Summary Episode Eighteen emphasizes Vietnamization. President Nixon's policy of having the South fight their war on their own with US assistance instead of Americans fighting it for them. ARVN forces reactivate the Khe Sanh base and use it to invade Laos to destroy an enemy supply base. What they didn't realize that they were outnumbered 2-1. The mission was an abject failure. Vietnamization was a return to Kennedy's policy of "It is their war to win or lose" All Southern males are conscripted into the army and hurriedly trained. The US begins to upgrade the Souths army with latest weapons technology and trains them in their use. The Souths air force becomes the fourth largest in the world. President Nixon officially hands responsibility for the war over to South Vietnam, Nixon's priority is to end the cold war altogether, Kissinger states that Vietnam is nothing but a sideshow. The South loses in their invasion of Laos, losing most of their most experienced officers in the process, South Vietnam's leaders blame America's withdrawal for the failure. Prior to the Paris peace accords allowing the US to leave Vietnam for good, the US supply's the South with all the aircraft and advanced weapons it can afford to give. Nixon assures the south that they will always have American support. Within six months, all the well supplied bases the US leaves behind are stripped down to their bones by black marketeers, nothing remains. In 18 months Nixon will resign and, in two years, the South will surrender.

• War
• Documentary
• History