Vietnam War

[yao11ming4mvp]

It's been fourty years since America pulled out of Vietnam. Vietnam was the point in which America saw much bloodsheed, horror, and most of all, chaos. Many died and those lucky enough to survive the horror of war are unable to speak of the subject, while others remain loyal to their country and are glad theyserved in a time of much confusion and disruption (Cold War + Communism). So speak for those war veterans whose are speechless and those protestors who stilldo not want to speak over the matter today. Both sides of the opinion welcome.

 

[jaypesoz]

I've always been interested in this particular war and always looked forward to talking about it in U.S. History and I think we could've"won" it if we had stayed. Don't know how else to feel since I didn't know anybody who was there, but they make some damn good war moviesbased on it.

 

[yao11ming4mvp]

Movies based on wars are always inaccurate (Pearl Harbor for instance), check out the documenary Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam. In fact, here is alink to the whole documentary, those who are highly interested in the subject, I encourage you to watch it: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9029118938804047863
The documentary has footage of troops at Vietnam along with letters read by actors. The actors (including Robin Williams and Michael J Foxx) did not receivethe letters prior to the documentary and were recorded the very first time they read the letters.

 

[offbad]

Originally Posted by JayPesoz

I've always been interested in this particular war and always looked forward to talking about it in U.S. History and I think we could've "won" it if we had stayed. Don't know how else to feel since I didn't know anybody who was there, but they make some damn good war movies based on it.

don't think so.. the americans were hemorraghing and continued to pile up losses in a "war" that they really had no place being involved inin the first place. just another example of america self proclaiming itself as the world's police force.

 

[dj entendre]

Originally Posted by JayPesoz

I've always been interested in this particular war and always looked forward to talking about it in U.S. History and I think we could've "won" it if we had stayed. Don't know how else to feel since I didn't know anybody who was there, but they make some damn good war movies based on it.

Hell Naw! When the troops were there we were losing... BADLY, its just thhe government told us that we were winning... Ex. TET Offense (or whatever it wascalled)

 

[warriors510]

im vietnamese

 

[offbad]

Originally Posted by DJ Entendre

Originally Posted by JayPesoz

I've always been interested in this particular war and always looked forward to talking about it in U.S. History and I think we could've "won" it if we had stayed. Don't know how else to feel since I didn't know anybody who was there, but they make some damn good war movies based on it.

Hell Naw! When the troops were there we were losing... BADLY, its just thhe government told us that we were winning... Ex. TET Offense (or whatever it was called)

that'd be the Tet Offensive.
a major wave of attacks that was unprecedented in the war until then. a 3 phase plan of attack by the communists that caught the americans resting on theirbutts for the most part.

 

[jcsellsf]

we should have learned our lessson in vietnam so we wouldnt be in this mess were in now.

 

[dmbrhs]

Originally Posted by yao11ming4mvp

It's been fourty years since America pulled out of Vietnam. Vietnam was the point in which America saw much bloodsheed, horror, and most of all, chaos. Many died and those lucky enough to survive the horror of war are unable to speak of the subject, while others remain loyal to their country and are glad they served in a time of much confusion and disruption (Cold War + Communism). So speak for those war veterans whose are speechless and those protestors who still do not want to speak over the matter today. Both sides of the opinion welcome.

What do you mean "the point?" As opposed to World War II, where more than 400,000 American lost their lives? I understand you can argue Vietnamwas the first televised war, but WWII had its share of bringing bad news to the front pages. Morale was very low in America in the first couple years due toheavy losses. Not even the propoganda machine could cover it up.

And not able to speak of the subject? Don't blanket all Vietnam vets into that category. My uncle was a village advisor, going from village to village(with a Navy SEAL escort), and he saw some crazy stuff, and he turned out just fine and will talk to anyone about his experience. My dad was a pilot for theNavy and he will talk your ear off about the Vietnam War and his experience there.

 

[fecta23]

Wait? It hasnt been forty years has it? or were you just meaning about 40 years?

 

[jordan for president]

The theme I find most interesting is the impact of communist ideology. It cant be ignored in the sense that it fueled much of the tension between N. Vietnamand S. Vietnam. Moreover, the Vietnam overspill that made its way to Cambodia also brings communist ideology to the forefront of Khmer Rouge terror. It'sdefinitely an interesting subject. Hopefully the post promotes dialogue.

 

[tmay407]

DJ Entendre wrot

---

When the troops were there we were losing... BADLY, its just thhe government told us that we were winning...


Check out something called the "Pentagon Papers." It's a huge report that was put together by the government. It basically stated that theU.S. wasn't doing as near as well in Vietnam as the people of the nation were being told. I think it's one of the big things that really started thewhole credibility gap between the people and the government.
And read some books by Tim O'Brien. He's an author that writes mostly about hisexperiences from the Vietnam War. He's got some pretty good books.

 

[chickhien]

i took a class in high school called "lessons from the vietnam war". always two sides of the story...we had a ton of vets come in to speak andit's just wild to me how they all had different views on it.

 

[h4ppytime harry]

i read the book "The Ugly American"
a real good book if your interested in the vietnam war (although its fiction)

 

[Original Playa Records]

A± Thread.

 

[bbanks707]

Ex. TET Offense (or whatever it was called)
Tet Offensive. It was a surprise attack because it came during the holiday, after a three day ceasefire had been announced, but it did last formonths afterwards, but that was the start of it.

 

[3thaman]

Always remember War is a big business for our Government. Kennedy was assasinated because he was ready to pull the troops out of Nam.

 

[seven654three]

its sad. US took um too lightly and got murked. let this be a lesson.

 

[ross is here]

for some odd reason...I thought the Title said "Vitamin Water"

 

[kickmatic23]

Vietnam reminds me of Iraq...both highly unpopular and too many soldiers are dying

 

[czur1127]

Originally Posted by offbad



don't think so.. the americans were hemorraghing and continued to pile up losses in a "war" that they really had no place being involved in in the first place. just another example of america self proclaiming itself as the world's police force.

Co-sign

 

[bbanks707]

both highly unpopular and too many soldiers are dying
Uhhh

Vietnam: 58,209 Dead
Iraq: 4,061 Dead
Kind of a difference i'd say . . .
Dont compare Vietnam and Iraq with numbers of casualties

 

[tmay407]

Originally Posted by 3thaman

Kennedy was assasinated because he was ready to pull the troops out of Nam.

May I ask where you get that from?
While I can believe that Vietnam could have played a part in Kennedy's assassination, I don't believe him wanting to pull the troops out of Vietnam hadanything to do with it. Were there even that many troops over there at the time that Kennedy was assassinated? There were a ton of military"advisors" (about 16,000), but Kennedy refused to send combat troops to assist the South Vietnamese in the war with the North.

What I find interesting is that about a month before Kennedy was assassinated, he had decided that Diem (the leader of South Vietnam at that point) neededto be removed from office. Kennedy let it be known that the U.S. would support a military coup. Diem was assassinated on Nov. 1 by officers of the VietnameseArmy. Then on Nov. 22, Kennedy gets assassinated.

I don't think it was until LBJ was in office that we put combat troops into Vietnam. I could be wrong though.

 

[jcsellsf]

Originally Posted by 3thaman

Always remember War is a big business for our Government. Kennedy was assasinated because he was ready to pull the troops out of Nam.

kennedy was assasinated because he crossed the mob, who helped him get elected. thats why jack ruby kiiled lee harvey oslwald the next day, so he wouldntsnitch

 

[jaypesoz]

Originally Posted by DJ Entendre

Originally Posted by JayPesoz

I've always been interested in this particular war and always looked forward to talking about it in U.S. History and I think we could've "won" it if we had stayed. Don't know how else to feel since I didn't know anybody who was there, but they make some damn good war movies based on it.

Hell Naw! When the troops were there we were losing... BADLY, its just thhe government told us that we were winning... Ex. TET Offense (or whatever it was called)

I don't know then

My U.S. History class professor a fewyears back was so pro-Vietnam, I guess I got alot of my point of views from him. But I'm definitely interested to learn more about this particular war.