Combat motivation, judgement of War during Vietnam

[Polarbear]

Gentlemen,

Thank you very much for your help. Your hints are very helpful! Mike (jmm99) Ed's link list is indeed a trove for research. Did not know him before.
Thanks also for the hint to ret. Gen. Barry McCaffrey (Mike in Hilo). I will try to contact him.
Carl, your hint on "reading Athena's Dance Card" looks also very promising.

So if any of you has a question about Helvetia feel free to ask, I will help if I can

Regards

PB

[Ray]

PB,

I wonder if this will help

Crisis in Command: Mismanagement in the Army
Richard A. Gabriel, Paul Savage

JMM's link is a treasure trove.

[jmm99]

on various problems faced in Vietnam among US forces as mentioned by PB (e.g., "racism, social problems, refusal to obey orders, killing of officers etc."). Were those problems peculiar to the military, or were they a reflection of the changes in American society during the 60s and 70s ?

As time went by in Vietnam, the American forces transitioned from a purely professional force (e.g., the early advisors) to a majority conscripted force. IIRC, the overall (for all the war) enlistee-draftee ratio was ~ 2/3 to 1/3. As the force became more conscripted, one would expect it to more reflect American society as a whole, and to reflect the problems in that society as it moved through the 60s and into the 70s.

Regards

Mike

[Steve Blair]

on various problems faced in Vietnam among US forces as mentioned by PB (e.g., "racism, social problems, refusal to obey orders, killing of officers etc."). Were those problems peculiar to the military, or were they a reflection of the changes in American society during the 60s and 70s ?

As time went by in Vietnam, the American forces transitioned from a purely professional force (e.g., the early advisors) to a majority conscripted force. IIRC, the overall (for all the war) enlistee-draftee ratio was ~ 2/3 to 1/3. As the force became more conscripted, one would expect it to more reflect American society as a whole, and to reflect the problems in that society as it moved through the 60s and into the 70s.

Regards

Mike

It was a combination. And when you factor in McNamara's Project 100,000 and some of the socio-economic factors that played into the version of the draft that existed in the 1960s it made for a fairly unstable mix. The decline of long-serving NCOs in line units was also a factor by late 1968.