In 1956 elections were supposed to be held to determine the future of Vietnam’s government.  After the Geneva agreement of 1954, civilians moved north or south, depending on their beliefs and personal situation.  Thousands fled to South Vietnam as the Vietminh of the north tortured and murdered men and women who even slightly supported the French.  Atrocities were commonplace.  The same thing was happening in South Vietnam, except it was being done by President Diem’s people to the Communists, the “Viet Cong” as he derisively called them.  The severity of these attacks in both the north and south embittered and confused the people.  In the South, Diem’s forces drove most of the Vietcong back into the swamps.  Still, the Vietcong remained an active group and attacked Diem’s forces and supporters whenever possible.

Diem’s actions were so brutal, that rather than destroy the Vietcong entirely, he actually motivated more people to join their ranks.  Both the Vietcong and South Vietnamese forces would go into villages and torture or kill anyone who supported the other side.  Caught in the middle of all this were the peasants.  After years of mistreatment by the French, then being occupied by the Japanese, they were then hopeful of land reform measures that would help them live a decent life.  Instead, Diem’s nepotistic approach to governing and land reform left the peasant with nothing but hard work and little to show for it.  The peasants couldn’t even live in peace, irrespective of their economic hardship.  Wanting to protect the peasants from the Vietcong, and fearing the peasants would join the Vietcong forces due to their recruitment and propaganda measures, Diem forcibly moved many peasants into fortified enclosures.  In the enclosures the peasants were reeducated with pro-democratic / anti-Vietcong measures.  The program was a huge failure because the peasants resented being moved off their ancestral land.

Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh was sending supplies and encouragement to the Vietcong.  Although they supported Ho Chi Minh, it is important to note that the Vietcong in South Vietnam were a distinct group from the North Vietnamese or Vietminh, and they had serious differences. This is a bit of a stretch, but one might consider the Vietcong to be similar to our militia during the Revolutionary War.  They weren’t regular army, normally used guerrilla tactics, and were outnumbered but very effective fighters.  It was the Vietcong who presented the greatest challenges to the American soldier.

Ho Chi Minh tried to get the Vietcong to move slowly and wait until they were ready to coordinate men and materiel, and he was largely successful in organizing them.  Ho Chi Minh then announced that the National Liberation Front (NLF) represented a union of people in the south opposed to Diem, including peasants, children, and religious and cultural groups.  The existence of the NLF allowed Ho Chi Minh to claim that he was not violating the Geneva agreement by sending forces into the south.
When the United States arrived on the scene they were able to control the larger population areas, but they struggled in the countryside where the Vietcong were largely in control.  U.S. forces were able to root out the Vietcong, but in a matter of weeks the Vietcong would be back, sometimes returning as apparent simple civilians minding their own business.  To remedy this problem, U.S. commanders decided to initiate what they called the “strategic hamlet program.”  This program was very similar to Diem’s fortified enclosure program, and it met with an even worse fate.  Again, peasants were upset about being moved from their ancestral land.  The peasants just wanted to be left alone, to grow their crops, and live a peaceful and quiet life.  Vietminh, Vietcong, ARVN, and American troops gave them anything and everything, except what they wanted.

As the Vietcong continued to infiltrate these hamlets or small villages, the Americans, who couldn’t tell one Vietnamese from another, increasingly found themselves the victims of booby traps and mines.  Even children were sometimes wired with bombs, and as Americans approached, both the child and the soldier would explode.   Did the Vietcong plant the mines?  Did the villagers support the Vietcong?  Were they hiding more Vietcong soldiers and weapons?  Who was a Vietcong?  Who was a Vietcong sympathizer?  Who were the North Vietnamese Army?

General Westmoreland’s strategy was to search and destroy the enemy.  But just who was the enemy?  The American soldier in Vietnam was perhaps the most confused and frustrated soldier in U.S. history.  After seeing friends killed by mines, booby traps, snipers, as well as in major battles, the U.S. soldier began to believe that nearly everyone was the enemy.  The Nine Rule Card given to every G.I. explained how soldiers were to conduct themselves in Vietnam, but that was soon replaced with one rule --- survive by any means necessary.

The housewife, farmer, barber, child - all appeared friendly, but could also be deadly.  The strategic hamlet program, U.S. soldier confusion over just who the enemy was, and the search and destroy approach all contributed to mass confusion and chaos in the villages of Vietnam.  It also contributed to the burning of villages and mistreatment of civilians by North Vietnamese, ARVN, and American troops.

Stanley Karnow, author of Vietnam, A History,  interviewed an old man in a village who explained the plight of the peasant rather well, “If a son is mistreated by his father, he may adopt another.”   The peasants were under fire from all sides, so too was the American soldier.  Both were tired of being victims.