Has anyone watched PBS - Vietnam?

[gfspencer]

In late 1969 I was about to be drafted . . . so I enlisted. By the time I finished Infantry AIT the war was starting to wind down so the Army sent me to Fort Bragg. (I was one of the lucky ones.)

My best childhood friend decided to become a helicopter pilot in spite of the dangers. He came to visit me at Fort Bragg just before he shipped out to Vietnam. We stayed up all night talking. I never saw him alive again. He was shot down. I was with his parents when the Notification Officer came to tell them that Joe was dead.

Several years later I became an Army Chaplain. Every time I had to go with a Notification Officer I thought of my friend.

I can't watch anything about Vietnam.

[greenshoe]

Originally Posted by buddyhu

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, which naturally encourages 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.

I agree with you.

I can't speak for Burns, but I'm willing to bet that he doesn't see his work as a definitive account of its history. With the film medium, it gives a different (not "better" but different) dimension to Vietnam that can add context or layers to the libraries of books being written by academics, memoirs, biographies, etc.

Burns in his press tours for Vietnam even mentioned the impetus for getting the documentary done sooner than later is to ensure that he can record the first hand accounts from those who lived through it, before they pass on. As such, it *IS* supposed to be the trees and not the forest. You're getting closer in on the individual trees in the forest to give you another perspective.

It's tough to watch. And watching it through I can understand why anyone who lived through it (especially those who served in the war) wouldn't want to revisit or watch it. In a way, the documentary is really meant for those of us (me) who were too young or born after the war.

While I doubt it was Burns' intention (it took him 10 years to make this, long before where we're at right now), you can't help but place those events within the context of today - the parallels as well as what's different. At least for me, while it does feel like we live in unprecedented times, there's this perverse comfort that maybe we are not, because of some of the parallels with the identity crisis the country went through in the late 60s/early 70s - and that we will all get through this together in one piece (fingers crossed).

[aknow]

Originally Posted by 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.

I don't believe we've come a long way. Young are slaves to the military industrial complex. I've treated Many Viet-Nam war vets. There is a perfectly good reason why they probably won't watch Burns' series. It's as evil and wrong as what we're destroying in the Middle East. It will never end, and I wish it would.

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by 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.

Between 1962 and 1972 60,000 Australians also served in Vietnam.
521 were killed and over 3,000 wounded.

My Uncle served and my next-door neighbor in the mid 1960's was a Colonel in the Army who also served.

[veryzer]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Between 1962 and 1972 60,000 Australians also served in Vietnam.
521 were killed and over 3,000 wounded.

My Uncle served and my next-door neighbor in the mid 1960's was a Colonel in the Army who also served.

Seems like I've read multiple accounts describing both the unusual valor and morale of the Australians as being more or less typical.

[Gunny]

I served 20 years in the Marine Corps. There are plenty of "things" that stir emotions, some good and some frankly awful. Many documentaries and films can be hard to watch. I have watched a few but rarely twice as I don't care to cry as a tough Marine. Ken Burns has done a decent job on the series and it brings a little peace to some and horrendous memories to others. I'll never judge the emotions of those that have served.

[Russell G]

Just last night PBSs, The American Experience, featured "Two Days In October", another doc on Vietnam. And I have to say that it was as good or better than Burns's doc. Just an hour long, it was very moving. But this is comparing apples to oranges. In some ways it was easier to watch because it was only 1 hour long.

In case anyone wants to watch it here's the link

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/