For myself and on behalf of all the combat vets of the Vietnam war and the wars referenced in reeds drivel.
Your statement of

It was well known to the Vi et Cong who we decimated in 1968 that they had to always fight with great numerical superiority to win, It was also said by the NVA that they would fight an American soldier when their numbers were five to one or more. As a machine gunner in Vietnam and a member of battalion recon, a small unit, I readily dispute what you say. The macho bravado my unit showed led us to great numbers of actual engagements and a larger body count, which we had to prove, than the rest of the battalion. If you would really like to know something about our fighting ability rather than deriding us without real knowledge, the most accurate book I know of is Charlie 3rd of the 22nd:Absolution, Pretty much the real story. The civilian press in Vietnam traveled a great deal to where they wanted but they usually manged to avoid any actual fighting actions and pretty much covered things after they were over or from positions of relative safety. You who were never there impugn our bravery so often but Vietnam for the grunt required individual bravery and often sacrifice above that of WWI, WWII , and more recent conflicts. I learned this from discussion and statement by WWII vets and those of middle eastern conflicts. Our heroes were not flash in the pan one time heroes,but rather persevered over and over in conditions more bleak and more frightening than what is occurring now.
One thing you should know, at 4 years old, when my little boy was asked if Vietnam was a big war or a little war, by a 30 year old man who had never been in the combat, said "Any war you are in is a big war". If you want to know how well we fight, how brave we are, take a shot at it. When you have PTSD, TMI, or other mental or physical ailments, you will know more of what you speak. Do not ever tell me, we were not very good fighters. It is hard enough for veterans to admit we were in a war as pawns of the rich , but justifying their decisions and eventual failure by saying we were not good fighters is wrong on too many levels. Go Bernie!

who did everything they were asked to do in the field over and over with distinction. The grunts didn't lose the war. The politicians did and the public turned on their duplicitous leaders and wanted the war over and us back home.

than the country is today?

Don't they make our Nikes for ten cents a day or something like that?

Did we want them to do it for five?

Some troops disobeyed immoral or suicidal orders and it is no slander to say they did so.

Those who disobeyed orders at My Lai and the thousands of others less well known massacres were the true heroes.

We fought as most soldiers do to protect our buddies in arms and the heroism displayed in Vietnam certainly matched that of previous and subsequent wars. I know after Vietnam and the realization by the rich that it was not profitable as they hoped, there were many articles neglecting their role in the war and their subsequent change of mind, but they needed a scapegoat and and why not blame the lowly soldier for failure.
General Westmoreland was particularly good at this as he continually deployed the sky soldiers in the Iron Triangle against great odds and then later on telling the world the war was just unwinnable. Even saying he was afraid to send troops there, when he in fact knew that I and many others did go there and fight very successfully if you match their numbers killed to those we killed.
Probably the most feared place in South Vietnam was the Black Virgin Mountain, the capital of the NVA government in South Vietnam. I led members of the Phoenix group up that mountain and we killed many communists without losing any of our own. Other times on that mountain, we fought and captured NVA. In fact one of my unit, found himself under attack by 3 NVA as he shaved alone by a mountain stream . In response he used his washing plastic tub to beat them into submission and bring them in as prisoners.
In short you should shut up . We were young and ignorant and like so many soldiers from the revolutionary war on we have been abused and insulted because it is necessary to hide the actions of the rich by scapegoating the soldier. You should be quiet until you know of what you speak.

Richard Perle, Doug Feith, and the like?