Vietnam and World War II

The Vietnam War is characterized as such a fundamentally different war from all other American Wars on so many levels, especially compared with World War II. When people think of Vietnam they think of the craziness that surrounded the war and all the drugs and loss of life that never accomplished anything in Southeast Asia. No freedom that was exemplified over and over in Washington was brought to the country of Vietnam, all it did was prolong the eventual spread of communism in the country. Most troops over in the country did not want to be there and did not believe in the war at all, all they did was want to go home and get the hell out of the shit called Vietnam.

While watching Saving Private Ryan the viewer sees men that know what they are fighting for, to stop the tide of evil. The first scene opens up with the Invasion of Normandy and shows the horror that the troops went through to protect the freedom we have in this country and end Hitler's reign of tyranny of Europe. The movie shows more of our soldiers doing noble deeds for our country and sacrificing their lives for a war that all believed in. While when you watch Vietnam movies all you see is men dying and most have no idea what they are dying for, they just feel like they are at the bottom of the barrel and are being thrown out into war because the country feels thats their job to do since no one else wants to do it. This persona of soldier is exemplified in Platoon while in Saving Private Ryan you see soldiers from all walks of life coming together to fight a common enemy. Also when you see World War II movies the movies are more focused on the struggle of the battle and the comradery of the soldiers while in Vietnam movies you see horrible acts of our soldiers,the all the drugs that were done, and the mass confusion of the war. Vietnam just has a cloud of uneasiness surrounding it while World War II you think of how soldiers stopped Hitler and all his acts to bring peace to Europe. In my opinion you can look at the U.S. as the good guys fighting for freedom in WWII while in Vietnam we seem more as an intrusion on a people who all they want to do is be left alone, this is expressed by how the Vietnamese call the war the American War.