his 2006 documentary series of the Vietnam War presents the views and experiences of US veterans reflecting on events after 35 years. The presentation consists of film footage of the war, intercut with individual veterans speaking about their military life, and explanatory narration by Dale Reed, who also anchors each episode. The majority of the episodes cover different branches of the US military: helicopter; regular army: infantry, mortars, artillery, tanks, non-combat corpsmen; special forces, special op's; marines & navy. The veterans describe the arms & tactics they used, and how heavier fire-power units supported intantry patrols seeking out the enemy. A couple of episodes respectively summarise, (a) the pre-war history of Vietnam, the build-up of US military advisors, and the initiation of the war, and (b) the arms, military capacity, and tactics of the opposing Vietnamese forces: the North Vietnamese army and the undercover (Vietcong) guerillas in the South. These episodes have more narration, but the US veterans still weigh in with their their own views of the war in general, and of the enemy they faced. The veterans are at their most composed talking about the technicalities & tactics of the war, and the viewer even senses a rush of adrenaline when they speak about particularly effective weapons. It's clear that most of them had no issue, now or then, with shooting at bona fide Vietnamese combatants. However, most of these men view the war negatively. They feel the US should never have been in Vietnam. They resent the poor leadership shown by absent senior officers, and the green, incompetent lieutenants in the field, and they compain about the lack of care which led to frequent friendly-fire incidents. They all looked forward to the day their tour of duty would end However, many of the veterans have deep psychological wounds from being asked to destroy villages and shoot at civilians. Although acting under orders, the men know what they did was wrong, and these memories still keep them awake at night & drive them to substance abuse. Much of this is revealed, not so much in the tears and the words, but in the damaged faces of men in their 50s & 60s. It's clear that some have fared better than others over the years: ex-officers, special op's teams, pilots, and non-combatant corpsmen. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's the ordinary soldiers who show the deepest scars, now physical as well as mental. At times, the viewer may feel as though they've strayed into a private therapy session, uninvited. WWI combatants largely kept their experiences under their hat for life, WWII soldiers wrote memoirs, but US Vietnam vet's seem happy to talk openly for all to hear --- a very modern, American attitude. This documentary does not delve deeply into the strategic and political reasons for going ot war, or whether any of the US objectives were achieved, nor does it investigate the attitudes of the Vietnamese, pacifist US students, the US press, the US public, nor does it analyse the effects of the perceived defeat on US Society from 1968-81: Khe Sanh/Tet Offensive up to Reagan's election. (I haven't watched the Burns' documentary, but I can imagine that all of these things are covered there.) What these films succeed at very well is in giving a detailed and accurate idea of how it felt to be a US soldier in combat, and how that experience dominated most US veterans for the rest of their lives. Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Quite an interesting DVD collection for the anorak's (God thats me). Perhaps a bit too much talking by Vets and not enough capture of live action.
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