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My all time favorite war movie / show is Generation kill. It is about Marines force recon. All my Marine friends (including my own brother and my uncles) said that is a great show. I watched that show three times and to me, the show is much better than Lone survivor or American sniper. lol But, I am biased.
This said, I don't really take Hollywood war movies seriously because they are not real. Even that stupid full metal jacket is stupid to me. lol
Hollywood is not treating this disease of PTSD as a problem which deserves understanding and respect. They've turned it into a plot device to add drama and communicate a story they wish to tell, depicting their own biases towards the military, the wars they fight, or the politicians that sent them to this unfortunate fate, with the "innocent veteran victim" now serving as the medium for their message.
Also, I think special forces are glorified in most of the modern war movies, if I have to hear navy seals another time, I think I will puke LOL I said I am biased. shrug But to be fair, if people have to hear me talking about Marines they would puke too. so who am I talking? :P
How many Vietnam veterans does it take to replace a light bulb?
Spoiler
You weren't there, man! There's no way you could understand, alright, man?! Don't even think you've got a clue about it, man!
American combat troops left Vietnam in 1973, and the U.S. withdrew its embassy personnel in 1975. That's over 40 years ago. The youngest Vietnam combat veterans are 60 years old, while the median age in the United States is about 38.
There's a diminishing number of people in this country who would have a clue as to whether Hollywood presented a fair representation. I was 12 when the troops were withdrawn - I certainly am not in a position to answer the question posed. And I'm rapidly approaching old phart status...
was that a movie? I saw Mel Gibson has a new one coming out is really very good- a true hero. But we treat our vets like dirt sometimes sad- but true. I hope that changes one day - my take make everybody serve 2 yrs,,,
I hit "other" because I don't think the Vietnan War experience has been fully explored through the eyes of different character types that were affected by it or fulfilled some role in it. That includes the many different characters of Southeast Asian ancestry whether they were little girls in North Vietnam or young capitalist Catholic men in South Vietnam.
Hollywood has too many times made a caricature of the Vietnam War vet character in one of its movies. They usually are portrayed as tragic figures with no real success in their lives. Sometimes they are presented as being "crazy" too.
But for many (perhaps not all) tragedy was a part and an after affect of the Vietnam War. To dismiss that for a replacement of a noble WWII (false) image that celebrates a triumphalistic outcome brought about by the pure, untainted American, would be an injustice.
This is a good point for me to interject at this moment that I don't subscribe to the "Greatest Generation" narrative about the WWII Generation. Not that they didn't have their virtues and accomplishments. But I think their return to the US and fighting on behalf of organized labor, propelling through labor fights the rise (through share in wealth) of the Great American middle-class, is what might distinguish that generation more so as one of the greatest generations in American history, if there are any such things. I'll have to credit that idea to a teacher of labor history I had in community college, so, I don't plagiarize (though, technically you are suppose to cite the person's name--but I think that would invade privacy online).
One of the most positive distinguishing factors of the Veitnam War vets, which gets little to no attention really, is there often collective effects after the war on American life like the WWII Generation. But in the case of the Vietnam vet it was and is not in the sphere of labor rights and financial advancements. Rather it is the fight they carried off the Vietnam war field into the American battle fields of the VA Administration, VA Hospital, and their refusal to "never leave a generation of war vets behind again," as was done to them when the WWII and Korean War vets turned their backs on them.
The improvements in the VA system my generation of veterans have enjoyed can be laid at the feet of the Vietnam War vets who fought two wars. One in Vietnam and one in the US, and through struggle and grit wrought forth a VA system more beneficial and efficient for future veterans.
I like that movie about the Vietnam War Mel Gibson starred in called We Were Soldiers. particularly because it gave due honor to the North Vietnamese adversary of the protagonist. I enjoyed Mel Gibson's character (I believed based on a true officer and true story) more than any special ops character I've seen in a movie. While Force Recon was not technically special ops, in terms of being under the pentagon, that movie Heart Break Ridge, while entertaining was heart breakingly ridiculous. Mel Gibson's character on the other hand was an officer not leading special ops troops but troops of Army Calvalry, and a character I would rather emulate myself after if I returned to military arms. Or even as US President.
As for Generation Kill, which was mentioned, I think I read the book or part of it years back. I believe the author was from Rolling Stones magazine and attached as civilian journalist to Battalion Recon.
Force Recon is different than Battalion Recon and the latter is easier to make the cut.
I found Generation Kill a more honest look and representation of the generation of Marines fighting overseas or serving stateside today. The author presented them as people coming from broken single parent homes (through divorce), violent gang infested neighborhoods, and coming out of families dramatically affected by crack cocaine addiction. A generation ready to kill like no other generation.
I like the boot camp scenes of the movie Full Metal Jacket. Minus the physical hitting and the excessive cursing (the Drill Instructors that trained excessively used words like "friggin" in replacement of the "F bomb") I found it be a fairly accurate representation of Marine boot camp. The one I went through anyways.
I think some people can develop PTSD going through boot camp too. Be it Army or Marine boot camp. It ,at not be as prevelant from that but I can see how some individuals could "snap" and be adversely effected over a long time by boot camp. Without going into places and names, I was informed about one woman in Wisconsin that frequently donated to veterans at the VA, with motivations born out of heart and personal tragedy. Her step-son followed his father's (her husband's) footsteps into the Army. He then double volunteered to join the Rangers but through the course of going through Ranger School he was forcibly sodomized (by an object I think if I recall right). He mentally broke. I think he attempted suicide, by strangulation hanging, but was caught in time to be saved but not before brain damage set in. And never the same, his father was for years torn emotionally and psychologically over this. At some point his father asked him (his son) to kill him, and placed a gun in his son's hand (who was now mentally challenged from brain damage). I don't recall who squeezed the trigger but the gun fired and the father was killed.
The end result was this woman lost a step-son and a husband.
I think from a perspective of cinematography, popular war movies probably pushed the industry forward somehow, but as far as communicating one of the most important social issues of our time, not to mention an ongoing conflict at that time, most of these movies failed so miserably, it set veterans issues back many years.
I assume a Marine grunt in Vietnam's experience is somewhat different from the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. The pro peace movement did discriminate against them (the Vietnam veterans) I would not say that there was a widespread condemnation of Vietnam veterans among veterans of WWII. Vietnam veterans did not get the respect they deserved after the war. Some were opposed to the war, while others just wanted to forget it.
Movies have powers, just like words. I was born in 1985 and cannot really say I know exactly what these vietnam veterans went through. But one time, I saw some people protest in front of VA hospital. I thought, if you are really against war, should you be protesting in front of the white house or in front of Marine Corps base? Why do you want to protest in front of a VA hospital? Protesting in front of a hospital makes me think about this quote.
None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear. -------Bertrand Russell
Protesting in front of a VA Hospital is in poor taste. Unless it is meant on behalf of the veterans going to VA Hospitals. But even then I think it would be an unwise choice because some veterans are very conservative, and some are very patriotic. Not all military veterans are fiscally liberal or unpatriotic as I am.
Protesting in front of a VA Hospital is in poor taste. Unless it is meant on behalf of the veterans going to VA Hospitals. But even then I think it would be an unwise choice because some veterans are very conservative, and some are very patriotic. Not all military veterans are fiscally liberal or unpatriotic as I am.
Patriotic or unpatriotic, at least we can ALL agree with the bold.
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