To rich hern: yeah, well, I happened to have known a few Vietnam vets: some were shattered, some wanted to move back there some day, some had adventures, some saw little if any action, some had all sorts of opinions, some just wanted to put it all behind and get back to the real world, but *none* really knew for sure WTF was going on, and at least half thought that was also the case with their commanders. Unless you were privy to top level intel and plans, you nor anyone else can say what was going on beyond the snapshots from your own personal experiences. And do you know how many American soldiers died over there in just that year officially? 16,592. That’s nearly 4 times how many Americans have died in Iraq since it started.