The Tet Offensive: Military Intelligence Failure

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The Tet Offensive: Military Intelligence Failure What is failure? Merriam-Webster defines failure as “an omission of occurrence or performance; specifically: a failing to perform a duty or expected action” (“failure,” 2017). The last part of that definition hits the nail on the head in stating that failure is unsuccessfully performing your duty. The problem when conducting research on the Tet Offensive is you can find evidence supporting both a failure and a success. Is it possible to succeed and fail at the same time? This is what will be clarified throughout this paper. Through careful research and consideration, it is apparent that the Tet Offensive was a military failure of astronomic proportions. It was not an easy conclusion to reach …show more content…
win the battle? The answer is yes, however, it caused the military to withdraw from the war. Success is not judged on how leadership react to bad circumstance, especially if those circumstances are created due to our own negligence. The U.S. did a miraculous thing by turning what could have been a battle of massive casualties into a miraculous victory. Notwithstanding, how much lower could the casualties have been if military leadership had followed the intelligence? The phrase “hindsight is 20/20” will ring true to most put a situation where they failed. It is the responsibility of all military intelligence professionals to take every piece of intelligence seriously, the Tet Offensive will forever remain an example of what could happen if you do …show more content…
This question sounds silly on the surface, but 35Qs are not just known for their knowledge of computers. A 35Q at its very heart is an analyst well before they are a master of computer knowledge. According to the Army a 35Q “ … performs initial cryptologic digital analysis to establish target identification and operational patterns; identifies, reports, and maintains Intelligence information… “ (“Carrers & Jobs,” n.d., para. 1). The skills of a trained analyst, not a computer technician are what a 35Q could have brought to the table. A fully trained 35Q could have helped those military leaders in Vietnam by providing detailed analysis of the intelligence available. The Army has learned from its’ mistakes and has begun training military intelligence individuals to not take any piece of intelligence for granted. A 35Q could have correlated all the intelligence from different sources to see the bigger picture of the battle to
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