Did the Vietnam war last longer than it should have?

Answer 1

It took that long to test out all of our weapons, tactics, and strategy; after all those years...we found what worked, what didn't, and left. Fro example:

1. The F-100 Super Sabre was the longest serving cold war jet fighter during the war; from April 1961 until March 1971. It was the original "Wild Weasel" and the original "Misty" jet reconnaissance aircraft over NORTH Vietnam.

2. It was found that the F-100 was not good enough for the job; and was replaced by the F-105 Thunderchief (also a cold war jet). The F-105 became the new "Wild Weasel." But loss rates were so high for the Thunderchief (397 destroyed during the war) that it too was replaced...by the F4 Phantom II.

3. The M-551 Sheridan light tank, officially designated as the Armored Airborne Reconnaissance Assault Vehicle was tested in Vietnam in January 1969. The tank served until the end of war. Nearly 200 were destroyed in Vietnam. It was found that although it was a state of the art tank; built of the new super metal-aluminum (the US went into an aluminum craze in the 1960's...the M-16 Assault Rifle was another aluminum project), the Sheridan was the US's ONLY airborne tank (parachute), ONLY swimming tank, and ONLY air transportable tank. It also did something else quite unique; it fired CASELESS cannon shells (152mm) in Vietnam. Something that the 21st century M1 Abrams partially does (the Abram's 120mm shells ejects a back cap, so it is partially caseless). But the Sheridan was EASILY destroyed, as evidenced by the numbers lost. It caught fire easily, burned easily, blew up easily...tank crewmen abandoned Sheridans at the very first hint! Strike a mine, and they jumped out without a second thought...and didn't look back. Take an RPG, they jumped out, and never looked back. When a Sheridan burned (ACAVs burned too, they too were built of aluminum), you just let them burn. The turrets (made of steel) would sink down into the Sheridan's aluminum hull, with the 152mm cannon barrel sticking up into the air.

4. US Navy Swift Boats (PCF-Patrol Craft Fast) were used for riverine warfare. These craft, along with the PBRs (Patrol Boat River) and Alpha boats (ASPB-Assault Support Patrol Boats) taught the US Navy how to operate in inland waterways...something that the US Navy is trying to do again in foreign lands. This time with "state of the art" hi-tech patrol boats.

These are a FEW of many hundreds of combat tests conducted during the war. And we never even mentioned helicopters, TOW missiles, smart weapons, UAVs, etc....those would fill pages and pages.