# The Vietnam War by Ken Burns



## Trade (Sep 26, 2017)

Anybody else been watching this? I have. So I can find out what actually was going on over there. I got to Vietnam on August 20th 1970 as an E-2 with six months in the Air Force and one stripe on my sleeve. I didn't get my second stripe until the first of October. Then I was an E-3 REMF medic at the 483rd USAF Hospital at Cam Rahn Bay Airbase. Here's a picture of my ass at work, and a picture of where I worked. Believe me, someone as low on the food chain as I was were not given a clue as to what was going on beyond our own little workspace.


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## tnthomas (Sep 26, 2017)

Interesting.  I shipped to Vietnam Sept.13, 1970, arrived at Cam Ranh Bay. Spent about a week there.   I should have brought more money to spend at a little bar there.

Who knew that you needed money in a combat zone?  I was had just turned 19.  :shrug:

In the area I was(Army) everywhere smelled like pee.  I guess the latrines weren't clearly marked....maybe it was just the mess hall I smelled.

I stayed in a kind of open air barracks...maybe it was just a big tent mounted on a steel frame, I don't recall.

For bedding they gave me a mattress cover.  That was wonderful, but there were nor mattresses to put it on.

The beds had old steel springs, I had to decide whether to sleep on the mattress cover to cushion the springs, 

or sleep under the mattress cover to keep the mosquitoes from eating every bit of flesh off my bones.

I loved my stay at Cam Rahn Bay, but I'm glad I didn't have to come back through there on the way back home.

Instead, I took a medevac flight from Tan Son Nhut to Da Nang, then spent several days at Clark Air Base in the PI.


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## Bobw235 (Sep 26, 2017)

I've watched the first episode. I was young enough that the draft ended while I was in high school, thus never had to face going over.
I have always wanted to know more about the war over there, and this documentary should help. I also found in the library, a companion book for the documentary and I think it will help. Tons of photos and text from the series. Great resource.


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## Cap'nSacto (Sep 26, 2017)

I caught a bit of it last month I think it was. Didn't know it was re-airing, so will look for it.

I turned 18 right before the draft ended, so I went to enlist. I failed the physical due to my lumbar spine not being fused; spina-bifida, they said. But our family physician said that was bull-crap. There was a small area where two vertebrae hadn't fused quite correctly, but he said the neural tube was well developed and it wasn't spina-bifida. I tried the other recruiting offices but no branch of the military would take me. I remember being really bummed about that for quite a while. I was really hoping for the navy.

My older brother served in the air force, but was never sent to Nam. He went to the Philippines and Okinawa. My best friend served in Viet-Nam and was killed. I'd say maybe 6 guys I knew served in Nam, and all came back alive except my buddy, Dan.


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## Sassycakes (Sep 26, 2017)

I don't think I could handle watching it. My Husband got drafted 5 months before our wedding. Thankfully he didn't go to Viet Nam , but many of our friends did and sadly some did not come back home. I've forgotten a lot of things over the years ,but I remember almost everything from those days.


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## tnthomas (Sep 26, 2017)

Trade said:


> The Vietnam War by Ken Burns



My bad, I was focusing more on sharing experiences, I flat overlooked the aspect of this being about a PBS documentary.   

I don't mind watching documentaries about Vietnam, it's the Hollywood movies I don't care for.


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## MarkinPhx (Sep 27, 2017)

It's very well done but I feel numb after each episode. I was a kid during most of that time so knew about the war of course but didn't know many of the specifics that this show points out.


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## Roadwarrior (Sep 27, 2017)

I was in the military from '63 to '67.   I am on episode 8 out of 10 .  The things I missed then was understanding the conflict, the Vietnamese customs, the lying of our officials & the belief that we were invincible.


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## Deucemoi (Sep 27, 2017)

older relatives served in many of the previous wars and Vietnam was to be mine, how absurd an idea..
enlisted national guard 1965 while still in school
enlisted navy 1966
tonkin gulf sar '66'67'68
reenlisted 1970
incountry Vietnam sept 6 1970 mekong delta riverine forces(brown water navy)
guam 1973-75 300000 refugees after Vietnam
why were we there? good question and the answer will be different depending on who you ask?
to prevent the spread of communism is the most common,, and that really worked huh?
to show the soviet union we meant business, again that showed em huh?
to preserve our way of life and the country from foreign enemy action, I dont remember us being attacked in any manner.
_______________  fill in you own opinion

one last thing I would like to put here.... we did not LOSE the war. there was never a declaration of war,it was mearly a localized domestic conflict in which we participated, and after training and arming the locals to defend themselves our task was done and we left. I LOST nothing, I obeyed my orders and did as I was told.. anyone lost anything than blame the higher ups. A lot of good people died there but then many have died over the years in other wars.
PBS should do a documentary on the stupidity of past wars!!!!

oh ya and matrix this is also a political thingy so go ahead and lock it!!!!!


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## Bobw235 (Sep 27, 2017)

Having only watched the first episode, (rest on my DVR), I felt so sad knowing that so many of our troops (and others) died, simply because we didn't understand what we were getting into over there. The arrogance, the fear of communism, our alliance with France and trying to prop up their colonial aspirations, it all led to some many lives being lost. What a tragedy.


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## Trade (Sep 27, 2017)

tnthomas said:


> Interesting.  I shipped to Vietnam Sept.13, 1970, arrived at Cam Ranh Bay. Spent about a week there.   I should have brought more money to spend at a little bar there.



Interesting. You and I were there at the same time. I take it you were in the Army? 

We had it pretty good in the Air Force. This is a picture of the "Hooch" I lived in. Four of us Dudes to a hooch. Mattresses, Box Springs, Refrigerator in the front room and cheap maid service from the local women. That was for low level dudes like me. E-3, e-4, E-5. If you were an E-6 or up you only had two to a hooch. Life as an Air Force REMF was a whole lot different than it was for the grunts out in the bush. 




Party time! Grillin steaks that "Fell off a truck"


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## Trade (Sep 27, 2017)

tnthomas said:


> My bad, I was focusing more on sharing experiences, I flat overlooked the aspect of this being about a PBS documentary.
> 
> I don't mind watching documentaries about Vietnam, it's the Hollywood movies I don't care for.



Please do share experiences. This documentary is stirring up a lot of memories for me and I intend to share some of them. I would also love to hear some from other Vietnam Vets.

I found some pictures of some of the guys I served with. 

This is Carl Reinhart. Good Guy. From New Jersey. I used to call him Jersey Joe Reinhart. 




And Baker. Can't remember his first name. He was from North Carolina. He had a really hot wife. It was kind of a running joke between he and I. I was always asking him to show me her picture. He could put away the brewskis too. He had the record for our squadron of 20 beers in one night. I  tried to break it, but I passed out somewhere in the teens.


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## Trade (Sep 27, 2017)

Here's Titus with his damned monkey that he got when he went on his in country R&R. 

He had it for about a week. The monkey peed all over the hooch and Titus's hooch mates gave him an ultimatum. Either the monkey goes or he goes. So he got rid of the monkey. I'm not sure how. Probably just let it go out by the perimeter.

And here's a little stray Mutt that we all kind of adopted for our Squadron mascot.


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## Trade (Sep 27, 2017)

This is Ralph Minden down at the beach standing in front of an old bunker I think from WW2. 

Ralph was the only one of us medics in the whole squadron that had a weapon. An Army guy that was on the ward Ralph was working on was about to be medevaced back to the world. He had smuggled his sidearm into the hospital with him. However, when he found out his was a "million dollar wound" and he was going home he was afraid that if they found the gun on him it would mess that up. So he slipped it to Ralph. It was one of those good old school .45 auto's and it had one magazine with seven rounds in it. God I envyed Ralph having that pistol.


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## CeeCee (Sep 27, 2017)

Enjoying your photos and commentary, Trade!


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## Cap'nSacto (Sep 27, 2017)

Trade said:


> Please do share experiences. This documentary is stirring up a lot of memories for me and I intend to share some of them. I would also love to hear some from other Vietnam Vets.



You guys ought to start your own section for Viet Nam Veterans, open to all members to read, though, I would hope. 

After my physical I was classified unfit for service during the Viet Nam the war, but my son served with the SeaBees in Iraq and Afghanistan. He retired from the Navy a Chief Petty Officer just last year. I got a call from him around the middle of his boot camp experience - I missed the call but he left a message that it was the worst mistake he ever made. He was choking back tears. It took over a week to finally get a hold of him, and he said, "It's ok, Dad. It was just a really bad few days. I want to stay in and finish this." He stayed in for 25 years.


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## tnthomas (Sep 27, 2017)

I like that idea Cap'n, maybe an admin could suggest the best section to set up such a thread.  Diaries, or...?

If we did such a thread, I would like to have veterans of *all* wars/conflict feel free to post their stories and pictures as well.    Maybe a new sub-forum,....?


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## tnthomas (Sep 28, 2017)

Well, until we get a thread going for Vietnam experiences, here's a video on Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam :


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## RadishRose (Sep 28, 2017)

I want to put my head down and cry.


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## Trade (Sep 28, 2017)

RadishRose said:


> I want to put my head down and cry.



Don't cry about that video. Cam Rahn was one of the safest places in country for a GI. 

Cry for the poor dudes in the bush that didn't make it back in one piece.


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## Trade (Sep 28, 2017)

tnthomas said:


> Well, until we get a thread going for Vietnam experiences, here's a video on Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam :



Cool. Thanks for posting that. Even though that was mostly on the Army side I still recognize some of it. 

On the road to the beach. 







And at the beach. 



And I'm not sure where I took this from.


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## Lon (Sep 28, 2017)

I just started watching this excellent Ken Burns film via Amazon Prime. I was intrigued because I was in Korea1953 when it was rumoured that our wing of F 86 Sabre Jets was going to French Indo China (Viet Nam) to aid French forces that were being badly defeated by the Viet Minh. The wing wisely never went to aid the French and shortly thereafter Dien Bien Phu ended  the days of FRENCH COLONIALISM. were over.The Vietnamese hated us for our support of the French and had previously admired us because of our INDEPENDENCE, which they wanted for themselves.We never learned anything from the French and the WHOLE VIETNAM WAR was a disaster and a huge mistake.

WILL WE EVER LEARN?


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## Trade (Sep 28, 2017)

Another one of the beach. 




This was our squadron area for the medics. Nice digs compared to what the grunts had. And we still got the same $65 extra bucks a month combat pay that they did. Pretty unfair. 






The Red Cross took some of the patients in the Hospital out for a cruise on the bay.  And of sourse some of us medics got to go along. I took this from from the boat on the bay looking back on a little village on the shore.


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## Trade (Sep 28, 2017)

And some more that I took on the cruise. 

These were all originally slides I think I took with Kodachrome. I had an Ashai Pentax Spotmatic that I bought over there.


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## Trade (Sep 28, 2017)

Lon said:


> I just started watching this excellent Ken Burns film via Amazon Prime. I was intrigued because I was in Korea1953 when it was rumoured that our wing of F 86 Sabre Jets was going to French Indo China (Viet Nam) to aid French forces that were being badly defeated by the Viet Minh. The wing wisely never went to aid the French and shortly thereafter Dien Bien Phu ended  the days of FRENCH COLONIALISM. were over.The Vietnamese hated us for our support of the French and had previously admired us because of our INDEPENDENCE, which they wanted for themselves.We never learned anything from the French and the WHOLE VIETNAM WAR was a disaster and a huge mistake.
> 
> WILL WE EVER LEARN?



What's really disgusting is that they have obtained tapes of conversations between Johnson and McNamara and also ones between Nixon and Kissinger, and they'll play these, and then play excerpts from what both Johnson and Nixon where telling the public and you can plainly see that they were both lying their asses off when they talked to the public about the war.


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## tnthomas (Sep 28, 2017)

I was a 61C20:  marine diesel engineer, I was trained to repair marine diesel eengines, such as you would find in landing craft, tug boats, barge mounted cranes, etc.

We traveled a lot on the rivers and canals below Saigon, on down all over the Mekong Delta.  One stop we would make on the way, was Vung Tau.  Vung Tau was considered 

to be an in-country R&R venue.   The area was absolutely beautiful.   The South China Sea has some shallow areas, and the skipper(CW2) of our landing craft knew where a 

nice little sand bar was, a place where we could ground, wait for the tide to go out so we could inspect the screws(propellers) of the craft.

A friend of mine(Will, Duvall,Wa.) walking down the ramp.




Ah, I got carried away, I was going to post a video:


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## RadishRose (Sep 28, 2017)

Trade, I've cried for all of you and the friends we have all lost.

Ken Burns has some good docs, I'm sure this is one of them.


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## Trade (Sep 28, 2017)

tnthomas said:


> Ah, I got carried away, I was going to post a video:




That reminds me. I had hundreds of pictures of those cute Filapino girls that would entertain the troops at the Airman's club. But I had to get rid of them before I went home because my ex-wife was a certifiable jealousy nut case. I also had to get rid of the ones of Captain Carolyn Berry who was one of the nurses and a Kate Jackson look-a-like.


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## tnthomas (Sep 28, 2017)

Trade said:


> *The Vietnam War by Ken Burns
> *
> Anybody else been watching this? I have.



So, what source are you all watching this series from?  Cable/satellite stations?     Or, streaming from PBS?


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## Trade (Sep 28, 2017)

tnthomas said:


> So, what source are you all watching this series from?  Cable/satellite stations?     Or, streaming from PBS?



Just on the local PBS station by way of my rabbits ears. Actually it's a flat rectangular white plastic antennae about the size of a piece of notebook paper that I bought a Wally World.    

But I am pretty sure you can stream it from their web site too. 

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-vietnam-war/watch/


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## tnthomas (Sep 28, 2017)

Trade said:


> That reminds me. I had hundreds of pictures of those cute Filapino girls that would entertain the troops at the Airman's club. But I had to get rid of them before I went home because my ex-wife was a certifiable jealousy nut case. I also had to get rid of the ones of Captain Carolyn Berry who was one of the nurses and a Kate Jackson look-a-like.



Nut job jealous ex-wife.....sounds familiar, that's what happened to the pics of our "crew" in Saigon, at a Hai Ba Trung st. bar.  :shrug:


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## Cap'nSacto (Sep 29, 2017)

Trade said:


> Just on the local PBS station by way of my rabbits ears. Actually it's a flat rectangular white plastic antennae about the size of a piece of notebook paper that I bought a Wally World.
> 
> But I am pretty sure you can stream it from their web site too.
> 
> http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-vietnam-war/watch/



I'm watching it with my indoor antenna, too. Sounds like the one you're describing; a Mofu Leaf.


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## chic (Sep 29, 2017)

It's been a fascinating series. I was a child when the Vietnam war started and an adult by the time it ended. Two of my boyfriends were drafted to 'Nam. Two friends also ended up there. All survived but one killed himself sometime afterwards at home in the U.S. The series has left me with so many questions. It was excellently done as all Ken Burns' films are. I feel so deeply sorry for the Vietnamese people left behind after the fall of Saigon.


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## ronaldj (Sep 29, 2017)

I have been watching the show and support our boys even more now....lies, lies, lies...sad.................I got married in June of '72, drafted three weeks later and was at Fort Knox in training when the peace accord was signed ......


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## Don M. (Sep 29, 2017)

I spent 1967 at an USAF base in Thailand, and quite frankly I am convinced that "politics" played a more important role in that war than anything resembling "victory".  There were numerous missions our pilots had to conduct where they were limited in just how they could conduct their attacks.  Many of these things may still be "classified", and I have only "hearsay" info, so I cannot speak with certainty, but after hearing and seeing some of the nonsense that went on, I don't think that our leaders were doing a good job, or telling us the truth.  

One of the most glaring issues, and one that cost us several F-105's, and pilots, was the bombing of the Doumer Bridge...connecting Hanoi to Haiphong.  Our pilots had to run a gauntlet of SAM missile sites and could only bomb the center span...because the SAM sites and the approaches to the bridge had heavy civilian populations...and it was a "No-No" to cause any more civilian damage than necessary....DUH!!!  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Biên_Bridge

The main concern seemed to be the worry that China might enter that conflict "officially"...even though there was ample evidence that they were the driving force behind the North Vietnamese efforts.  It was all a huge "chess" game with our military being little more than pawns in the political games being played.


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## Trade (Sep 29, 2017)

tnthomas said:


> Nut job jealous ex-wife.....sounds familiar, that's what happened to the pics of our "crew" in Saigon, at a Hai Ba Trung st. bar.  :shrug:



Jealousy is a relationship killer for sure. That's one thing I learned from my first marriage. And the one piece of advice I will give to anyone in a relationship is, If your significant other starts to shows signs of jealousy, get the Hell out immediately! Do not pass go, do not collect $200.


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## tnthomas (Sep 29, 2017)

Don M. said:


> I spent 1967 at an USAF base in Thailand, and quite frankly I am convinced that "politics" played a more important role in that war than anything resembling "victory".  There were numerous missions our pilots had to conduct where they were limited in just how they could conduct their attacks.  Many of these things may still be "classified", and I have only "hearsay" info, so I cannot speak with certainty, but after hearing and seeing some of the nonsense that went on, I don't think that our leaders were doing a good job, or telling us the truth.
> 
> One of the most glaring issues, and one that cost us several F-105's, and pilots, was the bombing of the Doumer Bridge...connecting Hanoi to Haiphong.  Our pilots had to run a gauntlet of SAM missile sites and could only bomb the center span...because the SAM sites and the approaches to the bridge had heavy civilian populations...and it was a "No-No" to cause any more civilian damage than necessary....DUH!!!
> 
> ...




Politics, for sure.  The Vietnam "war" wasn't lost militarily, it was doomed to failure from the start politically.

...then, there was the sham Paris Peace agreement, hammered out by Henry Kissinger, who collected a Nobel Peace prize for it.   Later, he did try to give it back, after the ceasefire failed.


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## tnthomas (Sep 29, 2017)

Trade said:


> Jealousy is a relationship killer for sure. That's one thing I learned from my first marriage. And the one piece of advice I will give to anyone in a relationship is, If your significant other starts to shows signs of jealousy, get the Hell out immediately! Do not pass go, do not collect $200.



Yes, I learned [the hard way] how to recognize those 'red flags'...


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## Don M. (Sep 29, 2017)

tnthomas said:


> Politics, for sure.  The Vietnam "war" wasn't lost militarily, it was doomed to failure from the start politically....then, there was the sham Paris Peace agreement, hammered out by Henry Kissinger, who collected a Nobel Peace prize for it.   Later, he did try to give it back, after the ceasefire failed.



Looking back, I think the ONLY reason we got involved in both the Korean and Vietnam wars was to give our weapons industries a Huge Windfall.  It seems that our War Machine is about the Only industry left in this nation that excels....But, we have to USE it frequently to keep it Well Oiled.  Our government has to find "excuses" to keep the popular support positive for a Defense Budget that consumes 600 Billion+, per year.  If we truly had a "Dept. of Defense" instead of a Global Police Agency, our munitions industries wouldn't have such a "cash cow" to draw upon every year....and we might not have to maintain hundreds of military installations all over the globe.  To some extent, I can understand the ISIS/Taliban hating our guts for our involvement in the Muslim nations, and I'm wondering if this N.Korea crap isn't the precursor to the next round of conflicts.  Quite frankly, I think Teddy Roosevelt had it correct when he said we should "Speak Softly, but Carry a Big Stick".  We should let these other nations go to pot, if that is what their people allow, But have a clear understanding that any attack on our nation will be a suicidal act on their part.


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## Trade (Sep 29, 2017)

tnthomas said:


> Politics, for sure.  The Vietnam "war" wasn't lost militarily, it was doomed to failure from the start politically.



There was no way we would have won militarily. 

I still here people say we should have nuked Hanoi. 

Yeah, right. If we had done that the Chinese and/or the Russians would have jumped in and you would have a WW3 Armageddon scenario.


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## tnthomas (Sep 29, 2017)

Trade said:


> There was no way we would have won militarily.
> 
> I still here people say we should have nuked Hanoi.
> 
> Yeah, right. If we had done that the Chinese and/or the Russians would have jumped in and you would have a WW3 Armageddon scenario.



True, I was speaking to the fact that our military personnel and effort were capable, and had all the right tools.  Too bad it wasn't still WWII, because that's how the war was administered, for the most part.

Insurgents, guerrilla warfare- not  new concepts, just hard to deal with in a conventional military approach.    Harder yet to micro-manage from 8,900 miles away.

 Lyndon Johnson made the statement- " ultimate victory in the Vietnam War depended upon the U.S. military winning the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people".

Hearts and minds, certainly, however...but what are WE needing the  U.S. military to win support...for what exactly?   The original premise as I understand it,was to come to the aid of a nation that wanted US to help fight off aggression from the North.  If that were true, then wouldn't the "hearts and minds" issue already be in the bag?

The average Vietnamese that I ran into were rice farmers.  They farmed rice in their rice paddies, with their water buffalo.   They led simple lives, from what I could see, they were content, and it didn't really matter to them who was running the [corrupt] government in Saigon.


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## squatting dog (Sep 29, 2017)

I almost envy some of you. My experience in Nam was a might different. I tried to put it down on virtual paper. I'll include a link, but, be WARNED, it is a might graphic. 

https://lifeisacarnivalblog.wordpress.com/2017/07/26/youve-changed/


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## Wandrin (Sep 29, 2017)

The thing that struck me was how many times the Vietnamese asked the US to help them gain their freedom from the oppressive French colonial rule.  They asked for decades and decades.  Ho Chi Minh asked for years before he was even exposed to Communism.  Even after WWII, we made the decision to deny them their freedom and give the country back to the French.  Apparently, our politicians completely ignored our own history or felt that the Vietnamese people were somehow less deserving of freedom.


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## Trade (Sep 29, 2017)

squatting dog said:


> I almost envy some of you. My experience in Nam was a might different. I tried to put it down on virtual paper. I'll include a link, but, be WARNED, it is a might graphic.
> 
> https://lifeisacarnivalblog.wordpress.com/2017/07/26/youve-changed/



We got a ROK (Republic of Korea) dude into the hospital when I was at Danang who had been bitten on the finger by one of those pit vipers. They called it a "step and a half" snake. The ROK's were some pretty bad assed soldiers from what I understand. This was the only one I encountered though and he was a really nice polite friendly dude. Like about 99% of all Koreans his name was "Kim" something or other. Anyway he had survived the bite but his finger, I forget which one it was, had turned really black and rotten looking and the skin and flesh was sloughing off of it. The doctors wanted to amputate it, but Kim was having none of that. He stayed with us about a month or so and by the time he left that finger was recovering pretty well and he was able to keep it. 

When I was in medic training at Sheppard AFB in Texas there was a retired guy in the hospital there getting treatment for a rattlesnake bite that he had gotten seven months before. That thing was really ugly because he had lost a lot of the meat on his leg. A good four inches of his shinbone was still exposed. Snake bite is nasty. It's not like in the movies where they cut a little X over it, suck out the poison, have one bad night of fever, and then they are good to go in the morning.


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## tnthomas (Sep 29, 2017)

squatting dog,  Thanks for sharing your blog article.  The theme of  change hits the nail on the head.

 I know that walking through the nam completely sucked.     Being on the nước we would see water snakes, 

wasn't sure about whether or not they were poisonous, didn't want to find out.  Leeches,  so much for taking a dip in the 

river, to cool off.

Re: the ROKs,    yea they were tough, would see them practicing some kind of martial arts en-masse, on the deck of their 

LST, which was moored near-by.    I had heard that they despised the Vietnamese, reasons unknown.


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## squatting dog (Sep 30, 2017)

ROK's were definitely the baddest of the bad asses. They did surround their compound with the skulls of the enemy mounted on posts, and yes, for some reason they absolutely hated the Vietnamese. I also realized that anytime our firebase's were hit with any kind of rocket or mortar attack, none of those ever hit anywhere near the Korean compound. I believe the Vietcong truly feared them.


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## oldman (Oct 4, 2017)

I was trained to kill at Camp LeJeune. 
I landed in Vietnam in early 1990 and spent 14 months there. 
That's all I have to say about it.


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## Lon (Oct 4, 2017)

tnthomas said:


> So, what source are you all watching this series from?  Cable/satellite stations?     Or, streaming from PBS?



I paid $40 to Amazon Prime to receive all series ON Demand as they become available.


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## tnthomas (Oct 4, 2017)

Thanks Lon, I shop Amazon but will have to take a closer look at the Prime benefits.


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## Bajabob (Mar 17, 2018)

I always thought that Kennedy sending troops into Vietnam was because of bad advice he was getting. I believe that advice was based largely on what happened hears earlier, the Bay of Pigs. In effect, we chickened out there. We sort of half-heartedly tried to overthrow Castro, but allowed the undertaking to fail, because of our timidity. And then, with an opportunity to "stand tall" against Communism in Vietnam, the advisors told Kennedy that we just had to get involved. Many people think that our involvement was strictly LBJ's fault, but I blame JFK, based on my incomplete recall of events then.


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## Don M. (Mar 17, 2018)

Bajabob said:


> I always thought that Kennedy sending troops into Vietnam was because of bad advice he was getting. I believe that advice was based largely on what happened hears earlier, the Bay of Pigs. In effect, we chickened out there. We sort of half-heartedly tried to overthrow Castro, but allowed the undertaking to fail, because of our timidity. And then, with an opportunity to "stand tall" against Communism in Vietnam, the advisors told Kennedy that we just had to get involved. Many people think that our involvement was strictly LBJ's fault, but I blame JFK, based on my incomplete recall of events then.



You're probably fairly correct....that Vietnam mess was mostly just a total Fiasco.  I think some of it was the US having to show France how to fight a war after France got its butt kicked.  I worked with a guy who claimed to be on the USS Maddox when the Vietnamese "supposedly" attacked....he told a story that was a bit different from what our government and media was trying to feed the nation.  Plus, in the mid 60's, our economy was going into a slowdown after the post WWII boom, and what better way for the government to "jumpstart" our industries than to engage in another war???


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## TonyK (Mar 18, 2018)

"I landed in Vietnam in early 1990 and spent 14 months there."

oldman: I think your time frame is off.


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## oldman (Mar 19, 2018)

TonyK said:


> "I landed in Vietnam in early 1990 and spent 14 months there."
> 
> oldman: I think your time frame is off.



Yeah, my bad. I got there in 1970 and like I said, I was there for 14 months.


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## ancient mariner (Apr 19, 2018)

Hubby was in on the planning stages for Vietnam...drew up a scale model war plan in a gymnasium in Quantico.  War is big business.  Land money power resources.


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## TonyK (Jun 28, 2018)

I've been watching this Ken Burns series that is now on Netflix for free. It is one of his best documentaries. The interviews with soldiers are priceless. Fifty years ago, in the month of May of 1968, more than 2,400 US soldiers died in Vietnam! 

I'd forgotten the graphic tapes on the evening news programs, and the fabulous footage taken by photographers assigned to front line units. Plus, the footage of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong units is incredible.


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## justfred (Jun 30, 2018)

please excuse me for asking this as living in a country that took no part in the Vietnam conflict I know very little about it but my question is Did anyone win this war? The reason I ask is that around three or four years ago an American Air Force Major who was involved in the Vietnam war said "If it were not for the B52 bomber we would have lost the Vietnam war" I was under the impression that there were no winners in this conflict.


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## john19485 (Jun 30, 2018)

coming off the uss sanctuary hospital ship, going back to my unit.


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## DGM (Jul 1, 2018)

Don M. said:


> You're probably fairly correct....that Vietnam mess was mostly just a total Fiasco.  I think some of it was the US having to show France how to fight a war after France got its butt kicked.  I worked with a guy who claimed to be on the USS Maddox when the Vietnamese "supposedly" attacked....he told a story that was a bit different from what our government and media was trying to feed the nation.  Plus, in the mid 60's, our economy was going into a slowdown after the post WWII boom, and what better way for the government to "jumpstart" our industries than to engage in another war???



I was 16 when the Maddox was "attacked" and LBJ had his "Pearl Harbor" moment.  I wasn't the smartest or wisest kid in my class but I turned to my parents and asked "do they REALLY expect us to BELIEVE this BS?  I was lucky.  I didn't get drafted until I was 24 and the war ended while I was in basic training.  I lost half a dozen friends in Vietnam.  I've attended another half dozen funerals of friends who were taken by Agent Orange.  I have a wife who is a very rare case:  She was an American civilian in Vietnam working as an administrative assistant in Long Binh for 18 months.  Agent Orange was used all over the area in which she lived and worked.  She has the entire laundry list of A.O. ailments safe cancer (knock wood).  Had she been in the military she'd be 100% disabled.  Vietnam was a total disaster, a total waste of good lives and a disgrace.  Look at what the A.O. is doing to the Vietnamese today.  It's horrible.  As said earlier;  Ho Chi Minh loved the USA and wanted us to help him rid his country of the French.  I have no problem with ANYONE who wants to rid their country of the French.


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## john19485 (Jul 1, 2018)

I have a problem with a little of what you said, my first wife was half Vietnamese,half French she died when I was wounded, the vietcong seemed to want to kill all the catholics, the leadership in the North wanted the seaports , we use to talk about these things around the campfire.





DGM said:


> I was 16 when the Maddox was "attacked" and LBJ had his "Pearl Harbor" moment.  I wasn't the smartest or wisest kid in my class but I turned to my parents and asked "do they REALLY expect us to BELIEVE this BS?  I was lucky.  I didn't get drafted until I was 24 and the war ended while I was in basic training.  I lost half a dozen friends in Vietnam.  I've attended another half dozen funerals of friends who were taken by Agent Orange.  I have a wife who is a very rare case:  She was an American civilian in Vietnam working as an administrative assistant in Long Binh for 18 months.  Agent Orange was used all over the area in which she lived and worked.  She has the entire laundry list of A.O. ailments safe cancer (knock wood).  Had she been in the military  be 100% disabled.  Vietnam was a total disaster, a total waste of good lives and a disgrace.  Look at what the A.O. is doing to the Vietnamese today.  It's horrible.  As said earlier;  Ho Chi Minh loved the USA and wanted us to help him rid his country of the French.  I have no problem with ANYONE who wants to rid their country of the French.


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## DGM (Jul 1, 2018)

john19485 said:


> I have a problem with a little of what you said, my first wife was half Vietnamese,half French she died when I was wounded, the vietcong seemed to want to kill all the catholics, the leadership in the North wanted the seaports , we use to talk about these things around the campfire.



Sorry for your loss and sorry for your wounds.  Glad you made it back and thank you for your service.  Sorry too if you don't agree with my point of view.  I'm an opinionated old fart but have an open mind.  
Are you saying we should have gotten involved in Vietnam's Civil War because they were killing Catholics or are you upset with my distain for the French?  (oops, sorry if this is political)

Hope you enjoy a long happy healthy retirement.  
.


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## john19485 (Jul 1, 2018)

I thank we should have backed _Ho Chi Minh in the 1950's, he loss control of the military in the late 60's , The U.S. Military had the war won in late 1969, it  was hard for the North to field an army after then, this is just what I think. I've got to go to bed
_


DGM said:


> Sorry for your loss and sorry for your wounds.  Glad you made it back and thank you for your service.  Sorry too if you don't agree with my point of view.  I'm an opinionated old fart but have an open mind.
> Are you saying we should have gotten involved in Vietnam's Civil War because they were killing Catholics or are you upset with my distain for the French?  (oops, sorry if this is political)
> 
> Hope you enjoy a long happy healthy retirement.
> .


 in the late 60's


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## fmdog44 (Jul 2, 2018)

An idea cannot be defeated a lesson America still has not learned. We are brainwashed from post WWII propaganda. It is not that the North beat us rather, how they fought the war and all their previous wars. We never intended to defeat the North only to keep them out of South Vietnam. One stand out example of the hideous American rhetoric was Nixon's PLAN to exit. Well, if I was a patriot and had the solution why then not offer it up to the current administration so lives could be spared? Add to the military generals lying about the progress they were making year after year after year. Only after Walter Cronkite told America the war is lost did we see our leaders roll up in a ball and blame everyone but themselves for this disaster and finally exit. I worked with a Vietnamese who told me he had a college deferment during the war so he did not have to fight. So he hid out in college while out people were forced over there to fight for him.


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