The Vietnam war. Your thoughts? (Trigger to some)

I'm a history channel nut and I'm thinking of a two hour documentary I watched last week on the Vietnam war. I must say, I was pretty naive (im 29 and slept through history class because I was just diagnosed and on Prozac). And wow. Just....wow. From the combat itself to the rampant drug use. And God bless and to those men that died, lost limbs, lost sons and fathers etc. it showed many videos and photos of dead bodies and men in combat. I must say, I'm still racked over that show. I'm never for men killing eachother, especially the way some of these men did. But what do you do? Play Rock Paper Scissors and call it a victory?! This is life. This will always be a sick reality. I have a feeling this thread might get a little bloody itself so if it does, please delete mods. But please, try to have some respect for others views here. I'm just curious to others views on it?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm an old fart who lived through those times. I'm going to say it plain and clear, the war was supposed to stop the spread of Communism - bull poop! It was a senseless waste of lives.

Thankfully my brother and future husband were not drafted because they had a student deferment. My brother's best friend from high school was shot in the spine and paralyzed for the rest of his life. He had willingly enlisted when the recruiter told him they would make him a medic. He was the oldest of eight kids and wanted to be a doctor. He figured he'd get some medical training as a medic, then us the GI bill to pay for college. When he got out of boot camp they made him a machine gunner in a helicopter, one of the most dangerous positions. He wasn't over there very long when he got shot.

That story in a nutshell is the story of the war. The powers that be in Washington lied through their frickin' teeth to the citizens of this country and we got shafted!

I have a lot of thoughts about that war and almost every war we have been in since. Think the easiest way to express how I feel is this quote:

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
~ Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

The Korean War was the star of what the government here likes to call military actions. They say it's to bring democracy to other countries......like Liz said its BS. War is war its propaganda.

I too was not interested in history in high school. It was after lunch and my teacher had such a low and monotone voice that she would bore me to sleep. But as an adult I have discovered the History Channel and the American Hero's Channel and I have learned way more than I ever could in high school. Reading it out of a book doesn't give you the accurate descriptions of what actually happened out in the field. I have found the Vietnam War and WWII documentaries to be fascinating and I have great respect for those involved in combat.
My dad also avoided the draft because he was a student at the time.

I can't understand how a teacher can make such a fascinating subject so very dry and boring.

My parents were careful to make sure my sister and I didn't watch the news during The Vietnam War. But I remember the head lines and pictures when 4 died in Ohio. It was a hard subject because so much didn't and never will make sense.

When I was in college one of the profs was telling us about conscription in Canada during WWII. He was convinced that the propaganda was exaggerated to get people to enlist. So he was a conscript and stayed in Canada but when the war ended and the news started getting out about everything that had been happening he was sick and regretted not enlisting. But that is the problem with war you have to work up to hate and dehumanizing the enemy. You are never sure what is what. It's just like the book Catch 22 by J. Heller.

Oh and the hate doesn't go away a few years ago I was working in a thrift shop a very tiny old woman yelled at me because the good British china was mixed the the Japanese... (insert foul words used during that time period). She was old so I apologized. No real point fighting about it.

Exactly! Call me sick but I often Google "world war two" just to read more on how messed up this world is. And just today on the history channel they were talking about the CIA experimenting with LSD and the guy that "fell" out of a window in NY. Lol I get lost in that channel.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I loved catch 22!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do you all know that Canadian servicemen participated too? I'm not talking about the countless boys and men who crossed the border and volunteered to wear an American uniform, I'm talking about Canadian Forces members who didn't volunteer for a dirty war.

Meanwhile Afghanistan was 'our' Vietnam, our useless war.

OMG! I've seen that! Crazy!!

i have always enjoyed learning about the wars.. how people lived, what it was like as a soldier, etc

i used to know a war veteran- i met him in hospital actually.. facinating guy, had lots to tell me- and as for me, it was 1 question after another

feel sorry for the people that go through it though... it's really hard on them. i guess i'm lucky that this guy didn't mind sharing his experiences

I served in the U.S. Navy from 1983-2003, and had one combat deployment (Iraq, 2003). In my first 5 years, I served with many Vietnam veterans who told me horrific stories.

I really learned about the Vietnam War after I retired in 2003. My healthcare is through Veterans Affairs (VA), and these clinics serve veterans from WW-II to Afghanistan. Many Vietnam veterans told me that they came home only to be met by protestors. And some told me they were spit on. That's inexcusable. You have every right to hate the war, but please don't hate the soldier.

True kindness, those that deserved to be spit on we're those in the government who started Vietnam. My brother- law served in nam and is the nicest guy you can meet, but he won't talk about nam. He's very close to the guys he served with and my sister said that he doesn't talk about things with them either. Nam was hell.

My husband is a Vietnam veteran. So is my brother-in-law. Vietnam was a vicious war because it was a war of politics.

I think starting a war against a nation or group that practices guerrilla warfare is never a good idea. Vietnam, Afghanistan, Dutch Indonesia. It's a war you can't win.

My brother-in-law says he was a sniper in Nam. He told some details that we question, though.

I remember my mother was dressed like a hippie, and my father wore a 3 piece suit. They were fighting about the war. She had leather bands holding her hair in pig tails, and still has the pendant "War is harmful to children and other living things".

I'd say thanks kindness but it's just too sad and too real. I'll never forget that picture of that little girl running down the street, angent orange or the protester folk songs of that age. Billy Joel is right the artist and journalists had a better picture of the war than the government and officials of the policial spin.

That's why I posted.

It's easy to sit in an ivory (or Trump) tower and sterilize hell. It's easy to tell me when the war started and ended, how many U.S. service members died, tell me about the Tet Offensive, etc., etc., etc.

Nobody will understand the Vietnam War until they see the faces, the girl running down the street literally burning from Agent Orange, and the flame throwers igniting the thatch huts.