Vietnam In HD (2011)

I saw this on the History Channel and thought it showed what really happened in Vietnam during the war. It didn't take sides, but showed the soldiers, the protesters, the Government and how each reacted. Of course I learned about the Vietnam War in school and the hippies and counter-culture at home, but this movie (mini-series) broke the key points of the war down to make things easier to understand and follow.

One item I didn't care for, and never will, is how the public treated the soldiers during and after the war. It is one thing to be against war in general or a specific war, but to go after the soldiers (most of them who were drafted) instead of the real people who make wars - the President, Congress and the Generals. I am all for voicing your beliefs as long as it is non-violently so the protesters should have shown their disgust for the war by protesting solely against Johnson, Nixon, Congress and the Generals. To call regular soldiers "baby killers" shows just how ignorant most of the protesters were (I'm sure most were too high to care how they acted.) I also believe that had we had a true leader (someone other than Johnson or Nixon) in power and we fought with all our might the war would have ended and we would have won. I also think that if we didn't have the Draft most Americans would not have cared how many soldiers fought and died to protect them - like what happened in Iraq and continues in Afghanistan.

This series showed home videos from ordinary soldiers and their families and what they had to deal with (separation, fighting in a foreign country, dealing with protesters at home, being wounded, death, etc.)

I have immense respect and pride for EVERY and ALL American soldiers that have fought and died to protect this country since the Revolution (except those on the Confederacy during the Civil War.) Whether I agree with the war or not I know there is a clear distinction between those who create and run the wars and those that fight them. I think watching this series a week before Memorial Day (when we stop to remember all those soldiers who fought and DIED) for this country is very fitting. I hope that Americans will start looking at the Vietnam War not as a failure, but as a sacrifice that thousands upon thousands of American men and women paid to honor the US.