How did the Vietnam war affect things we see today?

Question

Things that the Vietnam war has changed and its effetcs

Answer 1

The Vietnam War changed the way we remember wars. Before this war, the U.S remembered its participation in wars as victorious and as noble. The Vietnam War was the first war the U.S. did not win and so the U.S., both the government and its citizens, had to find a new way to memorialize a war where we not the victors. The ultimate result of this was the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall), which commemorates the dead without glorifying the war.

A couple of other ways the war changed things today. Many scholars suggest it was during this war that U.S. citizens became cynical about their political leaders in a way that was never true before.

And, I would disagree with the first poster. Millions, MILLIONS, of people protested the war--not just hippies (this is a misleading and inaccurate assumption that is perpetuated by some revisionist historians)--and the protests of these millions did eventually end our participation in the war. People from all walks of life--students, yes, but also white and blue-collar workers, religious leaders, even soldiers themselves--opposed the war.  

Answer 2

Judging by actions of US government towards Iraqi`s ther is not a lot changed since the Vietnam war It is still the same old story and only different land

Answer 3

Goodness. I was 16 and you want me to remember?

It was a time when the youth movement and the civil rights movement came into it's own. We discovered if we banned together, we could get things done OUR way. Youth had never had a big influence before the war. Protesting came into vogue, with placards and banners and fake blood. Many men left for Canada, never to return.Most were illegal immigrants.

Soldiers returning from the war faced h**l on earth. No respect, not thanks, they werre reviled and spit on. They had just come from a completely foreign environment with an enemy they couldn't recognize from a friend, and hard-hearted Americans made it worse for them. PTSD. Agent Orange. My Lai. Massacres of children, who were famous for hiding bombs. The vets had never in their innocent lives imagined this. Then, of course, came smoking dope.

Rich kids stayed out and went to college, the poor man fought the war, out of patriotic pride. Does any of this start to sound familiar?

Answer 4

Oldcorps you said it better than I could!

Democrats seam to forget President Johnson's decision to loose the war   How convenient.

Now they want a socialist to do the same.

The Democrats seam to be in a cycle of defeatism!  To h**l with America, their always wrong by their standards.  Their not in keeping with European's perception with how America  should be.  Antiwar protesters thinking that if we just talk to or enemy's they consede and change their ways.  HOW STUPID!!!!!!

President George W. Bush history will remember him as one of the greatist Presidents.

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Answer 5

1.) U.S. Military leaders and those volunteering today want to keep it all volunteer versus having to deal with unhappy (and maybe undependable) draftees.

2.) Media and Entertainment Industry still seem to be caught up in the glorification of SDS types, protesters, "pre-alternative" lifestyles and fashions. Could this be due to lack of innovation and motivation for new ideas?  

Answer 6

changed the way in which wars are fought. who is the enemy? the children and mothers? any civilian in Iraq could be carrying explosives or a gun.  

Answer 7

It created Modern Day liberals and mass liberal media,nuff said.

Answer 8

Today, when our troops return home from Iraq, many of us flock to the airports to greet them. Our governor sees the Guard troops off and back with much honor and respect. Motorcycle clubs protect troop funeral processions. We are going out of our way to show the troops we love them and care about them and that we are proud of their volunteer service.

The way the Vietnam War troops were treated remains a great national disgrace. Nothing like that will every happen again.

That's one very positive legacy of the Vietnam War.

Answer 9

vietnam started a trend of f#cked up wars

Answer 10

The thing i remember about the Vietnam war was The Australian Government supported our allies and supplied troops and most of them were conscripts

doing what they were ordered to do and they did it with Honor pride and efficiency  and on their return

Australian Public Abused them  and Spat on them causing them Major psychological harm

and most of the Spiters have never Apologised Officially  

Answer 11

People started expecting answers from their leaders about the war, about the real purpose their troops were fighting and why so many lives were being lost.

It was a time when the American government especially became accountable for what was happening abroad and could not give standard answers governments give about foreign policy. Suddenly the real effects of the war were being shown on people's television sets and they could see that the war was not one that could be won by the South with the help of the Americans, no matter how many resources were being used.

Protest marches and resistance to conscription were clear indicators to the government that the will of the people could not be overlooked.

Answer 12

The Vietnam war was the first war that was not intended to be won, just sustained to make money.

War is big business.

For more examples, look to "the war on drugs" and the "war in Iraq"...later to be known as the "Iraq War".  

Next time they drum-up a "war" like this, it will make less sense and more money.

Answer 13

Vietnam was when our country got lots of pot and went nutty. There are still a lot of aging hippie liberal d0uchebags today. (cough)John Kerry

Answer 14

America now see public opinion changing  the course of a war as much as the individuals in combat. One of the first principles taught in military school is that in order to win a war you need not kill all the enemy, just break their resolve to fight.  

It is interested that we have discovered that North Viet Nam was in the process of drafting up a surrender statement, when President Johnson halted the bombing of the North. We let victory slip out of our grasp, we had lost our will to fight. But many protesters see the lost of victory as a victory because the war was over for Americans.

The Viet Nam War changed the course of America, we see the draft as evil, we no longer see the military as honorable individuals or a honorable profession, we see expenditures for the military as a waste of tax dollars,  we see our troops as super individuals that can survie within the rules of engagement, we see our troops as evil, we see our troops as pawns and no longer allow the troops in the field to control the situation as it is occurring (returning fire must be approved from someone that in the field, often they are not even in the combat zone), we see our troops as superhumans that control their emotions and actions no matter what the stress maybe (and we prosecute them when they fail), we see our reserves as fully trained combat ready troops that are able to step from civilian life into combat in a single day.

We see the same results upon the souls of combat veteran today as we saw from Viet Nam, and we see the government once again trying to prevent compensation for mental injuries of combat (PTSD), we see Americans belief in quick resolution of military involvment as in the first Gulf War as necessary for victory (otherwise we will accept defeat or limited mission accomplishment).

As for me and many combat veterans of the Viet Nam war, we may have left Viet Nam, but it never left us.  I see and live combat daily, I feel, I smell, I hear combat, it leaves me for a few hours a day, but it manages to revisits me.

I have not written a book about Viet Nam, and I don't believe anyone can tell the full story, everyone there had their own story,  

Answer 15

People become too comfortable in their chair of freedom. They get used to not having any war and they just think it's wrong. People must realize war is a serious thing and can jeopardize they way we live everyday. Now days people seem to be getting too laid back and believing we are fine and can't be knocked in the head with reality. I've had plenty of people look down upon me because I signed the papers to join the Army to protect their freedoms. I don't argue with them, I just keep going on with my job not worrying about what they think because if worse comes to worse one day they will thank me. People must realize they are getting way to comfortable and don't live in anything but their own little world not realizing the threat of the rest of the world could do to their little world.

Answer 16

I think, for me, Vietnam was the first war where folks at home kind of knew more about what was going on, unlike WW 1/2. However, it was also the war that showed how the guys in the suits that sit in the political seats are the ones that really run the war. I see the same thing with the Iraq war now. I don't mean to offend anyone, least of all those brave men/women who were/are there, but there is a line in the GnR song Civil War that says it best: ' you're power hungry, selling soldiers in a human grocery store'  

Answer 17

The vietnam war was a proxy war where we could fight communism without actually fighting the Russians. Liberal pot-smoking hippies subscribe to the theory that socialism works, hence all the protesting that took place in the '60s. They didn't actually care about people getting killed so much as they relished in the system of socialism.

Answer 18

This war has left a generation of men who are damaged both physically, emotionally and psychologically, because their Government failed them, and the citizens scorned them!  What a disgraceful thing that war was!  I was one of the many (non-hippie) who protested the war.  I also went to the airport and met the troops and welcomed them home.  I was not disrespectful to the military, they were, after all, just doing their job!  But I have also been places where I see homeless vets, vets who have little if any support in their lives, and I am angered by their plight!  What did this country do for them?  Many became disinfranchised, and misused, and discarded.  Is that anyway to create a legacy?  I think not!

If we have learned anything from this debacle, I hope it is that we need to be able to provide the best we can for the troops, and for those who have been injured, there are hundreds of stories every day about men and women who have been injured, and who want to return to help complete their mission, and support their buddies.  This is a very powerful image, one that we did not see during Vietnam, because there were few returning as heros, they were coming back in caskets.  Lets not forget their sacrifices.  No matter how you feel about this current conflict, or the President, or even the military, give your support to the troops, they are loyal, and faithful citizens of this great land.