"How and why did American soldiers' views of their role in Vietnam change?"?

Question

I just have no idea where to start or what my thesis should be. HELP PLEASE.

Answer 1

The views at the begining of the war was protect the south, train the the S.Vietnamese army, and win the war at all costs, quickly. When the authority of the generals in the field started being limited, and the war began to be waged from Washington D.C., that's when the views of the solder's began to change. No longer could a patrol go and wipe out the enemy where ever they might be found, but now had "rules of engagement". You can't do this, you can't do that, you can only do this IF this one thing happens, and only during a full moon in april when the sun is at high noon, and it's raining for at least six hours, twenty minutes and 13 seconds prior to the second Mig that flys to China on the previous saturday afternoon after lunch, and only if no peanut butter and jelly is available for the NCO's based stateside.... get the picture... rules of engagement, that meant the VC could kill us, and we could just go to ... Does that help?

Answer 2

I was a "Flag waver" in '66 and run away from home at 17 to join up. I got into the Army Rangers and was sent to North Vietnam with the Hmong people.
I thought we were suppose to fight off the Tierney that was that oppressed communists leaders. I soon found out it was apolitical war, a war of numbers, there were always numbers.
After almost two years, wounded twice we made our way back through the fighting, blowing the bridges and, roads all the way back, being chased by the commies. I'ts something I just as soon forget, a nightmare in the life of one person.
In the end, the men were refusing to take orders from up above. We'd go out on patrol and just go so far, we camp out, just like the boy scouts and sit there for days, then we'd come back with tales of gun fights and numbers wounded and killed, that's what they wanted to hear.
I was just glad it was over.
My five cousins were over there too, they went through the same thing.

Answer 3

A lot of the guys going over there, particularly earlier on (1965-67) wanted to help the Vietnamese people and also stop the spread of communism which was perceived to be a threat to American democracy. The anti-war movement was however growing in the United States and it suddenly became acceptable for people to denigrate U.S soldiers, i.e swear at them, spit on them etc. People blamed the soldiers, many of whom were just 18 or 19 year old kids who were drafted and served their country when it called. This caused a lot of shame and/or anger and resentment among some of those who returned home to a country that didn't respect them or their service. Many vets just wanted to put the war behind them, and some just couldn't, whether because of physical or psychological injuries.

Also you had a lot of soldiers becoming disillusioned by the way the war was being fought. There were a lot of restrictions imposed by the politicians on what the military could do to accomplish its missions. Soldiers felt that the government was asking them to fight the war with "one hand tied behind their backs" so to speak. The enemy could run across the border into Cambodia and US soldiers couldn't pursue them. Or they would wear civilian clothing and blend in with the local population. The enemy operated using guerrilla hit and run attacks, often refusing to stand and fight after an initial assault. Many U.S soldiers, although they would be snipered at or face rocket and mortar attacks, never even saw the enemy. it was a very frustrating experience and one that lead to a lot of soldiers becoming disenchanted.

Answer 4

Both Gilfinn and Ross make excellent points.

VietNam transitioned away from a true war and into a sort of police action, but only on the part of the USA. The Vietcong considered it war in the truest sense and acted accordingly.

Armies are designed to kill people and break things but the politicians in D.C. placed so many restrictions and rules in front of the troops they could not perform as they were trained.
Basically,if Washington did not have the balls to fight what the Hell were we doing there!

At some point the only goal we had was to get out alive because we were not allowed to win.!

Secretary of Defense McNamara was, and continues to be, the most despised man regarding VietNam because he kissed the politicians asses instead of defending our troops.

Answer 5

Most of us disagreed wholeheartedly with the war in the first place, but we did our jobs to the best of our ability - and we were good at it. You have to remember that the warrior does not get to choose his fight. He has to serve and serve well no matter what he thinks of the war, it's justification or it's conduct. It just would not do to have soldiers deciding on their own when and where they'll fight.
We realized soon after the much-publicized and entirely fictitious "Tonkin Gulf Incident" that there was no good reason for the war against Viet Nam. But you also have to realize that a good many of us felt that there was little else we could do to secure our future without doing an enlistment in the Armed Forces. Me, for instance: I was unable to make good enough grades in high school to qualify for a full scholarship, and my parents and I could not afford college. There were plenty of minimum-wage jobs around, but that wouldn't let a guy marry and begin a family. We, and I, felt that to get anywhere, we needed education beyond high school, and the Armed Forces were a good place to get some valuable job training and also gave us the chance to save money for further job training or college once we got out.
All that means is, that even though most of us could not justify the war, most of us served anyway and felt obligated to do our best. Many of us got out and joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War in order to try to show that wars like that one are immoral and unjustified. But we continued to support our friends and neighbors who were still serving, and intensely supported those of our comrades who were seriously wounded in body and/or spirit. We still do support and advocate for wounded and disabled warriors. That's entirely different from how we feel about the Viet Nam War or today's unjust aggression in Iraq. Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and coasties serve with distinction and honor even if the war is not an honorable one. They continue to deserve our support.

Answer 6

The war was long and most served their time and got small welcome homes. There was no "victory" in Vietnam, just a military pull out so there were no victory parades. I don't know of any parades for the troops that went to Korea either. Even most of the wars the U.S. military won such as the Spanish American War there were no victory parades.

Answer 7

Most troops who enlisted were sons of WW2 vets and had romantic ideas of war, fighting oppresion abroad and dying with glory, the reality was a confusing multi-sided conflict fought in a haze of fear and mistaken identity, Troops soon realized this wasnt the war their papas fought,
Amongst the red tape that came with the rules of engagement there were several other problems causing drops in troop morale
Diminishing supplies and munitions along with rising death counts and extensions of tours
A little known heroin addiction epidemic, the troops were provided with and could cheaply purchase heroin to help ease the stress of the war, which lead to the obvious problems associated with it
And most of all the realization that they were dying in vain, the war couldnt be won, the best they could hope to do was delay the innevitable takeover of SV, a fact most troops realized by the wars latter years,