Losing Vietnam

How America Abandoned Southeast Asia

By: Ira A. Hunt Jr.

Narrated by: Jim Woods

In the early 1970s, as US combat forces began to withdraw from Southeast Asia, South Vietnamese and Cambodian forces continued the fight against the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, more commonly known as the Viet Cong. Despite the evacuation of its ground troops, the United States promised to materially support its allies' struggle against communist aggression. Over time, however, the American government drastically reduced its funding of the conflict.

In Losing Vietnam, Major General Ira A. Hunt Jr. chronicles the efforts of US military and State Department officials who argued that severe congressional budget reductions ultimately would lead to the defeat of both Cambodia and South Vietnam. As deputy commander of the United States Support Activities Group Headquarters (USAAG) in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, Hunt received all Southeast Asia operational reports, reconnaissance information, and electronic intercepts.

This detailed and fascinating work highlights how analytical studies provided to commanders and staff agencies improved decision making in military operations. By assessing allied capabilities and the strength of enemy operations, Hunt effectively demonstrates that America's lack of financial support and resolve doomed Cambodia and South Vietnam to defeat.

©2013 The University Press of Kentucky (P)2017 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"The first book that I have come across which actually quantifies with solid facts and statistical analysis the catastrophic impact of the Congressional aid cuts to South Vietnam and Cambodia." (Henry A. Kissinger)

"This is the most detailed, insightful, documented, and authentic account of these matters we have had thus far." (Lewis Sorley, author of Westmoreland)

"Hunt's book deserves to be widely read." ( Journal of Military History)

A tour de force of the post Paris Agreement military abandonment of Indochina

I originally acquired the audiobook version of Hunt's work. However, it was so full of statistics and and analyses that I purchased a hard copy version. This book is the most complete account of the post-Paris Agreement conflict and battlefield situation I have read to date. It also goes into detail about how the McGovernite Congress' military aid reductions affected the combat capabilities and operations of the South Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian forces tactically, operationally and strategically. The book is an important bridge as to what happened between the Peace Agreement to the "Killing Fields" and the "Bamboo Gulag".

Hunt describes through pioneering operational research data, weekly and monthly battlefield situational changes. This book is a true standard by which analyses of the post-1973 Paris Agreement conflict should be measured.

Know what you're getting

I don't want to give this a bad revietuw because it's not a bad book. It is not loaded with action, drama, etc. but is a very mechanical and dry assessment of the final years of South Vietnam. If you're looking for a gripping action story move on. Frankly I think Hunt 's clear belief that South Vietnam could've held out if we hadn't abandoned them financially off the mark. He seems to be holding on to the idea that it was a military failure and not a political one. So, the reader may finding himself disagreeing with some of Hunt's perspectives but regardless his perspectives are worth knowing (especially since he was there and in command).