What Was it Like to be a Soldier in Vietnam?
While driving through the pillared limestone mountains of Northern Vietnam, listening to the dense jungle critters sing, the uniqueness of this rugged landscape left me awestruck. I began to think about how this landscape must’ve been nearly impossible to navigate during the Vietnam war. I imagined what it would’ve been like to try to survive in these harsh environments as an American soldier who really didn’t know what he was fighting for.
In the Vietnam war or the “American War” as it is known in Vietnam, the intentions, and stakes behind why the North Vietnamese soldiers were fighting and why the American soldiers were fighting were very different. This makes me imagine that fighting in such extreme conditions with confusing political motivations would've been extremely hard as an American soldier.
In the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the author describes some of the harsh conditions that they experienced every day in Vietnam such as: having to wade through fields of human waste, carrying backpacks that can weigh up to a hundred pounds, and watching friends die in front of their eyes all in the drenching humidity and heat (O’Brien, 1990). While these conditions in and of themselves would be nearly impossible to manage, the fact that a lot of these men didn’t really understand why and what they were fighting for (as described by Tim O’Brien) would make this hard lifestyle, and the jobs they were sent there to do, even harder.
The United States joined the war in Vietnam as part of its global war of containing communism. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered a famous speech suggesting that if Vietnam was to fall to the communists, it would create a “domino” effect in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. This “domino theory” dominated US thinking about Vietnam for over the next decade and was used to justify America’s increased military involvement over successive US administrations (History.com, 2009). However, this was just a theory and so created the controversy within the United States public about whether it was necessary to send troops to Vietnam to fight off communism. Many people who opposed the war saw the US intervention in Vietnam as a coverup for imperial interests and didn’t think it was necessary to send troops into a civil war situation.
I recently had the chance to visit the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (formerly Saigon). The bottom floor of the museum had a section devoted to the anti-war news and propaganda from back in the United States, which I think fairly portrayed the controversy and confusion throughout the US population. However, this display made me question what it would've felt like to have seen these protests and propaganda as an American soldier risking my life in such harsh conditions while still in Vietnam.
The conditions that the US soldiers faced when they returned home from Vietnam, which in many cases was one of hostility and disrespect due the unpopular nature of the war back home, had to be difficult. During the height of the war, the news broadcasters and journalists showed the public some of the horrors committed by the US soldiers, such as the Napalm girl photo, which explains the hostility. Here is a video from the New Jersey Veterans Memorial Foundation showing numerous points of view from veterans about what it was like returning home from the war (I recommend just watching the first couple minutes) What Was It Like Returning Home From the Vietnam War? - Oral Histories from NJ Vietnam Veterans - Bing video (New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Foundation, 2013).
In contrast to the US soldier experience, while the conditions of life in the jungle for the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) was probably similar, the reasons and intentions behind why the NVA, and Viet Cong in the South, where fighting was very different, which makes it easier for me to understand why the Vietnamese put up such a strong fight and why they ultimately won the war. In Hanoi, I had the opportunity to hear from a history professor who presented a brief overview of the history of Vietnam and specifically, the conflicts that have occurred within Vietnam over the centuries.
Vietnam has a long history of invasion, foreign interference, and domination from the French, Chinese, Japanese, and Americans. Despite these sometimes-brutal foreign interventions, the Vietnamese have proudly (and successfully, according to their narrative) defended their country in their quest for independence. The professor made a comment about how all the Vietnamese have ever wanted is to have the freedom to keep and control their own land on their own terms, which is why they’ve fought so hard throughout history to defend their country. Once I understood the history of conflict in Vietnam and thought about the motivations behind why the Vietnamese were fighting – that it wasn’t just about communism but has always been about freedom and independence -- it became clearer to me why they eventually won this war of attrition because for them, everything was at stake.
Ultimately, the Americans and the Vietnamese were fighting two different wars. The Americans were fighting an abstract cold war and a faraway enemy, and the Vietnamese were fighting for their very survival and their independence. This helps me understand why there was so much confusion and tragedy during this war. The conditions that the American soldiers had to face in Vietnam and then when they got home to the states were so horrific and unfair considering that many of them were drafted and didn’t even know what they were fighting for. The Vietnam – American war was a product of a greater war with the Soviet Union at the expense of the minds and souls of thousands of American and Vietnamese people. About 60,000 American lives were lost during the war and much more wounded. In Vietnam, around 200,000-250,000 South Vietnamese military soldiers (who were allied with the US), around 1,000,000 NVA and Viet Cong soldiers died, and an estimated 2,000,000 civilian lives were lost during the war (Britannica, 2020). Reflecting upon everything I have read and my experiences in Vietnam, I can’t help but wonder if the decision makers in America would’ve understood the history and motivations behind the North Vietnamese, would the United States have joined the war at all?
Citations
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "How many people died in the Vietnam War?". Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 Apr. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/question/How-many-people-died-in-the-Vietnam-War. Accessed 23 August 2022.
O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Mariner Books, 1990.
History.com. “Domino Theory”, A&E Television Networks, 2009. Domino Theory - HISTORY