The Ho Chi Minh Trail Laos

[airborne]

I have placed this for historic content and hope it does not offend or upset our US mates who served there. I find some of the poses of the bloke taking the pics a bit inappropiate at times.

The Ho chi minh trail in Laos . ​

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Ho Chi Minh trail past and present, hundreds of present day photos of the Ho Chi Minh Trail | Laos GPS Map

Bombs, Craters, Tanks Guns, Remote tribal villages, lost roads of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Incredible picture history. of the Ho Chi Minh Trail today,

www.laosgpsmap.com

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[03Fox2/1]

The information provided is still relevant and the photography is superb. There are some difficult windows into the past displayed on this site but this trail was very important to both sides and the American effort to destroy it was no less courageous then the defense and repair of it by the North Vietnamese. I assume the author of this article is John R. Campbell, a civilian psychological warfare advisor in VietNam from 1965 to 1967, as revealed at end of article. He does seem to have a rather robust admiration for the enemy that I fought against but I believe the story to be historically correct, so a difference of opinion, not a difference in factual history, is okay with me. Our enemy was dedicated and motivated but was also under military command and following orders, or else ! I don't know if they had superiority over us in what he describes as motivation to go south, despite the risk. My motivation, despite political correctness as of late, was to fight a war that my country deemed necessary, in a foreign land, against a professional army on it's home turf, without support at home and with no goals other then to find and kill the enemy and hopefully come home in one piece. I believe the professionals on both sides knew what they were doing. Those like myself, drafted or enlisted for only a few years, trained and sent off to war, with little regard to personal sacrifice, found ourselves to be only a temporary solution to a long term problem. I have lived with the results of this war for over four decades now and I am capable of viewing the war from a different perspective now but I will never lose my own personal involvement and the demons and ghosts that accompany me forever. I also take exception to the following that was written under a photo: "Between 1964 and 1973 the US bombed Laos continuously despite Laos being a peaceful neutral country and despite the US never openly declaring war on Laos." This country was being used by the North Vietnamese as a safe haven and a way to resupply their effort to invade and overcome South VietNam and therefore this statement seems to me to show his bias against the war as fought by those like me. So Mike, thank you for posting this here, I am not bothered, I am grateful, but I do take some offense at the authors liberties in his obvious admiration for my once enemy.
Semper Fi

 

[John A Silkstone]

thanks for that airborne, interesting pictures.

Silky

 

[airborne]

Thank you

Thank you Scott for your well balanced viewpoint and comments mate.
Mike

The information provided is still relevant and the photography is superb. There are some difficult windows into the past displayed on this site but this trail was very important to both sides and the American effort to destroy it was no less courageous then the defense and repair of it by the North Vietnamese. I assume the author of this article is John R. Campbell, a civilian psychological warfare advisor in VietNam from 1965 to 1967, as revealed at end of article. He does seem to have a rather robust admiration for the enemy that I fought against but I believe the story to be historically correct, so a difference of opinion, not a difference in factual history, is okay with me. Our enemy was dedicated and motivated but was also under military command and following orders, or else ! I don't know if they had superiority over us in what he describes as motivation to go south, despite the risk. My motivation, despite political correctness as of late, was to fight a war that my country deemed necessary, in a foreign land, against a professional army on it's home turf, without support at home and with no goals other then to find and kill the enemy and hopefully come home in one piece. I believe the professionals on both sides knew what they were doing. Those like myself, drafted or enlisted for only a few years, trained and sent off to war, with little regard to personal sacrifice, found ourselves to be only a temporary solution to a long term problem. I have lived with the results of this war for over four decades now and I am capable of viewing the war from a different perspective now but I will never lose my own personal involvement and the demons and ghosts that accompany me forever. I also take exception to the following that was written under a photo: "Between 1964 and 1973 the US bombed Laos continuously despite Laos being a peaceful neutral country and despite the US never openly declaring war on Laos." This country was being used by the North Vietnamese as a safe haven and a way to resupply their effort to invade and overcome South VietNam and therefore this statement seems to me to show his bias against the war as fought by those like me. So Mike, thank you for posting this here, I am not bothered, I am grateful, but I do take some offense at the authors liberties in his obvious admiration for my once enemy.
Semper Fi

 

[rotorwash]

Scott is correct, Laos was anything but a "peaceful neutral country." We had people there during the 1950's helping the Lao gov't fight the NVA. They wanted us to intervene as did the Cambodians, it was our government that refused thereby determining the outcome of the entire war.

Several Congressmen had staffers in Laos actually keeping count of the US servicemen in country. Special Forces played games, arranging for some to be counted twice and large numbers not counted at all because they were kept on the move. Some sites had subsidiary sites that were not reported on official documents, so, of course, there could not be Americans there because the sites did not exist.

A prime example of the idiocy involved happened right before the Ia Drang battles when a 1/9th Cav OH-13 followed a trail and inadvertantly crossed the border. They continued to report back large numbers of NVA troops and equipment as they flew further into Cambodia. When it was realized where they were, it was in the fan. Finally the official version stated that the aircraft was observing with binoculars while flying on the Vietnamese side of the border at 20,000 feet. In an OH-13 that gasped for air at 6,000 ft. No doors or oxygen. The bureaucrats bought it.

RW

 

[03Fox2/1]

RW,
Even after all of these years, I am still astounded at how much secrecy and misdirection and misinformation was distributed by all levels of command and control by American forces fighting the VietNam War. Is it any wonder that those like myself, one of the infantry who was considered only valuable if we made reaching political goals possible, have after all of these years of research and personal introspection become bitter and cynical ? The ultimate scam was the political control and deception practiced by the President and Secretary of Defense and General Westmoreland against the American people and yes, against the interests of the boots on the ground individuals also. The American people learned too little, too late how far this President would go to deceive the citizens to protect his own personal agenda.... it was called "Watergate". Speaking for myself and those I served with in 1968-69, I never trusted the enemy, nor to be honest, the ARVN, who we had nothing but contempt for... but at the time, I never suspected the real enemy resided in the White House. A negotiated "Peace with Honor", I don't think so !

Semper Fi

 

[Bombardier]

Amazing photos on that website @airborne

@03Fox2/1 @rotorwash thank you for your incite into this topic

It sometimes amazes me how posts like this have slipped through my fingers unnoticed, this post was made in 2012 and I have only just found it