Well, you may have to wait until after high school to find out the realities of Vietnam. I remember in the 80s being invited to speak at a history class at MIT. I had met one of the engineering students and we spoke about what she was being taught about Vietnam at school. I told her a bit about my own experiences and she went back to her professor with what I had told her. It was then that he offered the invitation.
I took him up on it knowing full well that I was walking into the situation with all the preconceptions of what my they thought a typical Vietnam vet was and what the conflict was all about. You see in most of the major universities, they are fully convinced that because they've read about it somewhere, they have a complete understanding of every aspect of the war. Yes I felt I would be walking in there as the baby killing robot of the military-industrial complex just like they were taught we all were. I felt it needed to be done. So, I braced myself for the questions about our drug abuse, alcoholism, and basic uncivilized behavior. After all that's what Hollywood told them we all were.
Well I showed up at that class and just sat in the back until I was introduced. They had been studying the war in previous weeks and came prepared with their questions. I fielded a couple and straightened them out a bit about the drug abuse. I told them that no impaired personnel was allowed on a patrol and the fact was that the soldiers wanted to keep all their wits about them. I was not in a rear echelon unit, I was in an infantry unit in the Central Highlands (along the Laotian border).
In any event I stopped fielding the questions and then told them what a typical few days with my unit might have been like, had they been there. I spoke for about 30 minutes in all and then asked for any more questions. I made a point of looking each student in the eyes. Not a hand went up and not a sound was heard. I turned to the prof. and asked if he had any questions. He said just one: "Will you please do me the honor of coming back?". I did and he thanked me for enlightening his students and for changing his mind. Mission accomplished
The bottom line is if you want to know the truth ask someone who was there
