Baghdad Hello Everyone,
The most obvious comparison between both conflicts would be the support from home. Vietnam Vets were terribly neglected and had their own people turn their backs on them! This, in my belief, was a disgrace! Thousands of young Americans gave their life serving their country whether they chose to or not and just because Americans felt that the war did not directly effect national security or the reason for the war was not acceptable, they chose to take it out on the veterans! Thankfully, this is not the case today. Many Americans feel that we should not be in Iraq but most of these people still support the troops serving here! I am very proud of the Americans at home and it is an honor for me to serve in the military today!
The civil war taking place here involves religious groups and the insurgents see everything as targets; civilians, Americans, Iraqi Police, politicians, and anything else they believe will create a stir. In Vietnam we used traditional military techniques and strategy using all the firepower we could use. Today, we are limited to military resources due to the nature of this war and the many civilians that are at risk. We have not used nearly as many bombs as we did in Vietnam and the ones we use today have extraordinary precision! The laws of war have changed and we are here to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people resulting in a humanitarian battle.
The conflict we face today has females serving pivotal roles in combat. They are seeing combat every day and there is little to no difference of demands placed on females as opposed to males. Females have proven that they can "hold their own" and have served honorably in every given situation. Today’s technology has been able to broadcast live footage from battles and show much more than what was offered during Vietnam. The military serving today have many luxuries that Vietnam Vets wouldn’t have imagined. We have internet capabilities, hot food every day, telephones that we can call home, and a roof over our heads. We have the medical capacity to treat common sickness and many trauma injuries that would have resulted in death during Vietnam. Today’s communication capability is more superior than the Vietnam era. Our equipment is much more advanced and many lives are saved with the use of unmanned surveillance equipment, and the ability to accurately strike the enemy at greater distances. Many similarities exist with a crafty enemy. Although they were both third world countries, they learned to adapt and metamorphose themselves to gain an advantage by any means possible. The enemies we face today use various ways to terrorize and strike us using the element of surprise and fear. They are very skilled with roadside bombs and car bombs. They intimidate the locals by kidnapping and execute innocent civilians to keep the rest of them quiet. The North Vietnamese were not afraid of dying and believe by giving their lives to kill us gave them martyrdom, we are seeing the same belief with the insurgents we face today. It is very difficult to fight people with this belief. How can you use intimidation as a deterrent when they are not afraid to die? They are and were very skilled in camouflage techniques and use everything they have available as weapons. In both conflicts we have seen collateral damage. Many innocent civilians lost their lives and different opinions formed. Like Vietnam, we enjoy handing out candy to the children and find ourselves posing for photos with the local nationals. Both the North Vietnamese of the Vietnam War era and the insurgents of today are and were very skilled at ambushes. They use heavily populated areas where they can easily camouflage their roadside bombs and positions regardless of civilian population and time of day. Closing this week’s column I would like to give the utmost respect to all Vietnam Vets! It may be 30 years too late but it is well deserved! I hope that I did not offend anyone by explaining some of my comparisons. Most of all I hope it was an accurate depiction of what it was like serving in Vietnam. I am proud that our military never leaves their own behind and all of the tradition that was passed down to my generation. I believe our country has learned a lot from the Vietnam War and at the expense of our Vietnam Vets, Americans today know how imperative it is to support our troops regardless of what their political viewpoints are. Thank you for the tremendous support and know that we are doing great things here! SGT Shawn Wilkins 01/18/05 5:41EST read archived articles | submit an article for review
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One more week closer to going home! Everyone is very excited and pitching in to prepare for our redeployment. I was having some difficulty coming up with a theme for this week’s column until I spoke to my family. My father was a tanker in the Army during Vietnam. He is interested in me writing about the comparisons and similarities Iraq and Vietnam have. I thought this would be a great idea especially since I have been watching some political talk shows and on more than one occasion have heard the term "Bush’s Vietnam" as they referred to Iraq. I am too young to know how it was in Vietnam so most of my article is opinionated and my knowledge of Vietnam is compromised of what I learned in school, history books, and documentaries. By no means do I see myself as an expert in Vietnam history but I can tell you from first hand knowledge what I have experienced in Iraq.
Our present conflict involves an all volunteer military and the terrain is completely opposite of Vietnam. Vietnam was covered with vegetation and most of the battles had taken place in the jungle, our conflict takes place primarily in an urban environment. Vietnam was fought on one front as our "war on terror" is on many fronts. Our enemies are from different countries and cannot be distinguished from innocent civilians. They do not wear uniforms and blend in well with the friendly people of Iraq. Where the North Vietnamese had significant military training and an organized military structure, the enemies we face today are poorly trained and act as rebels not a military unit. The enemies we face in Iraq generally are not good at marksmanship and are very cowardly. They brag about honor and believe themselves to have courage but show neither.
The equipment we have today protecting our troops is doing a spectacular job! We have state of the art armor for both our vehicles and our personnel that did not exist in the 60’s and 70’s. Many people compare the lives lost between both conflicts but that is not something that I want to focus on because a life lost is traumatic regardless of the numbers. For every one life lost, several are directly affected. Many of the military personnel serving here in Iraq are part of the Guard and Reserve Components resulting in the average age of military personnel serving over here much higher. I could be wrong but I believe in today’s conflict, we are seeing many more children at home with parents serving over here. The last comparison that I can think is the fact that there is no demilitarized zone here in Iraq; the battlefield stretches everywhere. 