... for always having good news from the front lines. Westmoreland commanded over 500,000 troops at the peak of the war, and was still unable to crush the Viet Cong, as hoped by most of Washington. 3 But there were many factors that contributed to our startling defeat on the ground in Vietnam. The first and foremost was the difference in tactics between the Americans and the North Vietnamese. The VC were ... . And in a country when it rains almost every day, that wasn't good news. Also, U.S. commanders underestimated the power of the Viet Cong's weapons, thinking that they only had muskets an...

• Word Count: 2310
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... as water damage. In a country when it rains almost every day, that wasn't good news. Also, U.S. commanders underestimated the power of the Viet Cong's weapons, thinking that they only had muskets and bolt-action rifles. Since the Chinese and Russians were supplying the VC with modern AK-47s and other similar arms, the officers were faced with one nasty surprise after another (Neal 107-110). Weapons ... -tested weapons can be downright deadly (McNamara 73). While Johnson and Westmoreland had loads of support at the beginning of the war, the American people started to see that the war was ...

• Word Count: 1837
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... in line with their containment strategy of communism. This greatly angered the North and the Viet Cong who grew even more aggressive toward the southern troops and U.S. military personnel stationed there under the command of General William Westmoreland. At first there were plenty of men who volunteered to go fight what they thought was a good war. Especially after hearing heroic stories about World War Two ... their commanding officers or even themselves in an attempt to go home. As some of them succeeded in returning to the states, (and with the diligent coverage of the media), horror...

• Word Count: 2109
• Approx Pages: 8

... his writing so believable (Waters). "It was an intellectual and physical stand-off, and I did not have the energy to see it to the end. I did not want to be a soldier, not even observer of the war. But neither did I want to upset a peculiar balance between the order I knew, the people I knew, and my own private world. It was not just that I valued that order. I also ... he was being shipped off to Vietnam where he joined the Alpha Company. The Alpha Company was stationed outside Chu Lai. The territory patrolled by Alpha Company was frightening and forbidding. The terrain was unfamiliar ...

• Word Count: 1543
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... of Vietnam War journalists. In the film, the main character, Joker, is assigned to work for the war paper "Stars and Stripes." In the scenes concerning the paper there is much discussion about what the journalists have to set their goals for, that is providing stories that make the Americans look good. "Stars and Stripes" was a real newspaper during the Vietnam War and there is evidence ... stages. Therefore, an account given by Joseph E. MacDonald proves that Kubrick portrays realistic attitudes towards journalism during the war. The film makes truthful suggestions about the role of pro...

• Word Count: 1652
• Approx Pages: 7

... about them, and in return you will earn their trust and respect and they will fight with you (p. ) Hackworth made it clear that he cared about his men from the lowest of soldier up, (p. 42), and that his commanders and staff had "better well look after them (p. 42)". Hackworth believes that as a leader one needs to show not only tough discipline, but ... be constantly bitten; one grunt recalled after a mission counting at least 2,500 bites on his body (p. 194). During the dry season from October through April, the Delta was a tropical hell, turning the area into a dust bowl (p. 15 - 16)...

• Word Count: 1645
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... he is not afraid because he has already seen death and there is nothing left for him to fear. "Joker" again goes through a horrific event towards the end of the film when he shoots a Vietnamese woman soldier. He killed her because she was already shot and probably wouldn't live very long anyway, but once he had killed her he could never take it ... a righteous nation to some one else they are the enemy. These two films depict the duality of man, the removal of racial lines, and the loss of innocence during the Vietnam War. These issues reflect the conflicts faced by the people who lived...

• Word Count: 1467
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... criticism with a continual appetite for praise. Caputo did not want to be thought of as not good enough to be in a military battalion (35). The 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade was to give security for the air base in Vietnam. The brigade was to have a combined air-sea assault the morning of March 8, 1965 and then gain defensive positions around Danang (46). Men were put on ... , threatening to kill her if she did not admit she was helping the Viet Cong. The Viet Cong were extremely good at vanishing (90). The marines are in the same state of mind in which they feel a hatred for everythi...

• Word Count: 2231
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Kong. But because this was an American representation of the Vietnam War, the US soldiers were exposed in a more positive light. The Vietnamese were depicted quiet accurately in sense that, Platoon showed how the soldier operated and how they received their weapons underground. Although, we as the audience did not get a good sense of how the Vietnamese Soldiers communicated, Stone, demonstrated how ingenious they really were and how ... they moved throughout the jungle of Cambodia. 5. The film, Platoon, Begins with Chris Taylor's (Charlie ... ...

• Word Count: 2144
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... Vietnam - was fought by two forces - the American soldier and the American media. It could be argued that the soldiers lost and the media won. The Vietnam war was like no other before it. It certainly was not a war embellished with all the glamour of the World wars that came before it. Unlike the first and second world wars and even the Korean war, the Vietnam war seemed to be a war ... -communism. There was a certain amount of patriotism involved in the Vietnam war, but nothing like the all-out fervor that consumed Americans in the other wars. No one seemed to question whether or not we...

• Word Count: 2018
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... for always having good news from the front lines. Westmoreland commanded over 500,000 troops at the peak of the war, and was still unable to crush the Viet Cong, as hoped by most of Washington. 3 But there were many factors that contributed to our startling defeat on the ground in Vietnam. The first and foremost was the difference in tactics between the Americans and the North Vietnamese. The VC were ... . And in a country when it rains almost every day, that wasn't good news. Also, U.S. commanders underestimated the power of the Viet Cong's weapons, thinking that they only had muskets an...

• Word Count: 2331
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... heroic badges displayed all over their uniforms (16-17). "Napoleon once said that he could make men die for little pieces of ribbon. By the time the battalion left for Vietnam, I was ready to die for considerable less, for a few favorable remarks in a fitness report. Words." Caputo suffering from ... praise. Caputo did not want to be thought of as not good enough to be in a military battalion (35). The 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade was to give security for the air base in Vietnam. The brigade was to have a combined air-sea assault the morning of March 8, 1965 and then gain defensive p...

• Word Count: 2036
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... that whenever an antiwar movie was made, studios decide to give it a Vietnam War setting to be taken as almost a subliminal level. In The Political Unconscious, Frederic Jameson tells us, "History is what hurts, it is what refuses desire and sets inexorable limits to individual as well as ... the officers and the soldiers or officers and other officers. Much of the movie takes place in the jungle infire fights. While no one denies that these things happened, they probably did not happen non stop in "Nam-. They probably were not as dramatic as they are depicted in movies. At the same time,...

• Word Count: 2039
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate