On 30 Jan 1968, I was a rifle company commander in the 101st Airborne Div in Vietnam when the Tet Offensive began. It was the most intensive fighting I ever experienced.
In coordinated attacks all across South Vietnam, communist forces launch their largest offensive to date against South Vietnamese and US troops. Dozens of cities, towns, and military bases were attacked. Battles raged for weeks; the fight to reclaim the city of Hue from communist troops was particularly destructive—and that’s where I was. American and South Vietnamese forces lost over 3,000 men during the offensive. Estimates for communist losses ran as high as 40,000.
The massive offensive was not a military success for the communists, but the US media portrayed it that way and the resulting protests in the US and media misrepresentations were enough to keep the North Vietnamese in the war, despite the terrible military pounding they took.
I’ve spoken to hundreds of Iraq/Afghan vets; all agree on one thing about our mainstream media. Fox News gets it right about half the time; no other news network even comes close. And they really miss understanding what’s important over there and what is not. Don’t trust our mainstream media.
