History270WarSociety

Jarhead is a book written by former marine Anthony Swofford, and he recalls his time of serving in the military during operation Desert Storm. He recalls times of hooking up with women, almost committing suicide, his friendships, but the thing that stood out to me the most would have to be when a news reporter was coming to camp and the marines would have to censor their answers. The marines were instructed to answer every question a certain biased way to reassure Americans that they were believing in the cause and they were almost happy to be at war because they are doing the right thing.  There is an argument between the marines due to the free speech amendment and there is a major disagreement. It was interesting how the Staff sergeant is telling the marines they signed away their rights on papers and were instructed to follow orders. I find this statement very thought provoking especially with our recent debate on the Vietnam war. What exactly happened in Vietnam that the civil...

Platoon is the first film I've watched about the Vietnam war since after reading and learning about the draft and the attitudes of soldiers during this war. I feel that this movie tried to depict the struggles and emotions of a soldier accurately. The blood and gore submersed me into the world of Chris played by Charlie Sheen and the rest of his platoon. When they raided the village to try and find the VC it seemed like they had no idea what they were doing. There was no real leadership because there were no rules. Soldiers were shooting men and women just because they were scared and confused. They also were raping young women for the fun of it. After this encounter, Chris said "I don't know what's right and what's wrong anymore." I feel that this thought crossed every soldiers mind during the Vietnam War. They were just fighting and sacrificing their lives for no good purpose in their minds. Overall I thought this movie was a great representation of the flaw...

“... it was clear we were in a prison camp. The VC still used the word ‘reeducation’ and prison interchangeably, but this was essentially a prison. The term ‘reeducation’ was only aimed at deceiving people who were too naive to understand the manipulation of the VC. The word ‘revolution’ was used instead of the word ‘communism,’ ‘reeducation’ was used instead of imprisonment, and forced labor was called ‘glorious labor.’ The communists used all kinds of euphemisms in order to sound gentiler and more generous. We got used to the VC’s words, but in the end, we understood their true meaning” (188). This is arguably the most significant passage of the second half of the book as it describes the VC’s method of masking their human rights violations. Due to the cloaked language, communism and the new Vietnam government does not sound that bad, in fact the diction of the communists is almost convincing that it was good for the Vietnamese people. The euphemisms above also create a sense of...

On page 87 in the novel called, "Ship of Fate", the main character Tran is given the opportunity to potentially return to his homeland Vietnam. He originally escaped North Vietnam due to the uprising of communism and he was able to convince his father to move south due to the fear that the communists would not allow people to be catholics. He decided to join the Navy and eventually became a lieutenant. As the scare of communism begins to rise, he is given an order by his superiors to evacuate the country.  As he leaves the country, he is forced to abandon his wife and children. Tran at one point is approached by a general, saying he can return home if he can assemble a crew big enough to meet a ship's demands. Many of the crew he recruits also say they will join him just for the fact that they will not have to go to America and get to return home. I find it very interesting that these people would rather go and risk their lives in a war rather than go to America to get a...

In the movie Human Flow directed by Ai Weiwei, the life and struggles of a refugee are shown to the viewer. It seems like Weiwei wanted to show the refugees as normal people and also victims of oppression. A lot of time in the movie is spent on refugees just standing in the frame not saying anything. One after the other pops onto the screen not saying a word and staring right into the video camera. The viewer is just left one on one with the refugee staring at them. Does Weiwei want the viewer to question the thoughts of the refugee? Is it meant to ponder why nothing is happening or does he just do this to leave it up to the viewers interpretation? He also shows how the refugees are being oppressed. Turkish (I think. It doesn't specifically say.) citizens were being shot at with gas canisters. You can see the effect the brutal gas has on the adults and children. People were coughing and laying on the ground in need of medical attention. People were trying to cover up the gas by lay...

One of the most impactful scenes from Human Flow for me was when Ismatollah Sediqi (1:15:42) began telling the story of losing five of his travelling seventeen family members. The scene continues to progress to a grassy area which is plagued with holes dug out and placards with numbers. The man has to step around the mounds of dirt dug up, headstones with just numbers, and open graves. This scene perfectly expresses the dehumanization the refugees have gone through in their hunt for safety. Bodies are practically buried on top of each other in the field and in this scene their final resting place does not show their names. This is yet another symbol of the demeaning practices refugees face in order to escape death and war. Ismatollah breaks down as he explains how the five dead family members drowned at sea and he describes the psychological effects that have ruined his brother (he lost his wife and kids). Ismatollah also details that the journey to escape has taken all of his money. ...

I had the opportunity Sunday night to listen to Eric McElvenny give a motivational speech to the student athletes of W&J. While serving as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corp in Afghanistan, Eric was wounded during combat action by an IED which led to the amputation of his lower right leg. As I was sitting there listening to what he had to say I couldn't help but think of the similarities and differences between Eric and Ron Kovic. In Born on the Fourth of July , Kovic uses his frustration about losing three quarters of his body in Vietnam to speak out about the horrors of the war.  His goal was to open civilians' eyes about how poorly the government treats its wounded soldiers and the atrocities of the Vietnam war to try and create change.  On the other hand, Eric is using his injury as his own motivation to accomplish challenging goals like completing Iron Man Triathlons. His goal is to inspire young athletes to never give up and to always follow your dr...

One of the most significant passages from the second half of the reading occured when Ron and his fellow protestors went to the Republican National Convention to demonstrate against the Vietnam War. Ron had earlier given a tell-all interview to reporter Roger Mudd calling upon the American public to recognize the plight of the veterans. He continues his angry demonstration peacefully, but is met with a brash verbal attack. The text states, “A man came up suddenly from my blind side. Before I knew what hit me he had grabbed my sign and torn it into shreds in front of me. ‘You lousy commie sonofabitch!’ he shouted” (191). The lack of respect for a veteran, a disabled veteran especially, is almost unbelievable. I cannot imagine approaching someone who is disabled and confronting them in such a hateful manner. This puts in perspective the hysteria and tension in the United States during a time in which many, including myself were not alive. The man who approached Ron’s use of ‘commie’ brin...

The amount of protest during the Vietnam war was something that will go down in history forever. The already infamous war sparked much controversy of why the United States was actually involving themselves with countries on the other side of the world. There was also another debate of what was actually happening inside the war itself. There were no rules in this bloody conflict. One of the many forms of protest was the Movie, 'Winter Soldier', and it was veterans who served in Vietnam and were speaking out against the wrongdoings the government is making them do. They were forced to throw people out of helicopters, mutilate women and children, and blow up hundreds of innocent villages. They depicted very haunting stories of how violent and ruthless the war in Vietnam was. There was an unnecessary amount of bloodshed when soldiers were taking villages and murdering people as what it seemed to be like a game. The debate that went on throughout the war was the true intentions of t...