Vietnam War Interview Forum

Guest

>The Vietnam War between Nov. '68 - Nov.'69

>>How did you feel about the experience as it happened? Why?

>I was terrified and just tried to keep myself and others from being killed.  

>>How do you feel about the experience now? Why?

>The horror and injustices plus the disillusionment of the American Dream drove me to fing all that is right and true.  Nothing else oculd have pushed me beyond the preceptions of "normal" life as viewed by our society.  For that reason, I am thankful for Vietnam.

>>How did this experience change  your life? Why?

>My family and I suffered the symptoms of PTSD for thirty years before we knew what it was.  I wasn't and alcoholic or drug addict and I didn't live under a bridge.  I was able to maintain good jobs but life was empty, confusing and unsatisfying.  I flashed with anger, isolated myself, was emotionally numb, didn't feel part of normal society, couldn't sleep well, had falshbacks and nighmares.

>I tried to bury the memories of terror and death but after thirty years I coldn't deny they bothered me still.  Diabetes poped up and I decided to look for spiritual and physical help.  I wrote my stories out for my wife and son.  All the secrets I tried to ignore flowed out on paper for everyone to see.  My son finally said to his mother, "I don't blame Dad anylonger."

>I am finding a measure of peace after all these years and have a little hard earned knowledge to pass along to those who need it.

>>What were the factors that led to the event?

>The Cold War had been going on for years and finally Vietnam offered an opportunity for the US to try stopping very aggressive Communists regimes.  I felt an obligation to fulfill my requirement to serve instead of running to Canada, going to jail or dropping out with the hippies and protestors.  

>Very little of what I learned growing up applied in the chaos of war in Vietnam.  Life was not precious or sacred, or even fair.  It could be easily wasted for little to no reason.  The sacrifices we made in Vietnam, the suffering together, supporting one another, and self sacrifice were not needed back home in persuit of the American Dream.  Back home, it was evey man for himself and stepping on or using others was acceptable and admired in some cases.  It was very confusing.

>>Describe the political, cultural, social, economic, and historical contexts that were going on in the worl at the time.

>There was enough right and wrong in the war for everyone to pick a side.  Politicians never like taking responsibility for failure so they blamed everyone else including the soldiers for not fighting hard enough to win.  Vietnam became a national embarrassement nad the subject was a political paria unless you were a protestor.  No one wanted to know what it was really like for those who were doing what their country ask them to do.  

>The news media has to sell news and what sells is controversy, blood and gore, human mistakes and frailties and the constantly growing numbers of casualties.  People got so sick of bad news, they just wanted it to end, no matter how.

>The average American was not effected by the war, life went on as normal unless you knew someone directly involved.  There was no shortages or sacrifices to be made like in WWII.  Vietnam was 10,000 miles away and no direct treat of US teritory.

>>What key characters, trends, movements, events, and associated policies were going on in the world at the time?

>We were fighting a hot war to stop the expansion of Communism that was occured during the Cold War.  I think we were using our tools the wrong way.  War is used to completely subdue an enemy.  Politics is a tool used to create a compromise acceptable to a majority of the participants.  Mixing the two together gets very confusing and accomplished neither goal in the end.  

The President and his advisors thought we could ratchet up the cost to the enemy until they had to give in to our demands.  The North Vietnamese were willing to sustain ten to one casualty ratios and kept sending troops across the border.  We would have to invate North Vietnam to stop them and we didn't have the political will to do that.

>To win the war we needed to invade North Vietnam instead of just fight their troops when the crossed the border of South Vietnam.  Politics could never win the war because there was no compromise that the majority could really agree on.

>>Any strong fond memories of the war stick out?

>Too many, but leaving Vietnam was about as good as it gets.  Two friends from basic training and AIT came home with me on the same plane.  We survived.

>>How would you like future generations to remember the war and the troops?

>We did what we were asked to do without being allowed to win the war.  If the war had been on American soil, we would have stopped at nothing to win.
>
>>Do you have any advices for the Iraq war?

Iraq and Afghanistan are religious wars from the Muslum point of view.  If they die in the war, they go straight to paradise.  Politics will not work, do we have the heart to conquer?

>>Why did you choose to join the army, why not one of the other armed?

I volunteered for the draft which kept my active duty commitment down to two years.  The other branches of the service required more active duty time.

>>What did you do in the army and  why did you choose it?

I didn't choose the infantry but that's where they meeded most of the replacements.  I was asked to walk point for a month or two then I could pass it on to someone else.  I walded into a terrible ambush at a month and a half in country.  My entire squad was killed along with 50% of our company medivaced to the hospital.  

There was no one else to pass the job onto until replacements arrived.  Then I couldn't let another new kid go throgh the terror I did, so I kept walking point about every third day for a total of ten months.  Five other point men were killed or wounded.  My squad was anialated a second time while I was in the hospital with a foot infection.  

At ten months in country, I couldn't force myself to go out anymore.  I'd done the best I could for as long as I could.  They let me stay in the fire base for the last two months of my tour.

>>Overal, what do you think about Vietnam war?

If it hadn't happened in Vietnam it would have been somewhere else.  It was the product of what was in the hearts of mankind at the time.  

>>Thank you so much for your help.