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There's a great book called "Achilles in Vietnam" by psychiatrist Jonathan Shay, who compares PTSD symptoms seen in his patients (Vietnam vets) to the descriptions of Greek soldiers experiencing psychological trauma in Homer's Iliad. It's a really interesting book -- the two main points are that PTSD is not a modern ailment but has been affecting soldiers since the beginning of history, and that honoring soldiers' experiences in a heroic narrative promotes psychological healing in numerous ways.
Dude, he did all kinds of shit. This general being perhaps the most famous. He also saved a whole bunch of comrades from a burning vehicle, becoming severely burned in the process over 43% of his body, and still managed to eventually precision shoot again. He engaged in a sniper duel in which he shot the enemy through the eye, through his scope, because they were looking right at each other. He killed a female sniper known as Apache, who was infamous for her penchant for torturing US servicemen. He won the Wimbledon Cup before he went to Vietnam. He was just generally a singular force to be reckoned with. There's more, but I haven't read his biography in a long time. It's Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills. Less than $5 on Amazon.
Forgot one, he was at one time credited with the longest range sniper kill in the world, using a Browning M2 that had its cyclic rate slowed to allow for single shots.
https://smile.amazon.com/Delta-Force-Militarys-Secretive-Special-Operations/dp/006224969X
This book is the memoirs written by the founder of Delta Force, Charlie Beckwith. He goes over the mission and it's unfortunate failure in fine detail. The book is a good read if you are interested in such things.
I watched a one man play last year that, more or less, talked about this. It was just him talking about his experiences in war and how it effected him. But also how he sought comfort in reading and then performing Shakespeare. The most interesting part is the concept of the "berserker" as a form of PTSD. A seeking requirement towards death that leads one down a destructive path. Hence the concept of removing armor and rushing into the melee.
His concept was that Margaret of Anjou was, effectively, a P.O.W and...goes berserk later. I'm not 100% sold on it, but researching it did lead me to read Jonathan Shay's novel "Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character". Which was pretty amazing to read. Comparing Achilles fall into madness to PTSD and veterans was quite interesting and helpful to me.
Here's a link to an article written by the playwright mentioned and link to the book in question
Don't forget to also read Fick's <em>One Bullet Away</em>.
Generation Kill was written by the embedded Rolling Stone reporter, but One Bullet Away was written by the officer commanding that platoon.
Meanwhile, Jenny Han, racially insecure author of white worshipping book, To all the boys I've loved before, is paying her respects to this psychopathic war criminal. And people wonder why we call out these insane Auntie Tans?
Here's a reminder of what white men from the highest positions of military/political power down to generals approved for standard operating procedure http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Anything-That-Moves-American/dp/1250045061/
I read Chickenhawk, the account of a helo pilot in Vietnam. The scam was that every time a cargo copter went down, quartermasters would claim their missing equipment was on board. This pilot served on an accident investigation team, and they calculated that the listed cargo was something like twice the weight of the aircraft.
I think the one I read about him was Marine Sniper.
My favorite part of the whole "through the enemy sniper's scope" thing was they didn't even realize it at the time. And when they found the enemy sniper and realized how he'd shot him, it was his buddy that said "For your round to go straight through his scope like that meant he had to have been looking right at you."
'Kill anything that moves' is a good book about that.
It shows the underlying, institutionalized racism, that dehumanized the Vietnamese in the minds of the members of the US military from the top to the bottom.
It also describes the wonky rules of engagement that were fuzzy from the start, but were also not really followed and easily bypassed anyways.
All which in turn helped pushing the most important metric to the US military in this war: the body count.
The overwhelming majority of the victims of this were civilians and even though the most infamous massacres like My Lai were committed by infantry, the worst offenders in terms of 'body count' were artillery crews and pilots, who created countless, mostly unknown, My Lais.
Read or listen to Kill Anything that Moves by Nick Turse. Excellent overview and description of the atrocities that occurred during the late 60s in Vietnam. Nothing went too far, literally the worse things you can possibly think of to do to other humans and just scale it up to US War Machine levels. To all humans: babies, children, women, and men. To animals, livestock, cultivated fields, and whole ecosystems. And the attitudes, no remorse, no empathy, just kill as many humans as possible as quickly as possible. I can’t believe it’s not generally known what the US did down there, it’s just not taught in schools. You’d be lucky to find someone who remembers the My Lai Massacre, but that’s about it.
A good book on the topic: <em>Tunnels of Cu Chi</em>.
Essentially the 25th ID headquarters at Cu Chi wasn't secured for the whole war. The tunnels were pretty much indestructible. US technology, brought to bare on all kinds of challenges was no help.
Also, going into a tunnel is the most terrifying experience in that war I can imagine.
Very much so. The reporter was embedded in a truck with a specific Squad Leader. You end up seeing the whole invasion over-the-shoulder of just that Squad Leader. Gen Mattis is just a cameo and the whole US Army doesn't exist except for a brief mention of Jessica Lynch's convoy getting captured. It's a very narrow (albeit uniquely and redeemingly indepth) view of the invasion.
As mentioned elsewhere in the thread, the Platoon Leader, Nathaniel Fick, published his own account if you want to contrast the view from literally just one echelon higher.
https://www.amazon.com/One-Bullet-Away-Making-Officer/dp/0618773436
>look at the context. SK was a Western puppet that collaborated with compradors and the Imperial Japanese. They killed leftists. It's like "invading" your home to save your own family from thugs.
>See http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Anything-That-Moves-American/dp/1250045061/ same pattern [of killing leftists because they got in the way of Western capital] in every country.
If you haven't read this mans autobiography, you're fucking wrong.
https://www.amazon.com/Fighter-Pilot-Memoirs-Legendary-Robin/dp/0312569513
https://www.amazon.com/Fighter-Pilot-Memoirs-Legendary-Robin/dp/0312569513/
A book. Although Robin Olds was a larger than life character that earned some fame. I'm sure History Channel covered him in one of their docs back when they used to do that.
Read about "Operation Bolo" on Wikipedia, that was Olds' doing.
Highly recommend [The Gun by C.J. Chivers](https://www.amazon.com/Gun-C-J-Chivers/dp/0743271734) on the history of the AK-47 vs. the AR-15. Lots of interesting stuff about gov't sponsored design, proliferation, and one of the many ways infantry were getting screwed by Washington.
A lot of civilians died horrific deaths that the public in America doesn't even, to this day, generally know about. I suggest the book Kill Anything That Moves if anyone wants to read more on it. More than likely, a lot more My Lai's occurred that were shoveled under the rug under the guise of "reaching a body count".
If I recall correctly it was the size, kicked up way less dust and also less noise were the reasons given. It's been awhile since I read it. The Tunnels of Cu Chi
Read Kill Anything That Moves. It is bloodchilling. Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam (American Empire Project) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250045061/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_82J8Z5HTSQWXFKDWAJK6
War crimes only matter if you have to be held accountable or can be made to be, which they won't be. Same as the US has never been.
Some light reading Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam (American Empire Project) https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/1250045061/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_K84K8XMP1ERCXJK2A083
I'd recommend reading a well researched book called Kill Everything That Moves, if you really believe that.
You might find it illuminating. Of course it's one of many examples from history.
Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam (American Empire Project) https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/1250045061/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_K84K8XMP1ERCXJK2A083
Yep. There is literally an entire book written by a Vietnam veteran about this false narrative spread.
>Gooks
Must-read on the topic of systemic racism in the US military during the Vietnam war to dehumanize the enemy, among other Vietnam war related topics:
https://www.amazon.com/Kill-Anything-That-Moves-American/dp/1250045061
Yes, my source is The book of the same name. Read it and you'll see the true face of the US military.
Q ? Dude Qanon is pro American military and believes communists eat babies and worship satan, you couldn't possibly be more of base.
Yeah they did… but it was actually right wingers doing it.
And this is why we say Fuck Colin Powell.
Highly recommend reading Kill Anything That Moves by Nick Turse
https://www.amazon.com/Kill-Anything-That-Moves-American/dp/1250045061/ref=nodl_
My Lai was not a one time incident.
And this is just the evil shit people know about from that war. With the racist undertone towards the 'gooks' it's probably the tip of the iceberg. Good book about this.
On the hopeful front :
A great book on combat trauma and the psychiatrist’s successful treatment of PTSD in veterans. I hear Jonathan Shay is quite well respected inside military circles based on the results he has gotten.
Any Vietnam vets here with first hand experience that can speak to this?
The book is a great read regardless even if you’re a civilian.
Achilles in Vietnam : https://www.amazon.com/Achilles-Vietnam-Combat-Undoing-Character/dp/0684813211/ref=nodl_
Lt Fick's book is pretty good, covers from him deciding to join in college to getting out of the Marines