The Vietnam War

JISS Corporation Founder 

1/23/2010

The Change Created by War and Nation Building

Terrance Jones

Founder

The JISS Corporation

“If you break it, you own it.”

Gen. Colin Powell

While often misinterpreted, the above statement is indicative of how many leaders and planners approach war. How do we implement our strategic initiatives without taking ownership of the costs and exertions of change in theatre? Such questions and ideas go against the very nature of war.

Example (Vietnam/Afghanistan War Correlations)

Change and the Premise of War

When diametrically opposed nations leave the table of diplomacy for armed conflict, this is a firm commitment to facilitate change in the position of an adversary and a corrective actions concerning the pattern of conduct of this adversary. So it is important that we understand that war is based on the premise of change and is a commitment to facilitate the same.

Change, Nation Building and Infrastructural Governance

Nation building in and of itself is a change in the organizational infrastructure and societal governance of nation states. Such an initiative has cumulative and relative variables and requirements that ultimately determine the viability and sustainability of nation building. Note the following:

Cultural Tolerance- This is not just a requirement of theatre based societal interaction as it relates to nation states and their citizenry, as liberating nations and coalitions who have taken the risks and have endured the costs of war and nation building clearly have to have influence in nation building initiatives that work in the best interests of a given theatre based society and their regional neighbors in addition to the global community as a whole.

Security- There is no culture that is against the security of their nation. Security therefore, is a requirement that does not allow liberating nations and new governments the luxury of conforming to competing cultures and contingents. The liberating nation must demand that security be established and augmented by the infrastructural governance model of the new regime. Hence, all armed contingents must join the national representation of security and military forces. 

Analysis- When guerrillas and warlords refuse to join the national security force or military of a nation state, this is clearly a form of neutrality that fuels the threat of insurgency recruitment and propaganda initiatives.

“It is impossible to prevent the cyclical constants of war from creating change. However, man determines whether this change will work towards the good or detriment of nations.”

Terrance Jones

 1/22/2010

The Beckwith Combatives System:  The Vietnam War

 Using baseline assessments of the North Vietnamese Army, and Vietcong psychology. This is an articulation of societal compliance accelerant variables or S-CAV.  These are variables that strengthen the insurgent or enemy force.  I will attempt to address factors that facilitate societal compliance and accelerate the same in favor of guerrilla and insurgent forces. In regards to the Vietnam War, there was an over 90 percent representation of Communist support due to the power of Ho Chi Minh and the terror that he used against the civilian population.  However, such terror was more than physical in nature, as it was indicative of a psychology, the singular ideology that was clearly a departure from the societal diversity that is commonly seen in progressive nations.

So Vietnam was weakened by negative representations of societal interaction and governance. Hence, Vietnamese citizens did not feel inclined or capable of resisting the dominant thought and dominant ideology of Communism that was backed by guerrillas and weaponry.So in these cases, an assault, a murder, an  accumulation of the same will create fear and trepidation concerning the psyche or disposition of a broad cross section of Vietnamese citizens. This is not an insignificant rate of societal compliance that was facilitated by Ho Chi Minh, as the fear was so great amongst the Vietnamese on a large scale that American forces that were trying to liberate them had to deal with the reality that many Vietnamese were inclined to work as a spie for Ho Chi Minh. So it is important that we infuse cosmopolitan variables that create security, strength and independence for civilians in any nation that we interact with diplomatically and militarily, as S-CAV factors hinder our ability to achieve victories that are sustainable in nature concerning strategic, tactical and operational benefits.