Was the War worth it?
I struggled with that question for years....and still do to a a certain extent.
It depends upon how you frame the factors that surrounded it all....and they are extensive and complex....and sometimes hidden from public view for any number of reasons.
How you begin to frame your answer has to begin with at what point in history you wish to begin....and ends with your personal involvement in the actual fighting and the costs it inflicted upon you as a result.
After all these years and two trips there during the War and two afterwards....along with the passage of time and surfacing of more information about the War and what led up to it....I see it much differently than all those years ago.
I see it now as a Civil War, one of re-unification, that the United States could have avoided being directly involved.
That view begins during WWII....when the US OSS enlisted the assistance of the Vietnamese in fighting the Japanese and carries forward.
Also....FDR intended to see the end of European Colonialism but died in Office and was succeeded by Harry Truman who had different views.
Had we foster a better relationship with the Vietnamese....refused to back the French and not allowed ourselves to be drawn into the conflict....there surely would have been a much different outcome to all that.
It was the Cold War...where the Soviets and Americans used Proxies to fight one another....and there was a genuine basis to the worry that Southeast Asia would fall under the control of the Communists....USSR and Chinese.
We did demonstrate to the Communists that we would fight them as we did in Korea and again in Vietnam. Remember the British were also dealing with a Communist Insurgency in Malaya as well.
All that being said.....it was a tragedy that it even occurred....and a greater tragedy that politicians were allowed to dictate to the US Military re conducting the War on the ground.
Our very senior Military Leaders failed us, the Politicans failed us, and far too many people died as a result....Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Australians, New Zealanders, and Americans.
One third of my Army Flight School Class were killed in their first tour of combat in Vietnam....my unit suffered losses....and friends from growing up also were killed....and that marks the personal side of the War for me .
Combat forges a special bond between those who go through that experience and I am blessed to have been allowed to serve alongside some very good Soldiers.
We did on a daily basis what most people cannot even conceive of....and did so out of a sense of duty and commitment to one another.
We served our Nations honorably and paid a heavy price for doing so.
Was it worth it?
When I stand in front of the Vietnam Memorial and see all those names.....so many of them my friends.....I just don't know....I really don't.