This has bothered me for a long time. A draft occurs, thousands of Americans are carried to Vietnam...where they were exposed to shrapnel and Vietnamenese dirty tactices, and a antiplant "Agent Orange". They come back with thousands of deaths, health disorders. They're treated like crap and made fun of because the losing of the war. Years later society and education pretty much abandons The Vietnam war and try to forget about it. People get disorders like Diabetes, Stress effects, and other horrible mutations. This is passed down to further generations. While the Vietnam veterns are slowly dieing, the WWII veterns are the heroes and treated with every love and blessing.

They've suffered much more damage than the wwII veterns have...why aren't they heroes? Why does the education seldom them out. When I was in school in America History we only talked about Vietnam War for a few weeks and went to some others...We spent at least two months talking about wwII and wwI...I think they should be ashamed of themselves.


That is all....

.

Primarily, public opinion on the Vietnam war is low. Real low. Add to that the fact America lost the war, and it makes for a story most want to forget. So the reasoning goes......

Regards, PA

Here I thought Vietnam was more of a draw?

If you do watch the old films on vietnam when them come back... the soldiers were treated so badly.

In my history class... we spent about a week on Vietnam. My teacher talked about some of the ways Charlie would fight dirty. *twitches* Capturing a guy on patrol... tieing him up to the tree, then taking out a knife to slowly work over them so they'd scream for their buddies to help... some accounts I went out and looked for said they couldn't go out because it would have been suicide so the guy was kept screaming for mercy all night long in the valley with the echos of his voice coming back to them.

Another one they liked was digging holes, putting sharp sticks pointing up at the bottom, putting crap on them (for infection if you didn't die right away) and covering them up with brush. So when you fell, you would be impaled with a number of sticks at once.

I'll admit I don't know as much as I want to on Vietnam... we should all learn a bit though to actually see what happened as best we can. Those guys that fought and died shouldn't be thrown aside like they don't matter.

The subject of the Vietnam war literally divided the United States. The times were volatile in this country, and the youth movements were vocal in their disdain for the 'establishment' and their wars.

Add to the fact that the war came to an unsatisfactory conclusion, and that we were constrained by politically driven ROE, and you have a cocktail for disaster.

The men and women who served, were then subjected to abuse and neglect from their fellow citizens.

They answered their nations call, as many men and women are doing today. People have to remember that while the war is not the peoples choice, they shouldn't take out their resentment on the soldiers who serve.

WW2 and WW2 affected the whole world, their outcomes would decide the outcome of nearly all events in the future, especially World War Two.
Millions upon Millions of people died in these two wars, it has to be learnt well so that it can never happen again.
The Vietnam war on the other hand had negligble impact when compared to these two, with a significantly lower body count and possible and actual effect on the world. It should not be forgotten, but its importance cannot even be compared to that of the World Wars.

except, of course, to those that served.

And those who lost loved ones.............

Sorry, I meant should not be forgotten, I will edit that now.

..... so each death in Vietnam didn't mean as much as they did in WW2 and such? That's complete bull****. So there wasn't a higher death count. Does that matter to YOU? does it matter those young soldier risked their very lives??? Every Nam vet I meet I want to shake his hand. I am deeply honored to even be in their present. They went into hell for a call of duty. I can't even begin to think of what they did for their call. I don't care if they were even at type writer... they still answered. To say Vietnam is not worth as much as WW2 is a clear disrespect to the soldiers that gave it all for it. Each war has it's heros, but the men and women that answered are equal to that resept. I am disgusted by those that don't see it as they are heros. The last vets hand I shook, I nearly lost it... he was straight from Iraq on a little R&R and was in the battle for Fallujah, late last year, coming in from the air port for his time off. I coudln't help but feel honored to shake his hand for the guy that put his life on the line for me and freedom. If you can't respect the ones that respect this country and the call... go straight to hell, and I mean it... I hope you are licked with the flame forever in terrible pain for that thought. I hate you if you can't respect them and nothing will change that.

In Vietnam they could have went to Canada or such... but they didn't... they went though and did a duty their country asked them to. How great is that? Very to me, it means so much that so many young men answered to America's call, for their country the laided down their very lives for it. I tears me up thinking about them and their sacrifices. They did so much for this country and down the line of connections...

All I can say to them all right now is...

THANK YOU!

I wish so badly I could do more for them... but really what can you do? I look at them... I read about them... I do research on the heros and the past and remember them... they mean so much...

thank you kratos for saying what I wanted to, but was afraid of losing control.

Funny how the guy who thinks its 'horrible' that we should find amusement in three idiots who blow themselves to bits, can be so callous when it comes to people who served their nation.

another VietKong booby trap was a huge ball with spikes that would swing down and impale soldiers...

We Salute you Vietnam Vets!

They don't get the recognition they deserve...They were harrased by the "hippies" when they came back too.

The Army, Navy, Airforce didn't lose the war....politics did!

For those who fight for it, Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.

Those who have fought for freedom, and have lost it, know a sadness and sense a loss beyond bearing.

Freedom rings loudest for those denied Freedom.

Each death was not as important to the world.



No, but it does demonstrate the massive scale of the world words and their higher importance, like I said...



To say the Vietnam War is as important as WW2 in regards to possible outcomes and what was being fought for, is ridiculous.



If this comment is aimed at me, I never expressed an opinion on the men who fought. I think they were heroic men, I just don't think the war was important as either of the World Wars, and it wasn't.



If this is aimed at me, I am not American.

I never said their lives were worth less, I said that the Vietnam war was less important, which obviously it was, its outcome did not effect the whole world.

if the shoe fits....

Never claimed that you were American. The fact being that the men who served in Vietnam served their country, just as the soldiers who fought in the Falklands in the '80's served THEIR nation. But I suppose that you think that was an unimportant conflict as well.

So only those who serve in a war that has world wide ramifications are important? Tell that to the families of the troops who never came home. Or those who did, horribly shattered and maimed.

I think some like to see it not as a "lost" war, and sometimes not even a war at all but a conflict. You know you can't replace the word war with conflict. I have an old Vietnam veteran friend, who had to put up with alot being a former p.o.w. survivor. For which horror stories I can't divulge. When I heard about how he was tortured when he was caught (he was a marine), I couldn't think of it as a war anymore.

When there is such a thing as a world war, and the U.S. 'DECLARES' war on another country (Germany for example)& it's not a conflict. Whats happening in Iraq for example is like a Veitnam "conflict", except no draft, and the enemies are alot different. The U.S. never declared war on Iraq, and fortuneatly not all of us in the U.S. ever really declared war on terror.

Conflict and war are what determine if we win or lose, when we draw the line on the universes of differences between them.

The past is the past.....I say forget about it. We just play too many games and try to be nice...we sacrifice so many people when countries go to war with each other....I know the way i was raised was to not take crap from anyone....and I feel america tried to be like that, but we failed because we jumped into something that we should have stayed out of. I'm sure in future wars there will be bigger and better explosions....Killing is a part of "our" universe. It will never go away...creatures die everyday...it's life, and it's truely amazing.

still, the WW's were much bigger than Vietnam, and meant a lot more.

No, but you did say



This suggests that I am American, which I am not. If it was indeed directed at me.



It was an unimportant conflict when put on the same scale as the World Wars.



No, don't twist my words, speak for me or take what I say out of context. I never said that only the World Wars are important, I said they are far more important than any other ones.

The reason is that the Vietnam War was fought for the wrong reasons, in the wrong way and by the wrong people.

You certainly have a way with words, you have just quoted the exact same thing my dad once did.

What guy are you referring to? & If I may ask, are you talking about the 3 unknowns? (I hope not because it didn't sound good).

I don't think you can say that any war is more important than another, or that the soldiers who fought in one war are worthy of more praise than the soldiers who fought in a different war. To do so would be to put a value on human life. And how do you decide who's life in WWI or WWII was more important than the guy's life who fought in Vietnam? Both groups of soldiers went through horrifying, painful experiences that none of us would (or maybe even could) go through in their place. If you were to get a vet from one of the World Wars and a vet from Vietnam together, I think they would both agree that their experiences were equally horrific. I'm not ignoring the atrocious things that the Viet Cong did to American soldiers, but I'm sure American POWs in German and Japanese camps faced equal atrocities. The Japanese used to do terrible things to the Americans that they caught. (pulling out fingernails, etc.) Does this make it any worse than what soldiers experienced in Vietnam? I don't think so.

Of course you can.
The outcome of WW2 affected the whole world.
The outcome of Vietnam didn't.

So the outcome of a war determines its importance?
Think not.

Lol of course it does!
Especially the possible outcomes.

Vietnam was a tragic and ill-planned war. The war in Iraq is pretty much shaping up to be the very same thing; civilian soldiers at the mercy of their leaders. The World Wars were fought out of necessity and for the good of the world.

To me this makes the bravery of those willing to go to Vietnam that much more impressive. They were willing to fight, be tortured and killed for a nebulous cause and upon returning faced scorn and physical and emotional battlescars. The Vietnam Vets are worth our respect and admiration for that, the War itself is a different matter.

Yes, of course they should be respected and honoured, but the war they fought was not nearly as important as either of the world wars.

That wasn't the point of my post at all. I don't think they are comparable wars in the slightest--- they were fought for completley different reasons. It's like saying the 3rd Crusade was more important than the French Revolution. It's stupid to try and measure the worth of human loss of life.

But no I agree, on a global scale, the effects of Vietnam were much less than the World Wars, but it was not the same to compare.

I know it wasn't, I was using your post to make my own point.



Yes, they can be compared. This whole thread is asking them to be compared, so there is not much point in not doing so.

I think the thread is asking a very valid question the wrong way. It shouldn't be a matter of proving the Vietnam War was equal to the World Wars or any wars, it should be why America doesn't pay equal respect to the veterans of all its wars.

I don't think the US should expect other countries to give the same reverence to our own wars as it does to the ones that affect these countries. This topic, I think, should be directed at Americans or Vietnamese as those were the ones affected.

no war has potential for bettering our world. But they say in order to have world peace...we must rid the world of evil....which is impossible...because for every negative there is a positive. War is only a solution for greed and power....nothing more. The past wars are nothing to want to brag about....but it comes down to another world war....are you going to fight in it? If not then why must you even have a personal opinion about war? I feel that if you haven't been in war that you really can't feel the true feeling of war.

Is that as in wars cannot make the world a better place, or as in no, wars can make the world a better place?

basically what I'm saying is that War can't always solve a problem...expecially when you haven't figured out how the problem can be solved before going to war. All it takes is one country to blow us all up and its the end of our world....it's up to faith.

As an Aggressor, yes, there is no need for war, but as for defending yourself, War is the only stance and the only answer, just make sure you fight to win!!

remeber, the atomic bomb during WWII could of possibly saved another 200,000 lives and a couple more years of war...

??? What are you talking about??? It was used as soon as it was available and they used it until the Japanese cried uncle!!

just imagine what bombs we have now....that nobody knows about except for secret military personel....the next world war isn't going to be a happy site.

Ironically nuclear weapons and anything as or more powerful are preventing any other major world wars from taking place. Without them we would probably be having a lot more wars.

The point is, Vietnam veterns suffered much more damage than WWII, which was a majority from AGENT ORANGE. This caused many health effects in the veterns, they reproduce and out pop little G.I Joes with health effects from their fathers/Mothers. They pass this onto future generations untill half the earths population has health effects. I have Diabetes to which can be traced back to my father who got it after the water which could be traced back Vietnam Conflict.

Very true...intil one of these radicals get their hands on one of them....then we will be seeing some mass destruction once again. but then again iran has been talking about getting nuclear weapons by next year...and they want isreal off the face of the map....so we'll see what happens....im sure big brother will jump in like we always do.

I doubt it, sorry about your problem, but soldiers were gassed, maimed and mentally damaged in WW2 as well.

Most men in the wwII weren't mentally prepared and properly trained to kill and expereince life and death situations.

A lot of men in WW2 were emotionally scared, more than people know, a lot of them are dead, or in hospitals right now, lots of soldiers broke down in the heat of battle. POW's were the real sufferers though.

So did the Vietnams...my dad had a stress disorder untill his death, October 14, 2002