Expendable Warriors

The battle of Khe Sanh was won and the Vietnam war was lost at the same time. Expendable Warriors describes at multiple levels the soldiers and marines who were expendable in the American political chaos of Vietnam, 1968. On January 21, 1968, nine days before the Tet offensive, tens of thousands of North Vietnamese regulars began the attacks on the Khe Sanh plateau, which led to the siege of the Khe Sanh Combat Base.
For those with a vivid memory of the Vietnam war, there is consolation in knowing that the impact of that war altered and shaped politics and warfare for the next generations. But in that altering we must take the lessons and apply them to new situations, new challenges and new policy dilemmas. To fail to do so would mean that the warriors at Khe Sanh and all of Vietnam were truly expendable, The battle of Khe Sanh was won and the Vietnam war was lost at the same time. Expendable Warriors describes at multiple levels the soldiers and marines who were expendable in the American political chaos of Vietnam, 1968. On January 21, 1968, nine days before the Tet offensive, tens of thousands of North Vietnamese regulars began the attacks on the Khe Sanh plateau, which led to the siege of the Khe Sanh Combat Base.

Bruce B. G. Clarke (Col., U.S. Army, ret.) was Director of National Security Studies at the U.S. Army War College, and is the author of Conflict Termination: A Rational Model (Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College).

Foreword by John W. Vessey ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xv Abbreviations xvii Chapter 1 1 Chapter 2 6 Vietnam 6 Khe Sanh before the Battle 8 Chapter 3 15 District Headquarters 15 The Village Participants 20 Chapter 4 29 Day-to-Day Operations of the Advisory Team 29 Chapter 5 39 Giap's Strategy 39 The NVA Tactical Plan 43 The American Plan 43 Chapter 6 47 The Situation Changes-The Prelude to the Battle in Khe Sanh 47 Chapter 7 52 The Battle Is Joined 52 The Western Approach to the Village-CAC-OSCAR 2's Fight 58 Air Strikes Take Their Toll 60 Chapter 8 65 Black Cats to the Rescue 65 The Black Cats 66 The Combat Assault 68 The NVA Await 73 Enroute to Khe Sanh 73 Arriving at the Landing Zone at the Old French Fort 74 Chapter 9 83 The Battle Continues 83 What Could Have Been Done Differently 89 The Evacuation of the District Headquarters 93 Chapter 10 95 The Advisory Team on the Move 95 Lang Vei Falls 97 Life at FOB-3 99 A Corpsman's Perspective 100 The Northern Half of FOB-3 101 The Bru 104 The Extended Siege 105 The End of the Siege 106 Chapter 11 109 Observations on a Lost War 109 The Need for Unity of Command 109 The Tension Between Secrecy and Operational Requirements 111 The Relationship of Battlefield Events and Political Decisions 112 The Roots of Historical Revisionism/Why History Is Difficult to Chronicle Accurately 114 Conclusion 115 Epilogue 116 The Participants Today 116 MIA-Still Missing, But Not Forgotten 118 The Bru Leave Khe Sanh 121 Appendices 131 Appendix 1: JCS After-Action Report 132 Appendix 2: Wichita Eagle, April 4, 1968, Article 137 Appendix 3: The Participants 140 Appendix 4: NVA Plan 146 Appendix 5: Recently Unclassified Intelligence 151 Appendix 6: Invasion of Laos 153 Appendix 7: Wichita Eagle Article-After-Action Report 155 Appendix 8: Award Citations 157 Appendix 9: Terrain Map of Area Around Khe Sanh Village 160 Index 163