Essay about The Vietnam War in Movies such as Platoon and Apocalypse Now

In the middle 1960s, every male in America had to register for Selective Service Draft at age 18. He would then be eligible for the draft and could be inducted into the Army for a period of two years. If you were a college student, you could receive a deferment and would be able to finish college without the fear of being drafted. However, once finished with college, a students name would be put to the very top of the draft list and could be deployed at anytime. The anti-war movement was about young men being drafted and then sent into war that most Americans did not believe threatened the security of the US. The Vietnam War was America’s rebellious war, a war without popular support

Actions tested there ethical and moral values. After this point these soldiers have to cope with the cause and effect from their actions. Coping can cause mental illnesses, and addiction but also you can cope with these some things plus more things such as love, and mortality. This is the most important struggle that had to take care of for their survival. But why is this still relevant to today's society? Tim o’brien used many methods while writing this book to help the reader to understand the soldiers experiences and feelings throughout the war. These methods include imagery, repetition, hyperbole, metaphors, allusions, and many

Each soldier went to the war with a distinctiveness about them, an identity, eventually this was lost as they went to boot camp.

In what ways does the war transform the soldiers into unthinking animals? What is their only comfort?

”19 Some soldiers, like Bernard Glynn were even able to go see a movie with some friends.20 Their ability to cope with the war relied heavily on how their

“The war in vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit.” Martin Luther King, Jr. once said. The Vietnam War was considered one of America’s greatest defeats of all time. Not only did the US failed to stop the spread of communism, but they also embarrassed this country as a whole with the outcome of this war. The overall outcome from this war will be remembered for years to come. In this essay, I will be talking about how the United States would have won the Vietnam war if the home front was for the war, if the the US was more familiar with the land, and the U.S.’s goal was not successful.

As per Ambrose, “The recruits were excited, tense, eager, nervous. ‘I hate to think of going again’ Webster wrote” (117). Officers with no prior combat experience, such as, 1st Lieutenant Dike, whose nickname was “Foxhole Norman” led men into the battle of Foy. Ambrose shows how the veterans of 101st separated themselves from the recruits, because they had no prior combat experience and feared they would later die. The veterans distancing themselves, did this to not become fond of the recruits, attempting to fight the mental scars that were previously embedded into their memories from prior brothers dying on the frontlines. While the veterans were fighting in Europe, Ambrose presents that they faced two battles, one with Nazi Germany and another with their mental

As they began to clear the routes in the AO the casualties starting occurring. After some time had passed all the platoons had experienced many deaths and were starting to lose a lot of their platoon leadership. The mounting pressure of combat combined with the pressure coming down from LTC Kunk communication between the company and battalion level leadership began to digress. With morale lowering with every day and casualty that went by the men began to run the tactical checkpoints that they had set up ruthlessly. They weren’t treating civilian harshly and would even harass them physically. This gave them a notorious record among the Iraqi civilians. Going into December 2005 the men had begun to relax on their own standard operating procedures along the

Patton wrote a very particular chapter in his book about his “Reflections and Suggestions” mainly talking about the soldiers and his advice about war. There is one quote that he starts off with at the beginning and it pretty much explains everything he’s going to say in this Chapter “What appears to me as the original thought may be simply subconscious memories”(Patton 335). He’s going off by what he remembers the best because the war itself has affected him and plus when he wrote this book he was a little older, so possibly his age was getting to him. The hard part Patton had with new soldiers is them being fresh and inexperienced, he kind of quoted this as “When he joins a unit and lacks this corrective influence, he is apt to slip in morals, in neatness, and in energy”(Patton 336). Basically, stating new soldiers could lead to more casualties and thus then affecting moral for all other soldiers. Patton explains more about moral later, but for now, the main part to focus on is the soldiers and how inexperienced they were at the time. But when you start to think about it, at that time in the 1940s there were even teenagers signing up for war lying about their age to get in some being sixteen – seventeen at the

There has always been a disconnect between civilians and military personnel which can be on account to the violence experienced during war. In the first short story “ Redeployment” the soldier discusses his disgust about having done horrendous things during war such as “shooting dogs” and seeing “the body parts in the locker and the retarded guy in the cage” while in the torture room (Klay 2). Having participated and saw these ghastly events it makes it difficult for soldiers in some aspects to listen to civilian commands after having being deployed “And the planes captain, a fucking civilian, reads off some message about how general orders stay in effect until you reach the states… So no alcohol” this leads to the corporal jumping up and saying, “ You’ve got three hours. I hear they serve Guinness” (Klay 4).

O'brien arrival to vietnam was different from what he expected it to be. The Introduction of the sergeant for starters he wasn’t professional he had on underwear and was waving a beer at him. The image that the first sergeant had on obreine was more as a friend rather than a leader. Another example was the First sergeant and the supply sergeant know that the first sergeant had a higher job the supply sergeant “hollered back for him to go to hell, and laughed.” (74) The relationship between both sergeants explains why when there's a serious situation occurs they have no respect or follow orders. For example, when o'brien was scrambled to get gear on when the Alpha Company was attacked and waited until others would follow their orders. A little while later one man came out holding a beer as others followed doing the same. Sitting down on “Sandbags in their underwear drinking the beer and laughing, pointing out at the paddier and watching out mortar rounds land” (75) getting shouted by the lieutenant to move and get their gear ready while they laughed and ignored him. This showed that these soldiers had no respect and that they had real reason to be there just to drink and enjoy their night with friends not really fighting in

This paper will be explaining the similarities, and differences, between the Vietnam War and the War in Afghanistan. There are many topics that bring these two wars together. However, I am only going to be talking about public support, policy objectives, military strategy, weapons, fighting spirit, links to home, and death totals. These topics have a lot of information about them, but there is too much to write about every little detail, so I will cover the broad overview of them. Each paragraph will be about one of the topics. There will also be a discussion about insurgencies and counter insurgency operations. These are two big topics in Vietnam and Afghanistan since almost all of the enemy in both wars were, and are, comprised of insurgents and different types of militia groups.

In the First World War people wanted the young men to go to war, but

She never thought of herself as a broken or a weak person, but that is exactly what she was, exactly what they all were. Broken children tossed into the cruel harsh world, into a war they should have never been a part of, yet they had been. Each and everyone of them had done things to survive things they could never undo or unseen. Would the things they've done define who they are, would that be all that is left of them when they are older? Would the things happened on the ground be the only things they think about or would they simply forget all they've done, cast it aside to focus on the overwhelming joy they felt be back on the ground once again? These were the thoughts that she had, more often now that it grew closer to the day they were set to return to the ground.

In the 1950's, the United States had begun to send troops to Vietnam and during the following 25-year period, the ensuing war would create some of the strongest tensions in US history. Almost 3 million US men and women were sent thousands of miles to fight for what was a questionable cause. In total, it is estimated that over 2 million people on both sides were killed.