Why did the US even have boots on the ground? Seems like the Vietnamese had so many guerilla soldiers, and very little technological ability, definitely not matching the air power of the US. I understand the US couldn’t use nuclear weapons, but why not just standard bombings throughout the North?
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There's always more to be said, but in the meantime this thread explains the US air bombing strategy aka Operation Rolling Thunder.
It needs to be viewed in the greater context of the Cold War. The US didn't want to draw in Chinese or Russian involvement, so places like Hanoi and the port of Haiphong were off-limits for most of the war. But China and Russia had no qualms about providing arms, aircraft and war materiel to North Vietnam.
America propped up the South Vietnamese government politically and financially, but there was rampant corruption in the Saigon administration. The South Vietnamese forces were well-trained by the Americans, but were heavily reliant on US air power. At the time, the US Air Force was trained to fight a nuclear war with Soviets, so its overall proficiency in fighting against a highly mobile guerrilla insurgency was lacking.
These weaknesses, in addition to North Vietnam's resilience, would come to fruition as America handed over more of the fighting to South Vietnam after 1969.