Today, Meredith Lair, professor at George Mason University and the author of Armed with Abundance: Consumerism and Soldiering in the Vietnam War examines the consumerist side of war that is hidden from most American’s views. During the episode, we mention the Long Binh Post, which currently looks like this:
It seems only fitting that you also say (though it might hurt book sales) that losing the Vietnam War was the very best outcome possible other than losing earlier or not going to war in this artificial country (French colony) created not by the South Vietnamese people but by our NATO allies.
I experienced the damage done to my generation as I served with Vietnam Vets who were suffering from PTSD and getting no help whatsoever. And my first cousin served two tours as a helicopter pilot (I can't think of a more stressful job than gauging your life and the lives of your crew against the lives of the men you're rescuing.), came home and committed suicide.
After we left, Vietnam FOUGHT communists in China and Cambodia for exactly the same reasons they fought us: not for communism but for their own ancient country's independence.
The other way to look at the hedonism during these two wars was the immorality that was inherent in invading a foreign society and doing massive physical, spiritual, and emotional damage to both sides. Anyone participating, either by choice or by conscription, feels the deep emotional pain at some level and I think that the hedonism is an addictive way to dull the pain so one can continue pretending it's all OK. You can't break down, you can't cry, you can't feel for the child you may have killed in self-defense, so you bury your feelings in addiction.
The real tragedy, as I see it, is that few "Americans"( which is what most of us citizens of the United States grandiosely call ourselves and don't mean the rest of the Americas' populations) learned anything of the lessons of Vietnam -- Or Iraq, for that matter.
Few of us have woken from the perpetual coma and seen our aggression in the rest of the world for what it is and what it does.
The knee-jerk reaction mirrors the slavish devotion to The Holy Bible during the Dark and Middle ages...a shut down of all critical thinking.
The writer. is both good and bad. It's good because she's talking about a subjects and the horrible things that happened there.
But I also have issues because she still centers the experiences of US soldiers rather than centering Vietnamese experience.
The topic of the book is how us soldiers got hedonism from the war
It seems only fitting that you also say (though it might hurt book sales) that losing the Vietnam War was the very best outcome possible other than losing earlier or not going to war in this artificial country (French colony) created not by the South Vietnamese people but by our NATO allies.
I experienced the damage done to my generation as I served with Vietnam Vets who were suffering from PTSD and getting no help whatsoever. And my first cousin served two tours as a helicopter pilot (I can't think of a more stressful job than gauging your life and the lives of your crew against the lives of the men you're rescuing.), came home and committed suicide.
After we left, Vietnam FOUGHT communists in China and Cambodia for exactly the same reasons they fought us: not for communism but for their own ancient country's independence.
The last part is true. They wanted sovereignty.
Also, the damage is unforgivable and combined by the stigma of seeking help, essentially you were on your own.
I can't imagine the damage that it continues to inflict.
I am sorry about your cousin.
The other way to look at the hedonism during these two wars was the immorality that was inherent in invading a foreign society and doing massive physical, spiritual, and emotional damage to both sides. Anyone participating, either by choice or by conscription, feels the deep emotional pain at some level and I think that the hedonism is an addictive way to dull the pain so one can continue pretending it's all OK. You can't break down, you can't cry, you can't feel for the child you may have killed in self-defense, so you bury your feelings in addiction.
And that addiction never ends after you come home!
The real tragedy, as I see it, is that few "Americans"( which is what most of us citizens of the United States grandiosely call ourselves and don't mean the rest of the Americas' populations) learned anything of the lessons of Vietnam -- Or Iraq, for that matter.
Few of us have woken from the perpetual coma and seen our aggression in the rest of the world for what it is and what it does.
The knee-jerk reaction mirrors the slavish devotion to The Holy Bible during the Dark and Middle ages...a shut down of all critical thinking.
Absolutely true. I wish it weren't but very few see the forrest for the trees.
Thanks, Esha, for your support. If you're interested my website is
DavesWorld.org and my latest contribution is https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/davesworld.org/1245. My dad had a personal motto he used:
"vox calamitas in deserto," a voice crying in the wilderness. It feels that way for me sometimes.
Thank you! let me read it.