assault on Israel in 1973.

What brought initial success for the North Vietnamese.

How the United States provided critical air support to the South Vietnamese through Operation Linebacker 1.

The role played by the South Vietnamese and how they performed in that role.

Comparisons made about Iraq attacking Iran in 1980.

What happens when Soviet operational art devised for the circumstances of the North European Plain are applied to very different environmental and military conditions.

How the use of Soviet supplied tanks worked out for the North Vietnamese.

Which side won the ground war in Vietnam.

Effects of the overthrow of the Left-wing nationalist government in Indonesia in 1966.

The strategic “victory” of a sort scored by the United States.

Listen to episode 1170 and discover what Professor Jeremy Black says about the Easter Offensive and how the US prevailed in the Vietnam War.

Episode 1169 of The Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature part three of its series on Professor Jeremy Black's dissertation titled: The Vietnam War: A Lesson in the Geopolitics of Southeast Asia. Professor Black, in addition to being a professor of history at Exeter University in Devonshire, England, UK, he is a Templeton Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. His dissertation can be found on the Institute's website.

In parts one and two of the series, the Professor discussed the War in Focus and   America's increased commitment to the War. In this part three He covers the Tet Offensive along with its tactics and ramifications. It is appropriate to look at the Offensive on its 50th anniversary due to its huge effect on the course of history.

In this section of Professor Black's Vietnam War writings he lays out his opinion of the motivation of the North Vietnamese to embark on a seemingly suicidal mission. He infers the primary reason for the event was the fact that during 1967 the Americans were maintaining that they could see the light at the end of the tunnel and that the war was going their way. Professor Black stated: "This situation helped ensure the launch of the Tet Offensive."

Other topics covered are:

Comparisons with the 1967 Mideast War with Israel against Egypt, Jordan, and Syria and wars between India and Pakistan in 1965 and 1971.

Unsuccessful attacks on French positions by the communists in 1951.

What the North Vietnamese considered success in military and political strategies.

The actual status of the South Vietnamese state.

the unpopularity of the South Vietnamese government

Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.

Increased Soviet pressure on the US in the Mediterranean

 Listen to episode 1169 of the podcast and discover more about Professor Black's dissertation on the Tet Offensive along with its tactics and ramifications.

Episode 1168 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature part two of a look at how America became more heavily involved in the Vietnam War. It comes from an article found in The Foreign Policy Research Institute website titled: The Vietnam War: A Lesson in the Geopolitics of Southeast Asia by Jeremy Black a Templeton Fellow at FPRI, and professor of history at Exeter University

Part II of the series takes a look at the portion of the article titled: America Increases its Commitment. In this section of his article Professor Black tells about how the communists in both Vietnams regarded the situation as having moved into the last phase of Mao Tse Tung’s theory of revolutionary war and it was time to move in larges forces. It was assumed by the commies all they had to do was tip over the tottering South Vietnam regime and they would live happily ever after in a communal bliss of communism.

Unfortunately they underestimated Lyndon B. Johnson's powerful ego. He would not stand by and allow another communist takeover as had recently occurred in Cuba (1959) take place on his watch. In a tit for tat response President Johnson poured in large numbers of American troops and war making materiel. To him it was a necessary demonstration of American resolve.

Professor Black commented on the following factors associated with full commitment of American forces in the War:

Tactical and operational difficulties faced by the Americans.

The American policy of establishing “firebases” throughout South Vietnam.

The rise in the use of helicopters in the war.

The lack of surface-to-air missile use by the communists.

Despite heavy casualties, the communist numbers rose.

Listen to episode 1168 of the podcast and discover more about Professor Black's description of American's greater involvement in the Vietnam War.

Episode 1167 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will highlight part one of a study to the geopolitics of Southeast Asia and America's involvement. The study will come from an article in The Foreign Policy Research Institute titled: The Vietnam War: A Lesson in the Geopolitics of Southeast Asia by Jeremy Black. Jeremy Black is highly qualified to make insightful comments about the American experience in the Vietnam War.

He is a Templeton Fellow - Center for the Study of America and the West. His impressive academic and professional credentials include the following:

Templeton Fellow at FPRI

Professor of history at Exeter University

He studied at Queens’ College Cambridge, St John’s College Oxford, and Merton College Oxford

Holds a PhD from the University of Durham - 1994

Is a prolific lecturer and writer

Has authored of over 100 books

major exponent of military, diplomatic and cartographic history

The Foreign Policy Research Institute website where Black's article appeared was founded in 1955. It is a non-partisan, non-profit organization devoted to bringing the insights of scholarship to bear on the development of policies that advance U.S. national interests. It was founded by Ambassador Robert Strausz-Hupé and is based in Philadelphia where it embraces history and geography to illuminate foreign policy challenges facing the United States.

FPRI’s Center for the Study of America and the West is devoted to the teaching of history related to issues of American and Western identity, combining high levels of scholarship with a method to introduce that scholarship into the classroom at the secondary and university levels.

That is where Professor Black's comments about the geopolitics of Southeast Asia are coming from. He deftly describes how America was drawn into the swirling history of the area.

Listen to episode 1167 and discover more about the geopolitical issues surrounding the American Vietnam War.

Episode 1166 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will highlight some of the notable individuals who served their country in the American Vietnam War and came home to accomplished noteworthy recognition in numerous categories. Much of the information shared in this episode comes from a piece found on The History Channel website titled: Famous American Vietnam Vets.

Many times when this podcaster speaks on the subject of the Vietnam War and the veterans who served there it will be pointed out that when Vietnam Veterans came home they were older, wiser, tougher and better able to deal with adversities. It is also pointed out that when the vast majority of Vietnam Veterans came home they continued serving their country in a wide array of activities including business, politics, entertainment, education and law to name a few.

Some of the notables included in episode 1166 of course include politicians like John McCain, the Kerry boys, John and Bob and don't forget Al Gore. Three of these Vietnam Veterans who turned politico ran for the highest office in the land. Others who went into politics were Tom Ridge who became the governor of Pennsylvania and served as the first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. Gray Davis who at one time was governor of California was a Vietnam Vet also.

Colin Powell was another notable Vietnam Veteran who served his country in several high level positions. He served as President Reagan's national security adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under George H.W. Bush and as the country’s first African-American secretary of state.

The list of notable Americans who served their country in the American Vietnam War on this episode goes on.

Listen to the entire episode 1166 of the podcast and discover more about some of the notables who served their country in Vietnam

Episode 1165 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature some of the things the State of Illinois has done to honor its Vietnam Veterans. There was a story in The State Journal-Register titled: Vietnam War veterans honored in Springfield which was submitted by Brenden Moore and John Reynolds, staff writers for the SJR that describes the events.

The commemoration events were held on March 29, 2018 to help mark the first Congressional approved Vietnam Veterans Day. One was held at the Camp Butler National Cemetery located in Springfield and the other was a ceremony hosted by the University of Illinois Springfield.

The Camp Butler National Cemetery ceremony was held in conjunction with the DoD's Vietnam War 50 Year Commemoration Program. There were thirty Vietnam Veterans in attendance. They each received one of the official Vietnam Commemoration pins and heard the adjutant general of the Illinois National Guard, Maj. Gen. Richard J. Hayes Jr., reassure them their service to their country in Vietnam was appreciated even though it was not evident when they came home and were assailed by violent anti-war demonstrators at the San Francisco airport.

The other commemoration event was held at the University of Illinois Springfield. None other than the Illinois Governor himself Bruce Rauner commemorated Vietnam War veterans at a ceremony hosted by the University. The governor was joined by other dignitaries at that event including the state Veterans Affairs’ director Erica Jeffries and UIS Chancellor Susan Koch.

At the event the Governor said this about the Vietnam Veterans: "I don’t think any of us can truly appreciate your strength of character and your dedication to serve with pride and honor in the face of such division.”

Listen to the entire episode 1165 and discover more about how they honored their Vietnam Veterans in Illinois.

Episode 1164 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature the story of Vietnam Vet Lee Tefertiller as a way to celebrate the first annual Vietnam Veterans Day. There was a story about Lee and his military and civilian service to his country in The Orange Observer of Winter Garden, Florida titled: Righting a wrong: Honoring the veterans of Vietnam. It was submitted by Amy Quesinberry who is the community editor of the West Orange Times & Observer and the Windermere Observer.

Lee's story was chosen to highlight on this day because he is another one of those outstanding representatives of the Vietnam Veteran Generation, one as great as any that ever answered the call of duty from its country. He followed in his father's footsteps when he joined the Army back in July 1968 as his father had done years earlier.

He served two tours in Vietnam with three different units including the 2nd Battalion, 321st Artillery, 82nd Airborne Division in the Hoc Mon district just west of Saigon, the 3rd Battalion, 13th Artillery, 25th Infantry Division in the Tay Ninh Province and finally with the II Field Force, 5th Battalion, 42nd Artillery northeast of Saigon.

Lee had one of the most important jobs in a military organization engaged in combat operations. He was an artillery fire direction specialist. He worked in the fire direction center better known as the FDC. The personnel in the FDC had to take information from the forward observers out in the field and rapidly compute the information needed by the guns to put the artillery rounds in the right place at the right.

His comments about his time in the military serving his country in Vietnam will make you want to stand up and cheer.

Listen to episode 1164 and discover more about Vietnam Vet Lee Tefertiller's story of service to his country.

Episode 1163 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will highlight a story about the genesis of the National Vietnam War Veterans Day. The story appeared in The Military Times on March 29, 2017 and was titled: President Trump signs law declaring National Vietnam War Veterans Day. The story was submitted by Mackenzie Wolf, an editorial writer for Military Times.

Most all Vietnam Veterans will agree we were treated like dirt when we came home. Anti-war protesters were more open in their hostile treatment of the returnees in word and deed. Others expressed their disdain with quiet disapproval and disregard of the veteran's service. There was no answer when our deeds called out to our country. For decades, Vietnam Veterans suffered from the effects of an ungrateful nation.

For so long no one seemed to care much about the fact that 58,315 of those veterans did not come home and today their names are on a wall of black marble in Washington, D.C. Nor did they seem to care the 271,000 of them suffer from the dreaded PTSD.

But thank goodness the times are a-changing. Thanks in large part to the DoD Vietnam War 50th Year Commemoration Program, America's attitude toward its Vietnam Veterans is changing for the good. Across this great nation from coast to coast and border to border events are happening where the Vietnam Veterans are receiving that appreciation and recognition they missed fifty years ago.

It gets better. On March 29, 2012, President Obama signed a proclamation declaring March 29, 2012, Vietnam Veterans Day. President Trump made the day official when he signed into law the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017.

Listen to all of episode 1163 of the podcast and discover more about the National Vietnam War Veterans Day that henceforth will be celebrated on every March 29 in the future.

Episode 1162 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about the Wall that Heals upcoming appearance in Huntsville, Alabama on November 1 thru 4 of 2018. The story about the event was in The News Courier titled: The Wall that Heals will stop in Huntsville this fall and it was submitted by Sarah Pavlik-Hernandez of the News Courier of Athens, Alabama.

In 1982 the Vietnam Memorial Wall opened to the public after many years of hard work done by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. Down through the years millions of visitors have come to pay their respects to the 58,315 names on its black marble walls who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country in the Vietnam War. It is a meaningful experience to all who make the visit to the wall.

The leaders of the VVMF began to realize not all could make the sojourn to Washington DC to visit the Wall. So began the genesis of an idea to create a way for those unable to come to the Wall in Washington DC to have the opportunity to see the names and enhance the respect the nation holds for its fallen heroes.

The decision was made to create The Wall That Heals, a three-quarter scale replica of the real thing in Washington. It is 375 feet in length and rises to a central 7.5 foot apex that approximates the feeling one gets as they walk toward the center of the actual Wall in D.C.

The Wall That Heals has been on the road since 1996. It has made stops in 600 cities across the United States, Ireland and Canada bringing the same effect as the Wall in DC with it.

It will be making an appearance in Huntsville, Alabama this fall. The  local veterans had to pony up $75,000 to make it happen. They should be highly commended for their efforts.

Listen to episode 1162 of the podcast and discover more about the upcoming appearance of the Wall that Heals at Huntsville, Alabama.

Episode 1161 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature an examination of three of the most popularly accepted reasons why the US became involved in the American Vietnam War. Christian G. Appy is a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Recently he submitted and opinion piece to the New York Times titled: What Was the Vietnam War About? that was a discussion of those aforementioned reasons.

The philosopher Bertrand Russell once stated: "Science is what you know, philosophy is what you don't know." That truism could be applied to Appy's opinions. He laid out three possible reasons for American participation in what came to be known as the American Vietnam War.

America was engaged in a noble conflict against the spread of communism worldwide.

It was a misguided interference in a civil war.

It was a dictatorial counterrevolution aimed at smashing an innocent movement of national liberation

Somehow the time honored excuse that it was caused by the "Military Industrial Complex" was omitted from Appy's list of possible causes.

Appy addresses each of his three possible reasons for our participation in the War in a scholarly manner steeped in Northeastern liberal bias. His microscopic viewpoint of the selected possible reasons why doesn't take into account the complete panoramic scene of those times.

Remembering that it is quite easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, we must remember the Vietnam situation was one theater of the overarching Cold War that was in full engagement at the time. Leaders of this country had the awesome responsibility of holding the communist at bay. They were faced with a myriads of challenges around the world in addition to the possibility of the institution of another Communist Bloc client in East Asia.

Listen to episode 1161 of the podcast and discover more about what Christian G. Appy has to say about three theories of the reasons for our participation in the American Vietnam War.