When I was first introduced to the Vietnam War in class, my knowledge of the subject was vague and very basic; I only knew of the fact that it was greatly written of and disputed by Americans, and it was fought in the presidency of John F. Kennedy. As I thought about the motives and the details of the war, I hesitated; although I have heard briefly about the Vietnam War, the motives are nowhere near my memory. As it turns out, the objectives of the war was not even clear to the soldiers themselves; several of them got involved in the war due to obligation, fear of public disapproval and exile, and many more factors.
During the class discussion, I have learned that the Vietnam War lasted from 1955-1975. The war was fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam, in the name of communism. Communist countries backed North Vietnam while the United States and other anti-communist countries supported South Vietnam. Although the United States fought in the war against communism, the soldiers ended up not knowing what they were fighting for, and thus led to heavy criticism by the Americans. It was considered the longest war of the time, and many soldiers were tired of having to battle against something they don’t believe in or even know of. 61% of the soldiers battling at that time were under the age of 21, thus several people in the battling field were young teenagers. The army was mainly composed of the poor or the middle-class, who had no power of declining the drafting of soldiers, and those who were desperate for money; nearly none were of rich or wealthy families. As I continue with Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, I hope to expand my knowledge towards the matter of the Vietnam War.
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