General Discussion

It went down hill from there. I guess you could say it turned into a quagmire for us when we prevented the plebiscite on North and South reunification in 1956. It was a lost cause from that point until 1973 when we finally left. The final end came in 1975 after we pulled our support from South Vietnam. You could say we were responsible for an ongoing CF for 30 years.

The lesson here is that we got into a prolonged conflict because we totally misunderstood and underestimated the Vietnamese people. The same can be said for Iran at this moment. If Trump makes the mistake of attacking Iran, I am afraid the greatest military in the world is headed for another Vietnam like humiliation. That will be guaranteed if Trump takes on the position of Generalissimo and ignores those pesky military experts. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, has already warned Trump that we are ill prepared for any kind of extended conflict (as in more than 3 or 4 days). Trump says it will be over quickly.

What I fear most is that Trump will put the Navy in harms way in a completely untenable situation in the narrow seas in and around the Persian Gulf.