The Vietnam War

CocoLoco

CocoLoco

FN #5
Anyone else watching this documentary on PBS?
Epic and expansive is the way I'd describe it. I'll probably watch it several more times over the next couple of weeks.
I was a bit surprised that no one here at the BRAFs had yet started at thread about it then one of the vets interviewed said he hasn't talked about the war since he returned over 40 years ago. Not once. This was the first time anyone had ever even asked him about it.
 
gixxerjeff

gixxerjeff

Dogs best friend
This series is beyond incredible.
Absolutely everything about it is so well done.
Fair, balanced and factually accurate without ever getting preachy.
The perspective from both sides is frustratingly sobering.
 
westie

westie

Its Dethklok!
Pretty cool interview with one of the Viet Cong officers and how he told his soldiers to "grab the Americans by the belt." In other words, get so close that they will not drop bombs on us.
 
gixxerjeff

gixxerjeff

Dogs best friend
I hold immense respect for all involved but John Musgrave hits especially close to home with me.
His description of *listening for the enemy* in Con Tien was nothing short of haunting.
 
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gixxerjeff

gixxerjeff

Dogs best friend
They spent 10 years making the series. The rare archival footage and recordings are as impressive as they are abundant
 
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Bay Arean

Bay Arean

Well-known member
I am really appreciating the show as well. Showing the audio of Nixon's tape where he and Kissinger write off S. Vietnam then showing Nixon promise to protect them was educational to say the least.

I forgot the stuff that Hanoi Jane said, tho. I don't ever remember her saying that our soldiers should be tried and probably executed but damn, there it was.
 
afm199

afm199

Well-known member
gixxerjeff said:
This series is beyond incredible.
Absolutely everything about it is so well done.
Fair, balanced and factually accurate without ever getting preachy.
The perspective from both sides is frustratingly sobering.
Click to expand...

Didn't he say the war was started by well meaning and good men? LMAO. The war was a continuation of decades of French colonialism, and it was flat out genocide against the Vietnamese.
 
Reli

Reli

Well-known member
afm199 said:
Didn't he say the war was started by well meaning and good men? LMAO. The war was a continuation of decades of French colonialism, and it was flat out genocide against the Vietnamese.
Click to expand...

+1

Coupled with a big dabble of anti-Asian racism
 
CocoLoco

CocoLoco

FN #5
One of my uncles was in the Marine Corps from 66-70 and did three tours the first was in one of the forward op bases just south of the dmz. Not the one that was constantly shelled. He was also in the group that was tasked with going into the dmz to attack the NVA and had to turn around and backtrack because the logistics folks didn't know the measurements of the bridges and they were too small for the armor. Second tour was in Da Nang and third Saigon. My dad was also in the Marine Corps from 62-66. He was an electronics geek and worked on helicopter simulators at Camp Lejeune the entire time he was in. Many of my mom's and dad's friends/schoolmates went.

It's weird seeing footage of places my uncle was at the time he was there. And the things that seize my heart the hardest are the stories the vets have been relating, both US and VN, in stark contrast to the nonchalance of the politicians' worries and concerns.
 
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nebulous

nebulous

Well-known member
Easy to blame EVERYTHING on the United States. I remember a documentary on the Vietnam War that said it was SOP for the Viet Cong to behead entire families even suspected of helping the south. Then posing the heads to look like they were doing everyday tasks to frighten the rest of the villagers.
 
Johndicezx9

Johndicezx9

Rolls with it...
This guy was just coming to light as Fonda said what she said... emotions were high.

lt-calley1.jpg


I'm a little behind on the episodes on the DVR, so far up to the events at Kent State.

So much waste....
 
Johndicezx9

Johndicezx9

Rolls with it...
nebulous said:
Easy to blame EVERYTHING on the United States. I remember a documentary on the Vietnam War that said it was SOP for the Viet Cong to behead entire families even suspected of helping the south. Then posing the heads to look like they were doing everyday tasks to frighten the rest of the villagers.
Click to expand...

Have you watched this one? This is by far the most comprehensive docs made yet going back to the mid 19th century.

The people in the south wanted nothing to do with the communists in the north, but they had no faith in the chain of corrupt governments in the south either
 
jdhu

jdhu

Well-known member
Would hope these days, military justice doesn't mean "records put in archives." Think we are much better at policing ourselves and training professional soldiers (not 100%, may never be).

Definitely going to watch this series. I've seen most of them (Vietnam in color, Vietnam this and that), but this one does look more comprehensive than most, and I like Burns' prior stuff.
 
Reli

Reli

Well-known member
Considering that so many were drafted and didn't really want to be there, the occurrence of war crimes isn't surprising.

Be interesting to calculate the # of war crimes per soldier, or per man-hour or something like that, in each major war. Not sure such stats even exist though.
 
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Johndicezx9

Johndicezx9

Rolls with it...
Reli said:
Considering that so many were drafted and didn't really want to be there, the occurrence of war crimes isn't surprising.
Click to expand...

It's crazy to watch it go from a "noble cause" to a what ultimately became.

I have vague memories of that time, here in a military town, but I do remember some of the news casts on TV, the POWs coming home, MLK & RFK's funerals, Nixon winning, both times....
 
scootergmc

scootergmc

old and slow
Yes, I've been watching. Of all the Vietnam war documentaries I've ever seen, this one is by far the best. I really like the lack of political leaning one way or another. It covers politics, but stops just short of crossing the hitpiece line.

And yes rsrider and the rest of you concerned, there were war crimes. They've been covering that, I'd say fairly extensively.
 
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