We should have never escalated our role beyond the advisor level that under Kennedy was limited to a few special forces and CIA operatives. The Johnson administration decision to send massive amounts of personnel was one of the worst blunders in the history of this country. It was unwinable from the get go unless we were willing to bring them to their knees at the cost of inflicting the kinds of civilian casualties that we inflicted on Japan and Germany. But if were were going to send American soldiers over there we should have had their backs by going all out to win and bring our boys home with a minimal of American casualties.
