Vietnam War Essays (1222 words) - Vietnam War, Cambodian Civil War

Vietnam War Vietnam War Before the U.S. went to Vietnam, twelve years before the war started, the French were there, it was their colony. The French controlled the country. Northern Vietnam wanted to make their nation Communist as China was probably their influence. The people of southern Vietnam wanted the opposite. It was a typical tropical climate in Vietnam. South Vietnam urgently asked for immediate and extensive help from the United States. As the struggle progressed the U.S. Government made a decision to send troops to South Vietnam. This was how they ended up fighting beside the U.S. military. Fighting aircraft and army helicopters flew to South Vietnam. (They flew from U.S. aircraft in the South China Sea. Their major objectives were to keep peace before war erupted. However, keeping the peace did not work. The battle began, which meant time for three thousand more troops, more accurate machinery and high radio frequency links. "The word Vietnam has evoked powerful and often contradictory images, and the lessons drawn have dictated answers to the most pressing questions." The Vietnam War occurred roughly thirty-five years ago. When researching the Vietnam War, one may expect some confusion. To this day, the United States remains confused about the war and exactly how it ended. We, as a society and economy, lost thousands of soldiers and billions of dollars. However, when viewing the bigger picture, a small outcome of the whole thing. The United States also gave up a gigantic victory. The Northern Vietnamese Army won the war. Not only was it a horrible scene but the invasion capped the nation's eyes and hearts in 1968. During the fight, the United States military did not know how the South Vietnamese were going to react to the bombings. You are maybe asking yourself a question, "Why or how did the South Vietnamese settle on the United States' terms?" After the Joint Chief of Staff accompanied the city with practice bombings, the United States troops invaded Cambodia and Laos. The Vietnamese were not prepared and they could not resist. For a long period of time, United States troops were finding people underground hiding from the practice bombings that were going on. On a regular day in Vietnam, you could hear the sounds of Vietnamese voices in the cool air, everyone was always busy and life seemed so smooth. If it weren't for the cheap radios, the workers outside would go nuts, every second you would hear, "boom, boom, boom!" Bombings began in the morning and would not stop, sometimes until five o'clock the next morning. The cities were distracted and Vietnamese people lived like heathens during the war. In city doorways, there were already homeless refugees lying around. Army Panchos were made so they could sleep comfortably on the hard ground. Most of the time, families had lost complete protection of other family members. Mothers tried their best to huddle their children and make sure the shelter was good and safe. Many children relieved their guardians and went into gutters around the city. Down inside of the gutter was nothing but wild dogs fighting rats over rotten garbage from the sewage. Most Vietnamese people survived without food and only a little water. The South Vietnamese were with the United States military and they made an effort to get food and water from us. Overall, at the end of this tragedy, over a million troops and innocent people were dead. First of all, what were we in war for? The United States of America always goes to another country to either help someone with financial problems or to negotiate something with other governments. We made a big mistake and I hope they have learned from it back in Washington D.C. One of the most terrible moments that happened during the war was when the U.S military came out with the technology to sniff out the human smell. They would put it on the front of helicopters and do sweeps over the jungles. If they got any human readings, they would call in the attack bombers, which would drop napalm (Jelly Gas), for total destruction. This shows the tactics used by the US. The U.S. was just bombing blind. We are known for taking over land during wars. In the Vietnam War, we didn't want any part of it at all. After our soldiers would take over, we would kill everybody and didn't care. It affected our nation mentally and physically. A big problem at this point was who was the enemy in this picture. Fact: "America dropped more bombs in Vietnam than they did in World War II. In