The Vietnam War

[Garufa]

Ken Burns' documentary on that war premiers on PBS Sunday the 17th.  His work has always put together a compelling story and I imagine this will be no different. 

I am looking forward to it and would love to hear the reactions of those who lived through that era in both a military and cultural sense as I'm sure the series will cover all the bases.

[MacGyver]

I'm looking forward to this.  

 

[btq96r]

Ken Burns documentaries don't disappoint. Been looking forward to this since I heard about it a while back.

I kind of want to watch this with my Dad on my next visit to see him. He enlisted in the Army in '66 knowing full well what his immediate future held, and I'd love to hear him talk about it more if it is something he's willing to share.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk. OhShoot very much likes to know when we're using Tapatalk.

[Raoul]

It will be tough to watch. I had close family members die in SE Asia. I always assumed I was to follow. I actually ran across my draft card the other day in a box of crap I had picked up from my mom's.

[Grand Torino]

I spent two tours there and my older brother died there. I shall be watching.

[Garufa]

I was born in October of '67 so that's why I'm highly interested in this. My dad was 27 when I was born and had already been denied service for health reasons as he only had one lung.  My Uncle, his younger brother, was in the Marines over there when I was born and through Tet.

I know it's hard for many to think back on those days but please share or comment on the series if you watch and feel comfortable talking about it.

Edited September 8, 2017 by Garufa

[Murgatroy]

18 minutes ago, Garufa said:

I was born in October of '67 so that's why I'm highly interested in this. My dad was 27 when I was born and had already been denied service for health reasons as he only had one lung.  My Uncle, his younger brother, was in the Marines over there when I was born and through Tet.

I know it's hard for many to think back on those days but please share or comment on the series if you watch and feel comfortable talking about it.

Totally off topic, but I pictured you as much older.

[MacGyver]

We left some of the best of that generation over there.

It's kind of neat watching my dad now.  Since he retired, he's gotten really involved in veterans advocacy issues down in Atlanta. He had such a hard time when he came back, but now it's almost like a switch has flipped.  He remembers how he was treated and does his best to make sure that nobody suffers through that now.

I remember when he was first starting out, they had him talking to a ton of veterans just coming back. He didn't think he had that much to offer or that his story was that interesting, but as it turns out the part of interest was that he made it.  He transitioned back into society, had a family and now at 65 years old is still alive. 

I don't know if he'll watch it or not. He still occasionally wakes up in the jungle and I guess has learned not to turn over some rocks.  

[bigun]

Would like to see this myself. Kinda. Hope I don't forget.

[Oh Shoot]

12 minutes ago, bigun said:

Would like to see this myself. Kinda. Hope I don't forget.

It's 10 parts, 18 hours total.

I guess it'll be on Comcast On Demand, probably other subscriber networks to watch when you want? Won't help if you're getting PBS directly over the airwaves though, have to watch it live or record.

- OS

Edited September 8, 2017 by Oh Shoot

[Erik88]

I don't have cable. I'm wondering how I can catch it.

[Murgatroy]

PBS should be HDOTA everywhere. If you can grab as PBS station.

[Classic WBY]

Been there..............have the t-shirt.  Never will forget the ones that didn't make it back........................Still after 47 years. Thanks to all that served.....in a very difficult war.

[bigun]

8 hours ago, Oh Shoot said:

It's 10 parts, 18 hours total.

I guess it'll be on Comcast On Demand, probably other subscriber networks to watch when you want? Won't help if you're getting PBS directly over the airwaves though, have to watch it live or record.

- OS

Thanks OS I'm going to make myself a note

[bersaguy]

I have spent many nights waking up in cold sweats from dreams and for a long time I have seemed to have gotten over them so probably not going to watch it. Not going to chance going back into nightless sleeps. I have managed to avoid watching all the movies they made over the years about that war. I know they are only movies but not going to push the envelope..............JMHO 

[Ski]

On 9/7/2017 at 8:30 PM, bigun said:

Would like to see this myself. Kinda. Hope I don't forget.

PBS generally makes their shows available on their website for streaming.  So check there if you later remember that you forgot to watch an episode over the air.

http://pbs.org

[bersaguy]

I need to make a correction on my last post. I did watch one movie about Nam. It was called Apocalypse Now and I think most folks know about that movie and mission in the movie. It was based on a true story and I did not approve of our country sending in a assassin to kill one of our own Colonels but I was familiar with the actual operation. Colonel Kurtz was assassinated as an accused Traitor. The entire story about his true reason for his actions have never been completely released. The truth was also never released..........JMHO

[MacGyver]

If we're talking other Vietnam movies, I think We Were Soldiers is the most powerful to date. 

[Garufa]

18 minutes ago, bersaguy said:

I need to make a correction on my last post. I did watch one movie about Nam. It was called Apocalypse Now and I think most folks know about that movie and mission in the movie. It was based on a true story and I did not approve of our country sending in a assassin to kill one of our own Colonels but I was familiar with the actual operation. Colonel Kurtz was assassinated as an accused Traitor. The entire story about his true reason for his actions have never been completely released. The truth was also never released..........JMHO

While I'm not doubting you and would not be surprised if something like that did happen but Apocalyse Now was based on "Heart of Darkness", a book written by Joseph Conrad in 1899.  

Edited September 9, 2017 by Garufa

[bersaguy]

30 minutes ago, Garufa said:

While I'm not doubting you and would not be surprised if something like that did happen but Apocalyse Now was based on "Heart of Darkness", a book written by Joseph Conrad in 1899.  

I know it would not be something you would think our Government would ever do but there was a lot of things that took place in Nam that we never talked about and in most cases were covered up. I only heard rumors about what really had taken place but I was hearing these rumors while still in country long before Mr Coppola made his movie. I don't know many or any of the details but just rumors. Because of my teams assignments in Recon and Intel we did get tiny bits and pieces of things going on but never bothered to follow up as it was not part of our job. It was a lot like the acts pertaining to Air America and what they actually were into. That was never really explained either but they did exist.

That is why I have made it not a part of my memory as much as possible.............. JMHO 

[btq96r]

3 hours ago, Ski said:

PBS generally makes their shows available on their website for streaming.  So check there if you later remember that you forgot to watch an episode over the air.

http://pbs.org

The PBS App is also good to go on Roku, AppleTV, and Amazon Fire.  I watch a lot of Frontline, American Experience, and NOVA through it.

http://www.pbs.org/anywhere/connected-tv/

[owejia]

First episode had a lot of the background on why we were involved in the conflict to begin with, after WWII. I read the book, The Ten Thousand Day War, a few years ago and what Ken Burns documentary presented was also in that book. Haven't had any bad dreams in a long time. Looks like a well presented documentary. I've never had but one person to specifically thank me for my service there, other than the people at the VA. After I came home and saw the crappy way we were treated, kinda lost my trust in the politicans and the government. Will be watching the rest of the episodes.

[bersaguy]

2 hours ago, owejia said:

First episode had a lot of the background on why we were involved in the conflict to begin with, after WWII. I read the book, The Ten Thousand Day War, a few years ago and what Ken Burns documentary presented was also in that book. Haven't had any bad dreams in a long time. Looks like a well presented documentary. I've never had but one person to specifically thank me for my service there, other than the people at the VA. After I came home and saw the crappy way we were treated, kinda lost my trust in the politicans and the government. Will be watching the rest of the episodes.

" After I came home and saw the crappy way we were treated, kinda lost my trust in the politicans and the government." 

Could not have said this better myself my friend..........................

[Grand Torino]

After watching the first episode it just reconfirmed my belief how ####ty we treat so called allies. We left Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese to rot after WWII. Instead of giving them what they needed we kissed the ring of the French and let them continue to rob the country of its resources and treat the Vietnamese like slaves. Shocking how Ho and his boys ended up hating us so much and taking the help of the Chinese and Russians instead. I never believed we had any business there in the first place and knew in my heart we would never win short of going nuclear. When my brother died on hill 881 I knew this was a pointless war. I served two tours there and I'm as hawkish as they come but after seeing first hand how people died taking hills and valleys and  just turned around and gave it back over and over again. Over 56 thousand US Troops died and millions of Vietnamese as well for frickin' what? All these years later and my wonderful country that I served for 26 years still makes me so mad it's unbelievable sometimes.

There is no sense of loyalty or doing what is right by people in the higher ups and civilian government. It's all crony politics, money, power and lies. Forgive me...I'm rambling but dammit I hated that war and every totally wrong thing we did there. Nothing much pisses me off anymore but this.....this....well still kinda does.

[DaveTN]

Young people should watch this. I can’t count the number of young people that have ask me “Why were we there?”