Green Berets: A Folklore or More

Green Berets

The Vietnam War was a prolong struggle of communist faction forcing unification of north and South Vietnam. To prevent the spread of communism the United States allied with the South Vietnamese to fight back against the communist faction. The Vietnam War span over 18 years it was apparent that there was no way in winning the war. The U.S leaders lost the support of the American people in fighting a war we can’t win. The U.S leaders thought up and created an elite peace keeping force called the Green Berets. The Green Berets gained a lot of attention to the media through books, music, and movies. A compilation of short stories of the Vietnam War by Tim O’Brien is one of those books. In Tim O’Brien book there is a short story about the Green Berets called the Sweetheart of Song Throng Bong. In the story of Sweetheart we get a feel of how the Green Berets ours. The fictional story that Tim O’Brien wrote and many real accounts of the Green Berets shine a light own what the Green Berets really are rather than what the propaganda tells us. The Green Berets are the elite of their field, they hold a certain mystique around them, and we really don’t know what true from all the folklore we hear about them.

The Green Berets are an Elite special forces for the United States Army formed by the late president John F. Kennedy. Green Berets training can last from 55 weeks to 95 weeks. In that time period Green Berets are trained in 4 phases covering everything from combat to learning new languages. The Green Beret is highly trained individuals making them the elite of the United States Army. They are tightly pack group who are responsible of taking caring of unconventional warfare, foreign int...

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... when conducting the interview with Be Nguyen he explains a story were a Green Beret held off a Northern Vietnamese squad all alone. We can only assume that these stories might be true because the Green Berets are mysterious and shrouded in such secrecy. With the propaganda spread and the stories that we hear from veterans the American public can really feel the ominous aura around the Special Forces.

Tim O’Brien book really shines light on how little everyone knows about the Green Berets. The Green Berets are the elite, they hold a very mysterious origin, and the folklore is outrageous. The propaganda about the Berets that was told to the American public was all a public relation stunt to gain support for the Vietnam War. Now many decades later we can grasp who the Green Berets are, but it’s astonishing that we still know very little about them.