"The Vietnam War"

Unclebaldrick

Well-Known Member
Like many of you I have been watching this on PBS (thanks Obama)

My first recollection of the war was when I was about 4 years old, probably shortly before Tet. My mother was an artist and we went to art fairs every weekend. I come from a middle class family but these tended to be fairly progressive affairs. She ran out from her booth for some coffee or food or something and when she returned she regaled my father with the tale of the being approached by a young hippy girl who was trying to hand her some literature in favor of stopping the war.

"War?" my mother said. "What war?"

"The tewwible war waging in southeast asia" my mother recounted making fun of the girl's lisp.

"It isn't a war" said my mother, "It's a police action"



Jesus fucking christ. I have always remember this with increasing embarrassment.
 
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Fogdog

Well-Known Member
Like many of you I have been watching this on PBS (thanks Obama)

My first recollection of the war when I was about 4 years old, probably shortly before Tet. My mother was an artist and we went to art fairs every weekend. I come from a middle class family but these tended to be fairly progressive affairs. She ran out from her booth for some coffee or food or something and regaled my father with the tale of the being approached by a young hippy girl who was trying to hand her some literature in favor of stopping the war.

"War?" my mother said. "What war?"

"The tewwible war waging in southeast asia" my mother recounted making fun of the girl's lisp.

"It isn't a war" said my mother, "It's a police action"



Jesus fucking christ.
This series is causing some soldiers from that war to experience PTSD. It's still a raw wound for this country. I'm glad the video is being produced by Burns. He's unflinching but tells the tale well.

I came across an old National Geographic magazine from the 60's that had an article on Vietnam. They showed a picture of a peasant woman being loaded onto a helicopter by S Vietnamese soldiers. The caption said "Captured Viet Cong being transferred for questioning". Matter of fact and completely cold when in retrospect that woman could have been anybody and was headed to the torture room. The article was all about how the US was doing good for its little friends. It was a stark reminder how pervasive propaganda for that war was.
 

captainmorgan

Well-Known Member
Hell of a police action with almost 60,000 US personnel dead. I lost my oldest brother over there and remember the protests here. The amount of lies our government tells is not something new, but I think they were better at it then Dump and his crew.
 

greg nr

Well-Known Member
Like many of you I have been watching this on PBS (thanks Obama)

My first recollection of the war was when I was about 4 years old, probably shortly before Tet. My mother was an artist and we went to art fairs every weekend. I come from a middle class family but these tended to be fairly progressive affairs. She ran out from her booth for some coffee or food or something and when she returned she regaled my father with the tale of the being approached by a young hippy girl who was trying to hand her some literature in favor of stopping the war.

"War?" my mother said. "What war?"

"The tewwible war waging in southeast asia" my mother recounted making fun of the girl's lisp.

"It isn't a war" said my mother, "It's a police action"



Jesus fucking christ. I have always remember this with increasing embarrassment.

Korea was a police action. Vietnam was just a clusterfuck. The UN wasn't involved, and there was no formal declaration of war by congress.

Officially, it was just a "conflict" and all we were doing was supporting the government of south vietnam.
 

blu3bird

Well-Known Member
My dad was a Viet Nam vet, he did two tours. I always asked him for war stories when I was a kid.... he never told me any, ever. He never talked about his service either, whenever I asked him questions about the war he would always get real quiet. He would just say it was a political war and that's it.
Now that I'm grown and looking back on it, I could tell he didn't like it being brought up and it bothered him. I'm going to dig up his old Zippo lighter I have that he carried when he was there. This is one of the few things I have left from him (RIP).
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Fogdog

Well-Known Member
Still waiting to hear about any positive result of that genocidal campaign to prevent a nation from winning independence from a colonial power.

Thank goodness Uncle Sam failed to keep them subjugated.
upload_2017-9-26_15-41-30.png

Ok, so it was French Vietnam war.
 
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Jimdamick

Well-Known Member


The beginning of showing the world what assholes we can be when we set our minds to it.
I missed the draft lottery by months (#1 in January/ ended in March 1975) because it would have been off to Ireland for me, because I wouldn't have been defending America, I would have been defending Nixon and all his fellow Republican assholes
It was the major tragedy of a decade full of tragedy, like the assassinations, the riots, the protests and the general despair that enveloped the nation.during that era.
I never ended up going, but 2 good friends did, and they were never the same when they came home.
All were fucked mentally, and this was a period when there was no help, like today for PTSD.
Most fucked up war ever fought by the USA, and all for absolutely nothing.
Way too bad that Trump never came near it, maybe if he did he wouldn't be such an asshole.

 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
I lived in Saigon for 6 months. I was 5 years old. I still have strange and vivid memories.

I hoped growing up that America had learned its lesson and wouldn't start shit like that again.

What I didn't know at the time was how much money it made for the defense industry and how much more they would come to influence politics.

I hope America comes to its senses with Trump, but I don't have any faith that it will anymore.
 
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