Posted on 09/29/2017 9:21:11 AM PDT by rktman
Did Burns go into it? I haven't been watching.
He was no Ernie Pyle, that's for sure.
I didn’t watch it, neither. I don’t have to smell crap to know that it stinks.
Everything bad that happens, somehow involves the French.
I fell for Ken Burns’ “Civil War” series, but by the time of his series about baseball I was already leery of him. I happen to know quite a bit about the history of MLB, but what I saw was a documentary about evil racist white team owners and evil racist white American baseball fans. And I’ve never looked at any further Ken Burns productions.
I haven’t seen it as having actually been there I don’t need to. But I suspect that like all liberals Burns is spending a lot of time on US atrocities and ignorong the far worse VC atrocities. US atrocities were largely individual and the perps were often punished when caught. VC and NVA atrocities were Policy. This distinction escapes liberals like Burns who want to justify their draft-dodging treason.
“I didn’t see all 10 episodes, but I still never heard Burns mention that while we lost 58,000+ men, the north lost over a million soldiers (plus 2 million civilians).”
I do not recall which episode it was in by I do remember hearing these statistics in one of the episodes.
We screwed up supporting the French. JFK and LBJ knew there was no way to win with what their advisors were telling them and the tactics they had confined themselves too, thank you McNamara and the joint chiefs, and did it anyway, just stupid.
Without going into Laos, Cambodia and the North it was bound to be a bloody mess and then when they finally had the North ready to cry uncle the US government, thanks to the communist anti-war scum here, tells the military, time to go home. WTH!
Ike had more sense than JFK, LBJ and Nixon together. Stay out of land wars in Asia unless you are prepared to destroy continents and whole counties, WMD’s.
The Brass tried to run it like WW2. This was a huge mistake. It should have been run at platoon level. The VC and NVA seldom cooperated with the Army’s hammer and anvil tactics. The few battles that were fought in set piece fashion resulted in disaster for the commies. However after Khe Sanh and Tet the enemy refused to cooperate in their own destruction. You would see the Army send Regiments into the bush where they would tramp around for werks never seeing an enemy but losing 100 men to booby traps. These operations were lost battles, though the Army has been good at spreading the lie that we never lost a battle in Vietnam.
When the enemy is willing to lose 10 men to one of yours and they lose only 4 you just lost that battle no matter how much you spin it with body counts and other metrics.
Those statistics were stated multiple times and Tet was not presented as a battlefield win for the NVA/VC because their overwhelming losses were specifically noted. There was enough info presented by Burns about how it was covered by the complicit US media to know that Tet was made to appear to be a US loss. However, those words were never used explicitly.
What really, really, got me, was a reporter. He was asked if, he was on a patrol with Americans, would he advise them of an ambush he knew of.
He answered “no”. I still hold a lot inside me and I hope it never breaks loose.
>><<
Same here.
Once we were just in from the field and some reporters approached us. We let them know in no uncertain terms that we had no use for them and they got the message and walked away. About 5 M-16’s casually pointed at them and some F you’s was about all they needed.
Welcome Home.
The part about France is wrong. FDR opposed British and French colonialism, which created some tensions during WWII. When the French were losing at Dien Bien Phu they appealed to America for help but Ike absolutely refused. Few know it but Ike was also an Asia hand and he wanted no part of a land war in Asia, unlike some Democrats I recall.
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Thanks. I appreciate another viewpoints. Again, I am trying to learn.
Ken Burns wanted to make it a war we got into because of republicans and democrats. Clearly, it was the democrats that were mostly responsible. The series made it appear that Ike offered modest support. He certainly didn’t offer ground troops.
Nixon and republicans wanted to get us out. Unfortunately, there wasn’t an easy exit.
Welcome Home Brother.
maybe he can re-edit it to put that in the episodes you want to watch.
The US supplied the French with modest military aid, but refused to send troops or US planes. After the Geneva Accords and France quit Vietnam, the US provided aid and a modest number of advisors to help the newly established South Vietnamese Army. That wasn't in the context of French pressure, but in the context of the Cold War, where after Geneva, North Vietnam became a communist state backed by China and the Soviet Union.
Wanna learn more? Go to an active combat zone (Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq), stay awhile on the front lines, make friends, watch them become pieces and parts, watch them die in your arms, then come home to be spit on, cursed, threatened etc - you’ll pick up a lot more than watching some lefty’s idea of a war. You’ll also learn to hide, slink into the shadows and generally become invisible.
War IS Hell.
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I don’t doubt you. I am a little too old and worn out to do that now. I’ve had some friends that served over there. They saw things that I would consider unimaginable. If a person is willing to talk about it, I am always wanting to hear their story and learn more. It helps me better understand and appreciate the price they paid.
I graduated high school in 1979. Fortunately, it was a peaceful time in our nation’s history. I have no respect for anyone that treated our soldiers without respect. We’d have a better nation now if we could have sent everyone of those disrespectful idiots to the front line.
Honestly, I didn’t know that Ken Burns is a lefty. I appreciate you pointing this out because I’ll consider it when I watch the last two episodes.
And, if you served, thank you. I respect those that served when our nation called. And, as I pointed out in my first post, I believe those that served in Vietnam are just as much heroes as those that served in WWII or any of our wars. They did what they thought was right and answered the call.
Thanks. I look forward to learning more. Truth is, there hasn’t been a lot of coverage on what happened in Vietnam. I remember seeing the nightly news when it was going on and not much other than that.
I do remember something about the a 105 page report but no details after that. I don’t know a lot about Ken Burns but I would never trust PBS.
I will copy and paste the link. Thank you.
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