EPIPHANY OF THE DAY

TET

A Public Institution Graduate (PIG) Looks at History: The Tet Offensive began January 30, 1968 when some units in the South got confused by time-observance differential between North and South Vietnam and kicked it off. The full-scale offensive began 24-hours later. Now here’s the thing: everyone knew all hell might break loose then. I was there, the lowest of the low, barely a month in-country, still in the demeaning “stateside chow” category (Ask a vet), toting an M-14 because M-16s were in short supply and Colt Industries insisted on being the sole supplier. We had already doubled our watches to six hours on and six hours off. We weren’t prepared but we were ready. Despite this, General William Westmoreland, HMFIC, was so sure that the offensive was simply a part of feint to distract him from the battle at Khe Sahn that he took in a round of tennis that first day. It gets worse. Just ask the Marines (150 killed) and ARVN (400 killed) units that were left stranded at Hue because General (Body Count) Westmoreland felt they were overreacting.

Lesson:

Be careful to whom you trust your children.

Additional lesson. Those who are denouncing modern Americans as "Communists" should stop to read an account of the Battle of Hue. They might be astounded to learn how real Communists behave when fate removes the restraints.

Sources:

Bowden, Mark, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam. , 2017

Sorley, L. (2011). Westmoreland: the general who lost Vietnam. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.