From the American perspective, did anything positive come from the Vietnam conflict?

Answer 1

Americans learned to distinguish between the soldier and the war. Posttramatic stress disorder (PTSD) was finally studied, recognized as a real problem, and people could become treated for it-- this was helpful for everyone because people who've witnessed any kind of violence can suffer from PTSD, but now soldiers didn't have to be told they were weak, etc. Our system of ambulances & immediate medical care came from war medicine, particularly Vietnam. And, oh yeah, voting age was moved down to 18.

Answer 2

We switched back to a normal platoon setup instead of the floating platoon idea of Vietnam.
One of the issues there was that the people you were with were frequently not your old buddies from the past year of being there--even when people survived long enough.
There just isnt much desire to sacrifice yourself when you arent that close to the people youd be saving.

The word frag came into normal use--technically death by fragmentation grenade, but became killing your superior officer since frag grenades were the method of choice.

We learned what we failed to learn in WW2--that you cant just plod along with weapons not made for the area and hope it all works out. We should have learned that from the bottoms of our tanks being vulnerable at Normandy, but we never caught on.

The 60's happened! The entire hippie movement. You cant deny it was fueled by Vietnam (which is why most of the 60's happened in the 70's). Notice that the movement essentially died when the war ended.
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NC's point is very valid. It proved that the draft is no longer a good idea. It worked fine in the Civil War where all you had to do was stand and get shot, but in a modern war it is death for an entire group of people. A bad soldier is more dangerous than an undermanned army these days.

Answer 3

There is a school of Historical Thought that states that the Vietnam Conflict prevented the Cold War between the USA and the USSR from breaking out into a hot war.

Essentially, Russia saw that America was willing to go to any length to stop the spread of communism. It scared them enough to make Stalin wet his grave.

Many of the above posts cover the many other positives.

Answer 4

A lot! The current American military establishment--volunteer troops, new leadership and doctrines, air mobility via helos, special forces, combined forces tactics, and even weapons like the M-16/14 and smart bombs--result from that conflict.

More telling with a slimmed down army force, the central roles of the Reserves and Guard unit in any force escalation, so that the President and the Pentagon alone can't conduct a war--Gen. Abrams' legacy (who was the last US commander in Viet Nam).

Answer 5

USA reluctance to get directly involved in overseas campaigns (at least until comparatively recently). Later shift in US policy to defeat Soviets by out-spending them, rather than via military confrontation. Fewer futile US casualties.

Answer 6

Kept Hollywood busy for Years.

Answer 7

Yes (although it in no way outweighed the negatives). The draft was ultimately and completely discredited. It finally became obvious that drafting a random person from the street is far from the best way to recruit a good soldier.

Answer 8

Yes, a victory for a bunch of bicycle pushing Commies.

Answer 9

Well some americans had children over there.

Answer 10

It gives a valuable object lesson of how we shouldn't let a war be run (by the media and public opinion).

Too bad we're not paying attention to what that lesson said...