The Vietnam War - Netflix

It was available some time ago on the History Channel - and was well done. For those new to watching, I was stationed on A4 (between Firebase Fuller and Firebase Sarge when the VN army invaded SVN. They put over 3,000 rounds into the base before we got out. We knew we were in trouble went the first round took out the water tower - it was their triangulation point for firing on the base. You have 42 seconds to take a dump outside - the time the round took to get there from across the DMZ. One of my most vivid memories is the thought that I hoped the back door was shut on the Huey. You see, I was running down the hill opposite the side the T-34-85s were coming up; heading for the hovering copter with its gunner door open. A jump to freedom and safety with a nagging concern that if that back door wasn't shut, I'd slide right on out and on down the hill!! ...And I had fun, fun, fun till the back door takes the safety away... [sorry Beach Boys]

As to the Burns work, I was surprised at the amount of classified documents/pics/film released and very glad to see a major amount of work on the pre-Hanoi years of Ho. Unlike a lot of vets, my ASA clearance status still prevents me from ever travelling to Nam.  Not that I'd want to meet anyone that I worked/fought against. I do have contact with some local folks who were RVN survivors - we as a country might be all right with the Vietnam of today, but, I'll never be having heard first had accounts from people and their families the VC got their hands on.

Just a vets 2 cents worth - sorry for the soapbox...

And other vets shrugged it off eventually.

My father was a crewmember on B-24's. Shot down and survived crashlandings twice. Wounded twice. Interned briefly by the Russians (supposedly our allies).  Came home and went to college for his PhD.  He worked with Germans in the US space program and had quite a bit of respect for them, as well as observations on some of their amusing behaviors. He even bought a 1962 Volkswagen beetle that we all learned to drive and kept for 200,000+ miles.

Conversely, my high school history teacher had fought in the Pacific.  He had AB-SO-LUTE-LY nothing good to say about the Japanese or Japan.

My father was an infantry squad leader during the retaking of the Philippines in 1944. He told hellacious stories of the fighting. After being wounded and recovery ended up in occupation duty in Hokkaido, Japan. He then developed a great respect and appreciation for the Japanese people

Understandable because of shared experiences in the service. Some features of service life are universal across cultures. Those who never were in any service do not really appreciate how it changes the life outlook. (The exception is close family and spouses.)

Thanks to you and your family.

VA estimates that only about 7% of the US population is now or has ever been in the service. And Army Recruiting Command estimates that less than 0.5% of the potential recruiting pool considers service to be desirable.  Fortunately, that small number seems to be enough, even though the few become even fewer.

"I must study politics and war so that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain."
-John Adams

As a Veteran:

I stood between Home and Harm and faced the danger.
I gave my sweat, my tears my blood and even my very life.
Because I hate war and all its horror
Because I love Peace.

Most of my nieces and nephews have served and are serving.

I thank my fellow veterans, but I also honor the civilians who also shed their tears and blood, and even their lives, to build a world that makes peace worth the price.

I've always found the concept of one serves, one vote fascinating - do you realize the number of people who this would disenfranchise! I found the movie distasteful at first - they don't get into real ST suits until number 3 - but, grew to like it as an alternate narration of the whole story. They did a fine game of miniatures based on it and as I've noted before, the distributors basically killed it with their allocation process.