Ia Drang Valley
In the first significant battle between American troops and the North Vietnamese, the momentous Ia Drang Valley Battle served as a catalyst to furthering U.S. involvement in Vietnam. We Were Soldiers Once...and Young gives the reader a rough and raw look at the realities of war, Vietnam, and the poignant battle between October 23 and November 26, 1965 of the Ia Drang Valley. With choppy sentences and lacking artful literature, men who were actually there could have only written this book. Authors, Harold Moore who commanded the 1st Battalion-7th Cavalry, and Joseph Galloway a reporter present throughout the battle's traumatic days, both combined extensive research, in-depth interviews and above all personal memories to write one hell of a chilly book. We Were Soldiers Once and Young highlights the advancement of tactical war fare, the prevailing use of helicopters and brings to play air mobile operations. Yet through tales of heroism, bravery, courage, and pure out insanity, Moore and Galloway compose pages upon pages of the United States finest weapon, America's dazzling young solders. Moore and Galloway set up the history of the conflict of Vietnam and the prelude to Ia Drang by articulating "American had not yet recover
On both sides each General learned something from Ia Drang that would act as catalyst through out the war. General Giap learned that his Army could stand up against an American Calvary unit. They learned what they set out to learn, how American tactics govern and how to defeat them. Giap explained later "we learned lessons from this battle and disseminated information to all are soldiers" (399). Most importantly the NVA learned to engage in battle Americas most modern military asset, the helicopter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Moore and Galloway underscore some problems with U.S. strategy in Vietnam. Unlike World War II, American troops were not driving across the country to hold land and capture territory. Many missions, like Moore's, were designed to "find the enemy and kill them" (56) and then retreat to base. This type of war tactics played a heavy role on the minds of the soldiers who could not measure their sacrifice in ground gained or cities and towns freed, measurements their fathers and uncles had been able to see in their war. On the American side, Westmoreland learned from the campaign of Pleiku that the United States could win this war simply by bleeding the North Vietnamese white. Westmoreland would "trade one American life for ten or twelve North Vietnamese lives...tell Ho Chi Minh cried uncle" (Moore and Galloway 406). After being briefed of the campaign McNamara concluded that the war would be a long haul costing thousand of American lives. He erudite from the Pleiku campaign "the Vietnam war had just exploded into a massive...commitment of American men, money and material....that at the end would be difficult to win"(Moore and Galloway 400). Yet even knowing so Washington did nothing to contain such a bloody defeat in the manufacturing process and only sent out campaign after campaign into the jungles of the Ia Drang Valley. Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway, We Were Solders Once...and Young: Ia Drang, The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam . (NY 1992). It is said that people who know their history are destined to repeat it. Although the source of this wisdom is not known, it might have been easily written and contributed to this tragic war. The people of Vietnam had been fighting for their independent sove
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Approximate Word count = 1564
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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