The Things They Carried

A well written book. I read the Audible edition which had the author read a 1994 article about his return to Vietnam years latter. The most disturbing part related to current events, was when a former Vietcong soldier explained that the American troops were easy to kill. Bright Green uniforms, lots of equipment so they couldn't hide. The Vietcong wanted to kill the ARVN. When they died or deserted there would be no justification for America to stay. So the disturbing question I have now is the reason that we have troops around the world in areas of conflict is as decoys. We aren't there to win since we don't even have any idea of what victory is. Are we there just to distract the enemy into killing us instead of the local army?