Vietnam War Case Study

When the United States replaced the French in Vietnam, it supplemented the Vietnamese forces with American armed forces and equipment. The most influential area of the military armed forces was the Air Forces since it had the greatest effect on the war effort. Because of the state of the Vietnamese Air Force, the United States military provided the Southern Vietnamese military with the equipment they needed. Between the years of 1961 and 1965, the Air Force contingent of the Vietnamese military increased from 68 to 6,600 personnel and from a few liaison planes to 84 different types of aircraft . In Vietnam, the Air Force was of significant importance to the war effort, since the Air Force was able to provide a great degree of aid to the ground troops that were deployed. In the beginning of the war effort, the Air Force was not large enough of a force to be effective. In 1964, the reconnaissance squadrons utilized in Laos were disbanded, due to a shortage

During the conflict, the tropical climate of the region provided the Northern Vietnamese forces cover that would make it difficult to both locate and to engage them in combat. As a result, the military was required to develop a method in which they could destroy the heavy vegetation that was located in combat zones. Another obstacle that that American forces in Vietnam faced during the conflict was an inability to identify enemy forces since there were Northern Vietnamese forces in both North and South Vietnam. Since it was common practice for men in Vietnam to survive from foraging from the land the military had to also develop a method that could be utilized to destroy crops and sources of food that were accessible to enemy forces. Because of these many requirements and obstacles, the military developed the herbicide Agent Orange to both target the heavy foliage and the enemy sources of food that were present, such as rice