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Coastal Warfare Against the Viet Cong by James W. Steffes
Rated "G" by the Author.
This is the epilogue of the book with some thoughts of the author in reflection.
Operation Market Time grew from a small group of U.S. Navy advisors to the Vietnamese Navy assissted by ships from the U.S. Seventh Fleet. As the U.S. Coast Guard vessels arrived to begin patrolling the coastline, their presence was felt first near An Thoi and eventually all along the coastline. The arrival of the first Swift Boats at the end of 1965 brought an entirely new weapon to the mission covering the shallow waters of the South Vietnam coast. These mighty gunboats fought back at every opportunity with their superior firepower and speed. They stopped infiltration by sea in its tracks. They did such a good job that the enemy was forced to build and shift to an alternate route on land known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This is story that needs to be told and shared by all interested in the Vietnam War.
Unfortunately, the "mission accomplished" at sea, was not accomplished even with extensive bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It was a lesson in using superior firepower to try to defeat a determined poor nation that the United States should have learned.
Beating up on small countries and trying to make them be like us (internally combative) didn't work then and continues not to work now. I am grateful that our Secretary of State, a Swift Boater, is a strong advocate for peaceful negotiation over going to war.
The Six Bells of Madame Lin is the first book in The Witch of Marigold Hall Trilogy, a fictionalized account of the struggles of Lin Mang, a blind woman who manages to navigate the world during the Mongol conquest of China in the 13th Century. Withou
Beating up on small countries and trying to make them be like us (internally combative) didn't work then and continues not to work now. I am grateful that our Secretary of State, a Swift Boater, is a strong advocate for peaceful negotiation over going to war.
Ron