...The Vietnam War was the most controversial war in American History. Many believed that the US had no business being involved in that war while others think it was the right decision. Years after the war the government decided to give up a few hundred yards to a memorial for this war. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a very respects and appropriate memorial for those lives lost. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is made of black granite walls 200ft long and 10ft tall. It has the names of all 57,692 loves lost in Vietnam in chronological order. The walls come together at 1300 degrees to make a v-shape (Ayres). At the bottom the walls sink and dip 10ft. into a trench. The opposing side may say that this monument is “pointedly insulting the vets” (Carhart). However this monument is a subtle yet powerful statement to honor those...
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...The Vietnam war was an eleven-year conflict between the US and the divided country of Vietnam. The North Vietnamese sought out to reunify the country of Vietnam, while the Americans wanted to controlled the communist expansion by providing aid and soldier to the South Vietnamese. The pentagon spent 77.8 billion in the duration of this war(Bell). In 1961 the south vietnam signed a military economic aid treaty with US. In 1965 the us began air raids on the north vietnamese. By the late 1972 the US had neither the military capability nor political supports to continue the war. The true belief of the mission and goal in the conflict was never entirely clear. The Americans justification of helping the South Vietnamese was never fully understood...
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...the presiding government of Vietnam. China also began to train and supply military weapons to the Viet Minh (Revolutionary League for the Independence of Vietnam), which was, at the time, developing into a major communist hotbed. Top U.S. officials informed the president that they would either have to support the legal government in Indochina or face the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. Ho Chi Minh, founder and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, was a fervent revolutionary whose ultimate goal was independence for his country. [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/vietnam/vn04_01b.jpg] American officials were cognizant of the fact that only the complete decolonization of Indochina could establish a stable noncommunist force in the lands surrounding China. However, the American position to fulfill this objective was inadequate. The French were historically ill disposed to allowing Americans to meddle in their internal affairs. Furthermore, the French were paranoid that the United States had the intention to usurp their economic and political power in Indochina. Because of its apprehension about the Soviet danger to destitute post-World War II Western Europe, America was concerned with obtaining France’s support for the creation of a European Defense Community (EDC). Therefore, the European Defense Community was extremely important to the United States. Consequently, the U.S., out of fear of alienating France from its cause, had very little leverage in...
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...restore its colonial rule in Indo-China between 1945-1954. Between 1945 and 1954 France’s attempts to restore its colonial rule in Indo-China, through both negotiation and military conflict, were largely unsuccessful. This lack of success on the part of a major European power in putting down the resistance of a (relatively) small guerilla force of rebels within its own colony is a cause for much debate. There are many opinions as to where France’s biggest short comings fell or what their biggest mistake was. Some argue it was their treatment of the Vietnamese villagers, while others believe the environment posed an insurmountable barrier for the French. Still others argue that France’s biggest short coming was its lack of adaptability or its limited understanding of Vietnamese society. It is undeniable that these factors could all be explanations to the problems France faced in its attempts to restore its colonial rule in Indo-China, however, it was the combination of all these factors (and more) within the volatile environment which was world politics at the time which resulted in France’s ultimate lack of success. One thing which was certainly a contributing factor to France’s lack of success was that the French underestimated the resistance they were faced with. The French “underestimated the strength of the Viet Minh and the support it would gain from the ordinary Vietnamese.”[1] This was partly due to a lack of understanding of the structure of Vietnamese society and...
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...illness that develops when a person is exposed to a highly dangerous, very terrifying, possibly life-threatening event. Obviously this disease tends to affect soldiers much more than the general population. Before recognized as a disease PTSD was looked down upon and soldiers were shunned for showing symptoms. This brought about a negative stereotype to PTSD that is still seen today. As Americans, shouldn’t we know better than that? Seriously, are we shunning the defenders of our country that are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice everyday they wake up? The American people can do better than that, and we owe it to our soldiers to eliminate this public negative stereotype. It will not be acceptable to see a similar Post-Vietnam welcoming of our soldiers today. The weight and punishment that Vietnam veterans dealt with from the public was a disgrace to the millions of young men who sacrificed everything during that war. Veterans of Vietnam would come back from the war with severe cases of PTSD, only to be laughed at and turned away when trying to find help. This can’t happen with the soldiers of today’s America....
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...The Vietnam War was an intriguing time in American History. From November 1st 1955 to April 30th 1975, American troops were engaged in warfare on Vietnam soil. This meant for nearly twenty years, America sent people, money, and resources overseas to fight this war. The question that has been raised by historians since is simple: Why did the American government enter into Vietnam in the first place? The speculation and theories over this question is what make learning about the Vietnam War interesting. As with any war that has been fought by the United States since its conception, there are opposing opinions and ideas about what caused the Vietnam War to begin. From ideas that it had to do with protecting the Vietnamese people to fear of the...
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...Homosexuals in the Military Homosexuals have been excluded from our society since our country's beginning, giving them no equal protection underneath the large branch of the law. The Emancipation Proclamation gave freedom to blacks from slavery in the 1800's and women were given the freedoms reserved for males in the early 1900's with the women's suffrage movement. But everyone still knows the underlying feeling of nation in dealing with minorities and women, one of contempt and utter disgust. Hate crimes are still perpetrated to this day in this country, and most are unpublicized and "swept underneath the rug." The general public is just now dealing with the struggle of Homosexuals to gain rights in America, although this persecution is subtle, quiet and rarely ever seen to the naked eye or the general public. The big question today in Homosexuals rights struggles are dealing with the right to be a part of our country's Military Forces. At the forefront of the struggle to gain access to the military has been Females who have tried to gain access to "All Men" facilities and have been pressured out by other cadets. This small group of women have fought hard, and pressured the Government to change regulations dealing with the inclusion of all people, whether female or male, and giving them all the same opportunities they deserve. The Homosexual struggle with our Nation's Armed Forces has been acquiring damage and swift blows for over 60 years now, and now they too are...
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...some people on the left to make comparisons to the American experience in the Vietnam War. These people argue that the United States has put itself into an in-extractable “quagmire” from which there is no feasible withdrawal. This type of reasoning by historical comparison is not wise because no two historical events are completely alike. In the case of Iraq and Vietnam, extreme caution should be exercised in comparing two wars so far apart in historical circumstances, geography, and time. It becomes pretty obvious that the differences between the two conflicts greatly outnumber the similarities. This is especially true in the strategic and military dimensions of the two wars. There is simply no comparison between the environment, the scale of military presence, losses incurred over time, the quality of enemy resistance, the role and scope of enemy allies, and the duration of open warfare style combat. There are, however, two political parts of the Iraq and Vietnam wars that are similar in nature: our attempts at nation-building in a foreign culture, and our trying to sustaining domestic popular support in a long and drawn out war against insurgents. Policymakers should have an understanding of the reasons for U.S. political failure in South Vietnam, as well as for the Johnson and Nixon administrations’ failure to sustain popular support for the accomplishment of U.S. military objectives in Vietnam. A repeat of those failures in Iraq could have uncalculated consequences for...
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...changing situations may lead to this horrible psychiatric Disorder. The interesting fact here is most survivors of these traumas return to their normal lives with the time but some will carry the flashbacks, memories which cause side reactions and even their lives will be miserable with the time these are the people who develop PTSD. Some traumatic events that can trigger PTSD 1) Traumatic experiences following military combat 2) violent personal assaults such as sexual assault, physical attacks 3) torture 4) terrorist attacks 5) severe road accidents 6) being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness such as cancer 7) observing the serious injury or unnatural death of another person due to violent assault, accident, war, or disaster 8) unexpectedly witnessing a dead body or body parts 9) exposure to natural disasters such as earth quakes, Tsunamis After getting a general idea on PTSD, It is important to discuss in this topic Military and PTSD. when military soldiers encounter shocking incidents such as missions that exposed to horrible and life-threatening experiences. When you have been shot at, seen a colleague shot, or seen him death and also in the events of gang rapes, sexual assaults that occur in war time. These are the events that lead to the PTSD among...
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...A Walk Through Time The significant moments in time collectively make up our nations history. In that history we see change, growth and experience loss. These events make us the people, that make up the country that love and contribute to. I chose five events in time that brought about a tremendous change across the world, and making life as we know it today, a walk in the park. MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT Montgomery Alabama, 1955 and 1956 was an extremely volatile time for African-Americans and Whites, but the events of that year made history and changed the way of life for every Montgomery resident. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a peaceful protest that lasted one year. Its main goal was to put an end to racially segregated seating on buses, but by the end it accomplished much more (Toonari). A Walk on the wild side Prior to the Supreme Court 1956 decision, African-Americans were forced to ride at the back of the bus. They suffered ridicule and racial slures at the hands of the bus drivers and the White passengers. In the early 1950’s two teenagers, Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith were both arrested for refusing to give their seats to white passengers (Allen, R. 2000). Although this created some tension within the African-American community it tool the arrest of Rosa Parks, a former NAACP secretary who refused to give up her seat on the bus, on December 1, 1955 to set the wheels in motion for what would...
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...“It also gives veterans a chance for the homecoming reception most never had when they returned from Vietnam” which made the ritual more significant. Travelling in a pack, reinforced a sense of brotherhood and “kinship” honoring respect, sympathy, regard commitment, and fellowship as well. Allowing people to escape their busy lives, and come together as one and experience a sense of collectivism. (How did this connect to the essay topic and reading)______________.Many factors from this article contributed to this tis behavior that showed mutual support and shared identities are...
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...Anjenette Whitted English 1120 MV 11:00am Professor Soto-Schwantz 5 October 2015 Help for Homeless Veterans It should be obvious by now that our homeless veterans are not being served well at all. If the homeless veterans were properly cared for by our country, the total homeless population would fall by more than 40 percent over night. Homeless services would then have sufficient funding to move many of the rest of the homeless off the streets into transitional housing with services that bring them back into the working population. It would be a dream come true. If only our country would step up to the plate, homelessness in our country would be virtually eliminated. If only…. Lets Summarize the Homeless Veteran Situation. 750,000 total homeless count in U.S 400,000 veterans are homeless at some time in a year 200,000 veterans homeless in any one night 27% of our male U.S. population are veterans but 43% of all homeless males are veterans – why? 7688 beds funded by the VA for homeless veterans 192,312 sleeping elsewhere – shelters, grates, creek beds, back alleys. We have Heroes sleeping on sidewalks in every big city. The VA says homelessness is not related to military service, but Veterans are twice as likely to be homeless than civilians. We may think that homeless veterans served poorly in military, but: 95% of homeless vets have honorable discharges. The VA claims it has the largest network of homeless assistance programs in the country, but: Total VA funding...
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...Is War Primarily the Product of ‘Human Nature’? It is too great a task to identify a common cause of all wars, past and present, then attribute it responsibility for their commencing. However, what can be done is to identify certain foundations common in all “war”, and pay heed to how “states [or other structures] actually behave, behind the façade of their values-based rhetoric” (Kaplan, 2012, p.1). It will be this essay’s goal to determine first, what needs be included in the definition of “human nature”, and what constitutes “war”, and second, stake the claim that all political action, including that of states, is derived primarily from this definition of human nature. The first task is to define what is meant by “war”, and while definitions abound, it is possible to order them into one of two categories supplied by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. The first is the modern conventional view, that war is “the state of armed conflict between nations or states” (Oxford, 2007, p.3573), and the second, considerably broader, of “any active hostility or struggle between living beings” (Oxford, 2007, p.3573). The former accounts well for conflicts that were overwhelmingly state-centric, such as the First World War, and marks a clear distinction between war and individual political violence: war is the business of states. However, is the Vietnam War to be understood—like the Korean—as a simple north versus south conflict, despite the northern state only assuming active involvementnine...
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...How successful was the USA’s policy of containment? The policy of containment was not a success, As after the war, The USA aimed to quarantine communism to the only place it existed, Russia. However soon despite this, communism spread and communist dictatorship controlled most of Eastern Europe, soon after this the most populated state on earth, China, fell to a communist regime, as well as the creation of communist states in Vietnam and Korea. This consistent creation of communist states and the failure of the USA to prevent this, shows how ultimately, despite apparent success in some of Europe and Asia, the Policy of Containment failed in its primary function, to contain and prevent the spread of communism and therefore it was not a success. However it is arguable that in some ways the USA’s Policy of Containment was a great success in preventing the spread of communism early on during the Cold War. One piece of evidence that supports the argument that the USA had early success with their policy of containment is The Greek Civil War. The USA’s decision to intervene due to the “strategic significance of Greece in the Balkans and the Mediterranean” arguably was successful. With this clear threat of communist expansion into Western Europe, Truman called for congress to uphold the Truman Doctrine and provide funding to aid the battle against the spread of communism that clearly threatened the USA’s interests in Europe. This resulted in $400 million dollars of funding being...
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...turning points during War World II and through the 1970’s while analyzing the impact the war had on America’s current society, economy, politics and culture. I will also discuss why America in the late 1930’s wanted to stay out of the European conflict that became WWII, which is one of the greatest debates of all time. We examine the important role that women played in winning the war and what outcomes came from their hard work that impacted women today. Many civil rights movements developed during this time also, and we discuss many breakthroughs that moved African Americans forward because of the war. I will describe ways in which the Vietnam War brought political awareness to a new generation of young Americans and to conclude I talk about President’s Johnson’s “Great Society” agenda that are still in place today that we benefit from if it had not been for the war. All these things are what make WWII known for the Greatest War of all time even after World War I. The war prompted a tremendous mobilization of American resources, at a level unseen since the Civil War. Long-quiet industries were revitalized, the agricultural sector started to grow again, and the American economy ramped up from that of the low production of the Great Depression years to the most powerful economy in the world. The economy showed the most remarkable improvement. World War II initiated the most significant federal management of the economy in American History. When the war began, President Roosevelt...
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