america's longest war lasted almost 25 years. the first indochina war was vietnam ousting french colonialism from 1945 to 1954. the french had american support because it was believed that a french loss meant an increase in soviet power in indochina and in europe.  the vietnam war, or second indochina war, was from 1960 to 1974, again mostly under the premise that the soviet influnce, which was powerful in north vietnam, must be contained. John F Kennedy's administration, which was elected on a strong anti-soviet platform,  from 1961 to 1963 increased american personnel from 980 to 16,000. these numbers exploded during the Johnson administration - by the end of 1964, it was 23,000 americans. by the end of 1965 it was almost 200,000 personnel. by the end of 1966 it was 365,000. 1967 saw 475,000 american forces in vietnam. in 1973 the paris peace accords were signed to end the vietnam war and the withdrawl of american troops. in 1975 north vietnam caputred south vietnam's capitol of saigon - the us was not interested in reengaging troops in south vietnam.

this info comes from the vietnam war for dummies book by Frankum Jr and Maxner, which is a book im currently reading. also my thoughts are focused on southeast asia because darrin is leaving for indonesia on monday.