The effort of the History Channel's Vietnam series is one of the best I've seen.

I say that because it helps people understand a conflict that has been, for the most part, been cursed, maligned and with misstated facts.

In the last part of '66 I was a 22 year old First Class Petty Officer with 4 years of Naval service; felt 10 foot tall and bulletproof. I volunteered to serve in the Navy's PBR (River Patrol Boat) that had begun operations in earlier that year.

The Mekong Delta has 4 major rivers and countless small canals. Charlie was mostly unchallenged as the ground troops were in other areas that weren't 90% water logged.

The Ham Loung was one of these rivers, totally in Charlie's control. Our first patrol, we went in in heavy numbers, Hueys overhead and Vietnam Air Force A6's buzzing by. Young, untested and pretty scared, we blasted everything that moved, or seemed to. It was called a "free fire zone" so everything that floated was considered VC. Nary a shot was returned by our challenge. It pumped up our bravado; we were the bad asses of the river and felt Charlie knew this.

Two days later, out they came. Our patrol started at 6 AM that day. Two boats one with me as Boat Captain moved 15 miles further up the Ham Loung. Spirits high, chest thrusted, calling Charlie out for his whipping, we got our wish.

I'll always remember the sound of bullets whizzing by. I hadn't heard that before and looked up in instinct until I heard the muzzle pop just an instant later. I think we all froze for a second, then our training kicked in. We did several high speed runs strafing the shore. When the smoke cleared, one body lay halfway into the river.

From there, it went down hill fast. The first month, we lost 4 of the 6 boats in our squadron. A lot of sailors received their first of many PH's, some Bronze and a Silver were handed out.

I came away from that war a year later. I cannot recall any feeling of regret, but I no longer felt 10 foot tall. I was assigned overseas in Taiwan in 68-69. I never saw the problems it caused at home. Transferred to NAS Beeville, TX also gave little exposure to these issues (Texans will know why). But it did sour me on the youth of that period. I gave up shore duty and went back to sea for 13 months and wrangled an assignment to Naval Support Activities, Antarctica and spent a year at the South Pole.

All this isolation kept me pretty much insulated until the mid 70's when I left the Navy and returned to the states for good.

The last 4 decades have dealt harshly with that conflict, not to mention the many servicemen it destroyed when they felt abandoned.

It was in 1994 that if finally caught up with me. I shudder to think what I might have done had I not sought counseling. It was learning that 3 times as many vets have ended their lives at their own hands as those who lost their lives over there that finally cleared up my mind.

It isn't a mater of the morality of that war. There isn't such a thing as a moral war. My life changed forever 40+ years ago and like many 'Nam vets still feel as if our nation abandoned us.

Please remember this if you denigrate any young man or woman returning from Iraq or Afghanistan.

Thanks for posting that,

Anyone have a torrent?

I set the DVR to record all of them yesterday. I will check them out tomorrow night. Thanks for the heads up.

excellent show
 

My nephew is 10 years old. He was adopted from Viet-Nam at age 3. His parents have been very upfront with him about is heritage. In my opinion he will not remember any of his former life in the orphanage. Most of his classmates think he is Hispanic.

I told his folks I want to help if it becomes a problem when they study Viet Nam in school, but I don't know if they even teach that war. I recall only a few days on Korea and less than a week on World Wars1 and 2. Of course that was the late 60's and early 70's.

I am not sure what to tell the lad, maybe how it was on the news and how unpopular it became through the years.

Yeah Yeah... but do you have a torrent link?

good ole direct tv
 

I just this week entered the 21st century and now can record programs for future viewing. Good investment.

Thank you so much for doing what you did. Thank you for our freedom!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was just giving you a hard time on the first post. Didn't mean anything by it. After I posted I thought you might think I was taking a cheap shot at your nephew. I didn't mean it that way.

How many episodes are there?
I'd like to watch them in order but not sure of the order & how many there are.

3 episodes, 2 hours a piece, and the dates are in the description

Got the dvr set! Thanks!

finished watching the series last night.

what an incredible job by the History channel (or who ever made it). I learned a ton from it; and it wasn't all watered down/filtered like it usually is in school history books etc.

Seeing the guys they interviewed be completely fine and calm while talking about an incident, then suddenly they just start crying. I can't imagine the stuff they had to deal with/witness/perform etc.

Great series, hard to top it.

Watched 2 episodes so far. Very well done. :thumb:

I was too young to understand what was happening. But even as an adult I still can't understand how some in the public turned on the soldiers when they came home.

How did they blame joe soldier that was drafted for the war? Did they think the war existed because of these soldiers? They should have all went to jail instead of serve? What? It makes no sense to me. Is there or was there ever a justification given for the treatment of joe soldier when he returned home in that era?