Vietnam At The Afc Asian Cup

Hugh Bassette served in the Army as a clerk và in the infantry in 1969-1970 in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. (Jonathon thả Gruenke / Daily Press)

Many Vietnam giới veterans see similarities between their war & those fought in Iraq và Afghanistan — and the comparison is tragic.

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Five sầu decades later và still weary from the war that was never officially declared, many of these veterans know all too well how extended fighting, waning public support, and an unrelenting enemy can over.

"We certainly didn"t win in Vietnam giới," said Hugh Bassette, an infantryman during the war in Southeast Asia, "& we"re not going lớn the win in Afghanisrã & Iraq, either."

Vietnam giới was America"s longest conflict, spanning 12 years between 1961 and 1973, until our involvement in Afghanistung continued into lớn its 13th year in năm trước. There are still nearly 10,000 U.S. services members there advising and training a reluctant trang chính force against the Taliban, a fundamentadanh mục Islamic political movement accused of allowing terror groups such as Al-Qaeda safe haven.

Then there"s Iraq, where U.S. troops invaded in 2003 & withdrew, then in 2011 ousting dictator Saddam Hussein but without quashing an insurgency và the sectarian violence that broke out between religious groups. A new foe, Islamic State, emerged last year, renewing hostilities there.

"You can"t go to lớn another country và make people vày what you want khổng lồ do. They"re going khổng lồ fight you back," Bassette, a 73-year-old Hampton native, said.

In Vietnam, it was the Viet Cong who fought baông chồng. These southern guerrilla fighters supported a northern communist overthrow and blended into lớn the South Vietnamese population by day, then attacked American troops by night.

"The South Vietnamese people, they supported the Viet Cong. They would not have sầu been able lớn move sầu or operate or function if the people didn"t tư vấn them," he said. "That"s why I look at Afghanisrã & Iraq, and say we"re not going khổng lồ win those, either. Because in order to win those types of situations, you"ve sầu got lớn stay there khổng lồ make sure you keep control. ... The Afghan & Iraqi people are kind of like the Vietnamese, they"re not going to be controlled by no outside force."

While the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanischảy have sầu been more urban than the jungles và rice paddies of Vietnam, the issue of being able to identify an enemy combatant from civilians remains.

"I think the longer anything runs, và the harder it is lớn see victory," said Guy Manchester, of Newport News. He received multiple Purple Hearts and was an Army scout pilot during Vietphái nam. "The harder it is khổng lồ see, the harder it is lớn keep people supporting it, both financially & politically. You can"t stay highly focused và highly motivated over long periods of time."

Many Americans at first supported the war in Vietphái nam, convinced that if the Southeast Asian country fell under communist control so would the rest of the region — it was called the domino theory. The theory turned out to lớn be wrong, và as the war dragged on và winning seemed unlikely, supporters turned inkhổng lồ protesters.

When in 2001, Al-Qaeda, led then by Osama bin Laden & supported by the Taliban in Afghanistung, flew two planes inlớn the Twin Towers in New York, a third into lớn the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., & a fourth that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, the American people rallied behind a retaliatory effort. Then-President George W. Bush"s administration expanded the effort, launching a preemptive sầu invasion inlớn Iraq against the brutal Hussein regime.

Like Vietnam giới, "people began lớn get very frustrated that Iraq was dragging on & on," said Pete Fairchild, 70, of Hampton, who received a Purple Heart for wounds sustained in the infantry during Vietphái mạnh.

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Fairchild added that neither North Vietphái mạnh, a communist government which eventually overthrew its southern neighbor, nor the Viet Cong were ever a threat khổng lồ the American public. At least, not lượt thích the extremist groups active sầu in the Middle East, Fairchild said.

Still, the wars in Iraq and Afghanisrã haven"t sparked the same outrage as Vietphái mạnh. Part of that can be attributed khổng lồ the fact that the military"s ranks are filled by volunteers rather than draftees. With that change comes more frequent deployments for those who now serve sầu.

The scales of manpower in the war have differed as well. At the war"s height, more than 500,000 service members were fighting in Vietphái nam, a relatively small country. U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanisrã reached their peak in 2008 with less than 300,000 troops spread between the two countries" vast deserts và mountainous countrysides.

Chris Garcia, 44, of Virginia Beach, is the education coordinator at the Virginia War Museum in Newport News và gives weekly counterinsurgency briefings at The Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk. He"s an Iraq War veteran who deployed during the invasion in 2003 & again in 2004.

"There is no military solution khổng lồ counter insurgency," he said. "You can"t solve what amounts lớn a political problem by sheer force. You"ve sầu got to lớn have sầu political will to stay for the long haul."

It takes decades to lớn stabilize countries such as Vietphái mạnh, Iraq or Afghanisrã, he said, & to make democracy work, there also has to lớn be economic solutions. They need schools & hospitals, Garcia said, & "that"s not the military"s job."

"One reason I got out in 2005 was that I no longer believed in what we were fighting for," he said. "We make so many of the same mistakes over và over."

While the current conflicts in Iraq và Afghanisrã haven"t been resolved, khổng lồ Andrew Falk, an associate history professor at Christopher Newport University, their comparison to a defeat like Vietnam giới doesn"t bode well for the outcome.

"To associate any political or military operation with Vietphái mạnh is not a compliment by any means," he said. "Often Vietnam is referred khổng lồ as a quagmire or tragedy. So, khổng lồ equate or compare Iraq & Afghanisrã with Vietnam giới is khổng lồ atchạy thử that the war is controversial, ambiguous & some would go so far as khổng lồ say a failure."

Falk said all three countries have sầu long histories of civil unrest and resistance to lớn outside influences that were ignored before U.S. involvement.

"In all cases I think we had flawed partners that we were working within these countries, và our allies were lukewarm about what we were doing in each case. I also think there was a confidence that the American military could compensate for all of these challenges," Falk said. "But most fundamentally ... I think in each case there was too little consideration of the history và the perspectives in Vietnam, Afghanisrã and Iraq in terms of their own histories và sense of nationalism. They all have a pretty svào anti-foreign sentiment."

America didn"t learn, or forgot, the hard-earned lessons from Vietnam, said Richard St. Peter, an Air Force photographer during the war. America"s involvement ended in 1973 after the death of more than 58,000 service members — lớn compare, about 6,000 have died in Iraq or Afghanischảy. It took only two years after U.S. forces left before North Vietnam overtook Saigon, the former capital of South Vietnam.

St. Peter, now 68 living in Carrollton, said the country fell so quickly because the South Vietnamese never showed the will to lớn fight.

"I see the same thing in Iraq và Afghanischảy," he said. "If we left those countries, they"d probably go right baông chồng to lớn what they were before."

"We"re in Iraq và we"re in Afghanistung và we"ll go somewhere else next," he said. "It really bothers me. You would think we would learn. You would think our leaders would not skết thúc off the young lớn fight the wars leaders come up with. Old men skết thúc young boys lớn war. You"d think that when they got older they"d stop doing that."

This is part of an occasional series marking the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. Cheông chồng online at hecap.org for more stories, photos, đoạn phim and a timeline about the war and veterans from Hampton Roads who served.

Ali Rockett covers the military for the Daily Press. From Fort Eustis to Langley Air Force base, Naval Weapons Station Yorktown lớn Naval Station Norfolk, she writes stories on active duty troops in Hampton Roads, as well as veterans issues. Rockett joined the Daily Press in 2013 as the York-Poquoson reporter & moved lớn the military beat after 10 months. A 2010 graduate of the University of North Carolimãng cầu at Chapel Hill, Rockett worked at two North Carolina newspapers before moving khổng lồ Virginia. She has also lived in Marylvà, Pennsylvania, Kansas and Spain.