At the greatest level, what was the extent of the US combat power in Vietnam?

The Vietnam War is not such an honorable and noble war for the US. It started as a war for independence, and then it turned into a conflict between the North and South Vietnam for the future direction of the country after the withdrawal of the French. However, the North was led by a nationalist, Ho Chi Minh, and the US viewed this conflict as communism versus the free world. It was similar to the Korean War, with a communist, Kim Il Sung, in the North and Syngman Rhee in the South. The US sent its troops to Vietnam to help the corrupted South Vietnam dictator against the Vietminh, and at the end, the US people started to question why they were in Vietnam in the first place. The US lost the war, and Vietnam fell into communism.

The Vietnam War was a big time, money and efforts consuming war to the US. First of all, from the escalation of war (1945) till the withdrawal of the US (1975), it lasted for thirty years. In these years, the government could have focused on building a 'Great Society' as LBJ's slogan had said than fighting in a country on the other side of the world with no great reason. Secondly, the US spent 346.7 billions in the currency of 1990 for the Vietnam War (1964-1972). It was more than the expenditure for WWI or the Korean War, which were 196.5 billions and 263.9 billions respectively in the currency of 1990 . It showed how much the US was willing to pay for this war and how much it cared. However if this money could be spent on aiding the other in-needed countries or helping the people in the US, maybe it would be better. Lastly, the US spent more efforts in the Vietnam War than the Korean War. 8,744,000 US soldiers were in the Vietnam War, 47,410 of them were dead in the combat and the percentage of death is 0.7%, on the other hand, 5,720,000 US soldiers were in the Korean War, 33,741 of them died in the combat and the death percentage was 0.6%, it was slightly lower than the Vietnam War . The above data shows one of the reasons why there were such strong protests against the war in the US. The war was making their lives worse than what it could have been without the war.

On April 30, 1975, following the fall of Saigon, the capital of the South Vietnam, which united the country under Communist rule as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Vietnam War ended. Around two years earlier, March 1973, the last US personnel left Vietnam . Therefore, the Vietnam War to US ended as its last man left that country, but for the Vietnamese, it was the union of South and North that marked the end to the Vietnam War. There were many reasons why the US troops were leaving Vietnam, but mainly there were three, Nixon's 'Vietnamization', the anti-war movement that took place back in the homeland and the ceasefire agreement. Nixon introduced 'Vietnamization' during his presidency of the United States. This is a policy of "handing over the fighting of the Communists in the Vietnam War to the army of South Vietnam" so that the US troops could withdrawn. This turned South Vietnam into more of an army than a country, and that gave the photographers opportunities to show the American citizens back home what atrocities had been committed here and what a terrible stage those South Vietnamese were living in. This also helped the anti-war movement. Furthermore, the public concern over the usage of chemical weapons, like the napalm, was growing and they were not happy about the increasing in the US casualties. Moreover, "the war was costing the USA $2000 million per month in 1968." The money could be spent in improving the social problems and make all people's lives better in the US. It is like in a corporation, the manager has to make some choices which later on the shareholders are not pleased with, and they may in favour of the opportunity cost of that decision. The shareholders are now pressing the manager to correct the mistake. The people were asking the withdrawal of the US troops and finally the US and the North Vietnam reached an agreement and signed the ceasefire agreement. Thus, the reasons and how the Vietnam War ended for the US and the Vietnamese were different.

Both sides of the war, regardless of which side won, had suffered the consequences of war. For the US, the Vietnam War made it lost its prestige, and it suffered the opportunity cost of a better society for the Americans by using up an enormously amount of money on the war and around 58,000 US citizens had gave their lives for the war. However it learned its lesson. On the other hand, because the North Vietnamese won, they were able to unite the North and South part of Vietnam again and say farewell to the South Vietnam corrupted government. However this war traumatized its people. More than 2 millions of Vietnamese soldiers and around half a million civilians died in the war, and the South's economy collapsed completely after the US troops left, and nowadays Vietnam is still one of the very poor countries in Asia. Therefore, it is not really possible to say if the US or the Vietnamese is better off this way or another.

Vietnam War, compared to the Korean War, is not so forgotten after all.