Starting with the title of the first episode, Deja Vu, the film was very insightful in articulating the parallels between the French's experience in Vietnam and the US experience in Vietnam approximately 20 years later. Additionally, these stories have much in common with the US experience in Afghanistan and even Syria. The questions of whether or not to get involved; how much to get involved; which side to support; and what objectives to pursue are shared in all of the above.
A few other observations --wars (specifically insurgencies) perpetuate themselves with hate and a continuous escalation of retaliation. Every person that gets killed is somebody's battle-buddy, sibling, or child, or parent which results in a never-ending appetite for vengeance. --helping a side that later turns out to fight against us-- Ho Chi Minh, Osama Bin Laden, and other leaders were once aided by the US, only to end up leading enemy forces. --both sides believe they are right-- hearing the stories of how the French and Japanese treated the Vietnamese, it is easy to sympathize with their situations and almost be rooting for Ho Chi Minh. --escalation of commitment-- The US starting with a few million dollars in support of the French, then hundreds of millions, then advisors, then Soldiers on the ground. It is so easy to escalate, but so hard to cut losses and draw down (sunk-cost bias).
I felt the film did a good job of detailing the reasons why each side got involved in the conflict. As CPT Mulholland mentioned, it seems like history tends to repeat itself for various reasons. I can understand why the U.S. politicians felt the need to intervene, given the context of the Cold War, but one can also understand the position of the Vietnamese fighting against what they saw as another foreign invasion. As I work through the other episodes, I am also gaining insight into the mind of LBJ and his advisors and why they were so stubbornly against pulling out of Vietnam. For one thing, the feeling was that the U.S. had never "lost" a war, and the administration was going to be the first one to admit defeat. For another, all of the propaganda and intelligence coming from North Vietnam was that Ho Chi Minh was simply going to "wait us out" and that the U.S. would lose the political will to see it through. Therefore, the administration and war planners wanted to "prove them wrong", so to speak, and see the fight through. Excellent film...it has been a very interesting watch.
Two things really stick with me from the first episode.
1. The war was so polarizing, no one at home wanted to talk about it after it was over. The scene of the Vietnam veteran talking about how he had lived by a good friend who was his neighbor for 12 years before the wives finally figured out that their husbands had both served in Vietnam was very telling. Given what I know about the war, it wasn't surprising, but comparing that perspective to how things are today couldn't be more different. I think we sometimes don't fully appreciate current U.S. regard for the military. It hasn't always been the way it is, so we have to ensure we do all we can to perpetuate it.
2. We didn't appreciate the risks at home and abroad Vietnam would present over time. Under the cloud of the Cold War, we viewed our engagement in Vietnam very differently than North Vietnam viewed their struggle to be independent. We didn't fully appreciate what we were getting into. I thought these concepts were captured very well at the end of the episode by Bob Dylan song, "Hard Rain's a-gonna fall" paired with the classic Ken Burns style of picture panning. The deep foreboding in that song and in those pictures was chilling.
I'm now seven episodes in. It's a fantastic documentary. One of Ken Burns best!
Starting with the title of the first episode, Deja Vu, the film was very insightful in articulating the parallels between the French's experience in Vietnam and the US experience in Vietnam approximately 20 years later. Additionally, these stories have much in common with the US experience in Afghanistan and even Syria. The questions of whether or not to get involved; how much to get involved; which side to support; and what objectives to pursue are shared in all of the above.
ReplyDeleteA few other observations
--wars (specifically insurgencies) perpetuate themselves with hate and a continuous escalation of retaliation. Every person that gets killed is somebody's battle-buddy, sibling, or child, or parent which results in a never-ending appetite for vengeance.
--helping a side that later turns out to fight against us-- Ho Chi Minh, Osama Bin Laden, and other leaders were once aided by the US, only to end up leading enemy forces.
--both sides believe they are right-- hearing the stories of how the French and Japanese treated the Vietnamese, it is easy to sympathize with their situations and almost be rooting for Ho Chi Minh.
--escalation of commitment-- The US starting with a few million dollars in support of the French, then hundreds of millions, then advisors, then Soldiers on the ground. It is so easy to escalate, but so hard to cut losses and draw down (sunk-cost bias).
Very insightful film and well-documented.
CPT Mulholland
Avenger Company
I felt the film did a good job of detailing the reasons why each side got involved in the conflict. As CPT Mulholland mentioned, it seems like history tends to repeat itself for various reasons. I can understand why the U.S. politicians felt the need to intervene, given the context of the Cold War, but one can also understand the position of the Vietnamese fighting against what they saw as another foreign invasion. As I work through the other episodes, I am also gaining insight into the mind of LBJ and his advisors and why they were so stubbornly against pulling out of Vietnam. For one thing, the feeling was that the U.S. had never "lost" a war, and the administration was going to be the first one to admit defeat. For another, all of the propaganda and intelligence coming from North Vietnam was that Ho Chi Minh was simply going to "wait us out" and that the U.S. would lose the political will to see it through. Therefore, the administration and war planners wanted to "prove them wrong", so to speak, and see the fight through.
ReplyDeleteExcellent film...it has been a very interesting watch.
Great comments CPT Mulholland and CSM Nelson!
ReplyDeleteTwo things really stick with me from the first episode.
1. The war was so polarizing, no one at home wanted to talk about it after it was over. The scene of the Vietnam veteran talking about how he had lived by a good friend who was his neighbor for 12 years before the wives finally figured out that their husbands had both served in Vietnam was very telling. Given what I know about the war, it wasn't surprising, but comparing that perspective to how things are today couldn't be more different. I think we sometimes don't fully appreciate current U.S. regard for the military. It hasn't always been the way it is, so we have to ensure we do all we can to perpetuate it.
2. We didn't appreciate the risks at home and abroad Vietnam would present over time. Under the cloud of the Cold War, we viewed our engagement in Vietnam very differently than North Vietnam viewed their struggle to be independent. We didn't fully appreciate what we were getting into. I thought these concepts were captured very well at the end of the episode by Bob Dylan song, "Hard Rain's a-gonna fall" paired with the classic Ken Burns style of picture panning. The deep foreboding in that song and in those pictures was chilling.
I'm now seven episodes in. It's a fantastic documentary. One of Ken Burns best!