New PBS Documentary: "The Vietnam War"

[The Iron Brigade]

What would have been brave(but it was predictable) is that they discussed the largest minority participation was the American Indian. And they mentioned this hero. https://www.army.mil/americanindians/poolaw.html

 

However, when they discussed Tiger Force(same episode), they did not mention this man. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Ybarra

A true history of Viet Nam must include the good, the bad and the ugly. Sam Ybarra is a black stain on the history of Tiger Force.

[12thengr]

This reminds me of all the things that I'd forgotten about this war. Unlike his WWII series it seems like less of a rehash. Maybe I just know more facts about WWII. If you think that this coverage is biased against the United States involvement; watch the 'The Ten Thousand Day War', The Canadian producers were not nearly as sympathetic.

[kammo-man]

I honestly do not understand the negative reviews here.

The EFFORT is being made to tell the story and to me its humbling.

 

I have seen things in the footage that has blown me away and completely humbled me.

[12thengr]

My above was not a negative review. I like this series above most of the others I have watched. I am awaiting the Tet episode Sunday with anticipation.

[RANDALL 1953]

Just watched a few of the beginning episodes. Really well done.

[uniformcollector]

On episode 4 which covered 1966, an interesting photo showed up about halfway through. It was part of the story of the South Vietnamese woman who worked for the Saigon government. She was recounting working on a RAND Corp. study interviewing prisoners asking them why they joined the Viet Cong. In the background are two Mike Force soldiers wearing Tiger Stripes. What is remarkable is one is wearing a skull and crossbones patch. The other is wearing a matching neck scarf, boldly showing the same design on the back.

 

When the DVD set comes out, this will be a frame worth looking up.

 

I believe it can be purchased online at amazon - a really incredible depiction of the war. I can't say this about many directors, but I would watch pretty much anything this man makes.

[MAW]

I believe it's already available on DVD...I saw a big display at a Walmart, but there were no copies there.....I think they were sold out.

[ScottG]

It is available and you can also view all of the episodes online now at WCMU and quite possibly your own PBS affiliate, just search online. Scott

[kammo-man]

I pointed this out to Bob.

Can there only be 1 thread on this otherwise is a complete mess and heard to assemble the information.

owen

[Bluehawk]

The series is promising footage that has never been seen before, and they are delivering.

 

I wanted to start this thread to capture some of the details that are showing up in the film's and photos.

^ That would be the only good reason to watch the series.

[ScottG]

I wasn't crazy about Burns series "The War" I thought it was very surface level stuff and rather mundane... I do think that this series is quite well done. As mentioned, there are some great shots of equipment, uniforms, weapons etc... All sides are presented which is interesting if nothing else and the chronology really helps to show how the U.S. and France got in so deep.

I think of it as I do many other films, they are budget and time limited. I am sure that much of the production budget was spent in Vietnam doing the interviews with the vets and politicians of the north and the VC. This may explain why some of the U.S. veteran interviews are "familiar" faces. It could also be that they were available and familiar to Burns and crew.

I liked the inclusion of the segments on John Paul Vann and hope there are more at the end. I would have liked to have seen something on Bernard Fall as his expertise began with the French and continued through 67 with the U.S. Still, a very well done series and I am waiting for the next episode tonight. I don't like watching on the computer. Scott

[gwb123]

I pointed this out to Bob.

Can there only be 1 thread on this otherwise is a complete mess and heard to assemble the information.

owen

 

I've consolidated three threads that I could find. If there are more out there, please PM me with the url.

 

This can happen when we have a popular subject.

[Bodes]

Ken Burns should be embarrassed by this documentary. Firstly, it's all been covered before, historically. Plus, he used vets previously interviewed in Vietnam HD (which was a great documentary). Finally, I'll leave it up to you guys, but the NVA and American protesters looked like heroes. Lazy, lazy documentary.

Agree, the series mentioned above was better paced.....Ken Burns is in information overload, trying to cram huge amounts of information into too small of a time frame.....Bodes

[smwinter207]

The first 5 episodes are very confusing to me. I'm not sure if a casual watcher would understand the complexity of the situation. They focus a lot on the politics versus the actual ground combat situation. When US generals are forced to fight using a political lens, it's almost never successful.

 

That being said, I'm curious to see how they frame the end of the war. Vietnam closed for business for the next 35 years afterwards. Communism literally impoverished the next two generations. They went from becoming the next S Korea to becoming one big N Korea. To this day, they are too weak to keep China from taking the "South China Sea".

 

Well, it will be interesting to see.

[kammo-man]

The footage is worth watching.

The USMC advisor footage is priceless.

[smwinter207]

Watching the Battle of Hue.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_at_Huế

 

I stand corrected, they threw it in at the end...

[cutiger83]

I am really enjoying the series. There are some very interesting little facts. For instance, it was interesting that only 20% of the troops in Vietnam were in combat. The rest were serving as support.

 

...Kat

[gwb123]

I am really enjoying the series. There are some very interesting little facts. For instance, it was interesting that only 20% of the troops in Vietnam were in combat. The rest were serving as support.

 

...Kat

 

That is what is referred to as the "tooth to tail" ratio. It took four men to support one in combat. Part of that was due to the logistics practices at the time. It has been improved upon since then.

 

Since you like stats, look up the difference in the number of days per year that troops in Vietnam were engaged in active combat vs. the number of days that troops in WWII were. I can't recall the numbers off the top of my head, but Vietnam was much more intensive. That is not to denigrate the experiences of individual WWII vets, but it took the edge off the argument of "oh, you were only there for a year" leveled at the Vietnam vets.

[cutiger83]

 

Since you like stats, look up the difference in the number of days per year that troops in Vietnam were engaged in active combat vs. the number of days that troops in WWII were. I can't recall the numbers off the top of my head, but Vietnam was much more intensive. That is not to denigrate the experiences of individual WWII vets, but it took the edge off the argument of "oh, you were only there for a year" leveled at the Vietnam vets.

 

 

I do remember reading this stat a long time ago. I also remember that there were more volunteers for Vietnam than WWII as well.

[kammo-man]

My late Father in law was in the 25th ID.

He told me that in his year of deployment to Nam he did 68 air assaults into hot LZs including Cambodia as an m 60 gunner.

Do the math.

Pretty brutal.

[Garandomatic]

If i remember, it is something like 45 days for a PTO man vs. 180 or so for a Vietnam soldier...

 

Kammo... When was he there? Dad's cousin was a Loach pilot with the 3/4 cav...

 

Another thing to think about... Even if only 20% were "combat" positions, every single bad took fire during the war...

[doyler]

If i remember, it is something like 45 days for a PTO man vs. 180 or so for a Vietnam soldier...

 

Kammo... When was he there? Dad's cousin was a Loach pilot with the 3/4 cav...

 

Another thing to think about... Even if only 20% were "combat" positions, every single bad took fire during the war...

 

 

With no definite front lines there was potential to be involved in "combat"

 

A relative, my moms cousin was married to a man who was a Navy CB.he told the story of how he would grade a road in from damage during the day and the VC would mine or blow it at night.Each time he (or another) would take fire from a rifle while repairing the road.just two shots and then it was over.He said one day the shooter finally got better or found a better rifle as he took a round through his side above the hip.

 

Rocket and mortar attacks at key installations may not be considered combat by some but very lethal all the same to anyone who was there.

[Garandomatic]

The sound recordings at Camp Coryell where dad's buddy was are particularly nasty... That camp got hit by something, anywhere from one rpg to a full 122mm rocket barrage, every single night.

[smwinter207]

I am really enjoying the series. There are some very interesting little facts. For instance, it was interesting that only 20% of the troops in Vietnam were in combat. The rest were serving as support.

 

...Kat

I heard that stat as well. It's not a fare representation of the danger that all service personnel faced on a daily basis. During WWII, we were basically on offense the entire time. In Vietnam, our "support" people were a huge part of protecting bases and people in country for almost a 10 year period. Then, you have to realize that the SVN government was compromised with N VN sympathizer. Add an existing civil war on top of that, and the front lines are located on every street corner and every hamlet.

 

2.7MM served. 20% of that is 504k in combat. But 304k actually received wounds which is an exceptionally high number if it only applied to combat troops...Essentially non combat got hurt a lot too.

[cutiger83]

 

 

With no definite front lines there was potential to be involved in "combat"

 

 

 

 

I agree. This is the same today as well. This is why it has been stated that women have also been in "combat" for years.