The Vietnam War: A conversation with Ken Burns and Lynn Novick

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Contractor

Boulder climber
CA
Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 17, 2017 - 07:40am PT
Much anticipated and overdue.
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
Sep 17, 2017 - 07:46am PT
Very much looking forward to it....all 18 hours!
10b4me

Mountain climber
Retired
Sep 17, 2017 - 07:48am PT
Fortunately my draft numbers were always too high, and I wasn't called.

The Vietnam war was the first of many mistakes the US government has made in the last sixty years.*

*foreign policy decisions
mouse from merced

Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
Sep 17, 2017 - 07:53am PT
Watched it all live fifty years ago, then watched Burns' preview on PBS last month.

Will probably catch most if not all this week with my buddy Decker, who'll be picking it apart for accuracy. (He was there bigtime.)
Contractor

Boulder climber
CA
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 17, 2017 - 08:09am PT
Horrific sh#t went down there. After 3 tours in UDT/SEAL's my stepdad never spoke of it but whatever happened there came home with him for us all to deal with.

With the new paradyne of respect and appreciation for Vietnam vets and what they sacrificed, I hope all vets can watch it with some semblance of inner peace and closure.



PhilG

Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
Sep 17, 2017 - 08:10am PT
Agree with Jim. Much anticipated. Was there a bigger impact on our generation?
skcreidc

Social climber
SD, CA
Sep 17, 2017 - 09:45am PT
Looking forward to this myself. Ken Burns has yet to disappoint me, although the Civil War left me pretty depressed each night I watched it.

I befriended a couple of Vietnam vets along the way and these guys impress me as survivors. The stories they told me on rare occasions really made me wonder why we were there; what was our real goal. And I know they weren't the worst of their stories.

When I was a kid say 7 to 10 or so, There was a young man who me and my folks considered kind of an older brother to me. Pete Murphy was a Green Beret who had done 2 tours in Vietnam and when home would help me with my shooting skills (bow, pistol, and rifle). I started shooting at a pretty young age due to my mom and dad. When I was 11 he had started his third tour but he was sent back home with a brain tumor. He came over to visit, he was so weak he wouldn't even draw the bow and shoot with me. After his death, his folks said he had been dusted with agent orange quite a few times and the doctors figured that is what gave him the tumor. As a kid, I didn't get to see him that often but it was full value when we did get together and I learned a lot from Pete. RIP Pete Murphy
ontheedgeandscaredtodeath

Social climber
Wilds of New Mexico
Sep 17, 2017 - 10:24am PT
My dad died from one of the Agent Orange cancers. There are specific listed cancers and other diseases directly linked to exposure. My mom still gets a benefit payment from the gov as a result of his death.

Agent Orange has an extremely sordid history and of course the Vietnamese are still bearing the bulk of the burden.
Bruce Morris

Trad climber
Soulsbyville, California
Sep 17, 2017 - 12:25pm PT
I'll have to see what Sgt Mike Brown thinks about it. He used to manage the Tuolumne Meadows gas station back in the 80s and was heavily involved in combat in Vietnam. Has become an advocate for veterans.
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
Sep 17, 2017 - 12:28pm PT
Iraq....those who don't learn from history are bound to repeat it.
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
Sep 17, 2017 - 12:42pm PT
About three quarters into this right now:
An in depth analysis, by David Halberstam, of how our government handled our entry into Vietnam.

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

........................

I was born in 1960, so didn't miss it by that much. The draft was still active when I came of age, and my old man told me just to toss the registration paperwork. He served in the Korean War.

As late as 1982 or 1983, they tracked me down!
Luckily there was a box to check that just said: I don't know why I'm not registered. Fix it please.

........................

For a person my age, I am supremely limited by musculoskeletal issues, and when looking for an underlying systemic issue, I worked with an internist for about a year who cut his teeth on identifying the systemic footprint of and treating systemic issues in the Vietnamese, relating to Agent Orange exposure.
High Fructose Corn Spirit

Gym climber
Sep 17, 2017 - 01:10pm PT
If anyone's interested...

The Impossible War: A Conversation with Ken Burns and Lynn Novick
https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/the-impossible-war
mouse from merced

Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
Sep 17, 2017 - 04:13pm PT
Begins tonight on PBS.

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-vietnam-war/home/

Tarbuster, my choice for a novel (rather than a historical take such as Halberstam's--which is a great study) is "Saigon" by Anthony Grey -- beaucoups de background. Just a suggestion for your future enjoyment.
10b4me

Mountain climber
Retired
Sep 17, 2017 - 04:52pm PT
Iraq....those who don't learn from history are bound to repeat it.

See Afghanistan, too.

Americans are loathe to learn from their mistakes.
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
Sep 17, 2017 - 05:52pm PT
Homo sapiens, whatever their faults, are resilient. Look at the recovery in Germany and Japan after WW11.
zBrown

Ice climber
Sep 17, 2017 - 07:40pm PT
Master (MBA) of War.

"We were wrong, terribly wrong. We owe it to future generations to explain why."
— Robert Strange McNamara

Anybody ever hear the explanation?
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
Sep 17, 2017 - 09:43pm PT
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S McNamara full movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8ZhIi57x-4

...........

Thanks Mouse!

Also on my desk:

A Bright Shining Lie, Jon Paul Vann and America in Vietnam, Neil Sheehan.
tuolumne_tradster

Trad climber
Leading Edge of North American Plate
Sep 17, 2017 - 11:03pm PT
I doubt that Cheney or Rumsfeld will ever admit they were wrong about Iraq the way McNamara admits his errors in the Fog of War about Vietnam.
mouse from merced

Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
Sep 18, 2017 - 12:13am PT
Soundtrack to "Deja Vu" was good.[Click to View YouTube Video][Click to View YouTube Video][Click to View YouTube Video]But I knew it would be.
http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-vietnam-war/watch/episode-1/
Nick Danger

Ice climber
Arvada, CO
Sep 18, 2017 - 07:24am PT
This subject always hits a bit close to home for me, as I know it does for several others here. I am eternally grateful that I have a body and spirit mostly unharmed by it.

A sincere thank you to all on this forum who stand and deliver when it's needed most.
Messages 1 - 20 of total 151 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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