Waging War on South East Asia's Landscape

The USAF's lengthy air campaigns in SV involved high stakes. Since aircrews quickly adapted to some of the most hostile and heavily defended combat zones to date, Ranch Hand and Arc Light provided the tactical advantage of denial. Hiding places, food, and supplies were wiped out when found. The enemy did lose safe havens. However, this tactical advantage came at a strategic price. These air campaigns with their wide array of devastating effects literally changed the landscape of the entire country, especially South Vietnam. Ecocide was not far from the truth; the mission creep of these campaigns meant that planners lost sight of end states. The operations became the purpose and sole means of influence for MACV and the administrations running the war. The mind set that the US could worry about building a democracy after the war only protracted these campaigns. Wiping the slate clean and starting from scratch has always proved more difficult than doing a little remodeling while protecting the societal and cultural foundations and frameworks. Recently in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US and coalition forces embraced this approach while considering the cascading and reverberating effects of combat operations. Building a democracy in Vietnam was the end state and it had to occur in conjunction with and simultaneously to combat operations. Although EBO rooted itself in the Desert Storm era, it was obvious the planners of Ranch Hand and Arc Light did not follow its construct. Instead, the operations diverged from their original intent destroying the very country the US tried to save.