Has anyone watched PBS - Vietnam?

[jethrocephus]

Missed Vietnam by a couple years, I totally get why veterans wouldn't watch it. i remember having Band of Brothers in, showing off the new surround system to my dad, a veteran of thirty missions in a B-17, he stood up and had to leave as the screen showed the invasion planes being shot at with flak. That was the end of that fiasco.

Had a couple friends that did Uncle Sam's trip to SE Asia, one spoke of their landing base coming under attack as he was making his first appearance there, he confided that he was petrified, frozen stiff when some one yelled at him "fire your weapon!" Another spoke of being spit on and verbally abused upon his return back to the world.

The series seems to capture the essence of the sixties/ seventies scene pretty well; the terror and horror of combat, the racial tension, college protest scene, the behind the scenes political maneuvering and the what the hell are we doing in this place....

I get the wanting to stop the spread of communsim, that was very, very real in the fifties/ sixties. But the further and deeper into Vietnam we seemed to go, the more of a lost cause the war seemed to be.

For me, the music was a detriment to the series, too cliche sixties- music, in particular the beginning of episode five where the background music was Hendrix Are You Experienced, it really took away the sense of the war, what the soldiers were doing as that music played over their movements, did not like it at all.

Also, there was a little part where the doc took cheap shots at the American soldiers and their names they called the VC, etc. Mainly racial slurs, but so what, they were the enemy and they were sent there by the US government to kill these guys, what were they going to call them, they were trained to hate and kill them. During the same part they also described what the VC called the American troops, it was childish in comparison and seemed to intimate to me that the VC were "freedom fighters", which they definitely were not, they were communists trying to force their communist way of life upon the South Vietnamese.

Like someone else stated, I could have really done without the draft dodger's viewpoint, but that was another part of the Vietnam / sixties exeperience, I guess. He certainly did regret his renouncing his American citizenship.

South Vietnam was reduced to a poverty stricken third world country after the US left and they were taken over, inflation was sky high and there was no food. The end result.

The narrator was listed as Peter Coyote but sure sounded like Tom Hanks, is that a pseudonym he uses or a real person?

As previously stated, thank you to all vets who answered the call, fought and gave up part of their life when their country called.

[Davis Webb]

Mi Lai was the end of the innocence. It was an echo of Wounded Knee and of slavery. The illusion that somehow 54/40 or fight was right. That might was right. Its a punch in the gut, a wake up call. Kent State was another punch. Cambodia was another shot in the head. The myth of the "good ole USA".

Hyper reality is symbols without content. The televised war was our first taste of it. Images without context. Blaming the vets rather than the ideology.

We have come a long way. It doesnt seem like it but the world has learned and so has the USA.

[jethrocephus]

Something else I learned was the large number of Canadians who enlisted to fight in Vietnam, in the thousands, never knew.

Also, the involvement of the Chinese and Russians was touched on but not in any depth, would love to know more on that issue.

Overall, it was pretty informative, but like WWII, there was a lot going on over decades and a ten part tv series can only do so much.

[Tico]

Originally Posted by Tico

I'm watching it streaming here.

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-vietnam-war/episodes/

No log in, commercials, subscription, collection of your personal info.
You can even select the broadcast version which has less violence and profanity, or the raw cut.
I'm up to episode 5.
I assume all episodes are there, but I've been wrong before.

I spoke too soon.
Tonight I tried to watch Ep. 5 but got a pop-up screen saying I have to sign up/register.

Sad.

I was looking forward to seeing all of it.
Maybe it'll come to Netflix or Youtube some day.

Bummer.

I sign up for very little.
I'm not on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, etc.
I have no Youtube or iTunes acct.
I don't trust these folks with my personal info.

[buddyhu]

My wife and I recorded the series, and are slowly working our way through it. Slowly is all we can do. Last night, watched the segment that coveted the Tet Offensive, “Mini Tet”, and at home, the assassinations of MLK and Bobby Kennedy.

Hard to put into words what it is like to revisit that time, the all-too-familiar images.

We will take a break tonight, and watch “The Voice”, and “Modern Family”.

[cotten]

I understand, Bobby. I've only watched a little of the series, and had to switch. I lived through that time, and though I didn't have to serve, I had many friends who went to Vietnam, some of whom came home in either coffins or pieces. I'm glad we have the series, and I've heard that it is fairly well done. I just can't watch it. For me, it would be like digging through scars to open fresh wounds.

cotten

[Mdinterman]

I watched all the episodes. I turned 18 just as the US had left so I did not serve but I definitely remember those times. In my opinion, Burns did not present a balanced documentary which is what I expected given his track record. Still there was some good information included.

[BTF]

While I liked the series, I too found the music most annoying. I kept recalling "Forrest Gump".

Overall, I MUCH preferred the early-80's "Vietnam: A Television History".

[Leonardwest]

Surviving 30 missions in a B17 over Europe is pretty miraculous.

[6L6]

I spent a little over two years incountry.

To date I’ve never watched a single minute of any show dealing with that war. I had a front row seat and have zero desire to relive any of it.

These days I’m very happy my golf driver was made in Vietnam and I wish only the best for all Vietnamese people. Hope they can raise their families in peace and prosperity.

[Song Writer]

Finished episode 10 last night wiping away tears.

One of the highest rate of suicides per group is Vietnam Vets. Estimates are between 50,000 and 100,000. None of those names are on the Vietnam Memorial Wall. Nor are they included in the total death count of 58,000 + Americans who died there.

My friend Joe was a Vietnam Vet suicide. Did a tour and when he came back he was not the same person. PSTD, depression, the works. Some might argue that his name doesn't belong on the wall. But the simple fact is that without the war he would still be with us.

[Bob Womack]

To me, Burns seems a man overcome by the trees so much that he misses the forest. I tried to watch his Civil War doc but a) For the period I tried to watch is was all maudlin sad emotion. b) he stated at the beginning of the first episode his thesis about the reasons for the war and then moved forward based upon that. I didn't agree with his thesis and decided not to be dragged through both that and the perpetual emotion machine. I tried to watch his WWII series but once again he was utterly lost in the sadness of individual loss rather than understanding the geopolitical and military pressures that caused and shaped the war.

I'm just not built for filling my hanky through a series. I can get a better perspective from a book.

Bob

[Bikewer]

I’ve been watching the “unedited” version on my PC.

I’m a “Vietnam Era” veteran. Spent ‘64-‘67 in Germany, and was home and out before the war got well and truly messed up.

Watching the documentary, I was surprised to learn just how much was going on in the early years, and how little we were informed. I mean, I was actually in the army, and the news out of Vietnam was minimal, to say the least.

I’m impressed at how many of these young men could have been me. Had I not enlisted (and taken advantage of the army’s “we will send you wherever you like” policy in ‘64, I would have almost certainly been drafted. Hell, a lot of those guys looked like me...

I watched that young lad admitting to killing villagers at Mi Ly.... Pretty much a ringer for myself at that age.
Potent stuff.

[buddyhu]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

To me, Burns seems a man overcome by the trees so much that he misses the forest. I tried to watch his Civil War doc but a) For the period I tried to watch is was all maudlin sad emotion. b) he stated at the beginning of the first episode his thesis about the reasons for the war and then moved forward based upon that. I didn't agree with his thesis and decided not to be dragged through both that and the perpetual emotion machine. I tried to watch his WWII series but once again he was utterly lost in the sadness of individual loss rather than understanding the geopolitical and military pressures that caused and shaped the war.

I'm just not built for filling my hanky through a series. I can get a better perspective from a book.

Bob

I disagree with your assessment of Burns.

I think on this series, he covers the geopolitical elements well. Not perfectly, but well.

I think books almost always provide a perspective that is quite different from a dynamic visual medium like movies or TV, because they don’t have the momentum of visual movement; books naturally encourage one to stop, reflect, and assemble one’s personal in an ongoing way. But not “better”, in my opinion. The dynamic visual media have something very valuable to offer, IMO.

At a personal level, war is tragic...quite literally so. And this reality can be better portrayed in the medium Burns is using.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Tico

I spoke too soon.
Tonight I tried to watch Ep. 5 but got a pop-up screen saying I have to sign up/register.

Sad.

I was looking forward to seeing all of it.
Maybe it'll come to Netflix or Youtube some day.

Bummer.

I sign up for very little.
I'm not on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, etc.
I have no Youtube or iTunes acct.
I don't trust these folks with my personal info.

I just got the same message on Ep 2 and what I did was sign up, only had to fill out an e-mail and password, easy peasy