Did the canadians ever fought the Vietnam?

Question

I know that canadians did but they were drafted in the the US Forces and under American Military training. I am arguing with a canadian on youtube.com I know it sounds stupid but i would not let him talk **** about your troops. Then it got in to the Vietnam War because he know i was right so he like to change the subject.He is also saying that canadian gov. gave us 2 billion in war goods but I found out the canadian companies sold us war goods maybe for a good price. I do not know what happened with that. He is saying canadians sent 40,000 of there troops and only 110 were killed and he is saying the Americans sent half a million troops and he thinks sent we lost more we are the worst army in the world it makes me so mad.

Answer 1

Many Canucks came to the USA to join our military.  I do not recall Canada sending any combat troops at all, that guy is full of it.

Answer 2

I'm 100% behind JW C with this one. They didn't call it being "in the sh*t" for no reason.

Additionally, US ground troops had some things they weren't allowed to do, but the Vietnamese troops (including Viet Cong) didn't have those restrictions. For example, the Vietnamese could fight us, then run over into neighboring Cambodia and we weren't allowed to follow them (Nixon changed that, though).

If your Canadian friend thinks that we lost more than the "worst army in the world," he doesn't know anything about war, lol. There have been much bigger losses. Be respectful and ask that he does more research next time...and again, push that it's very difficult to lose men when they aren't actually fighting "in the sh*t."  

Answer 3

Your Canadian friend is misinformed.

I'd like to know what kind of "war goods" Canada "gave" us.  I think that he's referring (in a confused way) to the unprecedented level of Canadian arms sales to other nations. (1)

You're right about the "good price" thing.  We buy DeHavilland transport aircraft from them because they're good, reliable short field aircraft that can handle landings on unimproved, rough fields, but that's a matter of their being low bidders on contract competitions.

We also make good rough-field capable aircraft in all sizes and types here in the United States, but differences in manufacturing costs, partial subsidies of defense industries in Canada by their government and until recently, the exchange rate of our respective currencies gave Canadian firms an edge in bidding for some defense merchandise.  

We also buy armored cars made by Canada's United Defense, again, not because we can't make them as well as Canada, but because they're cheap for what they are.  If (as I think we should) we slapped tariffs on imports to reflect the expensive regulations American firms have to deal with which make our goods more expensive than imports, that situation would probably change.

Due to the present value of the US dollar, I don't think Canadian firms will be winning too many low bids from the US Department of Defense.  If your Canadian pal's offended about his country's firms taking our money, nothing Canada builds can't be built as well in the United States, with the exception of homicidal hockey players.

(2) As far as whose troops are better, well, Canadian troops fight alongside ours in Afghanistan, and they do know how to kick *** and take names - almost as well as we do. :-)   I'm glad they're on our side,  

But on the subject of fatalities in Vietnam, your Canadian correspondent is wrong again.

Canadian military personnel in Vietnam monitored demilitarized zones and compliance with peace agreements.  While they served a valuable purpose, they had no combat role, which explains their low casualty rate - they were rarely where they could get hurt as often or as badly as US troops.  They didn't fight, much less fight better than our troops.

In a study of 272 Canadian Vietnam veterans, "Subjects completed a modified version of the Vietnam-Era Veterans Adjustment Survey (VEVAS), a research instrument with established validity and reliability in studies involving over 2,700 Vietnam and Vietnam-era veterans. These results indicate that the overwhelming majority of these Canadian Forces personnel have not suffered any significant long-term adverse effects resulting from their service in Vietnam."  (2)

Which, considering they were there in a peacekeeping role - as observers, not warriors - that makes excellent sense, and explains how 40,000 troops from there could go there with only 110 KIA.  

Canadians also volunteered and fought in US military units during Vietnam, and those men WERE fighting and WERE where they could get hurt.  There's a good Web page, the North Wall, which honors the Canadians who died while serving as United States servicemen.  (3)

I want to make clear that I personally appreciate Canadian Forces' and individual Canadians' service in our own Armed Forces, then and now, and I honor those Canadians who died serving the cause of freedom in whatever capacity.  

There's just no basis, however, for remarks that Canadians lost fewer men than the U.S. in Vietnam because they were better at fighting.  Canadian Forces in Vietnam, by and large, weren't there TO fight.  Their job in Vietnam was just different from ours.

Your Canadian buddy was trying to get your goat.  The facts show that he's not only wrong, he's being abusive and obtuse on purpose.  I suspect that his remarks were fueled by Molson, if you get my drift - and perhaps an inferiority complex on his part.  Tough guys don't usually rag on other people to make themselves feel better.

Get the guy to back up his boasts with facts and numbers, next time.  I've included links to the CBC News articles and the Canadian Vietnam Veterans study I told you about in "What's your source?" references (1), (2) and (3) below.

The U.S. Armed Forces don't need me to defend their record - the Free World is free due in great part to the presence and, when called on, the valor and sacrifice of American servicemen.

Answer 4

The canadians sent a total of 40000 over the course of the entire war. None were front line soldiers, so tell your canadian buddy that its hard to get killed when you're hiding in the rear and 110 of them still managed to do it. That should properly yank his chain.

Answer 5

yes they did http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/viet...