The Tet Offensive During The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was considered one of the longest foreign wars that the United States fought in, up until the Afghan War. Like most wars there is many events that occur during them and for the Vietnam one event that stood out was the Tet Offensive. The Tet Offensive was an attempt for Vietnamese communist to gain back control and cause a wedge between the U.S. and the South Vietnamese. To develop a better perspective of the Tet Offensive, it would help to Know the Vietnamese communist perspective, What the Americans were being told, an individual who experienced it and how it still affects us today. Developing an opinion that is not solely based off biased information we need to hear what happened from many different perspectives.
When it
In Ground Pounder: A Marine’s journey through South Vietnam Gregory V. Short is a marine who fought in the Vietnam war and in his book he gives information about General William Childs Westmoreland who was a commanding general during the Vietnam War. Short informs his readers on the struggles any commander would face during the war because “For he, along with the rest of American armed forces, had been put in a hopeless situation, brought about the politics of a young nation suddenly finding itself as a world power” (Short66). By Shorts using the word “hopeless” it is exposing some of his feelings towards the war. This is important because it allows the readers to understand how a marine might have felt about a war he was fighting in. Shorts continues to talk about the beliefs Westmoreland had while in command and the types of request made “For every new enemy action, he would press the politicians back in Washington for more troops and fewer rules” (67-68). Notice how Shorts describes that Westmoreland would push for more troops and less rules, this shows what type of commander Westmoreland was. This is important because it helps readers get a perspective of the type of commanding general troops had to work under and how the Tet offensive went the way it did. After writing about Westmoreland and the scenery he was around, Short made it clear about how he felt about the war in itself “If anyone had told me that we shouldn’t even be in Vietnam, I would have laughed in his or her face” (78). By saying that he would laugh in his or her face, Short is saying that he disagreed with people when they said we shouldn’t be in Vietnam. This is important because it helps readers gain a new perspective from a person who fought in a war so many disagreed with. Reading