I was taught that it was pure dommino effect.

Just wondering, do any of you old timers still wear a POW/MIA bracelet? Mine is SFC John M. Bischoff, USSF, 22 Apr. 1961, Laos. I doubt that I'll ever get to send it to the Wall.

THEY DONT COVER NAM IN HIGH SCHOOL!!!
ive talked to my teacher about instead of learning about the egyptians again for the 2948th time we could learn about cold war or NAM or Korea. Gay..

Yeah, in public schools recent history isn't really taught that often.

Usually history class pretty much end up in WW2 if you're lucky enough to get that far, honestly. It's not as if highschools are trying to erase Vietnam or anything, it's just that the last 25,35 years are mostly considered "current events" and the classes focus mostly on things like George Washinton, the constitution, the civil war, stuff like that.

Strange.

In 1986 my high school US History class covered right up until the 1976 election. We had a whole week about the social impact of the Vietnam war on the US.

Originally Posted by bulldogg

Strange.

In 1986 my high school US History class covered right up until the 1976 election. We had a whole week about the social impact of the Vietnam war on the US.

Welcome to top-down "No Child Left Behind" education.

Washington's tests don't test in detail about much after the civil war. It's a lot of constitution, revolution, and abraham lincon.

If all your job as a teacher is based on the tests comming out of D.C. why would you even teach about Vietnam, the Internet, and Regan?

Indeed WD. It seems more and more that this education policy is a complete farce and what is actually happening is a lowering of standards and a pandering to every friggin nitwit with an axe to grind about special needs, racial diversity, etc etc etc ad nauseum... I am quite sure that no matter where I reside my soon to be born son will be home schooled.

A shame there isn't a school voucher program...

lemme give ya the breakdown of world history last year.

my teacher said that "embedded reporting" did not exist before 2003. I pulled out a copy of the book "Black Hawk Down", showed her the pictures of the battle, and was promptly stood up in front of a GIFTED CLASS and patronized.

Being an autodidact is the best thing to happen since, well, ever, because our education is going down the drain. Can't wait for History of Warfare, though.

Vietnam was covered as a debacle, in a sentence.

Originally Posted by Ted

I have been walking around with this question for quite while now, wondering whether or not to post it. After seeing We were soldiers recently, I decide to do so. But let it be clear beyond doubt that it is not to disrespect the servicemen who served there or to question their motives. It is not meant to pass judgement but I can't figure this one out.

I just wonder what you are taught in Highschool with regards to Vietnam's wishes to souvereignty. Are you still taught that because of the Domino Theory and the communist threat that their wish for self rule should be contained? How can it be that Indonesian wish to decolonisation in '49 was seen as nationalism and stimulated by the Americans and Ho Chi Minh's wishes were seen as communism and not nationalism? Soekarno was more affiliated with the PKI (Indonesian Communist Party) then Ho to the Vietnamese version?

The Vietnam War must seem very strange to anyone who was not raised in the Cold War Era. The very real fear that Communism could potentially take over every nation on the planet must seem like a joke to those who were still very young when the Berlin Wall and Iron Curain crumbled and everything that followed after.

I'm of the opinion that the USA catastrophically mishandled things with Indochina and Vietnam specifically just following WW2. The French demanded Indochina back. Ho Chi Minh and his people were very much an American agents within Vietnam, and we let them down by caving into France and their little tantrums about wanting their Empire back. I don't personally believe that Ho Chi Minh was a thoroughly dedicated Marxist prior to that. After we let the French have their way, Marxism was more than just a philosophy of government. It was a means of supporting his own war for Independence for Indochina. China and the USSR were the only world powers 100% willing to actively work against the French afterall.

With Korea as a model, there was one ugly reality. Even if Ho Chi Minh did not subscribe to Marxism (which he did obviously), China would never allow any nation closely tied to the United States to share a border with them and might invade. Communism may have been the only possible option, regardless of the wishes of the people of Vietnam. And yet, Vietnam is unique in one very important aspect: Their own George Washington, the man who brought them victory over the French at Dien Bein Fu, was who the United States was standing against. That alone makes the American position incredibly difficult.

Despite all that, the majority of the population of South Vietnam did in fact oppose reunification with the North IF it meant living under Communist rule. The Vietcong were not representative of the wishes of the people of South Vietnam. Not by a long shot. They were a bunch of murdering thugs who sought to terrorize their fellow South Vietnamese into submitting to their own wishes. The Hue Massacre clearly demonstrates this in my opinion. They are no different than fundamentalists in Iraq/Middle East attempting to force unpopular political agendas by use of Terrorism and Murder. They also would have been virtually nonexistant in a very short space of time without North Vietnam constantly funnelling supplies and replacement troops to them. So for perspective, the US presence there was a counterbalance to the fact that the USSR, China and North Vietnam were already directly interfering with South Vietnam first. The USA was not the only guilty party of "meddling in other nation's affairs" in Vietnam nor were we the first ones. In the end, the popular voice of the people within South Vietnam was completely disregarded by all and lost out in the end.

One statistic that I find interesting to make my point. The Vietcong started out primarily as a rebellion by actual South Vietnamese citizens. By the time the USA pulled out, at least 70% of the "Vietcong" were in fact NVA regulars who had been smuggled into the country to replace the VC's losses.