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How could the United States lose a war that seemed easy to win?   When the Viet Nam War ended, with the United States of America defeated, many wondered how a military powerhouse lost to a “raggedy-­ass, little fourth-­rate country,” as President Lyndon Johnson called North Viet Nam. Frank Scotton knew why. A young Foreign Service Officer assigned to Viet Nam in 1962, Scotton drove roads others avoided, walked trails alone, and spent nights in remote hamlets. Learning the Vietnamese language, carrying a carbine, and living out of a rucksack, he proved that small teams, correctly trained and led, could compete with communist units.              In 1964, Scotton organized mobile platoons to emphasize political aspects of the conflict.