A Rumor of War: the Changes of a Solider

The Vietnam War of 1954 - 1975 was the longest and one of the most unsuccessful wars in U.S history. It took place in countries such as South Vietnam, North Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The war was a huge blow to the United States’ pride and military, so much that there were lotteries for soldiers. There were five presidents in office during the war, but the main presidents that had a big impact on being involved were Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon. Although the objectives of the U.S being involved were good intentioned, there are many reasons to support that it was an Unjustifiable war due to the casualties. While looking at present information about the war, it was not needed for America to step into the territorial

The Vietnam war has been referred to by many names, one of the longer ones was 'the cornerstone of the free world southeast Asia'. It was called that by John F. Kennedy. He was talking about Vietnam being and essential country in a non-communist world. He believed that if Vietnam became a communist country, all of the surrounding countries would also become communists. This is the main reason America was involved in the Vietnam war. Another reason was that America wanted to spread their “political ideas around the globe”. They wanted to do this so that their anti-communism stance was clear. The public also wanted to keep communism from spreading. To soldiers, the war was like a crusade, a great journey to purge the communists from Vietnam.

Many people felt that this was a war of money that the U.S. didn’t need to interfere in and was being fought by North and South Vietnam, therefore we had no business getting in the middle of it. The United States should've thought of themselves and done what was best for them as a country. When Dwight D. Eisenhower left office, a new President came in with the name John F. Kennedy. JFK warns the American public about “Military Industrial Complex”. This affected Americans because we didn’t want all of Vietnam to become communist. From the beginning, the United States was not aware of what they were getting themselves into. Furthermore, they didn’t understand the nature of the war on who and why they were fighting.

The war in Vietnam was a very contestable event for America and an overall major impact of the cold war. Fear of the spread of communism was on the rise again as Ho Chi Minh, the leader of North Vietnam wanted to unite the country under one communist leadership. The United States entered into the war to prevent this spread of communism to further their reputation of containing it as they have done in the past. While there are positives to the war in Vietnam, it seems as if there are more negatives in the situation which include massive casualties on both sides, chemical warfare, and a divided nation back home.

The Vietnam War was the first major war American’s had suffered defeat. The Vietnam war was a war of confusion, competition and biasness. The outcome of the war was far greater than an upset American nation, but a severe breakdown of the Vietnamese culture, economy, environment and government. It also had a tremendous impact on American society even up to present day. It was unclear from the beginning of the war if the American’s should even be involved. It was a war between Northern and Southern Vietnam but the U.S saw it as an indirect way to challenge the USSR’s sphere of influence in Southern Asia and to prevent the domino effect and the further spread of communism. The Vietnam War completely changed the way the United States

For many in the United States "Vietnam" is a term which conjures up visions of war, anarchy, and finally defeat and humiliation. It was a war that many felt the U.S. should never have gotten involved in, and was a waste of more than 50,000 American lives. And for many years after the war ended the prevailing wisdom remained that the U.S. had failed. But as years turn to decades, and Vietnam is fading into the recesses of history, one can begin to look at the war in an objective manner; as just one part of the larger "Cold War." When viewing Vietnam as part of the larger Cold War, one can see that the United States should not only have been there, but it was necessary as part of the overall strategy to defeat Communism world wide.

The Vietnam war brought many changes to the United States in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. Some of the changes were for the better of the country, take the rediscovered Women’s Rights movements and the ever growing Free Speech movements inspired by New Left, while most of the other changes brought on tensions between government and their people. The Domino Theory pushed our leaders to the edge. In order to stop the Domino Theory in Vietnam, the U.S. invaded. The war was useless for the American government to get involved with. Even Robert Kennedy described our presence in Vietnam as ‘... sending a lion to halt an epidemic of jungle rot.’ (Doc E) From new groups forming to rebel, to inflation and loss of trust in the Government, from 1960’s to

Over thirty years ago the Vietnam War ended, and the U.S. came back home with their tails between their legs and nothing to show for other than a high number of casualties, and a huge pile of debt. The U.S. underestimated the North Vietnamese army, and it was costly. Many believe that the Vietnam War was none of the U.S. business, but on the contrary, many believe we should have tried to stop the spread of communism. The long-lasting Vietnam War was unnecessary for the U.S. to be a part of; it put many people through unneeded stress and hard times.

"I have tried to describe accurately what the dominant event in the life of my generation, the Vietnam War, was like for the men who fought it" (Caputo, p. xxi). In Philip Caputo's own words, he describes the book he tried to write as an accurate portrayal of the events of the Vietnam War, not as he wished it had happened and not in protest of what happened. To this end, Caputo was successful. His book, A Rumor of War, provides a poignant and evocative glance into the lives of real men who fought in a war which no one who was not there could ever truly understand. In going about this, he touches on a variety of recurring themes in his book: the romanticizing of war vs. actual war, the personal aspects of war vs. impersonal aspects of war,

Caputo goes to Quantico, in Virginia, to complete basic training. He and a number of other men go through many ordeals from four in the morning till nine at night. They spend hours marching in the sun. Drills were designed to eliminate the weak. These “unsats” were not fit to withstand combat. Philip Caputo is driven to succeed because he does not want to go home to his parents and tell them that he failed. By passing the first trial Caputo must return to Quantico two years later for the advanced course. This time they practice hand to hand combat and learn the codes marines live by.

Vietnam was a divided country with the North supporting communism and the South opposing it. The United States was an ally to South Vietnam, with the goal of assisting them to avoid a communist takeover. The United States involvement may have started out with an honorable intention; however, there are many reasons the United States should not have become involved in the conflict, such as it was no business of the United States, it was very costly, many lives were lost, there was no victory in sight, and it went against the United States ethics and standards. Many would argue that the U.S. involvement was crucial, but many more would

Throughout history, there have been multiple wars that have all contributed to build the society we live in today. An example of one of these wars is the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War occurred between 1962 and 1975, and was fought between communist North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. United States was one of the nations that was involved in the conflict, and as a result, suffered due to its involvement. It is still argued today why America was involved in the war, and is believed to be because of their fear of the “domino theory” and the idea that Communism would spread from nation to nation. United States suffered socially, economically and politically, and the impacts of their involvement include suffering veterans and American

The Vietnam war was highly controversial and unpopular with the American public. The United States’ involvement in the Vietnam war lasted from 1965-1972, and it was the first war to fight Guerilla fighters head on in the U.S. This pressured the U.S to adopt a very aggressive form of foreign policy to combat communist guerilla fighters. Vietnam was not a mistake and was doomed to fail to begin with because before there were any U.S troops in the country the U.S was funding the South Vietnamese government the U.S had given the South Vietnamese $770 million. (Haugen 10) The money, however, was not being used properly, and at that point the U.S should have known that even if they went and occupied the country, it still wouldn’t have helped anything especially when the country had very a very small strategic importance. Regardless the U.S intervened and got more than they bargained for.or the first time, the U.S experienced a situation where they would need to change their foreign policy to combat this

Over the preceding period, a lot of scholars have tried to explore the international proportions that underlie the Vietnam War. By way of exploring the dimensions that are related to this war, they have succeeded in nudging what is believed to be the gravity that is associated with Vietnam War erudition away from the custom fixation to the role that the United States took. In an admirably brisk and compactly written volume, Lawrence Mark does build on a trend that presents conflicting episodes of global history. He successfully creates this lively and compact trend through his roots that he bases in the extensive and extended history of Vietnam which is related to the historical conjuncture that was in existence between the Cold War and decolonization as well as emphasizing on the contributions that are critical of belligerents and other Vietnamese to the developments of the wars. America is central to Mark 's story by showing how some of the actors ' decision such as Beijing, Hanoi, Moscow, and Saigon helped in shaping the constraints that were present (Lawrence, 65). Thus, this paper critical explores on the book review of Mark Lawrence called The Vietnam War.

Vietnam was a country divided into two by communism in the North and capitalism in the South. The Vietnam War, fought between the years 1959 and 1975, was, in essence, a struggle by nationalists in the north to unify the nation under a communist government. This was a long standing conflict between the two sides that had been occurring for years. It wasn’t until 1959 when the USA, stepped in, on the side of southern Vietnamese, to stop the spread of communism. It was a war that did not capture the hearts and minds of the American people as it was viewed as a war that the US army couldn’t win and so the government lost the peoples support for the war. This ultimately led to the withdrawal of the US army from Vietnam. Some people, like