Chapter 428: You Have No Choice Either
This is a spring that is destined to be depicted in vivid colors in history.
America’s soul struggles in pain every day.
It is no longer that high-spirited young country, but has become anxious, suspicious, a giant teetering in self-doubt.
In this noisy and turbulent era, no one can stay out of it; everyone has become a tiny buoy in the torrent of history.
Half a year ago, Hoover’s assassination became the fuse, igniting the chaos. It was thought at the time that Hoover’s death was just an accident, a tragedy, a tragedy, but now it has become the opening ceremony of a carefully planned grand drama.
The fuse was ignited half a year later.
When the lights at the scene turned on, the most absurd scene appeared: the figure of Soviet Union Ambassador Dobrynin, at the most impossible time and most impossible place, appeared outside Hoover’s villa.
No one can explain all this.
The Kremlin flatly denies it, and Dobrynin’s explanation is even more feeble.
Once the public’s suspicion is awakened, it will devour everything.
People began to weave various conspiracy theories in their minds.
At this moment, a mysterious video tape was quietly leaked.
The content of the video tape infected the entire country like a virus in an instant.
It implies that Hoover, who had spent his life opposing the G, was actually a secret agent of the Kremlin.
This absurd accusation, like a huge stone thrown into a calm lake, stirred up massive waves.
The White House flatly denies it, calling it malicious slander and political manipulation.
However, once the seeds of chaos are sown, they will take root and sprout.
People no longer believe any official statements; they began to doubt everything, from the president to the police on the street.
America’s trust system collapsed overnight; it is no longer a united whole, but a fragmented group.
And V for Vendetta, this story hinting at its own identity, added another fire to the chaotic situation.
When the movie premiered in Paris, the hotbed of revolution, it instantly triggered a global cultural tsunami.
The French people see this movie as an ode to their own revolutionary history; the English people feel ashamed in hesitation.
In America, this movie became an unavoidable political proposition.
It calls on all Americans in a unique way to reflect, to question, to resist.
The first half of 1969 was spent in an indescribable turmoil.
This era is both violent and romantic; both realistic and surreal.
Hoover’s death tore off the nation’s disguise; the release of V for Vendetta provided a mirror for this chaotic era.
It shows people a profound paradox: in a country pursuing freedom, people fall into greater chaos because they cannot bear the truth brought by freedom.
No one can predict the future, no one can see the end of this turmoil.
But in this spring, everyone in it deeply feels the pulse of the era, the pulse full of struggle and hope, lies and truth.
And on the Vietnam War frontline in 1969, when the first batch of GPS equipment was secretly delivered to the frontline, the change it brought fundamentally reshaped the war cognition of soldiers, generals, and even the Secretary of Defense.
It to some extent turned the situation around.
Joe is a good friend of Big T on the frontline; when McNamara came to inspect the frontline, he cooperated with Big T to make a big scene at the NCO Club.
Ultimately exposing the slot machine scandal, indirectly contributing to Johnson’s downfall.
It also destroyed General Wooldridge’s kickback network.
But Big T’s reputation soared like a rocket, becoming the Elephant Party’s new star, hailed by the media as the “soldier’s defender”.
Finally smoothly retired from the military and returned to New York.
But Joe was not so lucky.
You cause me trouble, and I let you have good days?
He is still on the frontline, as a miserable Army sergeant.
This is the difference between having background and not; his biggest difference with Big T is that Big T’s father is Fred, while his father is a worker.
He used to be a staff sergeant, that is, E-5, and now he is still a sergeant.
No promotion, and no hope of going back.
Drowned in Annam’s jungle.
(From here on, subsequently rename to Annam, not Vietnam)
Not only the soldiers have no morale, the sergeants also have no morale.
Because this war is a complete nightmare.
Annam’s jungle is a flat green area on the map.
But in reality, it is a swamp full of hostility.
The humid air blurs the map, and the compass often fails in the hills with abnormal magnetic fields.
America’s Army drifts like ghosts in the green ocean, not knowing where the enemy is or where friendly forces are.
Every time calling for air support, they can only describe our position as “next to that big banyan tree” or “by that small stream”; it is a gamble, betting that the artillery fire won’t land on our own heads.
The fear brought by this uncertainty is more deadly than any enemy’s bullet.
All the soldiers are fed up with such days.
At the beginning of the year, everyone was already cheering “long live the professor” at the base, because the professor brought them peace.
From the soldiers’ perspective, the professor convinced both Hanoi and Washington at the same time; they are about to return to their hometown and end the nightmare in Annam.
Obviously, Hoover’s death shattered their dream.
Not only does the war continue, the guy named McNamara airlifted from Washington brought more troops, better weapons, and higher demands.
Of these, what impressed Joe the most was a box called “AN/PSN-101 Pathfinder”.
It weighs a full three kilograms, bulky like a brick.
The screen emits green phosphor light, displaying a string of constantly changing numbers.
At first, they all sneered at this equipment, thinking it was another expensive toy from Washington.
But because it is the professor’s product, the soldiers had more confidence in it; on the frontline, McNamara’s prestige is at most 10, Lin Ran’s is 100.
As the soldiers expected, Pathfinder changed everything.
In Joe’s memory, it was a rainy night when he and his soldiers encountered an ambush in an unfamiliar place.
They were pinned down in a muddy trench, unable to identify direction.
Joe tremblingly turned on the GPS; its small screen clearly displayed their current three-dimensional coordinates.
I reported a string of numbers clearly on the radio: “Grid coordinates: 457.23, 789.55, elevation: 120 meters.”
A few minutes later, the whistling of cannonballs came from the horizon; it accurately landed on the coordinates provided by Joe with Pathfinder, and the explosion tore through the jungle.
That night, Pathfinder saved the lives of everyone in the team led by Joe.
From that moment on, they developed unprecedented trust in this metal brick.
They no longer get lost, no longer fear.
Pathfinder allows America’s soldiers to find the enemy’s supply points in the darkness, and find hidden tunnel entrances in the dense jungle.
It is not just a tool; it is the coordinates in chaos, the hope of soldiers in desperate situations.
It turns a disordered survival war into a traceable march.
Annam’s terrain advantage is completely lost.
In the past, terrain was the North Vietnam army’s strongest ally.
Dense jungle, muddy swamps, and complex winding underground tunnel systems all became insurmountable obstacles for the US Military.
Even if they occupied a strategic point with strong firepower and troop numbers, they often could not maintain it for long.
North Vietnam troops and guerrillas would infiltrate back like water, using their familiarity with the terrain to regain the lost land.
But now, with GPS, everything has changed.
GPS turns the chaotic battlefield into a grid that can be precisely mapped.
America no longer needs to rely on vague maps and compasses; they can precisely mark and record every important location through GPS: every village, every trail, every suspicious tunnel entrance.
This data is transmitted in real time to the command center, forming an unprecedented digital battlefield map.
This is exactly what McNamara excels at.
This precise positioning capability completely changed the US Military’s tactical model.
In the past, their tactics were search and destroy, launching large-scale offensives to eliminate enemies through strong firepower suppression.
However, due to inability to precisely control the battlefield, this tactic often led to huge resource waste and high collateral damage.
But now, with GPS, the US Military can adopt more precise tactics:
They can use GPS coordinates to conduct surgical strikes on the enemy’s supply lines, command posts, and underground fortifications.
Bombers and artillery can conduct precise strikes at night or in bad weather, greatly improving strike efficiency and reducing ammunition waste.
After occupying an area, the US Military can precisely set defensive ranges via GPS and establish small fortresses or outposts at key locations.
They no longer need to patrol blindly; through GPS data, they can know when and where the enemy infiltrates.
This makes defense more efficient and precise.
When an outpost or patrol team is attacked, they can quickly call for reinforcements via GPS.
The command post can dispatch the nearest troops for support based on their real-time coordinates.
Under the new tactics, the terrain advantage is completely lost.
Those jungles that once made the US Military lost now become areas that can be precisely mapped and controlled.
Those underground tunnels that once left America helpless are now exposed under GPS’s watch.
The US Military not only can capture territory but also effectively control it.
This puts unprecedented pressure on the North Vietnam army and guerrillas; their guerrilla tactics, on which they rely for survival, gradually lose effectiveness under GPS’s precise strikes.
Reports can deceive people, but the front line won’t.
McNamara’s war room moved from Washington to Saigon.
This spring, the atmosphere in the war room is completely different from previous years.
In the past, it was always filled with arguments, frustration, and doubts about vague reports.
On that huge Annam map, the red North Vietnam controlled areas and blue America controlled areas were interlocked.
Every movement of the front line was accompanied by fierce arguments and doubts about data authenticity.
But now, the map has changed.
With GPS’s help, the map is precisely divided into countless grids.
The red areas are no longer vague but composed of precise coordinate points.
The blue area is like a slow but steady tide, gradually eroding the red area.
This is not an overnight change, but a precise and relentless advance that lasted for months.
From March to June, the changes in the front line are clearly visible.
In March, the US Military precisely locked key supply points on the Ho Chi Minh Trail via GPS and conducted several surgical strikes.
On the screen, the red thin lines representing Annam army supply lines began to break and contract.
In April, the US Military began targeted clearance of the tunnel system.
In the depths of the jungle, those underground networks that once left the US Military helpless are now exposed by precise GPS coordinates one by one.
On the screen, red dots representing North Vietnam secret bases disappear in the blue artillery fire one by one.
In May, the US Military began establishing precise defense systems in occupied areas.
Every outpost, every sentry post, has precise GPS coordinates.
This allows them to effectively resist North Vietnam’s infiltration.
On the screen, those red dots attempting to infiltrate the blue area are quickly annihilated after entering the defense circle.
In June, with the North Vietnam supply lines broken and guerrilla tactics ineffective, the US Military began large-scale offensives.
This time, they are no longer blindly advancing but compressing the enemy’s living space step by step along precisely planned routes under GPS guidance.
On the screen, the blue area advances toward the red area at an unprecedented speed.
When McNamara returned to Washington and stood at the podium in the White House East Room, facing the reporters and White House senior officials below.
He did not, as usual, use complex charts and data to prove his viewpoint.
He just pointed to the huge map behind him.
“Gentlemen, ladies,” McNamara’s voice was full of confidence; he used no fancy rhetoric, only cold and precise language: “In the past, our cognition of this war was vague.
Our reports were vague, our front lines were vague, our victories were also vague.”
The map is frozen in June, with blue advance arrows clearly visible, pointing to North Vietnam’s heartland.
“But now, we have GPS,” he continued, “it turns all uncertainties of this war into constants that can be quantified, calculated, and controlled.”
“Reports can deceive people, but the front line won’t.” He repeated this sentence with an irrefutable tone: “In the past three months, our front line has advanced by thirty percent. Our supply consumption has decreased by forty percent, and the friendly fire rate has approached zero.”
He did not mention Hoover’s scandal, nor the release of V for Vendetta.
He just used the coldest numbers and most intuitive images to show everyone a fact: America is winning this war.
Not by luck, not by force, but by technology.
“We are winning this war in a completely new way,” McNamara’s voice echoed through the entire White House. “We are using data and technology to eliminate uncertainty. We are using mathematics to prove our victory.”
Below the podium, there was no cheering, no applause, only dead silence.
The media is generally anti-war.
But in the face of this victory declaration in McNamara’s style, they know that no matter how Hoover’s scandal ferments, no matter how loud the anti-war voices are, as long as the front line is advancing, victory is in sight.
“In the past, in my eyes, the Vietnam War was a chaos.
Every day I faced countless numbers about casualties, supplies, and ammunition consumption; they had no logic, full of uncertainty.
Reconnaissance troops’ reports were always vague, supplies often dropped in the wrong places, and friendly fire incidents were our unspeakable pain.
We could not effectively strategically control this war because it was full of unquantifiable variables.
But now, this system called GPS provides me with a whole new dimension.
It digitizes the entire battlefield.
In my command center, I can know the real-time position of every soldier carrying GPS equipment on the electronic map; they are marked as a flashing blue dot.
I no longer need to rely on radio calls to guess their whereabouts; I can directly receive information on whether they are lost or ambushed.
This allows me to conduct unprecedented precise positioning operations.
I can directly order the Air Force to conduct surgical strikes on enemy bases at night without worrying about civilian or friendly casualties.
I can even optimize supply lines to ensure every bullet and every ration is accurately delivered to frontline soldiers.
What the GPS system brings is a revolution in military command and control.
It turns a disordered war full of variables into a huge chess game that can be precisely calculated and modeled.
It lets me see the possibility of victory, not just tactical victory, but victory in efficiency and control.
It allows me to turn a disordered war into a perfectly controllable information war.
This mathematical model full of uncertainty. Every wasted cannonball, every ineffective air strike, every friendly fire is an erroneous variable in the model.
I hate this data because it cannot be quantified, predicted, or controlled.
I need to use numbers to prove our victory, but this uncertain data fills my model with loopholes.
Thanks to the professor; the professor brought me the most perfect tool: precise data.
This system turns every vague concept in the jungle into precise constants that can be put into my mathematical model.
This is not just a tactical victory; it is a mathematical victory.
The emergence of GPS lets me see the ultimate form of war: a perfect game without emotion, without accidents, only numbers and efficiency.
Victory is in sight!”
After McNamara finished speaking, he first looked out the window of the White House East Room, nodded to Lin Ran far away in Huntsville, then returned to his seat and handed the stage to Nixon.
Let Nixon answer the reporters’ questions and give the performance stage to the president.
The Kremlin is also holding a meeting; they are discussing how to save North Vietnam’s decline, starting from March 1969.
Until May, when a Pathfinder captured from the North Vietnam frontline was sent to the Kremlin, the Kremlin’s officials only then knew what changes had occurred on the frontline, why suddenly overnight America seemed to have wallhack.
This also made their arguments more intense,
“Either abandon North Vietnam or restore relations with China.
Beyond that, we have no choice.”
This time, it is the Soviet Union’s turn to have no choice.
