I would like to introduce myself & connect with other military combat veterans who served during the Vietnam war and have something to say about the ‘Tet Offensive.’

In the spring of 1968, as a newly designated Marine Aviator, I embarked for Vietnam where I would spend a year flying helicopter support missions to combat troops in the field. It was to prove a definitive period in my life, when an extraordinary range of sensation and experience was jammed into a short time span.

It is generally held that the celebrated Tet Offensive was a great communist victory that proved to be the turning point in the war. The reality on the field was that Tet was a debacle for the Viet Cong, after which they were never again able to maintain a viable presence in the field. One more such victory, and the North Vietnamese would have likewise been reduced to impotence.