Doesn't quite work. In Vietnam the soldiers wanted to follow the enemy and kill them. Seek and destroy. Doing that probably would've won the war, if politicians were interested in winning.
Now if the order came down to follow loyal Americans and kill those who refuse to be disarmed, you'd have quite the opposite. The politicans would want us to do that, but we'd either refuse or turn on them.
Before officers over me, before the president or any politician, I swore to defend the constitution of the United States.
I mean, there is a lot, A LOT, more history behind the Vietnam War than just civilians fighting the Americans. They also spent the past 20 years fighting the Japanese and French, and had a long, rich history of anti-colonial resistance. They drop kicked the French out of the country at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and spent 15 years building a wide ranging and popular communist party. The Americans decided to back the right-wing opposition party, which of course turned out extremely well for everyone.
I agree with others that it isn’t so simple. There were international forces at play as well as a complex political web in Vietnam itself. Vietnam shared borders with several “non combatant” nations which in some capacity or another provided aid and safe haven to NVA combatants who could cross the border and be relatively safe. Additionally, Russia, China, and others were supplying arms and training. It’s also important to note that the Vietnamese had already been fighting for independence for generations and had within the last decade fought the French. Many were used to guerrilla war and much infrastructure to repel foreign invaders already existed. Additionally- the technology of the era wasn’t very well developed. Night vision was in its infancy with early “starlight scopes” and other primitive surveillance etc.
Now if the order came down to follow loyal Americans and kill those who refuse to be disarmed, you'd have quite the opposite. The politicans would want us to do that, but we'd either refuse or turn on them.
Before officers over me, before the president or any politician, I swore to defend the constitution of the United States.