[77 TRASHCAN]

All I can say is, Wow...

Many people in my life were affected by this war.

Man's inhumanity to man.

[Scarebird]

We seem incapable of learning the lessons of others.

[Keith Seymore]

My brother in law has just published his next book (I believe it came out yesterday).

It is called "The Odyssey of Echo Company" by Doug Stanton. It is about one man's life in Viet Nam and beyond.

Seems like all of this stuff is coming out at the same time. According to Tom Brokaw older veterans start to open up around the age of 65-70, so the time is probably ripe to have the dialog as a nation.

K

https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Echo-.../dp/1476761914

[Keith Seymore]

His previous two works, "In Harm's Way" and "Horse Soldiers" are both being turned into major motion pictures.

"Horse Soldiers" should be out next year and stars Chris Hemsworth.

"In Harm's Way" is back in the spotlight due to the recent discovery of the USS Indianapolis.

Sorry for the slight hijack but all of the festivities were Sunday, and Ken Burns' documentary came up often, so this is all pretty fresh.

K

https://www.amazon.com/Harms-Way-Ind...m%27s+way+book

https://www.amazon.com/Horse-Soldier...+soldiers+book

[Stuart]

That's interesting - as it happens I just finished reading In Harm's Way last weekend. Good book. I'll have to check out his other books as well.

I'm watching the Ken Burns documentary as well. During the first episode I learned a lot about the situation in Vietnam during WWII and in prior years I did not know before.

[Tom Hand]

Stuart, I agree 100%. I never knew what happened before "our" time.
It is so depressing after the first two episodes, I am not sure I can watch them all yet. I had no idea the South was in such disarray while we were trying to help them. And, the Monks and the Catholic struggle: never had any idea till now.
I am sad that so many folks from so many backgrounds were affected without any real fault of their own.
Ken Burns does such a great job on evrrything he works on.

[ornjcr8]

I agree Tom that watching it makes me slightly depressed also, as I was in the Army during the war. To this day I have never looked at the Viet Nam memorial because I don't want to see someones name on there that I did'nt know died.

[red1975pacer]

Im 56 , I wasn't there, but I remember people coming home wounded. My thoughts, while watching the documentary is that we had no business even being there. Outsiders, whether French or American, , simply had no place in that situation.. Unwinnable of course, but my heath most respect to those who served

[locomotivebreath]

No business being there ? The domino theory was right . When we left in 75 millions died at the hands of commies . In south Vietnam and the red **stards spilled into laos & Cambodia once the US left . It did however provide the power of presence for places like Singapore to once and for oust the commie heathen . We took a shot at at least having a successful south Vietnam and strong ally like we have in Korea . We let the commies know that we'll kill a 100 of em for every 1 of ours , we won't run out of men guns or any other equipment . All we did was take the gloves off and told the commies - name the next street corner , we'll be there . The Russians sure as hell paid attention to the effort we put up ! Damn well may have saved Europe from a red invasion . Families tossed there children over the embassy walls to Marines as they coordinated the evacuation - think about that - a person would hand over their child to a foreign soldier that they don't know and is leaving forever . Why , because they knew of communist brutality and the lack of a future for their kids under commie rule - we showed them the possibilities of sucsess under capitalism . Don't ever think we didn't do the right thing

[ws6speedpaul]

You may also want to read "No Greater Love..." written by my best man's cousin who served beyond lines in the special forces in Viet Nam.

Books Title:
No Greater Love, A day with the mobile guerrilla force in Viet Nam"; by James Donahue, Darling Books, Canton, Ohio
Copyright 1988.

My best man also severed on a river gun boat and will not speak about it.

This is a tale that is true to what happened beyond enemy lines.

Let me what you think

[Tom Hand]

I agree L Breath about the domino theory and we see it even today in the middle east.
It is sometimes so hard to figure it all out and I am thankful we now have such sharp military planners when we need them.
I worked 35 years in the Defense business and thankful I had the opportunity to do so.

[Txbobcat]

I am proud of the time I served in Viet Nam. I have learned so much from this series that I didn't know then,

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Txbobcat

I am proud of the time I served in Viet Nam. I have learned so much from this series that I didn't know then,

Thank you for being obedient to the call and putting everything on the line. Some of us can only imagine what that must be like.

K

[Greg Reid]

I'm recording the entire series to watch later. I had no idea that it was a Ken Burns effort. Just happened to see it on the upcoming menu and set it up to record. I've watched his docs on Jazz, Baseball, Prohibition and of course, The Civil War. All excellent.

[David Jones]

I watched last night and have seen parts of the other 3. One of last nights threads was the story of a young man named Mogie Crocker. Both from what he experienced in Vietnam and from his family's perspective back home. When they started telling the part where he was killed, what actually happened and then when/how his family was told....I cried like a baby.

Mogie's story played out 10,000's of thousands of times.

[OCMDGTO]

Thanks to all that served!!!!!! I have read a lot of books about this war(mostly personal accounts of people that served) and am truly fascinated by their stories. I was born in 65 so I was a little too young to fully understand what was going on at the time, but the threat of communism was totally different than today. This war was undoubtedly winnable if the generals in the field could have run it their way instead of politicians limiting their actions. It was shameful how these vets were treated on their return to the US.

[Scarebird]

Originally Posted by OCMDGTO

...but the threat of communism was totally different than today. This war was undoubtedly winnable if the generals in the field could have run it their way instead of politicians limiting their actions. It was shameful how these vets were treated on their return to the US.

Were you watching the same thing the rest of us are?

It was pretty well explained that the Johnson administration sorted out that by 1965 they knew the war was unwinnable as the North and VC were far more willing to fight than the South.

David Halberstamm covered this well in his book "The Best and Brightest".
We are going thru the same thing again in Afghanistan and evidently have not learned a damn thing...

[hurryinhoosier62]

Scarebird, when Gen. Giap was interviewed after the war had ended he admitted that both the NVA and Viet Cong were defeated after Tet Offensive in 1968. They (the NVA) couldn't understand why the U.S. didn't invade North Vietnam and remove the Communist government. It took four YEARS of constant resupply from the Soviet Union and China to rebuild the NVA to a point where it was again able to attack into South Vietnam. I doubt Mr. Burns will have these FACTS in his documentary. LBJ and McNamarra were incompetent and totally unable to accept the "hard math" that statistics could be manipulated.

[Scarebird]

If we invaded the North the Chinese would have flooded in as in 1950.

[locomotivebreath]

Although a risk , china & n Vietnam weren't the warm and fuzzy allies like china and Korea . Remember , Vietnam and the chicoms fought each other in 79 and are still distrustful of each other today . China was still mindful as they are today of the punch in the mouth we gave em in 50-53 . Although a decent documentary , there's plenty of errors on the facts . Another big one is the fallacy that monorities served/ Kia at higher rate in combat units -complete hogwash . At any rate , limited warfare , afraid of this or hurt feelings on that is guarantee for disaster. If your gonna risk lives and spend the money , there's only one option - total commitment .