What was actually happening vs what was military intelligence reporting in the Vietnam war during 1961 '62 '63 and '67?

Answer 1

It is VERY common for the highest leadership to NOT know what's going on at the very bottom level of operations. This is true everywhere, even in civilian industry. This is why, very often, VIP's (Very Important Person) would fly into a post-battlefield to get an assessment, a US high ranking officer would go up to meet the VIP and the VIP (usually an experienced one) would by pass the officer and go to one of the common grunts to speak with him. The VIP would know, that the common GI would NOT "sugar coat" any information. In today's jargon, the GI would not be "politically correct" when he spoke with the VIP. Although the term was not generally used back then, as it is today, politically acceptable (politically correct) reports were generated from high command to the top. This is when TET happened, and everything fell apart from there. Had the US Military studied the enemy as much as they had studied the USSR's military in the 1960's they would've seen the enemy's plan & could have reacted accordingly. The facts of the enemy's plan are outlined beginning on page 10, titled, "The Enemy in Vietnam", Mounted Combat In Vietnam; Vietnam Studies, Department of Army, published in 1978; by General Donn A. Starry.