But you saw a fair number of partisan agendas within the higher military ranks in Vietnam, and they sure slipped onto the battlefield. Westmoreland's vision of the war was incorrect in many ways, but that was allowed to stand. The military fought most of JFK's ideas regarding unconventional warfare.
Personally, I am deeply suspicious of anyone on either side (political or military) claiming to have the one true answer. We'll have to see how the current generation of captains and field-grades grow up, but it's worth remembering that many of our general officers have precious little battlefield experience...but that's also not a guarantee of success or failure. Many of the Vietnam-era generals had combat experience in Korea or even World War II and many of them misread that situation as well.
Experience is one thing...it's another thing completely to be able to understand and apply that experience. Grant was good at that...McClellan was not. And Grant was considered the failure before the war.
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