The Fight
The way the vietnamese faught greatly changed the way america fights Today. America wasnt used to fighting guerilla warfare fighters (people who fight dirty) they werent used to the tactics they usd the vietnamese hid in holes they dug in the jungle they hid in trees in the jungle and they set traps everywhere they also liked hidin in villages with commeners and then ambush the americans so as you can see they have an advantage on the ground but the U.S. had something they didnt the sky. we had the B-52 bomber wich came in and dropped multiple bombs on targets, the F8-Phantom was a fighter that released napalm bombs (Fire bombs) wich lit fire to the jungle so none of the vietnamese could hide any were. This was a very effective way to uncover them but it didnt always work. There was also the "Spookey" gunship wich was filled with machine guns all down the side of the aircraft to fire down huge bullets on the enemy wich were not as acurate as smaller bullets but basically it attacked a wide range.while the plane circled around the battlefield. The way it effcted our fighting was we ended up using more aircraft/vehicle warfare. But the images shown of everyone dying made the american public want peace. People broke out in protest of peace almost every day "hippies" was what they were calleed tie dye long hair sunglasses drugs and music that was the description of a "hippie".
The Effect
From 1965 to 1973 the United States was torn apart by a war. The war was not even on our own continent and yet affected every single American citizen. The Vietnam War, conflict in Southeast Asia, primarily fought in South Vietnam between government forces aided by the United States and guerrilla forces aided by North Vietnam. The war began soon after the Geneva Conference provisionally divided (1954) Vietnam at 17° N lat. into the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam).
It escalated from a Vietnamese civil war into a limited international conflict in which the United States military was deeply involved. By 1966 the United States had 190,000 soldiers in Vietnam and this number grew to 550,000 soldiers in 1969. Eventually more and more American citizens started to be against the war and ask for peace and friendship between the U.S and Northern Vietnam. The optimistic military reports became discredited due to the costly and devastating news of the Tet offensive.( My father, Mitchel Skaff, lived through this era. I decided to ask him to tell me his personal accounts of what he remembered from this section of our nations history. Before I got to formal question I told him to speak freely about what he remembered. This was more than enough information for me to get a clear picture on how life was here in America during the war.)
Primary Source: Summary story of Mitchel Skaff
I remember Kennedy wanted out of the war but was of course assassinated. Then president Lyndon Johnson came in supported the war because " to war we went.”Well the war got bigger from 1964 and on and many people had diffent feelings about the whole ordeal. Some sued for peace and went to Canada to dodge the draft. Some people like the older men that fought in Korea and World War Two had the opinion that young men should fight for their country. Households (even mine) were split. As you know my father fought in Korea and my older brother, Moe, was about to turn eighteen. He did not want to register and this was a big issue with my dad.” Pausing to take a sip of coffee he hesitates not knowing what to go on with, but in a few seconds he carried on. Dad always told us stories of Korea and we always had the impression of war being glorious. Many television shows and movies back then were mostly about World War Two. Naturally the movies romanticized war and people had a watered down idea about what it was until everything really got started. Well I did not really hit me fully until one day in the sixth grade a women came into class... her name was Lorraine, her husband was a POW and she was allowed to write to him. They used to sell these metal POW bracelets and supposedly the money got the soldiers red cross packages or something.” This seemed to make him sad but keeps going. Little reminders were around every corner. Some kid I ran track with, his name was Dan Culhagen; he had an uncle in the war. He was in some kind of armored group or something; anyways he was decapitated by an RPG (missile). News like that was common and reminded us how real the world was.” He seemed about through. And well what else is there to say Nixon brought the troops home and life in America was a little sadder for a while.A total of 56,000 Americans died at the Vietnam Wars end.(Americas public opinion did make a difference.)
Bibliography:http://www.glynn.k12.ga.us/BHS/academics/junior/durham/daniels11885/home.html
Edited by:Alex Alexander