I’m sitting in my common room at SRD watching Hearts and Minds on my laptop and the rest of the girls are watching the Olympics. I have my ear phones in but I can still hear bits and pieces of what they are saying and I’ve noticed a major correlation between the 2010 Winter Olympics and the Vietnam War. How can two things so seemingly different be connected?
Caitlin Rose: Ohh look! We just won another gold!
Courtney: yeahh the USA always wins crap.
Caitlin Rose: that’s so true we do always win.
Many Americans all over the country are sitting in front of their TVs right thinking the very same thing. America always wins. We never lose. This is chillingly similar to the attitude felt by many in regards to the Vietnam War. America always wins. We never lose.
Hearts and Minds showcased this feeling perfectly. All the interviews with the troops and air strike bombers gave me an unnerving view of just how disconnected their minds were from reality. The men were made into team USA, competing in the kill all event. Many didn’t understand why they were fighting the war and had just enlisted to “enjoy” the fighting and killing. The air strike bomber didn’t even know if he was killing anyone or not, and didn’t seem to care; “You don’t see much blood. It’s quick and clean.” Another man interviewed left us with this unsettling remark, “They say I’m fight for something, but… I don’t know really…”
This is all connected back to the idea that America was going to win, that America always wins. Many of the mean didn’t care about why or what they were fight for, just that they we’re getting to see combat and feel the thrill of killing a human being. Many of the men felt invincible, much like America as a whole felt. We were the untouchable nation. The interview with a former Air Force pilot, Robert Muller, touches on the subject of invincibility in recounting his experience of being hit during one of the bombings. He says, “And that’s when I got it. Oh my God, I’m hit. I couldn’t believe it… I’m really hit.”
The interview with former Sergeant William Marshall mirrors the feeling many Americans felt at the start of the War. He says, “You let us go off to War and say ‘YEAHH team fight the Vietnam!’ 1968 comes around and then you’re like ‘Boo team, come on home.” This really struck a cord with me on American pride. At first we felt untouchable and we just knew we would win this war. Then by 1968 we flipped the script when we realized Oh my God. We’re hit. and we couldn’t believe it. We were losing the War in Vietnam.
I never thought I could see a correlation between something as joyful as the Olympics and something as awful as the Vietnam War. It’s interesting to see how America has changed…and how it hasn’t.
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