Vietnam

DEFTLEFTHAND · 04-05-2013 5:21pm #1

I was just watching a doc on the Vietnam War and it's scary to see what these guys went through, one 21 year old man (on camera) actually called out for his Mom as his comrades tried to sooth him into death. His injuries were horrific. Another US guy stated that he felt his side were far more brutal than the Vietcong, some terrible atrocities were carried out over there by the US.

Why were they in there, what was it worth in the end? It destroyed the lives of many young men. Those who survived are the most scarred.

corktina · 04-05-2013 5:28pm

Yep war does that, I expect you could get all the answers you need from Google

Susie120704 · 04-05-2013 5:28pm

Definitely not worth it in the end as the Americans had to withdraw. In 1968 there were 500,000 American soldiers out there. The was cost the Americans 30 billion dollars and 30,000 lives not to mention the hundreds of thousands who came back seriously injured. They came back to a poor welcome as well as many Americans came to realise the war was not theirs to be involved in.
Basically the Americans had unwittingly become embroiled in a civil war and could never have won.

DazMarz · 04-05-2013 5:29pm

It was worth it alone for all the brilliant films that have come out of it.

Susie120704 · 04-05-2013 5:31pm

DazMarz wrote: »

It was worth it alone for all the brilliant films that have come out of it.

Do you not feel that is a very flippant comment for a war that killed 1.5 million Vietnamese and 30,000 American soldiers?

kraggy · 04-05-2013 5:32pm

The effects can still be seen with children being born to this day with deformities due to the Agent Orange that was spread by the Americans.

Lumbo · 04-05-2013 5:35pm

I was in Vietnam a few year ago. It's a really beautiful country.

They still love the fact that they killed a lot of Americans (as well as Aussies, Kiwi's, Koreans and Thai's).

The Cu Chi tunnels and Hoa Lo prison were some of the most fascinating, informative and horrifying places I've ever been to.

NuckingFacker · 04-05-2013 5:36pm

It was hell, you'll never understand though, unless you were there.

No, me either.

mosstin · 04-05-2013 5:38pm

DazMarz wrote: »

It was worth it alone for all the brilliant films that have come out of it.

And the prize for the dumbest post of the year goes to....

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 04-05-2013 5:38pm

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I was just watching a doc on the Vietnam War and it's scary to see what these guys went through, one 21 year old man (on camera) actually called out for his Mom as his comrades tried to sooth him into death. His injuries were horrific. Another US guy stated that he felt his side were far more brutal than the Vietcong, some terrible atrocities were carried out over there by the US.

Why were they in there, what was it worth in the end? It destroyed the lives of many young men. Those who survived are the most scarred.

... not to mention more or less compeltely ignored and abandoned by the country they fought for.

Dyr · 04-05-2013 5:38pm

DazMarz wrote: »

It was worth it alone for all the brilliant films that have come out of it.

imagine how many films they'd have made if they'd actually won the ****ing thing

Jimminy Mc Fukhead · 04-05-2013 5:39pm

Yeah, a part of me is still out there in that jungle.

The Generals did the ordering. We did the dying.

gurramok · 04-05-2013 5:42pm

Susie120704 wrote: »

Do you not feel that is a very flippant comment for a war that killed 1.5 million Vietnamese and 30,000 American soldiers?

Hate to be a pedant but it was about 58,000 American dead.

Average age of a serving US soldier?

Answer: 19

Falthyron · 04-05-2013 5:43pm

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Why were they in there, what was it worth in the end?

They were there to prevent the spread of communism throughout south east Asia. Same purpose NATO was stationed in West Germany for so long, and the Truman Doctrine being created, etc, etc.

Hope this helps.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 04-05-2013 5:43pm

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

... not to mention more or less compeltely ignored and abandoned by the country they fought for.

That's right, the Nam vets were treated terribly when they came home, they were seen as losers, the one thing that America hates. Insults such as baby killers were thrown at some. A scary amount of them committed suicide in the years after the end.

Rented Mule · 04-05-2013 5:43pm

I had two uncles that fought in Vietnam. They were drafted just after their 18th birthdays and were both in Vietnam before they turned 19. Neither one of them were ever the same after their experiences.

One was MIA for six month. He was shot in combat and as he was being evaced, the helicopter was hit with a mortar. The helicopter blade sliced off the top of his head. He was found after a pretty exhaustive search at a hospital in Tokyo. He had no idea who he was or what had happened to him.

My other uncle was a 'tunnel rat'. He was sent into the Viet Cong underground tunnels with a 'flashlight and a .45'. He came home and would sleep under his bed. He would wake up in the night screaming covered in sweat. He would never go into details, but said that he was 'ashamed' at some of the things they did to stay alive.

Politicians like to start wars. It's 'kids' who end up doing the fighting and dying.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 04-05-2013 5:45pm

Falthyron wrote: »

They were there to prevent the spread of communism throughout south east Asia. Same purpose NATO was stationed in West Germany for so long, and the Truman Doctrine being created, etc, etc.

Hope this helps.

I know that, it was a rhetorical question.

Stinicker · 04-05-2013 5:48pm

The North Vietnamese to their credit did everything it took to eject the American troops and they lost 1/4 of their population in the bloody war, The Vietnam war was not a war but a war crime committed by the United States in the name of corporate greed.

mattjack · 04-05-2013 5:49pm

Susie120704 wrote: »

Definitely not worth it in the end as the Americans had to withdraw. In 1968 there were 500,000 American soldiers out there. The was cost the Americans 30 billion dollars and 30,000 lives not to mention the hundreds of thousands who came back seriously injured. They came back to a poor welcome as well as many Americans came to realise the war was not theirs to be involved in.
Basically the Americans had unwittingly become embroiled in a civil war and could never have won.

Somebodys telling porkies here , cause the Mericans say they lost bout 58,000
soldiers....

belcampprisoner · 04-05-2013 5:53pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqPzS8Y27Ks

DazMarz · 04-05-2013 5:57pm

Susie120704 wrote: »

Do you not feel that is a very flippant comment for a war that killed 1.5 million Vietnamese and 30,000 American soldiers?

mosstin wrote: »

And the prize for the dumbest post of the year goes to....

This is After Hours. It was meant to be tongue in cheek.

Susie120704 · 04-05-2013 6:09pm

mattjack wrote: »

Somebodys telling porkies here , cause the Mericans say they lost bout 58,000
soldiers....

Depends on the sources you read. Figures I teach would be 30,000 for Vietnam and 50,000 for Korea, the other containment war of the era.

gurramok · 04-05-2013 6:15pm

Susie120704 wrote: »

Depends on the sources you read. Figures I teach would be 30,000 for Vietnam and 50,000 for Korea, the other containment war of the era.

The American National Archives say 58,000 US soldiers dead.http://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics.html

Duckworth_Luas · 04-05-2013 6:15pm

gurramok wrote: »

Hate to be a pedant but it was about 58,000 American dead.

Average age of a serving US soldier?

Answer: 19

Actually it was ne-ne-ne-ne-nineteen!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcFFEjq5Ap8

Weevil · 04-05-2013 6:18pm

Susie120704 wrote: »

Do you not feel that is a very flippant comment for a war that killed 1.5 million Vietnamese and 30,000 American soldiers?

The OP reflects the American obsession with " 'Nam" in a way that Hollywood also does.

Hootanany · 04-05-2013 6:23pm

gurramok wrote: »

Hate to be a pedant but it was about 58,000 American dead.

Average age of a serving US soldier?

Answer: 19

Sorry NNNNNN 19

Susie120704 · 04-05-2013 6:23pm

gurramok wrote: »

The American National Archives say 58,000 US soldiers dead.http://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics.html

You are indeed correct. Just checked my textbook. Apologies. I suffer from discalcia and frequently get numbers wrong. Luckily students are warned never to take figures directly from me

mattjack · 04-05-2013 6:24pm

Susie120704 wrote: »

Depends on the sources you read. Figures I teach would be 30,000 for Vietnam and 50,000 for Korea, the other containment war of the era.

Show us where you get your information , the figure thrown around for Korea is about 33,000 and there's a big a wall with 58000 names engraved on it for Vietnam era dead.

The Barefoot Pizza Thief · 04-05-2013 6:35pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jY6EPf5MHQ

discus · 04-05-2013 6:40pm

Rented Mule wrote: »

Politicians like to start wars. It's 'kids' who end up doing the fighting and dying.

Children taken in as conscripts - that is practically a war crime for cases such as 'nam.

Dyr · 04-05-2013 7:10pm

gurramok wrote: »

Hate to be a pedant but it was about 58,000 American dead.

Average age of a serving US soldier?

Answer: 19

Average age of a combat soldier. More attention to lyrics required

Vietnam

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