Thuan Nguyen - VietCong Pleiku, in the central highlands of Vietnam, is the closest thing that I have ever seen to a heaven on Earth. Waking up every day amongst the rice paddies, amongst the rich grasslands, amongst my people are all memories I will take to my deathbed. Despite this, since I turned twelve years old in 1965, it became clear to me that Pleiku was going to be my graveyard, that I was just biding my time, waiting for the inevitable bullet to crash through my skull; but I digress. See, I was not even a teenager when my older brother handed me a Kalashnikov and a bag of rice and told me I was going to fight the Americans. I am still not totally sure why I am fighting or why anybody else is, but I know this: they are monsters. Oh, I have seen them burn through villages, seen them bring my people before their knees. I have seen them watch as a grandmother flees the hut they torched, and as she tries to surrender, look her straight in the eye and shoot at her head, leaving her to bleed in the straw as her grandchildren watch. I have seen the floating bodies on the river, raped beyond recognition and black with effects of rot, a morbid semblance of peace. Peace; I had to watch this quietly for three …show more content…
Laster was talking about Southeast Asia that my own country would have the nerve to ship my ass there in two years. See I came from a military family (my dad fought in World War Two), so when I got my draft notice in January 1967 I did not have a chance to pull any of that hippie crap and burn my draft card; I was going to join the Army just like every one of my six brothers. When I got to basic training in Fort Walters, Texas, I was just laying down one day when a sergeant asked me if I wanted to be a helicopter pilot. Now, I am not all that bright, but I knew I’d rather shoot those VC fuckers from the air than get shot by them on the
In the pursuit of safety, acceptance, and the public good, many atrocities have been committed in places such as Abu Ghraib and My Lai, where simple, generally harmless people became the wiling torturers and murderers of innocent people. Many claim to have just been following orders, which illustrates a disturbing trend in both the modern military and modern societies as a whole; when forced into an obedient mindset, many normal and everyday people can become tools of destruction and sorrow, uncaringly inflicting pain and death upon the innocent.
Appy’s book is valuable to its readers in showing how Vietnam became the template for every American war since, from novelties like the invasion of Grenada to the seemingly never-ending conflicts post-9/11. But before all that, there was Vietnam, and, larger lessons aside, Appy’s book is a fascinating, insightful, infuriating and thought-provoking study of that conflict, from its earliest days
The years 1961 to 1972 saw the American involvement in Vietnam. For a little over ten years, America sent its sons off to fight for an unknown cause in a country they knew little about. When the United States finally pulled out of Southeast Asia, many were left scratching their heads. Over 58,000 young men died without really knowing why. Although it is a work of fiction, Tim O’Brien’s Going After Cacciato expresses the views of those who spent their lives in the jungles of Vietnam.
The three narratives “Home Soil” by Irene Zabytko, “Song of Napalm” by Bruce Weigl, and “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen all have the same feelings of war and memory, although not everyone experiences the same war. Zabytko, Weigl, and Owen used shifting beats, dramatic descriptions, and intense, painful images, to convince us that the horror of war far outweighs the devoted awareness of those who fantasize war and the memories that support it.
War is cruel. The Vietnam War, which lasted for 21 years from 1954 to 1975, was a horrific and tragic event in human history. The Second World War was as frightening and tragic even though it lasted for only 6 years from 1939 to 1945 comparing with the longer-lasting war in Vietnam. During both wars, thousands of millions of soldiers and civilians had been killed. Especially during the Second World War, numerous innocent people were sent into concentration camps, or some places as internment camps for no specific reasons told. Some of these people came out sound after the war, but others were never heard of again. After both wars, people that were alive experienced not only the physical damages, but also the psychic trauma by seeing the deaths and injuries of family members, friends or even just strangers. In the short story “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” by Bao Ninh about the Vietnam War, and the documentary film Barbed Wire and Mandolins directed by Nicola Zavaglia with a background of the Second World War, they both explore and convey the trauma of war. However, the short story “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” is more effective in conveying the trauma of war than the film Barbed Wire and Mandolins because of its well-developed plot with well-illustrated details, and its ability to raise emotional responses from its readers.
War is the means to many ends. The ends of ruthless dictators, of land disputes, and lives – each play its part in the reasoning for war. War is controllable. It can be avoided; however, once it begins, the bat...
The Eaves of Heaven was written by Andrew X. Pham and was first released in 2008. According to Steinnglass (2008) unlike his first book, Cat Fish and Mandala, which told Pham’s story from his childhood to his immigration into America, to his return to Vietnam in the 1990’s, the Eaves of Heaven focuses on telling the Vietnam story of Pham’s family from his father, Thong Van ham’s perspective. In essence, Pham tells of his father’s own experiences in a solid and balanced nature. Generally, the book focuses on what Pham calls “three wars”, referring to the French colonization of Indochina, Japan’s invasion during World War II, and the Vietnam War. In this regard, Pham, through his father’s own voice, manages to uniquely capture the entire progression of Vietnam throughout the 20h century. It is the story of one man’s heartbreaks, reversal of fortunes and resilience throughout the length of the three wars. To a great extent, the title of the book intrinsically captures the alternation of good and bad times and experiences for Thong Van Pham. This paper argues that the Eaves of Heaven reveals that war corrodes civil life and
War has always been an essential ingredient in the development of the human race. As a result of the battles fought in ancient times, up until modern warfare, millions of innocent lives have ended as a result of war crimes committed. In the article, “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience,” Herbert C. Kelman and V.Lee Hamilton shows examples of moral decisions taken by people involved with war-related murders. This article details one of the worse atrocities committed during the Vietnam War in 1968 by the U.S. military: the My Lai Massacre. Through this incident, the question that really calls for psychological analysis is why so many people are willing to formulate , participate in, and condone policies that call for the mass killings of defenseless civilians such as the atrocities committed during the My Lai massacre. What influences these soldiers by applying different psychological theories that have been developed on human behavior.
The political and societal ramifications of Vietnam's Tet Offensive indubitably illustrate the historical oddity of 1968. 1967 had not been a bad year for most Americans. Four years after the profound panic evoked by the assassination of John Kennedy, the general public seemed to be gaining a restored optimism, and even the regularly protested Vietnam War still possessed the semblance of success (Farber and Bailey 34-54). However, three short weeks following the eve of 68, Americans abruptly obtained a radically different outlook. The Tet Offensive, beginning on January 30, 1968, consisted of a series of military incursions during the Vietnam War, coordinated between the National Liberation Front's People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF), or "Viet Cong," and the ...
A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain ...
The Olson and Roberts book, My Lai is based upon the March 18, 1968, assault on My Lai. By examining the material, an explanation of why this massacre occurred is drawn. The main factors that lead to the My Lai assault were difficulty engaging with the enemy and the problem of distinguishing between the enemy soldiers and civilians, which both led to rage and frustration among soldiers and a misinterpretation of the mission.
John F. Kennedy once famously said, “Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.” It has been said a few decades ago but the theme of war is relevant at all times. One might share Kennedy’s point of view, when another one not. The most obvious example of different views and approaches on how to deal with conflicts are of the Western and Eastern civilizations. The Western is focused on physical aggressiveness and getting things done through power and coercion, while the Eastern approach is more philosophical, rational, and strategic. We see such method of approach in Sun Tzu’s military treatise, “The Art of War.” Even though he wrote a manual on how to defeat an enemy, Sun Tzu emphasized that a large portion of success is based on the army’s moral duty, which is cultivated by incentives, leaders’ examples, and the ability to listen to their soldiers.
The United States of America is a warrior nation. To pretend otherwise ignores a national history colored in red blood and gun smoke. Despite this, the American national conscience seeks forever the moral high ground. This national need extends to America’s ability to wage and sustain war. World War II was no exception. The Call to Arms came only after Japan’s killing of unprepared men in Pearl Harbor. The nation did not see the attack as an attack on a legitimate target but as an immoral attack. Giving in to its warrior spirit, the nation looked for retribution. Unable to shake a conscience developed and tempered by its early religious heritage, though, the nation needed more justification than mere revenge for the coming actions it would take. America’s policy of “Unconditional Surrender” provided this justification. Implied in Unconditional Surrender was the concept of Unconditional Warfare – total war. Further implied in the concept of total war was the justification for a fully violent and vengeful response. America needed the moral justification implied in the policy of Unconditional Surrender.
Head, William. “Ngo Dinh Diem.” United States at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. 2008. ABC-CLIO. 29 Apr. 2008. Retrieved May 18, 2014, from http://www.coldwar.org/articles/50s/NgoDinhDiem.asp
...ent art practiced by many Native American cultures. “War is the setting for many Native American stories. Some stories are concerned with the origin of war, such as the Serrano story of Kukitat, who introduces war” (Britannica). How can one distinguish between the war on drugs, the war on terrorism, anarchy, and wars between states? (Liungman, Dictionary of Symbols). War has a more global effect than one-to-one combat and we need to be conscious of the effect our actions will have on others. Definitions are relevant as they provide the rationale for considering a war legitimate and just and contribute to decisions about international interventions, aid, and protocol. This has become particularly important in contemporary international affairs, when the most prevalent conflicts have been nationalist and or ethnic in character and international terrorism has escalated.