Re: Korea. Sometimes history can give one a perspective one doesn't get from propaganda.

The idea of a divided Korea met the needs of both the eastern communist bloc and the West. There is no way the Russians and Chinese were going to allow a pro-Western Korea on their respective borders. There is no way the US would have allowed a completely pro-communist Korea near Japan. That's why there was the division in the first place.

The best guess as to the start of the war was that the North Koreans did it themselves, on their own hook, after the US declared Korea to be out of the US "sphere of influence". It's unknown if Mao or Stalin gave "permission", but that is doubtful. Once the invasion started, Russia and China were presented with a 'fait accompli'. When push came to shove China supplied the troops and materiel to drive the UN (US) back to the 38th parallel, but no farther. With shorter supply lines and greater manpower, there is no question they could have driven much farther had they wanted to pay the price.

The US couldn't have driven back north at any price. Too many of 'em. And the US didn't have complete air superiority. The favorable kill ratio for the US Air Force was largely due to the Soviet practice of using Korea as a training ground for it's pilots. It cycled them in for 6 month duty tours. The US kept them longer, and the longer a pilot was in combat the better they got at it. The F-86 and Mig 15 were roughly equivalent, the Mig being probably the better plane overall.

(Was talking with a former Marine pilot the other day who was trained to fly the naval version of the F-86. Said it was a terrible plane, a pilot killer, and he was absolutely delighted it was grounded as much as it was. Eventually he was trained to fly C-119s, moved into C-130s and saw the world from the cockpit of one of those. Claims it was the easiest plane to fly and the best life in the world.

By the way, he reiterated something that was seen over and over. The Vietnamese underestimated the speed of the 130 due to it's large size, and wouldn't lead enough. Told me that at one time he wound up with 100 holes in the rear of his aircraft, none of which struck anything critical. Very noisy take-off. Said he had to take it to Okinawa to be repaired, had a great time.)

Now, how much longer should we have stayed in Vietnam? Simple question.

Arf