After TET: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam

Yes Tet of 1968 was hell for those of us that were over there at the time. And then came May and August of 68, which were also two of the bloodiest months of the war. I was with the 1/27 25th Infantry Division at Cu Chi, which was a major area of tunnels for which the VC and NVA stored weapons and supplies. As a "tunnel rat" I experienced some herrendous experiences there. Ron Spector has made some very good conclusions regarding the war and points out some of the many problems that we 19 year olds had to incur. Great book for those of us that were there as well as the rest of you who just want to gain some understanding as to why we lost the war, and some 56,000 young men as well.

An excellent book on the Vietnamese War of 1968. Spector not only tells us why we (Americans) failed at the war but also what the weaknesses were on the other side (Viet Cong and NVA). The book summarizes some of the problems associated with the war such as race relations, lack of a professional soldiers and officers, and weapons. Spector describes that 1968 was the critical year of the war. America and the Saigon regime won the military battles but lost the political war. He equates the war at that point to the stalemate of the Western Front during the First World War.

I guess I really didn't know that my period of time in Nam was the bloodiest until I read this book and all of the statistics, etc. However, I can tell you from an artilleryman's perspective in I Corps that 68 was a year that still makes me wake with the sweats every few nights. I was near My Lai in June (at LZ Dottie about 3 mos after the massacre) and the area was still bad news. My unit was also near the DMZ near Phu Bai a couple of months later - same story -at Fat City - same story and the same story for the remainder of the year. Please note that I didn't come into country until June which was about 4 1/2 months after Tet when so many of the VC were killed. I believe that the Tet Offensive was a political not a military victory because of need for the press to get stories. Yes, the VC proved that no part of Nam really was safe. But, who really felt safe in a combat area? Because of this need for press coverage I believe that the NVA and the remainder of the VC were embolden in 68 until they were nearly militarily destroyed. And at the same time how many young American men had to die or become maimed because of the press' need for blood. Don't forget the roles that McNamara and Jane Fonda (both war criminals in my perspective) had in the creation of Tet offensive. My time in 69 was not so night sweat inducing, since most of the VC and many of the NVA realized that they too were "cannon fodder" because so many of their numbers were killed or seriously wounded in 68. If you want to read a good book regarding this time period, this is one good book. It can be considered a little dry with its statistics, but what true history book doesn't give statistics. This book belongs on every Viet Nam vet's bookcase.

Having served in Viet Nam immediately "After Tet" this book filled in what was going on elsewhere in-country as well as the political climate. A couple of questionable references (like LAW = Light Automatic Weapon) were easily overlooked. The book was otherwise well written and easy to read.

This exceptionally comprehensive and readable book is a "page turner." I couldn't put it down! Highlighter in hand, I penned marginal note after note, comparing my own memories and observations as a Navy doctor ashore in I Corps in 1968 and '69 with those of the author. In the introduction Spector asks: "How did we lose the war? Why were we there?" Then he adds: "In a sense we have no real history... instead we have controversy, myth and popular memory." He then proceeds to skillfully weave historical background, Vietnamese and American, with vivid descriptions of battles, skirmishes, debates, intrigues and campaigns... providing vignettes of personal experiences balanced from many viewpoints: the young American draftee, the college OCS-trained officer, the Viet Cong soldier... generals and politicians, presidents and negotiators... Vietnamese and American. "After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam" will be placed, along with Frances Fitzgerald's "Fire in the Lake," Neil Sheehan's "Bright Shining Lie," Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" and Bernard Fall's "Street Without Joy," as an irreplaceable, imminently re-readable reference on the Vietnam War.