When Walter Cronkite, the "most trusted man in America," said that the War in Vietnam could not be won it was all over. Facts to the contrary did not matter. The 4th Estate said it so it was so.
The fact of the matter is we should have told the French to go F themselves, worked with the Vietnamese in the North before the 17 parallel became what it was, before the US forced them into the arms of the communist conspiracy.
Hồ Chí Minh wanted the US State Department to help him draft a constitution after our own, the Vietnamese wanted to be free since the late 18th century, that (NOT collective punishment) is why ONLY 5000 Imperial Japanese soldiers were needed to occupy the region during WW2.
The South Vietnamese had the fourth largest air force in the world after the US pulled out, the South was so corrupt they were even cutting the rat poison issued by Uncle Sam and selling it on the black market so the farmers getting the free rate poison still had their crops ravaged.
The US lost 58,000 Americans, Vietnam lost millions, I hate the media, but this war was lost for myriad reasons before the US entered.
While we were bombing they were in the tunnels.... They would watch the American news and the protests .... I read they interviewed ex Viet military and they said after seeing the films it gave them great encouragement ... While bombs were exploding around them ...