Expendable Warriors: The Battle of Khe Sanh and the Vietnam War

by Bruce B. G. Clarke

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275994808
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/28/2007
Series:	Praeger Security International
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

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).

Table of Contents

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

What People are Saying About This

CPt Nhi

"I'm honored that Bruce Clarke has portrayed the bravery of not only the Americans but all of us who fought and won the largest ground battle of the siege of Khe Sanh. We believed in our cause and dedicated our lives to it and this book clearly illustrates what many efforts about the Vietnam War do not--the bravery and efforts of the warriors who fought beside the Americans in the Vietnam War."

—

CPt Nhi, Vietnamese District Chief

Joseph L. Galloway

"Expendable Warriors reveals a little-known chapter in the story of the siege of Khe Sanh--how the battle really began and who was targeted in the first and biggest North Vietnamese assault in the opening round of an epic clash."

—

Joseph L. Galloway, co-author of We Were Soldiers Once…and Young and Triumph Without Victory: The History of the Persian Gulf

CPt Nhi

"I'm honored that Bruce Clarke has portrayed the bravery of not only the Americans but all of us who fought and won the largest ground battle of the siege of Khe Sanh. We believed in our cause and dedicated our lives to it and this book clearly illustrates what many efforts about the Vietnam War do not—the bravery and efforts of the warriors who fought beside the Americans in the Vietnam War."

Gordon L. Rottman

"Most books studying the 1968 siege of Khe Sanh focus on the Marine Corps' defense of the base and the hilltops to the north. Other books examine the fall of the nearby Lang Vei Special Forces Camp overrun by North Vietnamese tanks. To most Khe Sanh was a Marine battle. While heavily shelled and the hilltop outposts fought off attacks, the main base experienced only minor ground attacks. There was another battle though, unheralded in most books, the vicious fight for Khe Sanh Village south of the main base. This fight saw 25 Army and Marine advisors and 175 Vietnamese irregular troops fighting off a North Vietnamese regular battalion. Bruce Clark aptly describes the valor and spirit of the defenders as they beat back repeated assaults with little support from the main base. This is a first person account of a virtually unheard of battle characterized by heroism and dedication to duty."

—

Gordon L. Rottman, author of Khe Sanh 1967-68

Gordon L. Rottman

"Most books studying the 1968 siege of Khe Sanh focus on the Marine Corps' defense of the base and the hilltops to the north. Other books examine the fall of the nearby Lang Vei Special Forces Camp overrun by North Vietnamese tanks. To most Khe Sanh was a Marine battle. While heavily shelled and the hilltop outposts fought off attacks, the main base experienced only minor ground attacks. There was another battle though, unheralded in most books, the vicious fight for Khe Sanh Village south of the main base. This fight saw 25 Army and Marine advisors and 175 Vietnamese irregular troops fighting off a North Vietnamese regular battalion. Bruce Clark aptly describes the valor and spirit of the defenders as they beat back repeated assaults with little support from the main base. This is a first person account of a virtually unheard of battle characterized by heroism and dedication to duty."

John K. Swensson

"Warrior, professor, deep thinker, and highly engaging and articulate writer, Bruce Clarke has written with compassion and wisdom borne of his personal experience in the village of Khe Sanh, 38 years ago. Good war stories take a long time to write, and this one is worth the wait. I am fascinated by the tale and the wonderful new insights that this major historian and military analyst brings to the reader. His sharing of the battle before the battle, the defeat of an NVA Regiment before the main Khe Sanh battle ever began, is masterfully told. A real page turner. And the lessons learned that he shares are well worth noting at a time when we are again, as a nation, engaged in war."

John K. Swensson

"Warrior, professor, deep thinker, and highly engaging and articulate writer, Bruce Clarke has written with compassion and wisdom borne of his personal experience in the village of Khe Sanh, 38 years ago. Good war stories take a long time to write, and this one is worth the wait. I am fascinated by the tale and the wonderful new insights that this major historian and military analyst brings to the reader. His sharing of the battle before the battle, the defeat of an NVA Regiment before the main Khe Sanh battle ever began, is masterfully told. A real page turner. And the lessons learned that he shares are well worth noting at a time when we are again, as a nation, engaged in war."

—

John K. Swensson, Dean, Language Arts Division; De Anza College and Custodian, The DeCillis Viet Nam Conflict Collection

Joseph L. Galloway

"Expendable Warriors reveals a little-known chapter in the story of the siege of Khe Sanh—how the battle really began and who was targeted in the first and biggest North Vietnamese assault in the opening round of an epic clash."

Editorial Reviews

Clarke's purpose is to set the record straight—clarifying reports and stories that have failed to accurately depict what happened.” —ARMY

“Clarke describes the experiences of himself and his colleagues in the battles around the Khe Sanh Combat base in 1968, during the Vietnam War. He looks at the decision-making at multiple levels surrounding the battle, which he judges to have been a bloody tactical victory and a strategic defeat for the United States.” —Reference & Research Book News

From the Publisher