Why Were Trees Worth More Than Men in the Vietnam War?

Why were trees worth more than men in the vietnam war?
Well, the Vietnam War was full of bizarre rules and restrictions that U.S. soldiers had to follow.
But one of the strangest had to do with trees. See Vietnam had a lot of rubber trees with many of them being owned by Michelin. This well known french tire company had several rubber tree plantations in the country with just one spanning around 31,000 acres.
These plantations became a huge problem for the U.S. military.
Because one of the most effective tactics during the war was to send out small recon teams to locate Viet Cong positions. Once spotted, they’d call in airstrikes or artillery to wipe them out—limiting American casualties by avoiding direct firefights.
But the US weren’t allowed to do this in the rubber tree plantations because the american government feared that damaging the trees would strain relations with France. On top of that, every destroyed tree came at a financial cost—Michelin had to be compensated for each one that was damaged.
The Viet Cong quickly figured this out and began using the plantations as safe zones—knowing American troops would have to go in and fight them up close, without the usual support.
It was incredibly frustrating for U.S. soldiers, many of whom felt their own government was putting money ahead of their lives.
It was rules and regulations like these that contributed to america losing the war as it was effectively fighting with one hand tied behind its back.

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