Talked to a Vietnam vet about this movie
-
mam13143 — 9 years ago(May 10, 2016 11:05 AM)
As a Vietnam vet who was drafted and was obviously not killed I agree with your father. We came home to derision at worst and ignored at best. Today everyone is a hero who serves wherever. Back then it was the total opposite. The guys who served in a very unpopular war deserve great credit in my opinion. If I had known how the people would treat us when we got back, and that idiot Jimmy Carter would give all the draft dodgers in Canada amnesty, I would have gone north. Your dad did right!
-
rfa77 — 9 years ago(July 08, 2016 12:08 PM)
Amazing how we are brainwashed to political correctness that we "see" things that aren't there. The end of the movie does not say, "This movie is dedicated to the men and woman who fought and died in the Vietnam War". It says, "Dedicated to the men who fought and died in the Vietnam War". There were no women combat troops in Vietnam. Of the 2,594,000 who served in Vietnam, only 7,484 were women, of which 6,250, or 83.5%, were nurses. The majority of the rest were admin types. Only 8 women died, of which 5 were accidents (aircraft crashes), 2 were illnesses, and one died in a rocket attack on the base.
So, the movie is correctly dedicated to the men who fought and died. -
nickm2 — 10 years ago(May 18, 2015 01:32 PM)
Not all of the Vets I know 'like' the 'drugs/atrocities/fragging' cliches but they ALL agreed the 'environment' was dead on: The bugs, the ants, the heat, the humidity, the jungle, the vines, the thorns
Why can't you wretched prey creatures understand that the Universe doesn't owe you anything!? -
michaeluk26 — 10 years ago(June 05, 2015 09:46 PM)
The thing with Vietnam vets is if you ask 10 different people about their experiences there you will get 10 different answers. Most I have seen said this movie got way more right than wrong.
Haters gonna hate -
nickm2 — 10 years ago(June 06, 2015 04:15 PM)
True; the story varies on what part of the country they served in; what year they were there & even what unit they were in. For Ex: The experiences of a Marine in the Hill Fights in 1966 would be substantially different from an unwilling draftee in 1970 serving with the AmeriCal Division as they would from a district level MAT Advisor or a CAP Marine.
Why can't you wretched prey creatures understand that the Universe doesn't owe you anything!? -
sonofbeach-sheet — 10 years ago(June 08, 2015 05:03 PM)
Oliver Stone has always had a reputation as angry, biased, and subversive. Maybe this is the truth, maybe it isn't. The jungle environment and combat to me are nothing short of believable. But to portray the drinking and non drug using soldiers as without morals, hateful, stupid, uneducated, and violent and the druggies as decent and compassionate. Wrong
-
riversideriverside — 10 years ago(September 30, 2015 02:59 PM)
Your friend is correct. I've been arguing with another poster on a thread for the piece of crap movie "1969." He said Platoon is one of the bestit isn't. I said We Were Soldiers is one of the best. The thread is named "Complete Crap."
http://www.imdb.com/board/10094594/board/nest/62945066?ref_=tt_bd_1 -
piddy60 — 10 years ago(November 13, 2015 05:49 PM)
As a Vietnam Vet this movie came closest to what I experienced. As was said in another post, all this didn't happen to me but it all happened in the time frame 1967-1968 when I was there. People ask me what was it like and I say watch "Platoon".
-
haynese_98 — 10 years ago(December 01, 2015 12:03 AM)
This is a weird fact but in a poll of Vietnam Veterans the vast majority have nothing but positive thoughts about their experience while they were there. Of course, most vets weren't infantry slogging in the jungle. There were medics, pilots, sailors, mechanics, communications centers, REMF's in Saigon etc.
Shall we play a game? -
riversideriverside — 10 years ago(December 02, 2015 06:58 AM)
True, haynese. The best estimates of how many Vietnam veterans experienced close combat is about 5%. That is: 5 out of every 100. Our presence there was a big logistical monster.
A good book, Armed With Abundance, explains it. Including the fact that REMFs in Vietnam played a large part in negatively stereotyping true close combat vets. Many REMFs, when polled later, revealed the easy life they had in Nam.
Though some close combat vets, like myself, are proud of having fought there; and didn't adopt the beleaguered-victim routine.
Armed With Abundance: I recommend it. -
nickm2 — 10 years ago(December 02, 2015 08:15 PM)
Well it might be a bit more: Redlegs/Arty/cannon cockers, Chopper Jockies, Motor Pool Truckers, Treadheads, district level mobile advisors all got to 'enjoy the tropics' to an extentprobably not as much as the average 11B rifleman
Why can't you wretched prey creatures understand that the Universe doesn't owe you anything!? -
haynese_98 — 10 years ago(December 02, 2015 08:34 PM)
I once read an account by a soldier in the jungle who said the Remf's wouldn't always ship them their mail from home, sometimes going so far as to eat the home bakes cookies that moms had shipped to them. This has always angered me to no end.
Shall we play a game? -
riversideriverside — 10 years ago(December 10, 2015 06:59 AM)
Yes, that did happen.
The "brotherhood" was largely myth. The schism between close-combatants and others is wide. The schism tends not to lend itself to discussion. Close-combatants are way outnumbered and the others resent the rejection of equivalence. -
ozart2002-919-392694 — 10 years ago(January 06, 2016 06:53 PM)
Thanks for your service brother..you have just voiced what I have felt was a vast injustice to those of us who saw action weekly (I flew a UH-1C gunship in '66/'67 Central highlands), and we were in on everything that went on for a 100 mile radius (my one regret is that theree never seem to be any gunships in these movies - and the air assault in Apocalypse Now was comic book beep
There is a HUGE difference between a Viet Nam "veteran" and a "combat veteran". Not taking away anything from anyone ripped from home for 12 months in that cesspool, but there really needs to be a delineation when passing out the accolades. Theater ribbons and unit ribbons simply don't stack up to the Air Medals, Bronze stars, and purple Hearts that some of us can wear proudly.
Whatever our government's motivations, we can sleep at night knowing we did what we could to serve America, and I have never regretted a single moment my time there. Being so close to death so often makes one appreciate life that much more.
Be well, and live long.