We Were Soldiers' purports to tell the story of the bloody battle in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam's Central Highlands in November 1965. Despite its pretensions to honour the suffering and service of the combatants, the film profoundly misrepresents the nature of this battle and of the war in Vietnam in general. In doing so, it glorifies the military establishment and bolsters the current propaganda drive for US military action on foreign shores.
In the Ia Drang Valley, paratroopers of the 7th cavalry of the 1st US Airborn division, led by Col Harold Moore (played by Mel Gibson), engaged in ferocious combat with North Vietnamese army regulars over three days and nights. Though initially outnumbered, the US troops defeated the Vietnamese thanks to massive air-born firepower. In the end, there were 300 US and nearly 2000 Vietnamese dead.
The film recreates the fighting in gory but selective detail. It says nothing of its context or consequences.
General William Westmoreland, at that time commander of US forces in Vietnam, regarded Ia Drang as a great success and a vindication of the US military presence in the country. In particular he was impressed by Ia Drang's ratio of US to Vietnamese dead. According to Stanley Karnow's "Vietnam: A History", the battle revealed for the first time the efficacy of using B52s as tactical support for ground forces. The idea was to deploy US troops to draw out the enemy, then dump huge quantities of ordinance on them. Westmoreland argued that Ia Drang proved that the US could win the war by adopting this 'search and destroy' tactic across the country. Soon after the battle, he asked for more US troops and more bombing of both South and North Vietnam, and got his wish. Within a year, US troop numbers in Vietnam had risen from 250,000 to 440,000. In accordance with the over-riding requirement for a positive 'kill ratio' of Ia Drang proportions, these soldiers were pressed by their superiors to increase the numbers of dead opponents, and did so by killing civilians and wounded combatants in large numbers.
So the hell of Ia Drang was exploited to justify a strategy that prolonged the war for years, cost huge numbers of lives - mostly Vietnamese, but American as well - and wrecked much of the Vietnamese countryside. Had this fact been noted in 'We Were Soldiers', the enterprise it portrays would seem less noble, and the human sacrifice it entailed might appear not as the sombre, almost ritualistic tragedy of the director's imagination, but as the wasteful obscenity it was.
The Vietnam War: A Concise International History is a strong book that portrays a vivid picture of both sides of the war. By getting access to new information and using valid sources, Lawrence’s study deserves credibility. After reading this book, a new light and understanding of the Vietnam war exists.
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 Vietnam War has become a focal point of the Sixties. Known as the first televised war, American citizens quickly became consumed with every aspect of the war. In a sense, they could not simply “turn off” the war. A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo is a firsthand account of this horrific war that tore our nation apart. Throughout this autobiography, there were several sections that grabbed my attention. I found Caputo’s use of stark comparisons and vivid imagery, particularly captivating in that, those scenes forced me to reflect on my own feelings about the war. These scenes also caused me to look at the Vietnam War from the perspective of a soldier, which is not a perspective I had previously considered. In particular, Caputo’s account of
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Lieutenant Colonel Moore led his unit, the 1st Battalion, 7th U.S. Cavalry to South Vietnam, and led them in the famous Battle of Ia Drang. Surrounded by enemy soldiers, and with no clear landing zone that would allow them to leave, Moore managed to persevere against the overwhelming odds and complete his objective. Moore's dictum that "there is always one more thing you can do to increase your odds of success" and the courage of his entire command are given credit with the outstanding outcome (Galloway). Despite the fact that Moore's outstanding leadership and tactical prowess led to more than a 4-to-1 ratio between North Vietnamese casualties and U.S. casualties in their first major engagement of the war. Many consider this early battle a small preview of the U.S. tactics later in the Vietnam Conflict.
Units get ambushed by North Vietnamese Army forces, who kill the commanding officers. After defeat, the Vietcong commander orders final attack using the rest of his soldiers and reserve forces. Hal Moore seeing it coming, prepares for this fight. In the last scene, Lt. Moore kept his promise, being he was the last person to step onto the helicopter.
...h Americans used planes and helicopters to deploy sustained heavy bombardment over Vietnam. During this one operation there were more bombs dropped than in the entire WW2 – 864,000 tonnes in total.
Vietnam was a highly debated war among citizens of the United States. This war was like no other with regards to how it affected people on the home front. In past war’s the population of the United States mainly supported the war and admired soldiers for their courage. During the Vietnam War, citizens of the U.S. had a contradictory view then in the past. This dilemma of not having the support of the people originates from the culture and the time period. During this time period it would be the fourth time Americans went to war in that century which made it tough for Americans to give their supportS (Schlesinger 8). Most Americans did not know why the country was getting involved in Vietnam as well as what the United States’ agenda was. This dilemma ties into the short story, “On the Rainy River” which is a passage from Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried.
Adrian Cronauer, played by Robin Williams, is United States Air Force sergeant and a talented radio Disk Jockey. In 1965, General Taylor hears one of Cronauer’s shows over Armed Forces radio in the island of Crete, and requests that he transfers his show to Vietnam so that he could be a confidence booster to these people during the time of war. Hauk adheres to strict Army guidelines in terms of humor and music pr...
Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War is a contrapuntal reading to American literature on the Vietnam War. But rather than stand in stark contrast to Tim O' Brien's The Things They Carried, The Sorrow of War is strangely similar, yet different at the same time. From a post-colonialist standpoint, one must take in account both works to get an accurate image of the war. The Sorrow of War is an excellent counterpoint because it is truthful. Tim O' Brien writes: ". . . you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil." (O' Brien, 42) Bao Ninh succeeds in this respect. And it was for this reason that the Vietnamese government initially banned The Sorrow of War. A thorough textual and historical examination of both the war and post-war experience of Vietnam reveals that its experience was similar to, if not worse than, that of America.
Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line (1998) is a film that examines the Guadalcanal Battle of World War II, looking past the physical results of the violence, in order to uncover the deeper truths and ramifications of war. The film conveys themes and ideologies that are somewhat uncommon to war films, especially WW II films. In this dark, surreal, journey, Malick takes us inside the minds of soldiers experiencing this battle to capture a remote pacific island from the Japanese. We do not hear or see gruff, hardened soldiers, anxious to die for their country. In fact, there are no heroes in The Thin Red Line. There are only regular men, scared of fighting and scared of dying, who have been thrown into a situation that will forever change their lives. The fighting is not suspenseful or glorious just brutal. Using an ideological approach to the study of film, this paper will examine The Thin Red Line’s messages about the truths of war, and how it challenges our society’s stereotypical view of war as a valiant undertaking where brave men fighting for good battle the evil of the enemy. Consequently, the ideologies that are uncovered will then be used to look at The Thin Red Line as a war film, and how it fits and does not fit into the genre.
The Viet Cong (VC) has far better tactics than the US. The VC was told to 'nibble at the enemy' so that he could 'neither eat or sleep'. This worked very well for me. Another demoralizing tactic the VC used was their landmines; they were designed to blow the limbs off the soldiers without killing them. This tied up hospital beds and meant the soldiers had to carry the wounded back to the base.
General Norman Schwarzkopf notes that, "We Were Soldiers... Once and Young is a must reading for all Americans." And indeed it is. Lieutenant General Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway did a remarkable job writing a historiography that critically examined a variety of authentic sources and wrote an unbiased work that will stand the tests of time. We Were Soldiers is not just a story about the battles of X-Ray and Albany. It tells the stories of Americans and Vietnamese soldiers who endured the atrocities in the Ia Drang Valley. It is an impartial piece of literature that does not demonize the Vietnamese soldier, yet still praises the American soldier. The book is a marvelous account of history, absent of political opinions, detailing the true story of the Ia Drang Valley. And just as General Schwarzkopf stated, it is a MUST read for all Americans.
The Vietnam War was a brutal and bloody conflict that took the lives of more than fifty-eight thousand American soldiers and an estimated two million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians. In addition, air bombings, mortar attacks, and gun battles destroyed countless forests, farmlands, villages, and city neighborhoods in both North and South Vietnam. As the war progressed, it also took a great emotional toll on its American and Vietnamese participants as they struggled to keep themselves, their comrades, and—in the case of Vietnamese civilians—their families alive.