Mark Moyar

Yeah, you might think so.

And the first battles are very lopsided.

The first big one is Operation Starlight in August of 65.

And yes, I mean, the Americans have tanks and amphibious vehicles.

They have air power, artillery.

The North Indians don't have these things.

And so it is very one side.

In fact, that will be the general pattern.

But.

what happens is that the North Vietnamese are able to withdraw when they don't want to fight or when they're taking too much damage.

So they can either go into remote jungles and mountains and hide out or then go into Laos and Cambodia.

And this is one of the problems that actually begins before 1965.

There's a big debate in the U.S.

over...

the country of Laos, which is where the Ho Chi Minh Trail will come in existence.

And Kennedy, when he's president, he thinks about sending American troops into Laos because between North and South Vietnam, you have this narrow demilitarized zone.

And the North Vietnamese can't easily sneak things across.

They tried it, and they were stopped.

So they decide they're going to go through Laos and build this Ho Chi Minh Trail.

And again, some of the US military says, let's go into Laos, cut that Ho Chi Minh Trail.