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#1
12-05-2006, 06:28 PM
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Do you...
I know I ask a lot of questions, and I am sorry if they offend you or you're just tired of hearing them, but I am very curious, again please let me know if I start to bug you. Well forst off, we're learning about WW2 and the things that Hitler did and Japan and everything, we watched a movie on Pearl Harbor, where a lot of veterans told their stories of how they were stuck tapping morse-code until the holes were drilled to get them out of the ships and everything, but there were also Japanese veterans telling us how much they really wanted to kill those men. Do you hate them? Not the Japanese, the Vietnamese, I was thinking about how the enemy is out for one mission, to kill you, but you are in return doing the same thing, so, did you guys hate the Vietnamese? Do you hate them now? Do you find yourself feeling racist and then feeling guilty afterwards? I find myself hating them, for killing my uncle, and then I stop to think that he was trying to kill them, and probably did, but then I feel as if I am the only one who feels this way. And then I feel guilty, My older sister dated a boy with a Laotian heritage, and I didn't like it, but I don't want to be racist, so if I know if you guys were or weren't having these feelings than I would think more about my own thoughts, so please help me process these things, thank you, for everything!
Taylor 
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#2
12-05-2006, 06:38 PM
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I didn't hate or care for the Vietnamese, I numbed out, and felt nothing for them at all. It didn't mean anything to me at the time if I saw a dead or live Vietnamese, just as long as he or she wasn't shooting at me or the men I was with. So much time has passed that I began to realize that the Vietnamese people suffered quite a bit at our hands and the hands of the VC and NVA. These people were stuck between two warring factions and got the brunt of it. Most Vietnamese people just wanted to be left alone to live where their ancestors have lived for hundreds of years, harvest their rice and take care of their families. In 2004 I went to the Memorial Day service here at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Sacramento, CA, each year there have been Vietnamese former Army Republic of Vietnam soldiers there paying homage to our fallen brothers. I went up to a former Vietnamese Army Captain and told him how I felt in Vietnam about the Vietnamese people then, and apologized. He told me that he understood that all I wanted to do was survive and get home. More than a million Vietnamese on both sides lost their lives during the Vietnam war.
__________________
 If your going to suceed your going to have to know how to deal with failure. (Joe Torre).
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#4
12-06-2006, 03:43 AM
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The VC and NVA {Viet Con and North Vietnamese} were fighting a war for there country, they basically had nothing and we had everything. My government sent me there to do a job and I did it the best I could, I felt indifference to them as a soldier. My personal opinion was that we were on the wrong side.
Although we had everything to fight a war, we also had many rules which hindered the fight, Our enemies had no rules. The war wasn't 'up close and personal' for most in VN. Some guys got close enough to our enemies but most did not, Its a little less personal when the fight is 100 yards away and all you see is the aftermath. Although I would never go back to VN or associate in anyway with a Vietnamese, I don't hate them I feel indifference if anything, Its the memories that being around a Vietnamese brings back is why, not the person. Ron
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#5
12-06-2006, 05:57 AM
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IF YOU !!!!!
hate, YOU LOSE!!!! As said previously, YOU are sent to do a job, and, if subjected, that is to KILL folks before they do the same to you, AND if fortunate, you'll be able to post on this site, if not, everything is mute. You just want to make sure you do the best you can, and also have a little (or lot) of luck with you so you get to return home. Sometimes I felt bad for the folks opposing us, as they had to fight with what they had, and OUR total instruments of death was so much more than what those grunts had. It makes you think.
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SF NC
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#6
12-06-2006, 07:17 AM
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I believed we were there to help the Vietnamese. I had nothing against them. I even tried to learn as much of the language I could. There were times that I certainly felt "hate" or "outrage" at my enemies. I also believe that the average NVA didn't want to be there any more than most of us. I have respect for my enemies but sure don't like them much. I have no desire to meet with any today, but can't say I actually "hate" them.
pack
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"TO ANNOUNCE THAT THERE MUST BE NO CRITICISM OF THE PRESIDENT...IS MORALLY TREASONABLE TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC." Theodore Roosvelt "DISSENT IS PATRIOTIC!" (unknown people for the past 8 years, my turn now)
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#7
12-06-2006, 12:46 PM
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Yes, I hated them and still do.
And, no, I'm in no way ashamed of feeling that way. I certainly don't hate them for doing what soldiers are supposed to do-trying to kill the enemy. I hate them for their killing of helpless non-combatants-both our own captured wounded and Vietnamese civilians. Children do NOT deserve to be deliberately killed because of their parents' political leanings or just to make a point.
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#9
12-06-2006, 09:38 PM
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Racism is a very overused word, and sometimes underused. Just because you hate someone of another race is not racism. I was a medic and basicly was there for everyone. I was fortunate in that I was not out in the field seeing my buddies being killed but we did lose a few. I hated the war, the leaders and maybe even God but I held no hatred for the enemy. There was one exception, someone made a booby trap for children baited with candy. Whoever that was I hate.
__________________
"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." John Adams
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