The Vietnamese didn’t just hide in the jungle, they used a sophisticated network of underground tunnels complete with mess halls, quarters and munitions storage. They used long tunnels to chimney the smoke and heat from their cooking far from the source to throw off the sniffer dogs.
I have to disagree with you, David. An example would be the vast tunnel system at Chu Lai. The US obliviously built a huge base right on top of a part of it and it went undetected for quite a while. Today, one pass with ground penetrating radar would have discovered it before any base was built there. When it was detected, after Tet, American B-52s obliterated it.
There was a saying in Vietnam: “Charlie owns the night.” They did and used their advantage to move troops and material or to stage attacks. Satellite thermal imaging technology and night vision goggles would have made this impossible.
The same hold true for the fact that Americans constantly blundered into numerically superior NVA forces. Now that wouldn’t happen. Eyes in the sky would have noticed any nearby concentration of forces.
Guerrilla warfare depends on the ability to approach unnoticed, hit, and run. Now, that is impossible, at least against superior firepower directed by sophisticated surveillance systems. The day of the guerilla is over.
Whenever the VC and NVA emerged, stood and fought, they were crushed. This was true during Tet and later as well.
At An Loc in 1972, during the Easter Invasion, the NVA attacked the city in open order of battle with over 40,000 men. These included
5th NLF Division ~ 9,230
7th PAVN Division ~ 8,600
9th NLF Division ~ 10,680
69th PAVN Art’y Command ~ 3,830
205th PAVN Regt ~ 1,250,
203rd PAVN Tank Regt ~ 3,130
429th NLF Sapper Group ~ 320
48 tanks (in 2 battalion, included 17 M41 tanks captured from ARVN.
No Americans, other than advisors, fought in the ground battle. For the first time, the NVA deployed tanks and brought an anti-aircraft regiment that was equipped with modern Russian weapons, including SAM missiles.
Overwhelming American airpower stopped them. Every single tank was quickly destroyed by US helicopter gunships using (then) new TOW missiles. Waves of B-52 and Phantom strikes dropping tons of explosives and napalm overwhelmed the NVA. The anti-craft regiment drew blood, but was physically erased by airstrikes. I flew there. I saw this.
This speaks to my point because it shows that in any standup battle, no force without air cover can possibly stand up to concentrated air attack.
An Loc held. The NVA and VC suffered 30,000 casualties. The NVA commander was disgraced and later committed suicide.
We have drones all over afganistan but it hasn’t ended the war there.
As to Afghanistan, it’s a bad example. It has never been a war. American forces have never been committed in large enough numbers to make a real difference. It is, and has always been, a political, not military event.
Afghanistan could indeed be “conquered,” but that would take up to 500,000 troops with immense auxiliary forces. That was never going to happen and never will. American soldiers in Afghanistan are merely hostages to the so-called War on Terror. They are there to show the flag and die. Bad luck for them.
perhaps if I lived in the USA or other nation and had no faith in institutions and mistrusted government then I might feel differently.
Strong central government in the US only dates back about 90 years. Prior to the Depression and WWII, few Americans had any contact with the federal government other than the IRS and Post Offices. As the federal government has taken over the whole country, mistrust and fear of it has become endemic. This is counterintuitive, but true.
I have no pat explanations for why gun ownership has become such an intense part of being American, but fear of the government (and crime) has certainly played a part. A gun gives you the illusion of power. People like to feel powerful.
But as I said, if the US military would actually oppose an armed rebellion in America, that rebellion, guns or not, would be quickly crushed. There will be no more Minutemen, regardless of what right wing zealots think. So the argument that private guns are necessary to counterbalance government tyranny is absurd in reality. But it remains a powerful idea and ideas matter.
I foresee absolutely no change in American gun laws, no matter how many massacres occur. People want guns, the Constitution says they can have them, and have them they will. There is no political will to challenge that desire. The only piece of gun control legislation that has stuck was passed after the JFK assassination in 1963. Every attempt since then has been overturned by the courts. That says it all.
I know this is nearly incomprehensible to foreigners, but it just is.
