h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

General Giap of the Viet Cong was smart enough to use bicycles. He said that twelve bicycles can carry the same payload as a Huey. a bicycle is easier to repair and costs less to maintain. (And before any of you make smart arse comments like "Ah, but bikes can't fly, can they?" remember who won the war.)

But try to evacuate severely wounded soldiers out of a dangerous area while riding a bike (while stabilizing their injuries.)

Or at that fact, remember the death count: 20 vc to 1 us... hmm...

And you STILL lost!

but would you want to win with 1,000,000 casualties?

I assume you are jumping to the possibly erroneous conclusion that the NYC student is American. How very French of you.

technically, yes, but culturally and intelligence-wise, no. Besides, Vietnam was a conflict the French were good to get out of. Us being the "policemen-of-the-world" don't have such common sense...

I meant French in the pejorative sense of the word, not the got beat even before the US sense of the word. They "had the sense to get out" only after they were defeated. Not that the US was any more sensible, they just had infinitely larger and more advanced resources available which allowed them to get beat over a longer period of time. Which brings us back to that excellent but politically neutral helicopter, the Bell UH-1!!! Avialable now in Columbia and Turkey!!!

evilwombat (?Is there such a thing?), that was quite amusing!. But lets not forget that while the US was in the air, the VC were under the ground... It's a question of using what you have available to maximum effect. Whether the US 'won' or 'lost' is a moot point, as ultimately the ones that lost the most were the Vietnamese themselves... still, makes for some right good movies!