The Vietnam War

[Nate Dogg #76]

Any one want to discuss anything about the war? Did you know the first american killed in vietnam was in 1957 the last on April 29 1975. Just over 58000 americans died during the war and only 8 were women. Close to 17000 died in 1968 alone.

[quads14589]

my dads friend fought in vietnam and my dad almost had to go.

My dad never got drafted in....But one of his freinds wanted to go so bad but the Army wouldnt let him, he was to crazy:p

[Raptor350yamaha]

my dad was drafted into vietnam

[juanki]

this war could have been stoped so much before it started, if just the us had lisented (?) ho chi min, when he asked to to heard but was denied. but things happens for a reason.

[Nate Dogg #76]

Originally posted by juanki
this war could have been stoped so much before it started, if just the us had lisented (?) ho chi min, when he asked to to heard but was denied. but things happens for a reason.
There is alot more to it that. It was The US and its allies vs the comunist. Communism was spreading and The us had to prevent it.

[AtvMxRider]

I work with a couple guys that were there. One of them lost his leg.

[Pappy]

My dad joined the Marine Corps while he was still in high school. he was in Vietnam in March of 65, came home for good in 69. He recieved 3 purple hearts, a bronze star and a silver star.

I asked him once what he thought about the war, he said it was the best and worst times of his life. I also asked him if he knew why he was there. he said ..."Yeah, kill gooks". While that may seem harsh, alot of that generation were sons of WW2 vets and wanted combat. he did not seem to mind it, the killing that is.

Originally posted by juanki
this war could have been stoped so much before it started, if just the us had lisented (?) ho chi min, when he asked to to heard but was denied. but things happens for a reason.

For some reason, I think history is going to repeat itself. :(

[TRX_450]

Originally posted by Raptor350yamaha
my dad was drafted into vietnam


same...went into the marines...was in vietnam on a special forces team...i cant talk to him about it...he tells me stories of training and boot camp but so much as to mention the war and he gets pissed/sad....one day i was on my comp doing some research on vietnam as a country for social studies class and had a picture of some jungle and he came in and was talking and asked what iw as lookin at and i said the vietnam jungle and he stared at it for a few minutes and started shaking and started crying....it really scared me but to most of those guys its a really touchy subject...so in conclusion....if ya ever talk to a vietnam vet...be careful what you say and dont push your luck about getting stuff out of them

[juanki]

Originally posted by Nate Dogg #76
There is alot more to it that. It was The US and its allies vs the comunist. Communism was spreading and The us had to prevent it.

that is correct, but before the war, vietnam wasnt communist, ho chi minh seek help from the us and he was denied, so he sougth help from the ussr or china in their inner war.

i did a paper when i was in h.s. in the us. got an a- on it, it was titled the prelude of a war. or the beginig of the war, i still have it somplace after 15 years.

[Raptor350yamaha]

My dad doesnt really care to talk about it, he watches things on the history, discovery, and military channel about vietnam all the time. I can understand why your dad doesnt like to talk about it, it wasnt a great place to be at all and everywhere you went there would be dead vietnamese in a big pile sometimes right next to where you were staying. some stuff happended over there that is just best not talked about with people that were in the war

[250R-Dee]

Vietnam = blame the french!!

My dad and uncle did 4 tours in Nam. Sometimes they talk about Nam but for the most part they do not say much. Neither one of them sleep well at night.

Nam could have ended before it got nasty. Watch the movie "A bright shining lie" and you will understand what I am talking about.

[Pappy]

Originally posted by 250R-Dee


My dad and uncle did 4 tours in Nam. Sometimes they talk about Nam but for the most part they do not say much. Neither one of them sleep well at night.


Mine also suffered alot from it, but he made his peace and opened up the last few years of his life and talked endlessly about it. He was amazed at how the VC and NVA could withstand what they did. After watching the documentarys that became popular the past 10 years he found alot of respect for those he fought.


He did kill a man a few years after he returned from the war. A person he had arrested for breaking into his gas station got out of jail and started following him. At a red light he stepped out of the car and opened fire. The ol' man bailed out and capped him. When the cops got there he had all his papers out and was searching his car for weapons. It took them a good while before they realized he was thinking he was in the war and not in the middle of a city street:p Thankfully the event was witnessed and a bullet hole under his arm in his jacket proved he acted in self defense.

I was also called away from school to talk him down one time. He had shot up a guys car that had been giving him trouble and after a chase and a road block he went off into the woods. The police had the 911 on him being a vet and wouldnt follow him. They sent me in and I found him asleep next to a tree. When he woke up he did not remember a thing.

Our vets have a ton of issues that for the most part were ignored on purpose to help the country heal from a war it wanted to forget.

[Nate Dogg #76]

My dad was drafted into the army in 1969 at the age of 21. He was to be sent to vietnam, but got sick and had to have surgery on his stomach and was released from the army with an honorable discharge. Growing up he talked about the army and I guess you could say I've been researching the war ever since. Vietnam veterans deserve just as much respect as any vet of any war. Their country called and they went.

[250R-Dee]

Neither my dad nor my uncle will talk about their missions but I know they belonged to SOG and Black Ops because all of their friends (active and retired) were Special Ops, Airborne (Dad and uncle), Rangers and so forth . Those guys did some really crazy missions in NAM.

What they did talk about was leadership, loyalty, the absence of feeling after seeing so much death and the reasons why politicians need to visit the frontline instead hiding behind their comfy desk on capitol hill.

I remember my dad waking up with the slighest sound or always being aware of everything around him.

I remember my uncle talking dead bodies like it was nothing. Me, my cousin and my uncle were driving down to his property in Cumberland County, NC when we saw a dead dog in the road. Out of nowhere he looks at me and says: "I saw people like that in Nam almost everyday". He went right back to talking about the number and size of the Cedar trees we needed to cut with no problem. That totally blew our minds!!

I thought my dad was going to kill me and an Army recruiter when he showed up at my door during my last year of high school. My dad grilled the recruiter like he was a new recruit who had just arrived at bootcamp and sent him running out the door like a scalded dog. It took me 2 weeks to convince my dad that the recruiter's visit was uninvited and that he had been bugging me for weeks.

Politics is what got so many people killed in Vietnam. I have listened to many Vietnam vets, read many historical accounts and watched many movies that are based on true stories. Nam shouldn't have lasted as long as it did.

Politics prolonged the war because every decision had to be approved by some idiot who did not understand how the war was being foung. Politics inspired military commanders to get body counts..... blah blab blab! I'll stop now.

[Nate Dogg #76]

I agree with you on the politics garbage. Search and destroy the NVA but don't follow them across the Cambodian border.

[Crashmore 22]

My father went in 71, his brother-in-law was killed in 69 in Nam. My dad can't talk about it. He told me once that the soldiers that saw the worst then, still see it everynight, therefore they can't sleep today. So, please be respectful to EVERY SOLDIER and VETERAN.