Search And Defoliation In Vietnam

How effective were the us tactics of search and destroy and defoliation in the Vietnam war?

During the Vietnam War, the tactic of Search and destroy was overall - an ineffective tactic to use. Though the tactic of search and destroy did manage to achieve some minor successes, the overall outcome achieved the complete opposite of the US government’s goal which was merely to prevent the spread of communism. The reason search and destroy was used was because of many things. The major cause for the use of this tactic, is that the US army’s bombing campaign did not succeed in triumphing over the Guerilla Attacks. In addition the domino theory caused the public citizens of America to become scared due to the theory that if Vietnam was to become powered by communism, countries like Cambodia and Indonesia would all follow in Vietnams lead, therefore overpowering America. The tactic of search and destroy also appealed to the Americans as being an effective to use, as it had a powerful psychological impact on the Vietnamese, as the Guerilla
However, by using the chopper as a way of travelling to and from villages, this resulted as an effective and ineffective form of travel. Using the chopper was an effective part of search and destroy, because it allowed the American soldiers to be able to get to the villages in a short period of time. However, using the chopper was ineffective, because the very sound of the chopper approaching the villages resulted in instantly notifying the civilians and villagers of the American soldiers whereabouts, which meant that the Vietnamese could easily find somewhere to hide, which made finding Vietnamese to interrogate and kill harder for the