The Vietnam War was not a war per se but instead it was effort to place communism in check. Congress never approved a war in Vietnam but instead it passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution which gave the president the ability to send troops to fight in Vietnam.
Becoming a Soldier
There is essentially three ways to become a soldier. The first is to volunteer for the service. Sometimes people were turned away from volunteering, because of not being with in the correct height weight ranges for a soldier, only later to be drafted. The second way to become a soldier is to be drafted. Many protests over the draft and the war originated in Colleges and Universities. The most notable protest was the Kent State University incident where National Guard troops killed four students and wounded several more. Finally there are career soldiers, people who have devoted their lives to being a soldier.
Training
Training is an important part of making a good a knowledgeable soldier.
The first part of training is boot camp. All soldiers go through the basic boot camp, which familiarize the new recruit with general army knowledge. King Frederick II of Prussia developed the basic concept of drilling to turn the average citizen into efficient fighting machines. Boot camp is often demoralizing and lines similar to the following were common to instructors, ìYou gentlemen are here to become members of the United States Army. My job is to make you disengage your heads from your assholes and make soldiers out of you.î Often boot camp drills required intensive repetition. Boot camp also added several catch phrases to a soldier's vocabulary including Kill a “commie for mommy.”
Often soldiers went through more training. One of the extra training courses for Vietnam was Jungle School. It took place in Panama. Several things were learned in Jungle school including learning that ponchos although providing protection from the rain prohibited the body from breathing and letting out perspiration. Classes included how to trap a monkey, how to skin a chicken, rock climbing in rainy weather, informally soldiers also learned gross songs from British officers. One theme that ran through the school was that the jungle was neutral. Some of the soldiers later made their own judgments and declared that the jungle as an enemy.
Arrival in Vietnam
Most new soldiers coming to Vietnam were first processed through a few replacement battalions. New soldiers were given their assignments via a bulletin board. It was generally felt that an order that sent you to the northern part of the country was a death sentence.
When a soldier was assigned to a unit they were given the nickname of FNG (F***ing New Guy) and usually had to perform extra duties in one case up to 44 new duties for an officer and a normal soldier in the field had to carry two extra canisters of machine gun ammunition. This was not an official army position but imposed by peers to break in new soldiers.
Entertainment
Entertainment was an important part of a soldier's time in Vietnam. Much of the entertainment was provided by television or prostitutes. Entertainment had to be balanced with the soldierís responsibilities including, in some cases, being reachable at all hours. This was sometimes accomplished by placing a hot line between the main base a the local prostitute house. Most types of entertainment were not provided by the military but by the locals. This created an ironic situation that often times US soldiers and Viet Cong, the South Vietnam rebel communist group, would often find themselves being entertained at the same place, often having dinner at the same table or the like.
Soldiers also played jokes on each other by fooling the new guy to walk into a bar in Saigon and coerced into using a prostitute's services by the prostitute's themselves.
Entertainment was also provided as movies. Both Americans and Vietnamese liked movies. They were also dangerous because a large crowd of soldiers, with their attention distracted from the surroundings, make a very tempting target.
Entertainment was provided in the old fashion way of odd situations in Vietnam. Once Ulf Heller was in a bar and he saw an Executive Officer punch the lights out of a guy. This guy fell down and hit the ground like a cadaver. Five minutes after that this other guy goes over and attempts to feel for a pulse, and then declares that the guy is dead. Then the medics came and took the guy away. Heller later found out that the guy was not dead but just had a hangover and a bump on his head.
Camaraderie
Camaraderie played a large part as it did in any soldierís life. One axiom that most officers adopted was ìTake care of the troops and they will take care of you," it shows the mutual respect that soldiers have for each other.
A large part of camaraderie has to do with morale. Morale can be affected by trivial matters. In once case the mess sergeant noticed a drop in morale when his commanding officer requested that the iced tea be served unsweetened instead of being served sweetened as it had been in the past.
Camaraderie was also shown by the doctors. They felt very deeply when one of their men lost a limb, or died, and sometimes they envisioned that the lost limb was their own.
Natureís War
Our soldiers were not only fighting against the Viet Cong but also against nature. Besides the problem with large amounts of rain, nature also provided animals to reckoned with. Rats were a problem in some areas. Some soldiers dealt with the problem by deploying humane rat cages and then later drowning the rats. The problem with humane rat cages is that the rat must fit inside the cage. Ulf Heller had a problem with a rat that was large enough to be able to eat the bait from the trap but not get caught. So, he built a mini booby trap that could blow a few fingers of a GI. It resembled a scaled down version of the booby traps they usually used. This mini-bomb caught the big rat, which was the size of a cat.
Leaving
Soldiers that were leaving often had a wish they wanted to fulfill. In some cases it was to fly in a fighter plane or to meet a buddy one last time. The soldiers that were leaving often had a night or two at a base and then left. Generally when the planes they were leaving one left Vietnamese airspace cheers went up. After getting back to the US soldiers had to get out of their old habits like cutting a stake with their buck knives or the like.
After Effects
When the soldiers returned home they did not receive a warm welcome, but instead they were shunned because of the anti-war movement had placed the blame on them because they were a symbol of what was wrong with the war.
The Vietnam War continues to affect us today, with searches for soldiers that are or were Prisoners Of War or Missing In Action. The war also affects our movies including JFK which ties the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to the war, The Killing Field which shows a Vietnamese man willing to help others, Forrest Gump, which shows a small portion of life in Vietnam as a soldier, and the comics Good Morning Vietnam and over 42 other movies.
The Vietnam was the second most expensive war waged by the US proceeded only by World War II. It also was the fourth deadliest war proceeded by World War I, World War II, and The Civil War.
The Soldiers in Vietnam went through great emotional and physical changes because they were in a situation that they were restricted from firing and they had to deal with guerrilla warfare which they never before encountered.
Soldiers who lost comrades often felt guilt wishing they could exchange place with their dead comrade.
All of these changes had a profound effect on all of the soldiers - No one came back the same way they went.