Were you in the vietnam war?! and if you were please help me!?

Question

I have to do an interview for my US history class.
1) Why did the U.S fight a war with Vietnam?
2) How did you feel about the war at the time?
3) In what ways were you affected by the Vietnam war?
4) In what ways did the Vietnam war affect the U.S.?
5) In what ways did it affect the world?
6) Do you think the US should be praised or condemned for its invovlement in the Vietnam War? Why?



thanks!

Answer 1

Hi, I'm John Slattery and I was in Vietnam, in the United Sates Marine Corps, at a place called Chu Lai in 1965 and 1966.

1. The United States fought in Vietnam because, at the time, it was committed to "stopping the spread of communism" (i.e. the "containment" principle) and it was feared that if North Vietnam were to win, then the communist government that came to power there would use overt and covert means to make other, neighboring countries in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos) communist-led, as well. (the "domino theory".)

2. At first (in 1964 and early 1965) I figured the people in Washington knew what they were doing. After a short time in Vietnam, though, I began to realize that the Vietnamese people were overwhelmingly against our intervention and I started thinking that, after all, they had the right to decide their own form of government and that we really had no business being there.

3. In ways both good and bad. The things that I saw and did over there affected me for many years. I drank heavily for a long time afterward and bummed around with no direction and no ambition for about five years, and I had what I guess would be called a "nervous breakdown" and ended up in the "loony bin" for a while. The healing process took quite a while, but eventually some good (I think) came out of it. Thanks to what I'd done there and what happened to me afterwards, I gradually realized that we're all a part of one another, that when we hurt someone else, we hurt ourselves as well, and when we help another, we are helped, too. It changed the way I look at the world and at my fellow humans, and I think it made me a better person.
4. I think it may have been "the end of innocence" for many of us. Before Vietnam, most people pretty much trusted the government and believed what they were told. But after it, lots of us became very skeptical, if not downright cynical about what those in power said and did.
5. Whoa - big question. Just think about all the people who were killed, maimed or mentally affected by the war. Who can say how the world might be different today if what happened to them
had never taken place? Chaos theory helps explain why answering this is impossible. Everything's connected - the beating of a butterfly's wings in the Brazilian rain forest can cause a hurricane in Florida. There are simply way too many variables involved to let anyone say how the world was affected.
5. In a word - yes. Looking back, I suspect that many of the policy-makers truly (if mistakenly) believed that what they were doing was "for the greater good." So, the question becomes, should you praise people for being "sincerely wrong?"
On balance, I'd say no - but they shouldn't be "condemned", either. I believe they thought they were doing the "right thing", which was ever so much the "wrong thing" instead. Many thousands (on both sides) died or were maimed needlessly.
I'd say they (the policy-makers) should be pitied. They have had to live with the consequences of their mistakes, and I suspect that for many, at least,
it's been their own private hell. If it hasn't been that, it should have been.

Answer 2

1) Fear of communism
2) It was just a job. I had never really questioned authorities before.
3) I realized that the people there weren't so different from people anywhere else. It made me realize that most war is pointless.
4) It killed some of our fine citizens, it brought back a lot of soldiers with mental illnesses, it was basically an embarassment.
5) It made young men worry about being conscripted to the military. If the people who are supposedly the most free people in the world are forced to go to war, then they might have to one day too.
6) Condemned. Why add any more violence to the world than there already is? Do you want your friends and family killed? Do you want to die? Do you want your entire life destroyed?

Answer 3

I'm wasn't part of the war but I know a lot because i have some Vietnamese friends.I am only 10 years old.

1) The U.S. wanted Vietnam to have freedom but Vietnam didn't want to.
2)Since I wasn't in it I don't know but I'll give you my opinion... I felt that everybody should be free but it they didn't want just leave them alone. but NOOO we didn't and here comes "world war 2"!
3)not in it
4)They had technology and we didn't because in no offense, but i think asians are smarter and that's how Vietnam won.
5)?
6) Condemned because u should just leave them alone we can't force anybody to do something they don't want to do.

Answer 4

Ben Coolen here Viet-Nam Vet and proud of it.Because I was asked to go and I wasn't a draft dodger like Bush.First of all it was never declared a war it was a conflict and had to be fought that way,The French were there for 20 years before we became involved,for whatever reason (communism or oil ,mineral rights)The conflict became worse when Johnson took over because he made a lot of money from it.(RMK-BRJ out of Seattle ,Washington had huge goverment contracts for roads and bridges,Mrs Johnson owned 70% of this company).The people even though wanted to be free just rather have there families back together so they hated us for keeping it going.If we could fight like a war we would have won it.Too many people making money on this conflict to save any people us or them so we turned it over to the north Viet-namesse and shame was brought to all vets dead or alive,No welcome home and looked down at till this day.While the rich got away with thier pride.

Answer 5

it would be ez-er if u find some one in the town to in ter view or yahoo search thouse q of just vietnam war ! ez a