Succinctly, it could be said that the operation as a whole failed for the Americans because of the overreliance on airpower, coupled with the inability of ground troops to operate into Laos. This then became a contributing factor in the defeat of the South Vietnamese forces, as they had planned to utilize and exploit airpower to out perform and out maneuver the PAVN. Further communications issues, and the inability of the ARVN to properly allocate and plan resources for such a large operation no doubt compounded the problems faced in the field, which seemed not to be reported to the higher command structures, especially in Washington.