The Tet Offensive During The Vietnam War

The public was on board the war train for the first few years of the war, until they found out what it was actually like in Vietnam. Public view of the war immediately changed negatively. When the news reached the soldiers in Vietnam, reactions were mixed. While they could understand why the people didn't like the prospect of war, they were still killing-even when they didn't want to-for their country. Some soldiers didn't know how to respond. One solder wrote to his mother and told her that for one second he felt as if he was on vacation because it was so beautiful in Vietnam. Another one told his mom “not to worry, there is nothing I can't handle”. While the soldiers could handle the physical horrors happening to them, it was the mental stuff that was breaking them down.

As more and more troops were being sent to Vietnam, and the casualties began to rise, people began to question the government’s involvement. “Even military troops came to mistrust their government’s reasons for keeping them there, as well as Washington’s claims that the war was being won”.(Vietnam War) The Vietnam war was the first war to be broadcast on television. This meant that for the first time the American people were able to see the war instead of just hearing about it on the radio. They were able to see firsthand the soldier’s faces, see the reality of where they were fighting and to see the

Vietnam was an entirely new type of war for the United States. It still remains morally and historically problematic in today’s society. The Vietnam War had a tremendous impact on American society and culture, primarily because it was the first war to be televised. The American press played a significant

During the Vietnam War, the United States' government instituted a mandatory draft. Since it was mandatory, if a man's birthday was selected, he had to report to boot camp or face prosecution. This system was both fair and unfair; it was fair because it was not biased, and it was unfair because the men strongly disliked being forced to go to war. In times of war, the United States' government should not be allowed to institute a mandatory draft because it can cause severe mental issues and the young adults are not always prepared to take on the gruesome task of defending their country.

The United States military eventually became one of low morale and deteriorating race relations. This was contrary to the image we liked to have of our military. Young Americans found that the draft and the war violated their moral and religious ideas (Accettola 169). In the United States, young men should have been able to practice religion and have their own ideas without restraint. Through deferments, exemptions, legal technicalities, and noncombat alternatives, the draft rewarded people with money and power (Stoner and George 77). The draft was contrary to American ideals in that it unfairly rewarded some who had more than others. The draft hurt military efficiency by substituting motivated volunteers for unmotivated draftees. It was bad for troop morale and performance, so it endangered the mission (Bodenner). The draft endangered the American mission in Vietnam by lowering morale and performance, therefore endangering the United States as a

The Selective Service System is responsible for the draft. The U.S. military drafted 2.2 million American men out of an eligible pool of 27 million. There were over 58,000 military fatal casualties in the Vietnam War. Many soldiers did support the war. Others felt the draft was a death sentence.

By the time The Vietnam War ended there were so many people wounded and killed. The war was a controversial matter from beginning to end. It will always have an impact on how the government and military make decisions. As it would affect anyone it effects the families of the soldiers. In fact, was anyone aware that in total 1.57 million people were dead after the Vietnam war (Phillips and Axelrod)? Just as many were injured, some more severely than others. The Vietnam war had many negative outcomes for both Vietnam and the United States.

On August 7th 1964 the United States Congress passed into law the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which, for all intents and purposes, officially brought the United States into the Vietnam War. Following this resolution, a draft was instated to increase the number of men that could be sent to war. Shortly after men started to be signed into conscription for the United States Military, a public outcry started over the use of a draft to increase military size. The draft was found to be unfair to American Citizens because certain groups of men were severely disadvantaged, the draft was illegal in many ways, and veteran’s future lives were harmed, among other reasons.

By 1968, more than half of the American people relied on television as their principal source of news. What they saw informed, engrossed, and unsettled them. CBS Evening News anchor Harry Reasoner referred to it as “horrors and failures.” The Vietnam War dominated the network newscast as it never had before. Suddenly the war was everywhere. The impact on the American public would indeed be great. It set off a critical reaction to the war within the American media and gave greater credence to arguments against the war that a vocal protest movement had been voicing for some time. The media coverage of the Tet Offensive had a great influence on the eventual outcome of the fighting and its aftermath. Clarence Wyatt, author of Paper

Between 1955 to 1975 over 58,000 people were killed and 2,338 of those courageous men were declared MIA. These men were practically covered up and forgotten about. The Vietnam war was the first televised American war which increase the involvement of public opinions. This caused an increase of civilian awareness and involvement in the war. This helped created one of Americas most hated war. Many antiwar movements were created including the Kent

Veterans coming home had to face many different situations. Most veterans who came home did not receive the welcome they had deserved. Some veterans were homeless and unemployed after coming home. An organization called the Vietnam Veterans against the War or the VVAW tried to help the soldiers coming home. The organization allowed veterans to talk about their experiences to them and also tried to get the veterans to talk to the public (Rivers 646-648). The VVAW helped the veterans throughout the war. Many veterans who came home had emotional trauma or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The United States citizens did not want to remember the war or the brave men who fought in it (Rivers 646-647). Very few people cared about Vietnam or the soldiers during the war because of the negative views toward the soldiers and the war.

Many people in the 1960s and early 1970s did not understand why the United States was involved in the Vietnam War. Therefore, they had no desire to be a part of it. The Selective Service System, which was used to conduct the draft, had aspirations of directing people into areas where they were most needed during wartime. However, people took advantage of the draft system’s deferment policies to avoid going to war. Others refused induction or simply did not register. There were also people who left the country to escape the draft. The Vietnam War proved to be an event that many Americans did not agree with, and as a result, citizens took action to elude the draft entirely or to beat the draft system.

During the Vietnam War, Americans were selected for military service by a government agency called the selective service. Those young men between the ages of eighteen and twenty six were forced into an involuntary process called the draft. Protesting against conscription or “the Draft” had always been a part of wartime America. Though for many citizens the Vietnam War would be the drawing line. Mentioned in What’s Your Number? an article written by Historynet, the first drawing of numbers using a draft lottery system to select who would and would and would not be drafted for the Vietnam War took place on December 1, 1969 (Historynet 2009). This marks the beginning of turmoil and uncertainty for those men born between the years 1944 and 1950

The impact of the Vietnam War upon the soldiers who fought there was huge. The experience forever changed how they would think and act for the rest of their lives. One of the main reasons for this was there was little to no understanding by the soldiers as to why they were fighting this war. They felt they were killing innocent people, farmers, poor hard working people, women, and children were among their victims. Many of the returning soldiers could not fall back in to their old life styles. First they felt guilt for surviving many of their brothers in arms. Second they were haunted by the atrocities of war. Some soldiers could not go back to the mental state of peacetime. Then there were soldiers Tim O’Brien meant while in

President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 which established the Selective Service System as an independent Federal agency within the Department of Defense (Smith, par. 3). Young men were only drafted in America's greatest conflicts- the Civil War, Vietnam War, World War I, and the lead-up to World War II (Bandow, par. 3). Nearly 2.2 million men were drafted during 1961 to 1973 (South, par. 25). This practice continued during the Cold War as the U.S. sought to protect friendly war-ravaged states (Bandow, par. 3). From 1948 until 1973, young men were drafted to fill open spots in the armed forces which could not be filled through voluntary means (Smith, par. 4). The registration requirement was suspended in 1975 but it was resumed again in 1980, registration continues today as a hedge against underestimating the number of servicemen needed in a future crisis (Smith, par. 10). In 1973, the United States military went to full volunteer service that marked the end of the draft. Since the all-volunteer military has been active, there have been 144 executed operations compared to 19 operations prior to 1973 (South, par. 56). Currently, there have been talks of reinstating