Vietnam Air Power...and Afghanistan?
I was visiting a US Base a few days ago and was luckily put up in DV quarters which meant I had the luxury (?) of a TV and access to the US Armed Forces Network. Apart from the usual community service notices reminding me to clean my teeth, report foreign looking people and not to pig out too much in the DFAC line, there was a documentary, played without introduction, on US Marines Air Power in Vietnam. The narrative of the documentary, made in 1966, could have been written about Southern Afghanistan now: Air supremacy; insurgents can't move without being detected; fire power at instant readiness to help troops on the ground; civl aid projects to help villagers tired after decades of conflict, an unswerving assumption of 'victory' over the insurgents, with the promise of a bright and democratic future for all...
There was excellent footage of C130s, A4s and F4s in action, FACs calling in air strikes, heli-borne assaults, you name it.
Although I have resisted comparing Afghanistan with the Long War in Vietnam, this documentary starkly showed many similarities. Air power gave the US an unparalleled edge against the Viet Cong and NVA; Billions of dollars were poured into military and civil aid to support South Vietnam; the South Vietnamese Government propped up/was propped up by corruption and drug money; villages and provinces constantly fell in and out of government control; 'attrocities' claimed by both sides deepening the resentment. I could go on. Why is it likely that it will all end in tears?