I was wondering what it was like during the Vietnam War ?

After spending most of the weekend and today reading through all of the latest threads here at ATS about the war on terrorism, the Iraqi prisoner abuse, President Bush being responsible for the war, Kerry did or didn't do this or that.. etc... it got me to thinking.

Was it the same way during the Vietnam War ?

Did people blame the president for everything that went wrong back then ?

Were there stories of prisoner abuse that the leaders of that time got blamed for ?

Everything that's in the news today, pertaining to the war and terrorism, was it similar back then ?

I'm only 34 years old, so I don't know much about the war, I only remember spending about 1 or 2 days on it back in history class and really can't remember much of what we were told.

Present day, I have not taken the time to study up on the Vietnam War for lack of time.

I was hoping that I could ask my question here and get some replies and maybe compare the two wars and the way people acted and reacted to what took place.

not much, born in 1964, father went to Vietnam in march of 1965, was at 5 AF HQ there until 1967. I do remember my older brothers saying the whole war was a bunch of caca and that is was so stupid, we were just there to test weapons and lose good people. Later my father said the same thing, that we could have won the war if we would have blown up the dam's in North Vietnam the first week we were there and drown all of the enemy. There were a lot of ticked off people back then like there are now and LBJ, the president then, probably went down in history as one of the worst leaders if not the worst leader in world history. Our current president seems to be following LBJ straight down the line.

Hi eo!!

Well, "tea" here sees me off shortly - but as a 53 year old, I remeber it quite well (but from UK, of course).

You might check out My Lai here for some information?

'blown up the dams'?

We're talking about a region that has seasonal monsoons.

Apparently, McNamara, the secretary of defense then, told the CNO and the Air Force Chief of Staff that whoever between the Navy and AF was doing the most damage would get a 1 billion dollar spending bonus for more equipment and people the following year, this was 1967. While McNamara was on a carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin the Navy was sending every plan they could inland and none came back with anything on them. On the way inland later with the USAF, the AF, lit up an entire hill with Napalm and Phoso.. and McNamara being the idiot he was, was so impressed he gave the bonus to the AF. There was nothing on the hill other than trees and grass.

What I was told by my father, retired USAF Colonel, 5th AF HQ, Vietnam.

Thanks Genya, that was quite a story. I had heard similar stories from my Dad about these types of killings.

I'm also looking for information on the US's repsonse to such events back then.

by the way, my Dad was stationed in Germany 1966 -1969, came home in early 69'. He told me stories of his buddies who were called to duty in Vietnam, he later found out that most of them were killed.

It's very similar. We lied to get us into Vietnam (Gulf of Tonkin). Nixon lied through his teeth about our involvment (Cambodia). Since it was the President's war, it seems only natural to blame him. We commited a great deal of atrocities in Vietnam, but they did a better job of covering it up (every soldier didn't have a camera). Sometimes it would take a year or two or 10 for us to find out what happened (too many scandals to list). Yes, daily newcasts, with the daily death toll. It was the first war shown on tv, nightly. That's one of the reasons why it's such a cultural watershed.

again, I'm not very knowledgable about the Vietnam war, but I've heard people say that the U.S. would drop paper warnings on the villages and cities before we would bomb them. I know that it was to try to save inoccents, but let's see,


I'm a vietcong commander, I have a stock pile of weapons and troops, oh here comes a nice little letter out of the sky, The U.S. is running a bobming mission here tomorrow at 2pm, yikes, I better leave...

know what I mean, how could we have won the war with that happening ?

Robert McNamara has new book out about his involvement. He's been quoted as being regretful over the whole thing.

My father in law spent six years with the special forces-65-71. Threw people outta choppers and such. Then came home and severely traumatized his children. But in the event of martial law and civil anarchy, I have access to all the assault weapons and c-rations I'd need for a year.

Any one seen Jacob's Ladder? BZ testing on troops really happened.