European Reacts: America Obliterates Half North Vietnam's Fleet in 13 Minutes

[@ChrisSprenger.]

Love this channel, you have my full support. I love your content and i love your background your country. And you seem like a very nice person so im going to donate with a thanks

[@european-reacts]

Oh Ty so much 🙏 much love.

[@ChrisSprenger.]

Oh cool you pinned my comment lol thanks ! And thanks for responding. I’ve noticed you engage with a lot of your fans, even ones who dont donate or are unable to. You are truly a nice person and deserve every subs and likes. It’s not easy what you do, i know this. And the more you grow and get more popular around the world, it’s only going to get harder…but it will be worth it, even if you can’t post as much.. i for see a great future for you brother. I love seeing people thrive and reach their own accomplishments. And your fans and i will be able to witness it !!! :D D: god bless and thanks again

[@herrzimm]

The Vietnam War is a "sensitive topic" with Americans because it pits the argument of "Military Conflict" vs "Political Conflict". Literally ever military encounter was won my American forces, ESPECIALLY the "large scale" battles (such as the Tet-Offensive)..... BUT due to political interference, any "gains" that the American military achieved were almost INSTANTLY tossed away by "political concerns". Which is why you ended up with CONSTANT battles over the same areas, locations ... sending "patrols" out in the jungle that got ambushed because American forces were NOT ALLOWED to secure the "surrounding location" of where they were attached. (Meaning that they would secure a hill-top, but NOT the areas AROUND the hill-top, allowing the VC to constantly set up ambushes for the US patrols in the jungles LOOKING for where the VC might be coming from) In short, Vietnam taught America that when you get in a conflict... LET THE MILITARY FIGURE IT OUT.... but also taught US politicians that they could dictate HOW the Military is going to fight, and therefore the politicians will determine the when/where/how. And this is self-defeating because the ONLY REASON THE MILITARY IS USED is because THE POLITICIANS ALREADY FAILED! If the politicians had DONE THEIR JOB, then "military conflict" would have been AVOIDED TO BEGIN WITH!

[@paulghignon4092]

You're forgetting one critical fact. Politicians never admit to failing.

[@JEilonwyn]

Thanks for being able to explain this 'trainwreck' without copious swearing... cause I dont think I could do it.

[@dgpatter]

“Do you think they can really be that dumb?” Every politician: “Hold my beer.”

[@nicks3935]

Never underestimate the ability of the government to screw things up.

[@MrJlee93]

The politicians voted for something in my job that is 100% slower than if a human were to do it to "ensure national security." They also voted to make my entire job have a 95% retention rate instead of the other way around. now slackers are being hired

[@gk5891]

You can't pull your punches and expect to win a fight. These politicians need to remember that before they send our guys into harms way.

[@CarlDWardJr]

They did not care they were making money off our lives.

[@captin3149]

Politicians that have the power to make those decisions need to be placed in the front lines and see what decisions they make then

[@blazingshadow2669]

it was because of hippies that they added so many rules of engagement. while the military fights communism the hippies back home protest about how we should all get along nvm how evil the bad guys are

[@Lugia21]

They don't care because their lives aren't the ones on the lines there, had they been on the front line things would've gone WAY different.

[@paulghignon4092]

Unfortunately, US politicians like to pretend they know whats best for everyone else. There's an old saying, if you want something to be messed up, get the government involved.

[@emilyb5307]

12:03 "the american politicians step in, yet again-" "Oh nooo-" Yep ...you're getting the right idea now 😂

[@New_Haven86]

haha I was looking for this comment to have been made, but 3 days ago is even better.

[@terrycarter1137]

Andre, You're about right the pilots know what to do, the soldiers know what to do, the politicians 10,000 miles or more away always think "I got a idea bubba, we know what to do."

[@Runelee1]

You should also really check out his video on America taking Guam without a single shot. The entire course of events is crazy, but really illustrates how things just seemed to randomly go right for the US in the last century.

[@PhycoKrusk]

"Rules of war" only make sense when all the combatants follow then. In Western wars, they made sense because there was a long established history of agreeing upon and then following rules. This is generally not the case in other parts of the world, and so we see that Western armies generally decide upon and then follow rules, while non-Western armies don't, and this is especially apparent when Western armies fight against non-Western armies.

[@jordanlyons2609]

One of the most famous examples I can think of is PoW's against the Empire of Japan. In Western wars surrender is generally considered what you do if you can't win and want protection as a result. Over there it was a way to trick stupid westerners or an action by subhumans who abandoned their honor

[@frankrios9926]

The Vietnam war was never a declared war. It was deemed a police action. That's why the politicians had so much say in what the military could or could not do. It was a very insane situation & an illegal war. That was one of the main reasons there was so much opposition to the war.

[@paulghignon4092]

It was also the fact that there wasn't support for a war to begin with. It was never going to get enough support for war to be declared. The military which isn't beholden to the government decided otherwise. Russia was doing it's best to try and cause a civil war in the US.

[@tyreedillard]

Chappy James trained my Uncle as a fighter pilot at the Tuskegee Institute. My uncle was Lt Col James "Jimmy" Dillard, Tuskegee Airman class of 1945. He didn't see action in WW2, as Germany surrendered right before he graduated, and Japan surrendered after he arrived in the Pacific Theater. So he was retrained as a Jet fighter pilot (a Zoomie), and saw action in Korea. He was also a zoomie, flying F4 Phantoms during operation Rolling Thunder in Vietnam with his old teacher, and CO Chappy James. These guys were my heroes as a child.

[@NoLove0341]

I am so damn jealous that you were exposed to that level of greatness. Men like who you are referring to are literally the types of men we still talk about when discussing the battle of Thermopoli, Alexander the Great and the likes. You had constant access to absolute LEGENDS. My grandfather was a machine gunner running quad 50’s on the same base the Memphis Bell flew out of and was there when she came in all shot up but he was a prick and I couldn’t have any kind of conversation with the man. Ugh….so jealous.

[@Van-x3v]

In the 50s, when the French were fighting the Vietnamese, President Eisenhower (Republican) agreed to only send in advisors to the French. Ho Che Minh was seen as a freedom fighter and his popularity among the Vietnamese grew. When Kennedy (Democrat) became president, Eisenhower advised him to not get involved because he saw the conflict as a losing battle. The French were even pulling out because they had lost the North to the Vietcong who was backed by China and Russia. The UN thought that dividing Vietnam into the North and South the way they did Korea would solve the problem. It didn't because the hearts of most Vietnamese were with Ho Chi Minh and didn't want to support a Catholic President in the South. They didn't really like communism and favored capitalism. But to get help from Russia and China, they had to develop a Communist Government. At the end of Kennedy's 1st term in office, he began talking about pulling support to South Vietnam -he was assassinated. Vice President Johnson (Democrat) became President, and he began sending in large numbers of troops fresh out of high school. Those that didn't go were from wealthy families that could afford to send their kids to college. That's when these boys started coming home in body bags. This is when the Tet offense occurred. Those boys that survived were traumatized. This is when support for the war dropped, and the protests began. Johnson didn't run for a second term because he was so unpopular. Nixon (Republican) became President and began trying to bring an end to the war and still maintain some honor. He also stopped sending troops to Vietnam. The war hawks of DC turned on him and forced him to resign. His Vice President (Ford) continued to try to negotiate peace with honor. The last year of Ford's term in office was went the evacuation of US troops, bureaucrats and supporters of the US. It was a mess because the Vietcong began rushing into the cities and killing anyone who supported the US -very similar to the evacuation of Afghanistan.

[@jobereinicke7430]

the bright frontlight looks good man. love the videos

[@lawrenwimberly7311]

Polititians had control of this war because they NEVER Declared war

[@rg20322]

The Vietnam War would have been very different if the US Politicians did not engage and as in war let the Generals run it. The restrictions put on not only the Air Force and Soldiers made it absolutely impossible for them to make a difference and in my opinion caused a LOT of unnecessary death on both sides. Think about the battle of Hue or the Tet Offensive - this should never have happened but because of politicians in the US and South Vietnam it happened.

[@bookman7409]

Militarily, Tet was a massive US victory, as the VC basically ceased to exist and the NVA involved got mauled, too. It was Cronkite who declared on his own that we lost, and effectively surrendered.

[@brigidtheirish]

@@bookman7409 So *that's* why I've only ever heard that name said as if it tastes bad.

[@bookman7409]

@@brigidtheirish That was oversimplified, but yeah, basically. For a closer look, dig into the VC/NVA's objectives were (battle sires) and the results of their long-planned operation. Big hint, they didn't accomplish anything of military significance, just a propaganda coup.

[@paulghignon4092]

The problem is that it was never actually a "war", or at least not in the formal sense. It was never declared, nor was it ever supported by the US citizens for the most part. Politicians are beholden to the citizens, and since they didn't support it, voting in favor of a declaration would end anyone's political career. The US military just went ahead and did it, because they're not technically beholden to the government, despite common thought they can and do ignore bad commands and are trained to do so. There's a very basic concept in Sun Tzu's art of war, if the citizens aren't backing the war, the war is already lost. Vietnam showed how that's true.

[@brigidtheirish]

@@paulghignon4092 Except it wasn't the US Military that "just went ahead and did it." Everything was on orders from politicians.

[@Amber-mv8wz]

Vietnam was a total politically run cluster fuck from beginning to end. It was a slaughterhouse where politicians sent our young men to fight while constantly doing everything, they could to keep them from winning. What Nick described here with the planes was happening on an even more unbelievable extent to our ground troops. Controversy over the war damn nearly tore our country apart. And yes, it is still a controversial subject in America because a lot of us still don't fully understand WTF actually happened there or why. All I can say for sure is that our government was absolutely the villain in this ugly & tragic tale.

[@markevans1618]

Thing is everyone says "our government is evil" completely blind to the fact that it was completely the fault of politicians, politicians that were democratically voted in by the people. The American people voted morons into office and then they are surprised when they make stupid decisions and instead of saying "oh wow I should pay more attention to who I vote for and make sure my representative is removed from office" they say "GOVERNMENT EVIL THEY KILLING OUR KIDS: now let me vote the exact same way for the exact same people until I die and shame others for not voting how I like" completely oblivious to the fact that it was the American people's fault to begin with. Society has become complacent plain and simple. So they point the finger at anything else including some shadow cult secret society of government overlords when they should be looking in the mirror.

[@brigidtheirish]

And the worst part is that the American people largely blamed the *soldiers.* They were treated like shit by the government while deployed and then treated like *monsters* by their neighbors when they returned home.

[@nfdbelgianmedic]

I just love your heartfelt reactions. You're very relatable.

[@richardphelps2289]

Pretty impressive story I had not heard that story glad you put it on your channel. That fellow telling the story did a great job explaining how this happened.

[@chrismaverick9828]

The lack of gun in the F-4 was predicated on the foolish idea that missiles will solve all the problems. The F-4 was a committee design idea that was supposed to be an all-service aircraft for the Navy, Marines, and Airforce (do I need to mention the F-35 here?) It really only was good for the Air Force as it was too big, heavy, and slow for safe carrier use which is where the Navy and Marines would use it, much to the headaches of the pilots who had a razor-thin stall speed zone on take off and landings. In any case, when they implemented the restrictions to Vis ID they removed the AiM-7 sparrow, the long range capable one, out of the equation and left them with the easy to spoof AiM-9B heat seeker, which could only track from behind and when the sun isn't in front of it. This means the F-4 had to get behind the MiG in a dogfight to use it's only useful short range weapon, which could miss. They later added a gun into the air frame but they had to make do for years with external-mounted gun pods which weren't all that accurate.

[@alecholmes4500]

One of the major problems with the Vietnam War that frustrated (and that's a small, useless word) the bomber pilots who were getting shot down and either dying or getting taken prisoner is that the politicians dictated what they could and could not bomb. And because politics, the logical things to bomb were off-limits, and the bombers could only strike useless targets that were essentially a waste of time and resources. Never underestimate the stupidity of an American politician in wartime. Or, well, ever. Love your reaction, though. From naive disbelief that politicians could in fact be THAT DUMB (I love your faith in humanity, I really do) to the almost childlike wonder at the accomplishments of the "main characters", as TFE puts it (I say that in a way that is meant to be flattering, in that you are not jaded or cynical beyond experiencing a sense of awe and wonder at impressive things). You keep my hope for humanity and my country alive, my Portuguese friend and I want to thank you for that.

[@rhiahlMT]

American military personnel have never lost a war. Politicians failed them. I went into the Army at the end of Vietnam. I was in intelligence and the stories, oh my goodness. It was men from my unit that were on the spy airplane to listen to enemy transmissions. They warned the chain of command 6 months before the Tet Offensive. The leaders, true to form, thought the intelligence was from a bunch of know nothings that weren't 'proper military'. Just incidents like that all through the war. The generals won and had the intelligence units transferred to the military chains of command and out from under the NSA in the late 1970s. We are still seeing the blowback from that move. First attack on the Twin Towers then 9/11 were both intelligence failures.

[@billallen4793]

My father and stepfather were both career military 🪖 intelligence, specifically Army intelligence. I spent the first 13ish years of my life as an Army Bratt who traveled the world 🌎 on the Uncle Sam travel plan until 1985ish when we finally came back to the state's from Europe. Then we came back to Ft. Dix, then finally out. My stepfather turned down Sgt Mgr to get out as a mstr sgt. Both retired as a Mstr Sgt for rank. Then, my father continued his career as a private contractor. Heck, he even wrote the book that civilian military relationships between III corps, AFCENT, and the Federal Republic of Germany. You might have known him, as this community isn't very large. He went by my middle name (Eugene) Gene Allen. When he finally retired, he was the V.F.W. Commandant near Ft Polk Louisiana. The agent orange 🍊 cancers killed both of them..smfh..from Wyoming USA 🇺🇸 👋🤠

[@rhiahlMT]

@@billallen4793 Do you remember which assignments he had?

[@billallen4793]

@rhiahlMT My stepfather was named Glen A. (Alton) Morton. His last job in Brussels was a courier for a place called S.U.P.A.C.T. it was part of N.A.T.O.! My father had some crazy position/job titles. Like combat intelligence, interrogator, intelligence analysis, ect.! ..

[@rhiahlMT]

@@billallen4793 Yeah, my Dad and I were with the Army Security Agency, signals intelligence.

[@billallen4793]

@rhiahlMT I tried to send you a picture, but it didn't seem to work, it sent you to a jail listing or something!..lol, I'm computer illiterate!

[@thomasjackson8096]

Based on the American experience with Washington DC-controlled Viet Nam combat, the military was given much fewer constraints with Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the Middle East and history will record a 4-day ground war.

[@zeroneg]

The phrase goes, "Beware the old man in a profession where men usually die young."

[@Nyxi_Nyx]

There is a series of movies called Iron Eagle whose main character Chappy was based on Chappie James Jr and played by Louis Gossett, Jr. 1986 was the first film.

[@cincyjohn69]

5:13 I love how much you love America ! You said why we are at war right ? Like you were an American! Hopefully one day !

[@kate2create738]

Good luck getting a concrete answer about the Vietnam War lol, it’s a time when we finally got wars televised that really ruined any support from the American people that it created constant protest and riots the poor soldiers returning home from a scaring psychological warfare then were treated as if they were killing babies when they came home that many vets of the war have had a hard time talking about it. Even how we got involved is mixed signals, I’ve heard it was an unidentified potential threat of a ship turned that was theorized to be dolphins to getting dragged in cause France was unable to prevent the spread of one of their colonies, etc. Out of all of the wars, this one is the hardest ones to approach to ask questions. It’s understandable, the tactics was cruel the soldiers weren’t able to defend themselves effectively when the Vietnamese who attacked them used so many different tactics to ambush anyone on the ground in stealth mode that made the soldiers who did return home create a new study of PTSD. On top of that, the hippie generation accused anyone involved as baby killers, alienating any soldier from being able to explain their experiences till about decades later (I give a huge recognition to Gary Sinise in Forest Gump helping a lot of vets heal not just in that war but in many of the other wars.) You’re more likely to get much out from American’s thoughts and experiences from 9/11 I dare say. Keep in mind I say this with respect to our vets, I’m sure there’s plenty of stories out there, but compared to the other wars, this one is one of the most reserved that vets talk about. As a civilian you know there are boundaries to not cross, as much as we like to think it would be nice to be that early to listen to their stories, a lot of vets (not all) do have a hard time connecting with everyone who hasn’t gone through what they witnessed. The Vietnam War was the only war that I know of that tragically our society didn’t have our soldier’s back, I really hope they managed to get some way to heal. Thankfully after the Vietnam War our country got its act together and our society learned to not blame the soldiers for following orders but to look more critically at the top if we get involved in wars we don’t like.

[@dirtygrunt]

Col Robin Olds had a majestic mustache that was second only to Col Lewis Millett, another American badass that the Fat Electrician has done a video on. You should definitely react to that video.

[@adiabeticjedi3278]

We lost that war. Weve lost many wars. Most small and a few centuries old now. However we learned to Kill Better with each loss.

[@greywuuf]

Incorrect. A: it was not a war. B: we achieved the desired objective and LEFT. And 4 years later the enemies broke the treaty and started fighting again and we just never returned.

[@jesselenz5452]

I won't go into politics or Monday morning quarterbacking whatever happened in Vietnam, but let's just say we learned a lot and we no longer practice the same techniques we did there.

[@michaelrudolph7003]

Our retreat from Afghanistan would like to have a word with you.

[@jesselenz5452]

@michaelrudolph7003 That was from a traitor in the White House. Not a general in the military.

[@NoLove0341]

Somalia and Afghanistan has entered the chat….

[@joshuawiedenbeck6944]

"Blackman and Robin." Lol

[@Majorpain32677]

Dude is this what top gun 2 was made from sounds like the plot Maverick and old pilot comes in to train new pilots how to take out a nuclear facility That's totally the top gun too plot lol that's awesome great movie Y'all should watch it

[@americaforever2798]

Those are American proportions, they're bigger over here.

[@deborahnagel9011]

The movie was called Top Gun with Tom Cruise , if you haven't seen it you need to it's a great movie! :)

[@revpembroke3082]

"Can you believe politicians would be that stup-?" Yes!

[@brigidtheirish]

A shining example of why so many of us want the government to stay the $^&# out of *everything.*

[@CelestialKitsune13]

Have you watched the one about the Eggnog Riot yet? You won't make it through that one without laughing. The whole story sounds absolutely crazy. 😂

[@Majorpain32677]

I'm a military veteran for all the people who said we lost the Vietnam war we were not lose the veter no more we chose weed because it was not worth our soldiers continue to die we could destroyed them if y'all really think that Vietnam could beat us in a war being you don't know anything about our military

[@АлексейАлексеевич-м8к]

Omerican cry 😂, you, your army, navy, air force and all your puppets states lose this war 😂. Like Cuba, Somalia, Cambodia, Syria and now Yemen you lose.

[@Lord-Of-Light]

Never underestimate the ability of a politician to ruin something.

[@lonewolf49707]

To me the vietnam war is similar to the russia\ Ukraine war The Russians went in as a supieor force but couldn't cope with the unconventional tactics of their opponent. As was the case for the Vietnam war for the most part.

[@thatpatrickguy3446]

Great reaction o another of Nic's absolute best content! Vietnam was one of the most interfered with wars because communications technology had finally advanced to the point that those at home could get information about the war on the same day that events happened and the politicians could more easily meddle and prevent the soldiers from fighting effectively for reasons that were both dangerous and dumb. Absolute insanity.

[@elainablake3030]

Politicians will F things up every time

[@stevenrledoux]

I agree, it can be a very controversial topic with the Vietnam War. From my perspective, there are certainly plenty that went wrong, excluding what lead us in with the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, Politicians really handicapped a lot of our fighting force. On top of that, our military doctrine went to a dramatic shift in tactics, from the usual "go here and hold objective, move to next objective. To a "body count" we thought the more we kill, the more the enemy will consider surrendering. for the Phantom, there was a lot of problems plaguing the early missile era. They were not very reliable, could lose tracking, etc. Phantoms would later get a gun. Initially it was replacing the fuel pod, and would need a turbine to get the gun to have enough power to get it up and running. they would get that replaced with a better gun for it. Found it nice for his video, he used bits from an old History Channel Series, Dogfights. They would break down the chaos of the air battles and show the maneuvers that were performed. As the series progressed, the CGI got better.

[@FairyNiamh1977]

Our Government did a number on our troops over there. I can remember hearing my dad having flashbacks and screaming orders in his sleep. It was a traumatic time for him. I miss him.

[@marktisdale7935]

6:15 The MIG-21 was an interceptor, it was small and fast. So they would fly really low with the radar off and have a ground station radar guide them on to American aircraft. They would then pop up behind the American aircraft, take a shot at it, and then run away.

[@tylerwarwick7975]

Even if it's not what people like to hear America lost that war before it even began.

[@Majorpain32677]

Andre when you do military videos me being a veteran I get excited just like you do That's why I'm always like Andre just do military stuff but I know you can't just do military stuff but feel free to do as much as you want lol

[@katherinedinwiddie4526]

Love this guy! Enjoy! You make our day!❤❤

[@jdveit227]

"Fighter Pilot" is Robin Olds' biography. It is such a good read.

[@justinmarko80]

Cool! Just in case you missed the comment on your cheese video. I highly recommend that you check out his, "America's secret underground cheese bunkers,' video. (To be honest, TFE channel was a good find, to understand some of underlying American culture, that even many Americans don't understand) (ALSO, He is super cool with reaction channels)

[@patryn36]

Your thoughts on rules of engagement is the same flaw on weapon bans and no one ever learns.

[@CLKagmi23]

The Vietnam was is very controversial because it falls into the same category as the Iraq War where a lot of Americans now believe we shouldn't have gone to war there in the first place. It's now widely believed that, as with Iraq, the US government probably lied to the American people about their reason for going to war and a ton of both American and Vietnamese lives were lost as a consequence basically because our government was trying to control other countries. I am not a fan of the actions of the north Vietnamese government, but between the fact that the war was started based on a lie, the fact that we ended up committing a bunch of atrocities trying to win it, and the fact that even at that cost we *still* probably didn't actually improve the situation I think it's safe to say that a large portion of Americans today believe this was a war we should never have been involved in. I also suspect there was probably *some* reason for some of the rules Nick is describing. For example, rules about not engaging with enemy aircraft until you confirm that they are, in fact, enemy air craft is a big measure against friendly fire since militaries totally do routinely shoot their own people and equipment because they thought they were the enemy. The only good thing to come out of it was that America now NEVER underestimates an enemy simply because they're less technologically advanced, which gives us a tactical edge over most other countries. Most countries overestimate their own strength and expect their enemies to be easier to defeat in battle than they actually are. That's arguably what happened with Israel and Hamas, where the government of Israel knew that Hamas was planning an attack but just assumed they didn't have the technology to be able to pull it off. America assumes the enemy will be HARDER to defeat than we expect because one time we lost to a bunch of rural farmers while fighting against them with the world's largest and most advanced military.

[@brigidtheirish]

And the thing with Iraq is that there almost certainly *were* WMDs, the Iraqis simply had time to dispose of them before we got there. Again, because of government interference. On the other hand, while I think ousting Saddam Husein was a good thing, we *couldn't* win on the rebuilding and "War on Terror" fronts for the same reason no one's been able to achieve a "lasting peace in the Middle East." It'd require resolving what are essentially family feuds that go back *hundreds* of years. A third party that isn't even closely tied to the local culture *can't* do that unless you count glassing the entire country as "resolving."

[@norske_ow3440]

I love watching people watch Nick’s videos that I’ve already watched! (Not sarcasm, I’m dead serious)

[@brendahowell6796]

Great video. Thank you

[@bearhunter1493]

seen a new brits try cracker barrel video today, you should check it out, the women really goes over the menu showing everthing they offer.. i just forgot the name of the channel tho as it was new to me.

[@derrickduncanson9253]

Even if I've seen a video, I like watching his reaction. Hopefully he finds it, because Andre will love the menu, because he always asks about that. LOL

[@ralphkennard9435]

Quit listening to the politicians and do what you have to do.

[@anotherfriend1998]

😊😊😊you gotta do more from the fatelectrician 😊😊😊 love watching your reactions to his videos, and also recommend doing a reactions video to Kentucky Balsitics too, look for any episodes that includes the 4 bore.... trust me... it's well worth it 😊😊😊😊

[@GarryCollins-ec8yo]

This is how much the government screwed up the war: we never lost a battle but we lost the war.

[@Seastallion]

That's not true either. The US voluntarily withdrew from the war and ceased military operations because of domestic unrest over the war. There was no military defeat that caused the US to leave, despite the incompetence of the politicians. South Vietnam didn't lose to the North until TWO YEARS AFTER the US left and was no longer involved.

[@bookman7409]

@@Seastallion It is true, though. Propaganda and unrest may have ended out involvement, which was an informal "losing the war", but LBJ decided to accept Cronkite's declaration that the war was "unwinnable", and quit trying, leaving Nixon to clean up their mess (and take all the blame). Nixon withdrew us, but it was still our loss. And SVN didn't lose to the practically nonexistent VC, but to the NVA invasion after we left, with full Communist backing. A defeat due to social unrest and propaganda at home is still a defeat. You clearly have a bit of a handle on the history, but you obviously have much more to learn, so consider this an opportunity. Or not, and just get mad at me for knowing more.

[@АлексейАлексеевич-м8к]

​@@Seastallion and help? 😂 Omerican pendos

[@MrMarsproductions]

If he wants the answer to why America lost Vietnam, there's a line in the movie "First Blood" that explains it pretty well.

[@Nanasays0731]

I love your channel and always watch. I also happen to love “The Fat Electrician” and his Fat Files videos.

[@Merica1776-usa]

One thing people often get wrong is the US politicians can lose or win wars however it is not wise to think that the us military or soldiers lost any of those. The military could leave none alive if that was the goal. After WW2 the USA rebuilt and protected eastern Europe. If you look back in history there are not many countries that just give back what they win in battle and not ask for compensation.

[@АлексейАлексеевич-м8к]

Problem with geography pendos, dont know where east and where west 😂

[@Merica1776-usa]

@@АлексейАлексеевич-м8к I am sorry if you don't know your cardinal directions. I can mail a compass to you if you need brother. If you have a needle, some silk, and a small puddle of water we can make you one as well

[@sherryscott8084]

It is politicians that wouldn’t let USA win. That is what happened

[@seraphwithatank6535]

The Vietnam war was one of the worst scars on American history.

[@Tylermaddox1911]

Vietnam was a shit show much like Afghanistan, but for different reasons except the politicians are always dumb. We underestimated the Vietnamese. We underestimated the environment, and were using the m16 the brand new service rifle. It at the time didn't have all the kinks out its also not a very good cartridge the 5.56x45mm round. Its great against armor, but not unarmored targets. Along with the environment, and cleaning the weapon it wasn't good. Afghanistan was a heavily defended area since Christ was alive. No one has performed well in Afghanistan against the locals. Add in any enemy who wants to hurt America from around the world it was bad. There's so much metal in the ground it can cause interference between communication tech. The mountains are well defended by people who know the terrain, and have had it fortified for the last 100 years at least. The withdraw from both was extremely embarrassing. Also the north Vietnamese would hunker down in Cambodia and run their troops from there which we weren't allowed into because of politicians. Biden is the cause for the terrible Afghanistan withdraw.

[@lizwiz2779]

TFE TheFatElectrician for the WIN EH!🍁🍁🍁🍁

[@1012Mrjesse]

There’s 2 reasons this war didn’t do well. Number 1 is because it was basically politicians deciding how the military should do its job. Number 2 is related, in the fact that there was a lot of hate towards the vietnam war back at home(American soldiers were literally spit on, cursed at, threatened, etc. by the citizens when they came home) which is more than likely why politicians had to decide how the military was supposed to do things. Edit: if not for the politicians, and they were able to actually do their job how they were supposed to, it more than likely would have been a different outcome. When you’re at war and the government sets rules for how things need to be done by your troops, it’s more than likely that the enemy is just doing whatever the hell they want.

[@Maristreynard]

The "hands tied behind our back" is totally undermined by the "VC trail" bombing campaign. The NVA and VC won bc you can't beat guerillas from the air.

[@seannacraddocked3220]

Actually the United States won the war in Vietnam the North Vietnamese did not take over the South until 3 years after the United States left and they try to say they won the war

[@АлексейАлексеевич-м8к]

And where on map South Vietnam now, silly pendos, go read the books 😂

[@kerry_richmond24]

Love the Fat Electrician!!

[@cathysullivan6591]

Nick has made me love to learn history! He's also on the unsubscribe podcast.

[@larryfontenot9018]

The USA didn't lose the Vietnam War on the battlefield. It lost it at home. The USA's citizens lost hope that it could be won. It was the first war that was lost because of unrestricted television coverage. The USA realized the mistake they'd made and never allowed reporters do whatever they wanted to on a battlefield again. On the ground, the USA won every major battle it fought and by the end of the war the Viet Cong didn't play a significant role anymore. North Vietnam ordered them to fight like normal soldiers during the "Tet Offensive". Because they weren't playing to their strengths, so many of them were killed there weren't enough left to have any real effect. The reason why politicians had such an effect on how the fighting was done was because they remembered how things went sour in North Korea after China moved in on the side of North Korea. The politicians made a lot of mistakes, but they were trying to keep Russia and China out of the war. And that effort worked. The F-4 Phantom II didn't have guns because it had been designed to intercept and attack Russian bombers at long range. The designers had never intended for it to get into dogfights.

[@paullanoue5228]

Smart Politicians understand that they are out of the depth making strategic and tactical military decisions. They seek insight from Professionals in the military. Unfortunately not all politicians are intelligent.

[@jacquelinejohnson9447]

Vietnam was always a war about people who made war machines and munitions got the absolute most money out of the conflict and prolonged the conflict for profit. I will never be convinced otherwise. That's how I remember it, and I lived in that era as a teenager and adult.

[@rob_over_9000]

There was no reason to put a gun on the F-4 because it’s not a dogfighting plane. You’d carry the gun around without using it 100% of the time, but still waste fuel, payload, and maintenance dollars on a gun that never gets fired.

[@IceGavel]

So, as an American, I'm going to explain a thing that might help make this whole thing make sense: American politics is a _strange, strange beast._ At the time this event happened, Vietnam was wildly unpopular at home because a lot of Americans thought we didn't need to be there. To some extent, they are correct, the main reason we got involved in the first place was because of a treaty President Harry Truman signed with the French in (if memory serves) 1947, so the validity of America's case to be in Vietnam is a little strange. In order to try and combat accusations from what I will describe very bluntly (as someone that is typically "left of center" by American standards) as completely uninformed hippies that saw film reels of America setting fire to forests while they were high and decided to get vocal about it, the United States government _willingly handicapped_ the vast majority of its military forces to try and make the war look less like hell for the people that were about to throw one of the biggest drug-fueled party in American history, _Woodstock._ Events like this are what happen as a result.

[@adamantanarchist]

MIC ate good with this one.

[@larrywelchko6136]

Yes most politicians are that stupid.

[@cincyjohn69]

They weren’t prepared to fight in that type of environment

[@Valacar]

Yeah… unfortunately most politicians are about a smart as a bag of rocks. I still remember the one who was questioning about putting too many troops on Guam and capsizing the island. Seriously he thought the island would tip over. That’s not how islands work.

[@StephenGramza]

Vietnam was so poorly handled, no one likes to talk about it

[@Van-x3v]

Politicians never won the hearts of the South Vietnamese. After WWII, the people of Vietnam wanted to rule their own country, But France wanted them back as a colony because they were a large producer of rubber. Ho Che Minh was very popular, and the people wanted him to be their leader. The UN voted against this and was supported by the French and President Truman (Democrat). Instead, they installed a Catholic President in a Buddhist country and began making profits for foreign companies in Vietnam. A Buddhist monk even burned himself alive in protest. My Uncle was there at that time. DC began drafting boys as soon as they graduated from high school to fight in Vietnam. While they were there, they became addicted to heroin and began smoking high grade pot ('Buddha' from the Southeast Asia Triangle). The US troops kept asking why we are here, what exactly are we fighting for? I was in Southeast Asia at this time. I'm a child of the '60s' and I remember the riots and how college students would spit as us when we came home. Because of addiction, many veterans became homeless because they couldn't deal with the trauma that they experienced. We lost the war because we should have never been there in the first place.

[@scoobrea5030]

The mess that was USA vs Vietnam is because US Congress is the only entity that can declare war, they did not do so during the entirety of the fighting in Asia, as such the generals had no say in disobeying rules imposed by the politicians.

[@GenX1964]

In the 70's when I was a kid it was hard for anybody to talk about and admit America lost one for the first time ever although lately it seems to be an increasing habit of ours.

[@Majorpain32677]

Okay update it's top gun and iron eagle mixed I swear to you whoever did top gun and iron eagle knew about these two guys but that's typical Hollywood they still off of stories which is good sometimes

[@paullanoue5228]

I recommend the Fat Electrician, “The Old 666.” Another crazy story I’m sure you will like.

[@janihensley5306]

Do “Proportional”

[@artiearte7620]

You did find the fat electrician. His stories are so amazing.

[@RLAnkrum]

I love the storytelling from my fellow Iowan & I love, love, love Andre reacting to him!

[@rafehr1378]

I served from 1970 - 1974. Serving overseas during War. Shot at overseas. Shot in America, wearing American uniform. Fell, left behind. Team ran away, said I was dead. True I died, burning. They ran away. Coming home was dangerous for wearing our uniforms..

[@michaelrudolph7003]

I wasn't alive yet when that happened, but I'm sorry for how you were mistreated. Our country called you to fight for them and then hated you for doing it. I am truly sorry. I hope you were able to take some solace in the fact that future soldiers were treated with much more of the respect they deserved for their service. There is something maybe you've heard of called the Honor Flight. They take veterans to Washington DC to see the monuments erected to honor their service. I believe its run on a state by state basis. The entire point of the organization is to honor those who've fought for this country whether you received the proper respect for your service at the time of your return or not. There will almost certainly be others like you on these trips. If you might get value out of that and hopefully a little closure for the undeserved hell citizens put you through in the past, please look into it. Or maybe even volunteer with them to help other veterans see their monuments. Maybe seeing the proper respect given to others that you didn't get can offer you some peace. Thank you for doing what your country asked you to do and for your sacrifice over there and unfortunately here at home as well. My best to you sir.

[@chrisblood7395]

Well, know you have a small idea of why Vietnam vets; - and Vietnam-era vets - have been pissed off for six decades. And, why a lot of us have a very low opinion of politicians - other than their possible usefulness as fertilizer...

[@Rusty_23]

I love this channel

[@mazekaos]

Missed the end with interview with Robin oldes

[@JintoLin]

Now you are getting the idea why there is so much distrust for politicians. Nothing like having some rich pig in the safety of DC telling Generals on the front lines how to win a war. Never get tired of watching people do reactions to Nic's videos

[@sockdreams6762]

YES! More, Fat Electrician

[@GenX1964]

12:30 OH YES . Lyndon Johnson, who you likely never heard of cause we keep him hidden from the world out of shame, was easily that stupid. Rumored to have been illiterate. He thought because he was such an accomplished politician he could talk his way to victory. But the North would not play any of his games. He looked outmatched intellectually. Checkers vs Chess and HE was the one who only seemed to understand checkers.

[@Majorpain32677]

Dude if we can't say black man and Robin that is sad I would be happy as a black person if somebody called me black man and I know they were talking about Batman

[@rykerhoppe4789]

you might have to add demo ranch, Kentucky ballistic, Brandon the ak guy herrera, Donut Operator

[@Majorpain32677]

They did make a movie after this one of them's called top gun the other one's called iron eagle but mostly top gun especially the second one

[@Scott-uj2bi]

In War there needs to be one rule. That rule is NO RULES.

[@Tijuanabill]

We didn't lose the Vietnam war to anyone in Vietnam, we lost to the media in America. I'm not saying the media was wrong or right, but those are the facts. We left because it was unpopular, not because we were not able to defeat them militarily.

[@Majorpain32677]

See I'm I'm 47 years old military veteran That's why I've been trying to tell you young kids stuff man so y'all would listen

[@revjohnlee]

I hate to admit it but I think Nick was going easy on the US politicians. It was almost as if they were employed by the enemy. I firmly believe in civilian control of the military but within that statement, I think that our civil government has the duty not to go to war unless it is willing to let the military win the war. That was not the case in Vietnam. Johnson used the military to "send a message". The message was garbled in translation.

[@nathanclarke2777]

He is great!