Author Topic: FYI: Ken Burns' The Vietnam War starts Sunday.  (Read 9242 times)

Offline MikeInTexas

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FYI: Ken Burns' The Vietnam War starts Sunday.
« on: September 14, 2017, 03:33:24 PM »
Pretty sure this new documentary on PBS will interest some of you.

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-vietnam-war/home/

The 10 part series premiers this Sunday, Sept. 17 at 8/7c on your local PBS station.




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Offline ECR

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Re: FYI: Ken Burns' The Vietnam War starts Sunday.
« Reply #1 on: September 15, 2017, 07:45:06 AM »
 A tough time for many of us and our country and the world. Should be an interesting view.
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Offline kevinqjhps

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Re: FYI: Ken Burns' The Vietnam War starts Sunday.
« Reply #2 on: September 15, 2017, 10:15:28 AM »
He USUALLY does pretty good job of research whatever he does but tends to lean a bit to the left.
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Offline MikeInTexas

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Re: FYI: Ken Burns' The Vietnam War starts Sunday.
« Reply #3 on: September 15, 2017, 11:21:50 AM »
He USUALLY does pretty good job of research whatever he does but tends to lean a bit to the left.

Yeah I agree Kevin.  Pretty sure he will use footage and stories that makes a lot of folks uncomfortable (probably more than necessary to push a biased view).

I just hope it is not as revisionist as we are experiencing in our society today regarding other times in our history.

My feelings will go out to those that served and see this, I know many are still deeply haunted by their experiences.  Dredging up this king of thing can bring past issues to the present that have been successfully suppressed for years.

Offline kevinqjhps

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Re: FYI: Ken Burns' The Vietnam War starts Sunday.
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2017, 03:37:24 PM »
For PBS it has, so far, been pretty factual and non bias.
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Offline johnny

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Re: FYI: Ken Burns' The Vietnam War starts Sunday.
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2017, 05:17:12 PM »
  I am good with what I have seen so far.Tonight's the episode that I was there.1967-1968.
      It haunts me along with i am sure others but still need to watch.Go figure.

Offline MRC

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Re: FYI: Ken Burns' The Vietnam War starts Sunday.
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2017, 06:12:47 PM »
tracker

I was watching the jets flying off carriers last night.  I do not know your age so I was wondering when you served  and if you were there?

Offline tracker

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Re: FYI: Ken Burns' The Vietnam War starts Sunday.
« Reply #7 on: September 21, 2017, 08:02:54 PM »
Yes, I flew in the combat zone off the USS Hornet, CVS-12, in 1965-66. We did coastal surveillance and lost one aircraft and crew, probably due to hostile fire. I transitioned to the A-4 Skyhawk in late '66 and made a Med Cruise on the USS Saratoga, CVA-60, flying the A-4 in 1967. I resigned my commission and left the Navy in June of 1968. Needless to say, I lost a lot of outstanding close friends, and exceptional pilots all the way to 1973. It has been said that one of the most dangerous occupations in the world in 1967 was a Navy carrier-based A-4 pilot flying over North Vietnam. In my 7 year career I made 300 carrier landings, 100 at night. I will be watching tonight.
 
« Last Edit: September 21, 2017, 08:09:45 PM by tracker »

Offline MRC

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Re: FYI: Ken Burns' The Vietnam War starts Sunday.
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2017, 08:14:07 AM »
That is what I thought I remembered from a post Richard had years ago.

I read one time, and it may have been you, when a carrier pilot was asked what was the most frightening moment of his career he answered,

  " My first night time landing on the carrier."

I am finding the series quite interesting.  I really did not remember the history that the first two parts told, part 4 is what where I start remembering the facts.

I guess it starts up Sunday night again.

Added later:

One thing I find interesting is the enemy body count.  I remember the news casters always giving the number of Americans killed in action and the number of enemy casualties, but I do not remember that as the gauge of success of the war.
« Last Edit: September 22, 2017, 08:29:56 AM by MRC »

Offline tracker

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Re: FYI: Ken Burns' The Vietnam War starts Sunday.
« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2017, 09:56:03 AM »
The first night landing is indeed scary but after that thrill night catapult shots are even more frightening. The reason is that there is only a split second to make an eject decision if it is a cold cat shot. Not to diminish Ken Burns' series but he doesn't devote much of it to the air war. For example, there were over 100 planes and pilots lost trying to take out the Thanh Hoa bridge with bombs. It stood there until 1973 when it was brought down with a laser guided bomb, which is very common now. Today, that bridge is back and functioning better than ever. It reminds me of the comment made last night about Hill 875; no one has been to that hill since the useless fierce battle where so many men were killed.
« Last Edit: September 24, 2017, 07:45:59 PM by tracker »

Offline MRC

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Re: FYI: Ken Burns' The Vietnam War starts Sunday.
« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2017, 10:10:11 AM »
The first night landing is indeed scary but after that thrill night catapult shots are even more frightening. The reason is that there is only a split second to make an eject decision if it is a cold cat shot. Not to diminish Ken Burns' series but he doesn't devote much of it to the air war. For example, there were over 100 planes and pilots lost trying to take out the Thanh Hoa bridge with bombs. It stood there until 1973 when it was brought down with a laser guided bomb, which is very common now. Today, that bridge is back and functioning better than ever. It reminds me of the comment made last night about Hill 185; no one has been to that hill since the useless fierce battle where so many men were killed.

That is truly amazing!

Offline MikeInTexas

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Re: FYI: Ken Burns' The Vietnam War starts Sunday.
« Reply #11 on: September 22, 2017, 01:01:11 PM »
  I really did not remember the history that the first two parts told, part 4 is what where I start remembering the facts.

I guess it starts up Sunday night again.

Added later:

One thing I find interesting is the enemy body count.  I remember the news casters always giving the number of Americans killed in action and the number of enemy casualties, but I do not remember that as the gauge of success of the war.

For those of you that know the history raised in the first few episodes, when did you learn it?  Was it during the war or after?

If you were deployed to Viet Nam, how much of this did you get before or during your time there? 


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Offline tracker

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Re: FYI: Ken Burns' The Vietnam War starts Sunday.
« Reply #12 on: September 22, 2017, 01:54:14 PM »
Most of the background and history was not learned until much later except for the French involvement and defeat in the 1950s. I didn't receive any of this history before because my first cruise to Westpac was in 1963-64 and little was known except that we had "advisors" there. Certainly, the deliberations and decisions made at the highest level were not known to me until years after. For example, the recommendation of George Ball and later Robert McNamara to leave Vietnam were not known to the public at the time. Also, the admission of JFK that he made a mistake by allowing an under secretary of state to draft and issue a major policy shift on the South Vietnam hierarchy while he was on vacation in Hyannisport was not known to me at least until this series. I was only aware after the war that a presidential council appointed by LBJ advised him to leave Vietnam and he rejected it. I was particularly interested in the history in the '60s of the various steps that put us in the position where we couldn't stay and wouldn't leave. That is the real lesson for the future: always have an exit strategy before boots are on the ground.

Offline johnny

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Re: FYI: Ken Burns' The Vietnam War starts Sunday.
« Reply #13 on: September 22, 2017, 02:18:16 PM »
  Mike,
I knew absolutely nothing about that country,except,it was a bad thing to get orders to go there,it was nothing but jungle,and they shoot at you.That's all that I knew when I was out at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in February 1967 for my AIT.(Just more training)
                     Well,I did get orders along with some others.We were then,those of us with orders to Vietnam,were given some extra training and a couple of real bullshit classes about the culture.However,what I distinctly remember is going over in a bus to Fort Dix,New Jersey to become familiar with the M16. Truly,when we were each given one for the day,our first impression was,this is a model of the real thing, because it's plastic.
             

Offline MRC

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Re: FYI: Ken Burns' The Vietnam War starts Sunday.
« Reply #14 on: September 22, 2017, 02:29:48 PM »
Most of the background and history was not learned until much later except for the French involvement and defeat in the 1950s. I didn't receive any of this history before because my first cruise to Westpac was in 1963-64 and little was known except that we had "advisors" there. Certainly, the deliberations and decisions made at the highest level were not known to me until years after. For example, the recommendation of George Ball and later Robert McNamara to leave Vietnam were not known to the public at the time. Also, the admission of JFK that he made a mistake by allowing an under secretary of state to draft and issue a major policy shift on the South Vietnam hierarchy while he was on vacation in Hyannisport was not known to me at least until this series. I was only aware after the war that a presidential council appointed by LBJ advised him to leave Vietnam and he rejected it. I was particularly interested in the history in the '60s of the various steps that put us in the position where we couldn't stay and wouldn't leave. That is the real lesson for the future: always have an exit strategy before boots are on the ground.

I really question this,  Sounds like JFK is shifting some blame for something he knew about and knew was wrong.

The trouble here is as Napoleon said,

" The whole battle plan gets thrown out the window shortly after the first bullet is fired."