• Welcome to BellGab.com Archive.
 

The Vietnam War - Ken Burns 2017 PBS Series

Started by Up All Night, September 17, 2017, 08:29:30 PM

=Schlyder=

Yes sadly, The USA got squeezed into that war in Vietnam. The French and British sure didn't help, fucking retards.  Everything blew up in the USA's face and went horribly wrong, and then the fucking cunts LBJ and all the industrial military complex exploited the situation to make billions at the expense of a generation of people, on both sides.  The whole thing was just a horrible tragedy that should have never happened.

=Schlyder=

I was born in 1964.  My earliest memories are of watching news clips on TV of the Vietnam war... at maybe about 2 or 3 years old.  We moved when I was 4, and one of our new neighbors was a WWI veteran. I heard many stories from him, and it would seem those two things in my early childhood instilled a deep interest in history and military.  I had a large Ballantines military history books collection and many others when I was under age 10.

Up All Night

Quote from: GravitySucks on October 05, 2017, 09:58:43 AM
If you were drafted, it was for 2 years in the Army, active duty with an additional 4 year inactive reserve commitments.

You had the option to enlist in the other services, but the active duty commitment was 3,4 or 6 years depending on the service and the speciality. The total service commitment remained the same. 6 years combination of active duty and inactive reserves.

A lot of people would enlist in the national guard or reserves if they had a low lottery number in hopes they wouldn’t get called up. You had to do this before you got your draft notice though.

The other services only offered the best jobs if you enlisted before you got your draft notice.

The educational deferment was a big factor in creating the trend towards liberal adts degrees during the 60’s and 70’s.

It was also during that time that was when Universities started separating their Arts & Sciences. Art and Science had been together for a very long time. But the progressive educators decreed that those would be separated. I do not think that was good move.

Swishypants

Quote from: =Schlyder= on October 07, 2017, 12:01:51 AM
I was born in 1964.  My earliest memories are of watching news clips on TV of the Vietnam war... at maybe about 2 or 3 years old.  We moved when I was 4, and one of our new neighbors was a WWI veteran. I heard many stories from him, and it would seem those two things in my early childhood instilled a deep interest in history and military.  I had a large Ballantines military history books collection and many others when I was under age 10.

My Great Grandfather was born in 1903 and was an isolationist farmer. People from the town he lived in thought WWI Vets were idiots that joined up with an "Expeditionary Army" that was akin to a Mercenary force. WWI Vets were NOT well respected by many in the country at the time. They were considered Mercs, not regular Soldiers. This is also why there was support for Black Jack Perishing cutting them down when they formed the Bonus Army. People thought: "They cost us a lot of money and side-stepped the constitution. They're scum-bag adventurers and they get what they get."

=Schlyder=

Quote from: Swishypants on October 07, 2017, 05:35:20 AM
My Great Grandfather was born in 1903 and was an isolationist farmer. People from the town he lived in thought WWI Vets were idiots that joined up with an "Expeditionary Army" that was akin to a Mercenary force. WWI Vets were NOT well respected by many in the country at the time. They were considered Mercs, not regular Soldiers. This is also why there was support for Black Jack Perishing cutting them down when they formed the Bonus Army. People thought: "They cost us a lot of money and side-stepped the constitution. They're scum-bag adventurers and they get what they get."

My neighbor was with the BEF out of Canada.  We were at war as soon as the Brits declared war on Germany. The Dominion of Canada at the time. That was Canada's coming out party so to speak. The Canadian story in WWI is a very interesting.

Swishypants

Quote from: =Schlyder= on October 07, 2017, 06:02:02 AM
My neighbor was with the BEF out of Canada.  We were at war as soon as the Brits declared war on Germany. The Dominion of Canada at the time. That was Canada's coming out party so to speak. The Canadian story in WWI is a very interesting.

Canada? You mean The Queens' genetic storage locker? :)

Hog

Quote from: =Schlyder= on October 07, 2017, 06:02:02 AM
My neighbor was with the BEF out of Canada.  We were at war as soon as the Brits declared war on Germany. The Dominion of Canada at the time. That was Canada's coming out party so to speak. The Canadian story in WWI is a very interesting.
Yes it was and yes it is.  100 years ago now.

peace
Hog


Up All Night

Quote from: =Schlyder= on October 06, 2017, 11:53:20 PM
Yes sadly, The USA got squeezed into that war in Vietnam. The French and British sure didn't help, fucking retards.  Everything blew up in the USA's face and went horribly wrong, and then the fucking cunts LBJ and all the industrial military complex exploited the situation to make billions at the expense of a generation of people, on both sides.  The whole thing was just a horrible tragedy that should have never happened.

Imagine if the CBS TV Network had miraculously had integrity and before they closed out Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. in 1969, had Gomer in the shithole of Vietnam, with it's rampant drug use, and pointless deaths, take the hill, lose the hill, take the hill, etc...

Despite being a military-themed show and airing during the peak of the Vietnam War, the show never discussed the war.

American Propaganda at it's best.... or worst....



R.I.P. Jim Nabors

Dr. MD MD

Quote from: Up All Night on November 30, 2017, 07:37:14 PM
Imagine if the CBS TV Network had miraculously had integrity and before they closed out Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. in 1969, had Gomer in the shithole of Vietnam, with it's rampant drug use, and pointless deaths, take the hill, lose the hill, take the hill, etc...

Despite being a military-themed show and airing during the peak of the Vietnam War, the show never discussed the war.

American Propaganda at it's best.... or worst....



R.I.P. Jim Nabors

It was a sitcom. It's hard to keep people laughing when they're bummed out. Although around the same time Laugh-In started incorporating some jokes about the war. I just know that when MASH tried to make some serious points about the Korean war that's when the show started sucking. The earlier shows brought out more about how they used humor to cope with the insanity and death all around them but they weren't heavy handed about it.

Kidnostad3

Quote from: Dr. MD MD on November 30, 2017, 09:22:46 PM
It was a sitcom. It's hard to keep people laughing when they're bummed out. Although around the same time Laugh-In started incorporating some jokes about the war. I just know that when MASH tried to make some serious points about the Korean war that's when the show started sucking. The earlier shows brought out more about how they used humor to cope with the insanity and death all around them but they weren't heavy handed about it.

I really liked MASH but I recall very clearly that there were episodes that dealt with incidents and situations that closely paralled events occurring in Vietnam at the time.  It wasn’t even subtle and it invariably took the anti war movements point of view.  I never had a problem with the show’s depiction of war as madness and military blundering but when it got political I watched it less and towards the end of its run not at all.  However, in later years I think I must have seen all the episodes that I missed in rerun and with the benefit of having become a bit more mature and inured to the entertainment industry’s biases.

Dr. MD MD

Quote from: Kidnostad3 on November 30, 2017, 10:36:03 PM
I really liked MASH but I recall very clearly that there were episodes that dealt with incidents and situations that closely paralled events occurring in Vietnam at the time.  It wasn’t even subtle and it invariably took the anti war movements point of view.  I never had a problem with the show’s depiction of war as madness and military blundering but when it got political I watched it less and towards the end of its run not at all.  However, in later years I think I must have seen them all in rerun with the bebefit of having become a bit more mature and jaded.

After Frank left it was pretty much all over for that show.

Kidnostad3

Quote from: Dr. MD MD on November 30, 2017, 10:43:06 PM
After Frank left it was pretty much all over for that show.

Yeah, he was the duty asshole and his replacement, Maj Charles Winchester, never achieved Burns’ level of assholishness.  Henry Morgan (Col. Potter) was a great replacement for what’s his name, the first CO. 

Up All Night

There have been many TV Drama Series about WWII, most notable Combat! which ran from 1962-1967.

But it's notable that there has never been a "Combat!" style TV drama series about Vietnam.

I don't count China Beach because I suppose it was like ER:Vietnam. Well EVERY war has a medical component. But fighting the war is also a component. TV just couldn't handle it, I guess. With the R rated blood gore now allowed on network TV, that aspect wouldn't be a hindrance to filming a Combat! style TV series set in Vietnam.

But I think we know that just is never going to happen, for whatever reasons.

They'll just skip over it and go onto other "wars".

paladin1991

Quote from: Up All Night on December 01, 2017, 02:31:54 AM
There have been many TV Drama Series about WWII, most notable Combat! which ran from 1962-1967.

But it's notable that there has never been a "Combat!" style TV drama series about Vietnam.

I don't count China Beach because I suppose it was like ER:Vietnam. Well EVERY war has a medical component. But fighting the war is also a component. TV just couldn't handle it, I guess. With the R rated blood gore now allowed on network TV, that aspect wouldn't be a hindrance to filming a Combat! style TV series set in Vietnam.

But I think we know that just is never going to happen, for whatever reasons.

They'll just skip over it and go onto other "wars".

There was Tour of Duty in the mid-late 80's.  The first season was okay, IIRC.  Then it went a little preachy and soap opera-y. 

Up All Night

Quote from: paladin1991 on December 01, 2017, 06:55:39 AM
There was Tour of Duty in the mid-late 80's.  The first season was okay, IIRC.  Then it went a little preachy and soap opera-y.

Totally missed Tour of Duty. There was a time in the mid to late 80's that I rarely watched any TV.

Quote from: Kidnostad3 on November 30, 2017, 10:36:03 PM
I really liked MASH but I recall very clearly that there were episodes that dealt with incidents and situations that closely paralled events occurring in Vietnam at the time.  It wasn’t even subtle and it invariably took the anti war movements point of view.  I never had a problem with the show’s depiction of war as madness and military blundering but when it got political I watched it less and towards the end of its run not at all.  However, in later years I think I must have seen all the episodes that I missed in rerun and with the benefit of having become a bit more mature and inured to the entertainment industry’s biases.

MASH was one of those shows I liked enough to watch some of it, but haven't seen close to all the episodes.  The characters in the early seasons were a little too over the top, but the episodes could be a little dull in the later years, especially when people were leaving the show.  The anti-war political stuff was a little preachy. 

They had some good characters I liked though, I'll watch certain shows just because I like some of the characters, although MASH did have it's moments.

Quote from: Up All Night on December 01, 2017, 02:31:54 AM
There have been many TV Drama Series about WWII, most notable Combat! which ran from 1962-1967...

Rat Patrol!  A little before my time, but I liked the reruns when I was a kid


pate

Quote from: Up All Night on November 30, 2017, 07:37:14 PM
...


R.I.P. Jim Nabors

Indeed, a proud gay man.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, man had a hell'uva Voice///

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xfZ0K4Nd68

ediot:  ...to be clear:  Not Kevin Spacy gay...

Up All Night

Quote from: pate on December 02, 2017, 12:51:48 AM
Indeed, a proud gay man.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, man had a hell'uva Voice///

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xfZ0K4Nd68

edit:  ...to be clear:  Not Kevin Spacey gay...

1950's gay

Powered by SMFPacks Menu Editor Mod