Typhoid

More prayers headed upstairs!

That is awesome!! I had to keep reminding myself that the video was a flight simulation. Extraordinarily well done!

Nice to see again

but not "finally cut." well, yes. No blockade would be perfect. It's all relative. But what we did see was a reduction to a level that they could not have sustained the war in the south, nor could they resupply their SAMs which we ran them out of. and yes - LBII was a very limited military objective intended to force a political objective - which it absolutely did. and in the final analysis - every military operation is focused on achieving a political objective.

yep - the supply lines were finally cut by closing the ports and the rail lines from China. So the NV's ran out of SAMs and stuff to send south. That's why I say it worked and made clear what we could have done had we had the political will and direction to do so. Sadly, we didn't.

brought tears to my eyes. and memories of the honey bucket in the back of the E-2...............................

I think that's called a "missile trap"

We'll have to disagree on Iraq and Afghanistan. I was on the secure networks from within NORAD and I saw the intel. There was very good reason to go in. That it was not explained well and perhaps fumbled in the execution is a different matter. The betrayal is from our political leadership - take the parties and specific administrations out of it. Don't send us to war and then back out of it after thousands of us have laid down our lives for whatever you sent us there to do. Either go in to win it, or don't go in. Don't decide after a decade and several thousand dead and maimed that "oh what the heck, here you can have it back Mr. NVA/Taliban/Al Queda". That is the betrayal. And it is the same one engineered in Vietnam. I had friends in Vietnam and sons in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both are a betrayal of our (military) loyalty and sacrifices. We should never go again. Next time, we should simply turn keys and be done with it.

Eric, I agree with your last para. In large measure, we are in agreement that the political objectives were met by the military objective of LBII. What we did prove in LBII was that we could close the ports and shut down the infiltration routes. We proved in late 1972 that we could militarily win the war and force NV to stop its war of conquest against SV. but it is very true that we, the US, did not have the political will nor the political objective to do that. the betrayal was later, when the Congress withdrew the military and logistical support to the SV government that might have kept that country alive. That was the betrayal of the sacrifice of those who fought in Vietnam. That is the betrayal, to throw away what our troops fought for rather than fund the continuing aid to SV. and I might add that the same betrayal has now occurred and is playing out in Iraq and will in Afghanistan. We may agree to disagree on many of these points, but that is how I see it as do many of my shipmates.

One has to view the LBII operation in the overall context of what the objectives were. The overriding objective was to force the NV back to the negotiating table. LB2 did that by inflcting a level of damage on those military and logistics targets that crippled the NV ability to continue the fight. It was clear from the bombing campaign that we could and would range the country and destroy any objective that we determined necessary. The NV could not stop us from doing that, nor could they inflict sufficient attrition to make us stop. For the first time in the war, we unleashed the ability of the US forces to interdict and shut down their critical supply lines, and decimated their air defense forces, rail lines, port facilities (mining), and other critical facilities. So we achieved the political objective by demonstrating conclusively that we could win militarily. Our returned POW's reported that their guards and their officers showed real fear and respect for the first time as the LBII operations hammered the north. Having said that, it was clearly a short-term goal that was determined by the US political leadership and, yes, it forced the NV to negotiate our departure from the fight, thereby clearing the way for their eventual betrayal of the peace terms and subsequent conquer of SV. Linebacker II was a battle that we won, hands down. The politicians betrayed our sacrifice and lost the war. That is separate from the operation itself.

Linebacker II was a military and political success by most any measure. It achieved what it was intended to achieve and demonstrated that interdiction of enemy supply routes, when properly planned and executed, will succeed. What followed was a political defeat engineered by a criminal political party. Referencing wikipedia as a valid reference on anything political is laughable and indefensible.

Dave, I'm very saddened to hear of your family's struggles. You are all in our prayers and you have our support. Andy

Congrats!!

correct. But to do all of the other mitigation of asbestos and other hazerdous stuff - a lot of $$$. So that one cent is probably barely giving the scraping companies any profit. better, in my opinion, to tow them out and use them for target practice.

snicker.....

100 ft vertically. The radar plot shows a little more lateral separation. Still, waaaaaay to close!!

The VF-33 from Independence brought back memories. I was on that cruise with them and controlled them on many occasions.

we need one here....................

we'll be right behind..............

assuming the plane didn't simply crash for any number of reasons, then some other "interesting" possibilities come to mind........

A classic! Lol

wasn't bad after turned the volume off........

Concur. Keel-haul them both. It has been astonishing over the years to see how many have lost their careers this way.