got involved with the escalating threat in the country of Vietnam. Vietnam was an ocean away but people needed help and the U.S. was there to give it. Many people didn't agree with this plan of action because they thought this wasn't our war. Many people wanted the Americans back home, but the government had other plans. They sent many U.S. Marines to help out South Vietnam in the war effort. They weren't a communist nation, but the North was. This brought on the fighting. .
The U.S. Marines first arrived in Danang in 1965. Danang is Located in South Vietnam, close to the Northern Vietnamese territory. This is the only war in which there was no true front line.
The fighting happened where it happened. This was due to the thick jungle foliage. It covers most of Vietnam, this made the fighting very difficult. The soldiers often time ran into enemy patrols not meaning to, it just happened, then the fighting would break out. This went on thru the entire war. The Vietnamese would also take out many U.S. Marines by using sappers, or suicide bombers on lightly guarded bases. They also gathered Intel on the movement of U.S. patrols and set up ambushes in the thick jungles.
Most often, the Marines would ride into an area to run patrols on Huey helicopters. They also used these and other aircraft to help fight off the Vietnamese. Among these were the F-4 Phantom, and the Cobra gunship. Also they used C-130 cargo planes converted to attack planes. They were known as "Puff the Magic Dragon" but they were code named Spectre. They used most of these to "nape" or bomb with napalm. Napalm is a type of bomb that when it hit, it exploded into a shower of searing liquid fire. It would engulf anything in its way.
The most important aspect of the war to me was the bringing about of the Marine Corps Scout/Sniper. They were first introduced in many of the earliest wars, but were only used during the war. After it was over, the snipers disappeared until needed again.
