Buckshot Bear Posted February 5 Posted February 5 Vietnam: The War That Changed America Been watching this six (6) part series that's narrated by Ethan Hawke. Highly recommended, incredible footage and interviews. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35407689/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3_tt_3_nm_5_in_0_q_viet 6 Quote
watab kid Posted February 5 Posted February 5 it changed/formed my life ill watch that , thanks , 1 Quote
Subdeacon Joe Posted February 5 Posted February 5 The first "Television War," brought live to our televisions at dinner time. We always had the news on, at least in the background at dinner, so I got to watch it as I grew up. It also was the war in which it because really obvious that Big Corporate Press was instrumental in driving public opinion and setting policy. People wax poetic about Uncle Walter and what a great journalist he was, and for the most part really was, but his pronouncement that it was "unwinnable" really turned the tide of opinion. 1 Quote
Pat Riot Posted February 5 Posted February 5 My Uncle Tom fought in Vietnam for 1 1/2 tours. Got popped in the knee the second tour. He despised Walter Cronkite for his news and narratives. I think he was in country ‘68/‘69. I recall I was in 3rd grade when came back from Vietnam the first time then he went back when I was in 4th grade. He was in the Army. 1 Quote
Texas Red Posted February 5 Posted February 5 1st Lottery #92, Yea you could say it Changed my life... TR 1 Quote
Duffield, SASS #23454 Posted February 6 Posted February 6 4 hours ago, Pat Riot said: My Uncle Tom fought in Vietnam for 1 1/2 tours. Got popped in the knee the second tour. He despised Walter Cronkite for his news and narratives. I think he was in country ‘68/‘69. I recall I was in 3rd grade when came back from Vietnam the first time then he went back when I was in 4th grade. He was in the Army. I'm with Uncle Tom on this: I did 1&1/2 tours, got popped in the knees and despise Walter Cronkite. 1 Quote
Colorado Coffinmaker Posted February 6 Posted February 6 I'm with Utah Bob. I was there and don't need to re-live it. There were several "Journalists" that were much much worse than Cronkite. Plus, Cronkite was right. Quote
Duffield, SASS #23454 Posted February 6 Posted February 6 25 minutes ago, Colorado Coffinmaker said: I'm with Utah Bob. I was there and don't need to re-live it. There were several "Journalists" that were much much worse than Cronkite. Plus, Cronkite was right. Cronkite was wrong. 1 Quote
Colorado Coffinmaker Posted February 6 Posted February 6 Really?? So, how was running away with our tail between our legs "Winning??" We had the Men, the Material, the Equipment. Unfortunately, our Political leaders didn't have the "Will" I did TWO and Three Quarter tours. I was Medivac'd my last tour. 3 Quote
Duffield, SASS #23454 Posted February 6 Posted February 6 He was wrong when he said it was unwinnable. If he had said that we did not have the will to win I would have agreed with him. 1 1 Quote
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted February 6 Posted February 6 (edited) A lot of the "front line journalists" sent their stories for places like the Metropole Hotel in Saigon. My wife was living in Layton,Utah while I was there . Her apartment was one of about three dozen in a complex pretty much filled with wives and families of guys in 'Nam, mostly USAF type because Hill AFB was right there. The ladies would get together for company support, and socializing. She told me that they were watching the news when one woman saw her husband killed on TV. She never watched TV news again as long a she lived. Edited February 13 by Forty Rod SASS 3935 3 Quote
watab kid Posted February 6 Posted February 6 i remember seeing that news on TV every evening at dinner time , it was ON as that was what we relied on for the info of the day , thats when the MSM got the idea they were the gods of info in our lifetimes , we gave them that because it was our only connection , when i left high school in dec 68 and started college in jan 69 we had just watched TET unfold on TV , most of the next few years of my life were influencesd by what we had and were seeing on YV , i cant imagine that woman seeing her husband killed on the nightly news , but i do remember the nightly news being full of the imbeded reports - the body counts - the actual on location reports that were more real than anything the US population had ever seen before , wewere not used to that , we were used to doctored up news reels at the movie theaters , it was sobering , i also remember the antiwar protesters and that coverage at the democrat convention , i remember them on campus , i remember the building on the campus i was studying on getting bombed , no one hurt thankfully , i remember the protestors trying to block access to our classes , and i remember kent state and classes being canceled , i remember dropping my student deferment to be eligible for the lottery and being good with whatever happened , i got a real high number FWTW , im still 1H and always will be per those regs of the times - subject to call up at any moment , true they dont want me anymore , but im still on the list , i also remember my VN student vet friends telling me about their experiences returning home , there is a lot of those times that ive chosen to not dwell on but none of it has ever left my mind , life allowed me to enjoy the company of a lot of others over the years that either experienced it as i did or served there and suffered the insults of those times , ive been blessed to know all good people in either case , we all agree we are very much ashamed of what the MSM did with the trust we gave back then , they seemed to think they were given that trust as a right to mislead and lie , NOT TRUE , but i do believe ive lived long enough now to see that get negated - we shall see , i know i dont watch TV or the nightly news as i did back then , nor do i believe what they say or alter my life based on that anymore , Quote
Eyesa Horg Posted February 6 Posted February 6 12 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said: She told me that they were watching the news when one woman saw her husband killed on TV Geez, that's awful. Quote
Nickle Posted February 6 Posted February 6 Thank you veterans for your service. I was a little kid during the war. I actually have a great aunt who left Canada, joined American Army as a nurse in Vietnam. After war she moved to Chicago and kind of lost touch but I was like 3 years old or something. The war always interested me. To someone like me who wasn't there. I'm kind of under the impression that America could not kill or bomb to victory. Seems like for everyone killed somehow enemies kept multiplying? Then after Vietnam it sort of became more of trying to win hearts and minds of the people? Vietnam was end of body counts being score card? Robert McNamara did a pretty candid interview on a show called The fog of war. Don't take anything I'm asking in a bad way because I don't mean it this way ever. Quote
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted February 7 Posted February 7 Hell, we had it won until the "Peaceniks" got to congress and took over the news media. Is everyone aware that the United States has never fought a war, much less won one, since 1945? We bailed out in Korea, turned our tails and ran in Vietnam, and have been fiddly-farting around all over the middle east ever since. We fight everyone else's wars and finance their do-nothing militaries all while we have the power to put an end to it all. 1 2 Quote
Buckshot Bear Posted February 7 Author Posted February 7 Watched two more episodes last night, very very moving the interviews with the veterans, both sides (yes they interview VC veterans) really brings home just how pointless all wars are. Vietnam is now a tourist 'mecca' for young Aussies to travel to. All those young lives lost in WW1 & WWII and in all Western countries Mercedes and Toyota's, Mazda's, Honda's etc etc are the most numerous cars on our roads. Quote
watab kid Posted February 7 Posted February 7 2 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said: Hell, we had it won until the "Peaceniks" got to congress and took over the news media. Is everyone aware that the United States has never fought a war, much less won one, since 1945? We bailed out in Korea, turned our tails and ran in Vietnam, and have been fiddly-farting around all over the middle east ever since. We fight everyone else's wars and finance their do-nothing militaries all while we have the power to put an end to it all. ill second these thoughts - our political types have always swayed to the whims of those that protest loudest in the streets , almost always unemployed but paid by those that wanted to influence policy , aided by the MSM coverage and fawning , it has been so since VN , that is why you see it on our campuses today , we fight the battles and pay the bills but we have to live with the restrictions when fighting and pay the taxes , its BS .............why trump has struck a cord - we are tired of it , 3 Quote
Buckshot Bear Posted February 11 Author Posted February 11 Amazing the interviews (both sides) and how they have been able to locate so many people that appeared in the original news footages all these years later and listen to their stories. Last nights episode was titled Mutiny, bit hard to listen to some of the mutinous stories and fragging of officers, especially of brand new LTs dropped into platoons and not knowing much of anything. Quote
Trailrider #896 Posted February 11 Posted February 11 The first year I was in AFROTC, the first thing we were taught was that military power was useless if the country didn't have the will to use it! That was in 1960. LBJ and MacNamera tried to micro-manage the Viet Nam war from Washington. All sorts of restrictions on those who were over there. F-105's had to fly Route Pac 6 at the same time, altitude and airspeed every time they were up. All Charlie had to do was look at his watch and salvo SAMs. Same with NVAF fighters. Couldn't be hit on the ground. Had to wait until they took off! Screw "rules of engagement"! There are five names on the Wall of guys I went to school with, including a college classmate who was the WSO in the back of an Air Force RF-4. They were doing infrared runs over South Viet Nam. They called in "feet dry" (over land after being over the ocean), and that was the last they heard from them. Never have found the wreckage! I never got out of CONUS, though not for lack of trying. They needed missileers more than pilots in '65. To paraphrase Lonesome George Gobel, when Johnny Carson asked how George felt about being an instructor pilot during WWII, rather than going overseas, "I went where I was told to go, did what I was supposed to do, to the best of my ability, and...so far...there are no nuclear craters on the North American continent, except at the test sites." God Bless all those who served in Nam and elsewhere! 3 Quote
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted February 11 Posted February 11 On a lighter note George talks of his being a pilot instructor in this clip. A lot of Hollywood celebrities served in WWII, including Dan Rowan of “Laugh In” fame, who was a P-40 pilot with 2 aerial victories. Eddie Arnold of “Green Acres” fame piloted a landing craft in the Pacific. Saved a number of Marine lives by putting his craft between enemy fire and them. God bless those who served and now serve. 1 2 Quote
watab kid Posted February 11 Posted February 11 we are loosing them at a fast rate these days most are near or over 100 as my father would be today had he not died of cancer in 2000 , those left are to be respected 1 1 Quote
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