Tet, Vietnam's Lunar New Year.

Departure has been delayed for lack of a visa due in part to the Vietnamese consulate in San Francisco being closed for Tet. The Vietnamese lunar new year festivities, known as Tet, which is like all of the U.S. holidays wrapped into one big celebration, has once again made manifest its ability to change an American's plans . One is bound to recall Tet of 1968 whereby until that time the U.S. military was quite sanguine about success in the Viet Nam conflict. There was talk of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It turned out to be a freight train. The highly motivated North Vietnamese Army and their popular front of South Vietnam, pejoratively called the Viet Cong, had been planning an offensive throughout the South for months. It all broke loose during Tet. The American Embassy in Saigon was virtually overrun for awhile as well as other cities, especially Hue, which was under NVA control for over a month. Militarily it was a disaster for the North with huge losses, but it was a Pyrrhic victory for the Americans. The U.S. public realized their armed forces, although brave, were not in control. Even Walter Cronkite, the CBS News anchor considered America's conscience, turned against the war. Unfortunately, the conflict continued for seven more years.