The Vietnam War Reviewed

The Vietnam War

A film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick

Foreword and Introduction:

This is a review of the documentary along with with my own comments. The Vietnam War is a masterpiece, have never seen anything like it. It is lengthy but never boring or stale. I will not say it changed my attitude toward the war and my participation in it, but it did enhance my perspective and overall view of what happened and why. It is a marvelous piece of work, and I encourage all who have not seen it, to do so as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

Facebook post. November 9, 2017

I will provide a short preview of the blog article I am going to write on the Ken Burns Vietnam documentary. Last night, finished episode #8. Two to go, so hope to be finished soon and have something online in a few days. I have been rather pleased with myself in being able to view this with minimal emotion, but last night it caught up with me. As is normally the case with me, it was something routine and insignificant in itself. There was a glimpse of American troops walking along a muddy trail. It was the muddy trail that put the twitch in my stomach. Just guys walking along a muddy trail, nothing more. The consistency of muddy ground and how water sets on it in that part of the world got to me, hadn’t seen that vision since I was over there. Everyday things with the uncertainty of life lurking just below the surface frighten me more than any disturbed person’s bomb set to go off at the end of the street.

Vietnam

Well, where to start? This is a 10 part series, approximately 18 hours long, and emotionally draining to watch. Reading the comments of friends who viewed it on PBS, I suspected it would be. For that reason, and because Vietnam was such a defining experience in my life, I decided to invest in the DVD set. I am glad I did so.

So, again, where to start? I believe I will begin by just placing the comments as they come to me.

I wasn’t very far in to the series when it occurred to me, the expressed views of the commentator and those interviewed are pretty much in line with my own. I have always viewed my Vietnam experience as somewhat private and unique. In many ways it was, but it was a revelation to realize that my experiences, both emotionally and physically, were shared by many. That is certainly no surprise, but is something that never truly occurred to me. A few of the comments which leapt out at me: the deceiving peaceful beauty of the rural landscapes, the sights and smells, the humidity and heat, and the emotional stress of a war fought on an unlevel playing field. (Were the Vietnamese people I saw everyday my friends, not my enemies, or were they all my enemies, not my friends? I will never truly know, but I learned from the documentary that the emotions felt by the North Vietnamese were very similar to my own). The corruption and ineptness of the South Vietnamese government, the determination and will of the North Vietnamese, whom to this day I offer a grudging respect, the ultimate lack of will by the American government, and the tragic drug addiction of many GIs. It was ridiculously easy to obtain hard narcotics at a very inexpensive cost in South Vietnam.

But, these things, I already knew. What I didn’t know were the private motivations and recorded words of the United States presidents who were in power during the American involvement. In my view, there are three U.S. presidents who were largely responsible for what we find in the history books. I had always heard that John Kennedy planned to de-emphasize American involvement, and that played a hand in his assassination. The documentary indicates otherwise. Lyndon Johnson, such a skilled legislator and champion of domestic and civil rights issues, seemed very self-serving and clumsy in foreign affairs. Richard Nixon, who claimed not to be a crook, turned out to be just that. The documentary claims he had a hand in undermining the peace talks before the 1968 presidential election, and his actions during Watergate are well known. On the DVD set, he comes across as mean-spirited and thuggish, and it is not surprising that people of my generation remember him as Tricky Dick.

General William Westmoreland, who was the U.S. Army Chief of Staff during my time in service, came across to me as the ultimate politician/soldier. In the modern world, one does not become a four star admiral or general without considerable political skill, and the issue of exaggerated body counts is the most tragic and best example offered, and I hope the day comes when we are wise enough to keep the corporate mentality out of war. (I wonder, how would WWII hero General George Patton fare in today’s military? I suspect he would have a very hard time and retire as a field grade officer). But, I believe Westmoreland was a decent man who, like many whose outlook was formed by WWII, was overwhelmed by the complexities of modern limited warfare, and the pressure brought by the mysterious people working with silent determination behind the scenes.

Johnson’s Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara is a man whom I have often treated harshly in the privacy of my opinions. It always seemed to me that he skated conveniently away after having a major part in escalating the war. But, we find that he developed reservations over the years and documented them. He did not go to the wall with his boss to reverse policy, but it is doubtful doing that with a man like Johnson would have done any good. My feelings toward him and Westmoreland are now more charitable. I don’t know whether that is good or bad, right or wrong, it just is. One thing is certain; they did not have the ultimate power, the presidents did, and unless Burns and Novick allowed a predetermined prejudice to taint their work, we now know they failed us to an even greater degree than previously realized.

Here is a very blunt assessment, the truth as I see it: the United States does not lose wars. We lose interest and look for ways to get out. We could have won in Vietnam, but to do so would have created a horror not worth it either morally or practically. The North Vietnamese would have fought to desolation, as the Japanese would have in 1945, only this this time we did not have the luxury of being the only nuclear power. We learned early in the documentary that Russia and the United States knew they came too close to the edge during the 1962 missile crisis, and thus decided to address future disagreements by proxy. None of us were there, but I can imagine this was done tacitly, and in voices heard barely above a whisper, figuratively speaking. Better to let the dirty work happen in far off, relatively unimportant locations than risk WWIII. That is what we would have done by pushing the issue in Vietnam. Who knows what China and the USSR would have done in response? Our presidents were caught between the hard choices of increased military involvement or political ruin by making the wrong turn in the road out of South Vietnam. I am not being judgmental or self-righteous, as I too would think long and hard about damaging a position which took many years of toil and struggle to obtain. But I also want to believe that the reality of continued death and destruction for both sides, plus the agonizing deprivation inflicted upon the Vietnamese people, would have helped me make the right decision fairly quickly.

Here are some observations, both personal and concerning the documentary:

I like how Burns and Novick put something in front of you, and allow you to come to the realization of what you are seeing with minimal commentary.

I recognized the barracks at Cam Ranh Bay. I have stood on the very spot where the photo displayed was taken.

I lost my way morally and spiritually for a time after leaving the military. I thank God this was not permanent. Leaving U.S. Army at age 21, I was mature beyond my years in some ways, but in other ways, my emotional development was stunted and it took a couple of years to adjust and catch up. I now wonder if that could be a form of PTSD, or a first cousin of it. I suffered severe anxiety attacks the first year home, similar to those described by one interviewee, and they very unpleasant.

The story of the soldier whose armored personnel carrier ran over a 300 pound mine hit home to me, hard. That could have been me, and almost was. Only, I was in a jeep, and the truck in back of us ran over the mine, damaging the eardrums of the driver and passenger. Only the thick bed of the dump truck saved them. I believe answered prayer and a purpose for my life still not understood saved me. In the jeep, a few inches over either way and . . .

The story of Mogie Crocker was very moving, and such stories show up my tender emotional underbelly. I knew where this was going after viewing a few of the short segments. The human side of war bothers me most of all. If you wonder what my Achilles’ heel was, and still is, this is it.

If anything haunts me about me about my Vietnam experience, it is the unexplained spiritual aspect of it. Why was I spared? So many of my peers in the documentary, killed or maimed. I did the same things as many of them, only 48 years later I am allowed to view this at my leisure from the comfort of a cozy den, mind and body largely intact, although the years are catching up to me. Yes, this haunts me, and I know at this late date, it always will.

Lt. Calley and My Lai: There were a lot of people in leadership in over their heads. I think this happened with Calley at My Lai, and I believe training played a large hand in it. Do you know, in October, 1968, I was an 18 year old scared, wide-eyed, just barely graduated from high school kid from Oklahoma at Fort Polk for basic training. In taking the Army’s battery of tests, I qualified for officer candidate school. That should never have happened. I commend my superiors for recognizing the folly of that and never encouraging me in that pursuit.

There are several bonus features included with the disc set. Found on disc #10, they are, in order as listed:

Fellow Warriors – Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan

A Vietnam War Deserter in a West Point Classroom

Facing the Draft Board

Behind the Lines at Long Binh

Captured Spy and an American Interrogator

Afterword

This writing is 2,000 words long and does not even begin to review or comment thoroughly on The Vietnam War. I may offer a follow-up after further reflection, but maybe I will not, will depend on my mood and what else may come to mind. Indeed, 18 hours plus of this has taken me to a place in my mind which is not comfortable to be. But, it really has not taken me there, as Vietnam has never left me. If nothing else, Burns and Novick have made me realize just how large a part of my life this war has always been since I thought I was saying goodbye to it when boarding the airplane in Cam Ranh Bay for the long flight home. Memories of the war are, in my experience, like a virus. Much of the time they rest quietly within your heart and mind, other times something will trigger a memory and burn like a small pebble of hot coal. I think it is fair to say, not only did the North Vietnamese win the war in the hills and on the rice paddies, but they also won a lasting victory in that battlefield just above the neckline and between the ears of many Americans. Perhaps that is the most impressive accomplishment of all.

NOTES to the Reader

I was in the United States Army in South Vietnam, from April, 1969, until March 31, 1970. I was stationed at Bong Son, in Binh Din Province. I served with the 299th engineers as a combat engineer.

The title photo was taken at our base camp. It is an excellent example of the contrast which defined Vietnam at the time of the war. In this picture, you see the deceiving photogenic gentleness and peace of the rice fields and hills beyond, as opposed to the razor sharp concertina wire displayed in the foreground.