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I have seen all the TV series and the Films and ofcourse I have heard my father’s side of everything who was there for eight years. Sometimes though he just rather not talk about it, which i can understand. With so many Vietnam Vets around i would love here your perspectives on the war.
I would really like to hear about the exploits of the US Forces in Vietnam,
I would also love to hear about he good times there as well.
I hope the i am not being ignorant to ask how you felt about the war, just maybe how you felt about being there. Im sure that the actual events were not as glamorous as Hollywood and TV make them out to be and maybe we can learn a thing or two along the way.
ThanksMy father (now desceased) was there for two years. He died in an auto accident when I was three and I never knew him. But my mother has told me some horrific stories about how messed up he was when he came back. and many other things about what he saw when he was there. I dont think there were any good times. Maybe some friendships, but not much else. And war is no where near glamorous, hollywood or not. There is a line in a Louis Lamour novel, How the west was one, its in the movie too, that goes something like; " I thought it would be glorius I thought I would be a hero, But there aint much glory in seeing a man with his guts all hanging out" Says it all.
I'm sorry to hear about your father. I had heard about the difficult times of Vietnam War vets after they returned home. Agent Orange, post-war syndrome…..a psychology teacher in high school told us a story about someone who I think was probably a Vietnam War vet. His wife didn't dare wake him when he was sleeping unless she pushed at him with a broom stick. Apparently he could react violently if someone were to shake him from really close. I wonder why these things endure for such a long time after a war.
.? I wonder why these things endure for such a long time after a war.
They are things men wern't supposed to engage in, And I beleive war is one.
But I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't recall the same reaction about post-war stress occurring with vets from World War II. Perhaps this has something to do with the jungles in which the Vietnam War was fought.
True, it seems vietnam had a much stronger effect on men then other wars. But I was a new kind of war to Americans. The U.S. was new to the whole guirilla type of fighting. I mean they did it on a small scale in time past but not like the vietnamese.
Good point – the guerilla warfare nature of Vietnam also probably had something to do with it. This would likely cause much more paranoia by soldiers than, say, a war where fronts were fairly well established, like in the two world wars.
My father had 6 months from his last time in combat until he was back in a civilian environment and he was welcomed as a hero and the government treated him with respect. It was 3 DAYS from my last firefight until I got off a plane in Oakland and I was greeted with fear and suspicion and the government ignored me. Add that to a war that was a FUBAR from start to finish, micromanaged by idiot politicians for political purposes and directed by far too many officers that were more interested in punching their ticket where it said “Commanded in combat” so they could get promoted or that were simply incompetent (remember Rusty Calley of My Lai infamy?) and a war for which we were not trained, and you have a recipe for disaster. That is why I feel sorry for the people coming back from Iraq. A war that has been described as “Driving around waiting to get blown up”), a SecD that is an idiot, a President and VP that managed to keep their own butt off the firing line during my war but are now gung-ho for the enemey to “Bring it on”, politicians that seem more intent on lining the pockets of private contracters than in devising an actual exit strategy. At least they are getting the welcome home that all soldiers in all wars deserve. Remember that it isn't the soldiers who start wars or determine how to fight them or decide who is the real enemy, it is the idiot politicians. I would love to see a new draft law that everybody aged 18-35 was draft eligible and that no one got a deferment unless you were absolutely physically unable to perform ANY duty, including answering phones in the PX. Maybe if the costs of war were spread out to ALL segments of our society, especially the wealthy and those with political influence, we as a nation wouldn't be so gung-ho to try and force other nations to do what we tell them to do.
My father had 6 months from his last time in combat until he was back in a civilian environment and he was welcomed as a hero and the government treated him with respect.? It was 3 DAYS from my last firefight until I got off a plane in Oakland and I was greeted with fear and suspicion and the government ignored me.?
I am interested in getting an opinion from someone who experienced what you did. What was the difference between the war your father fought and the one you fought that brought about such a different reaction from the american people and the government as well. Was it the different kind of wars or a differnt kind of country that you came home to? I was five when Saigon fell and With my own father, who died when I was three, having been there as well, it's something that has always made me wonder.
The difference was in the clarity and legitimacy of the mission. World War II was easy. The threat was obvious. The enemy was easy to recognize. Everybody knew who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. The soldiers' mission was clear – defeat the enemy and free conquered peoples. There were definite objectives – North Africa, Italy, France, Holland, Germany. There was a moral and physical clarity. Vietnam was amorphous. The enemy was Communism with Russia and China being its home, but we were fighting in Vietnam. It became quickly obvious that the vast majority of the Vietnamese didn't really give a s–t and they just wanted to be left alone to raise their crops and their kids. The civilians in the big cities were far more interested in separating us from our money than they were in any fight. The whole concept of search and destroy was a joke because you ended up fighting over the same piece of turf over and over again. We ending up fighting and killing just because we had to. They were trying to kill us because we were trying to kill them because they were trying to kill us because we were trying to kill them because…………… Our commanders didn't seem to have a clue and seemed more interesting in doing their 6-months tour and getting their ticket punched (have coming commanded in combat was a prerequisite for getting promoted) rather than being your leader. So we ended up drinking and smoking dope and trying to stay alive and killing anything and anybody that threatened our survival. From what I've read it isn't a whole lot different for the troops in Iraq. Armies are trained to fight armies, not civilian insurgents. That's what cops due and cops from a different country are occupiers and occupiers can never defeat an insurgency unless they are willing to kill everybody. At times we tried in Vietnam, it seems that at times they are trying in Iraq. I saw a tee-shirt once that said “Kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out” and at times that is the way it was then and seems to be now. It all comes down to a lack of clarity of mission and that failure must be placed directly and unequivocally on the civilian leadership – in our case the President and his administration.
Nam had a lot of troubled vets return as has every war ever fought. My father was in WW11 and died in a military hospital in eaqrly seventies. Sufice it to say that anyone who has fought for our beloved country are owed our eternal gratitude and respect. What was shocking was the treatment of returning viet nam vets bythe general citizenry, all who participated in dierespect to those brave men should forever hang their head in shame.
An exhibit in Paris is marking the 40th anniversary of Huet's death.French-Vietnamese photographer Henri Huet captured the growing unrest and violence around him, ultimately giving his life in an effort to report on the war for the Associated Press news agency. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/9482314.stm
What was shocking was the treatment of returning viet nam vets bythe general citizenry, all who participated in dierespect to those brave men should forever hang their head in shame.
But, unfortunately, they are not. Instead they are all teaching their Marxist drivel at universities throughout the US and Europe.
What was shocking was the treatment of returning viet nam vets bythe general citizenry, all who participated in dierespect to those brave men should forever hang their head in shame.
But, unfortunately, they are not. Instead they are all teaching their Marxist drivel at universities throughout the US and Europe.
It took a long time but finally the wait was worth ;D
