From the time he was inducted into the Army of the United States to his death, Jimmy Glitch wrote many letters to his friends and family (Adas & Gilch, 2018). These letters detailed his encounters from 1965 to 1966 of early American intervention in the Vietnam conflicts and evolving views about the war (Adas & Gilch, 2018). In the book, Glitch details thinking that Americans fought the war for a noble course but feels that somehow their idealism was lost and their morals corrupted, with their purpose forgotten. On both sides of the conflict, military commanders had distinct personalities and encounters. The video, The Face of the Enemy, details the individual sufferings of the Vietnam army behind hard American tactics (Rose, 2009). In the film, at least four million Vietnamese died compared to 50 000 Americans. Most Vietnam families detail how a huge number of their families and friends met their death. This essay utilizes the case of the war in Vietnam to assess how different soldiers recounted their encounters of the war by focusing on the following discussions.
The Experiences of Vietnamese Involved In The War Were Different Than For Americans In The War
The encounters of the Vietnamese involved in the war were very different from those of Americans. The film, The Face of the Enemy showcases how the American military had a distinct perspective about the war (Rose, 2009). The soldiers from America were in Vietnam to stop communism. The film focuses entirely on the encounters of the Vietnamese Army, who were in constant fear and pain, and the joy that was felt by the common people in Vietnam. The encounters of the Vietnamese seem to be more front and center, with no talking heads, with the Vietnamese from both sides of the war speaking of their lived encounters from historic footage. In the film, The Vietnamese recall having four times as many bombs thrown at them in their country than were dropped in any other war, including World War II.
Since the war takes place in Vietnamese land, in their nations and villages, it affects not only their soldiers but also their families, houses, crops, and animals. American soldiers had left their families at home where it was peaceful, and they only had to write to them, but families in Vietnam encountered everything that happened first hand. Vietnam here is a real place, with people with hope and fear (Rose, 2009). The War in Vietnam did not have clear fronts. Soldiers could hardly differentiate between enemy soldiers and civilians. There were bombings, small arms, and fire that drove millions of Vietnamese families, including women and children, from their homes. Some civilians were raped, old men were tortured, and there were shootings of unarmed villagers to revenge for the death of soldiers. The painful descriptions of Americans are about how Euro-Americans committed certain acts that left them tortured in moral anguish.
The main distinction between the Vietnams in War and that of Americans in war is that Vietnam victims include the soldier and their families and villages, and not the family alone. Families of American soldiers suffered from the emotional anguish of losing their loved ones in battle, while those in Vietnam encountered the war and took part in it through massive killings and rape. According to Glitch, the war focused on punishing civilians and policing them rather than combating enemy soldiers (Ada & Gilch, 2018). American soldiers who went to Vietnam for war were chosen from the working class, under-educated, and poor people from small towns who were pressed into the service to fight in Vietnam. American soldiers had their encounters. They faced anti-war protest movements in Vietnam, with no one having any sympathy for them. Glitch writes that he and his friends did not want to demonize the government of America, and the only choice they had was to burn down the empty homes of poor Vietnamese peasants who were suspected to be assisting the Viet Cong.
The Extent American Soldiers and the Vietnamese Fighting Struggled Against A War Motivated By The US Military And Foreign Policy Elite
The personal narrative of Jimmy Glitch in “Everyman in Vietnam” gives a fresh perspective about the conflict (Adas & Gilch, 2018). The narrative motivates a reader to assess the impacts of colonialism on American foreign policies, domestic events, reasons for a broken foreign policy, and the failure of American intervention in the war. The narrative gives a detailed chronological perspective of the society, culture, and domestic events in Vietnam and analyses the involvement of the Americans. In this conflict, most grandparents supported the Korean and World War II wars, but parents and baby boomers did not see the need for American intervention. After the Second World War, there were significant changes in the demographic, economic and cultural aspects. The struggling of both American soldiers and the Vietnamese was based on a lack of grasping of the decade of the 1960s (Adas & Gilch, 2018). In this period, most Americans attended worship services and were convinced that the value of God and the nations were threatened by the evils of communism. One policy of the Americans was that a government only made sense if it was founded in deep religious faith. It is in this context of political and religious conformity that the war in Vietnam was fought. It means then that most soldiers and citizens suffered because they did not understand this foreign policy. People in Vietnam did not understand that Americans understood communism as a threat.
The Degree Which the People on the Ground Understood the Cold War and the Stake Americans Had In Their Preeminent Place on the Globe, Economically and Militarily
America had become a suburban state, and people embraced automobiles, and American youths were excited by music, fads, and other popular culture. These were times when many challenged cultural conformities would result in revolutionary difficulties. Most Americans questioned containment policies and the domino theory, which spread fear among the people regarding the collapse of democracy and capitalism. For instance, Glitch was more concerned about his image than what people thought of him, and he did not need their guidance and approval. While he was willing to change, he craved independence like most Americans in the post-war decades. Most people in the 60s did not understand economic and military issues since this decade was filled with poverty, affluence ad many civil rights movements (Adas & Gilch, 2018). Women’s roles were changing, and there were many conflicts in South Asia and the Middle East.
Most people understood the cold war as the conflict of distribution and production methods that divided nations along with communist and capitalist lines. The United States and the Soviet Union were major superpowers who worked to defeat the axis powers. America was therefore perceived by people in Vietnam and also in America to be rich in military capabilities, and they attempted to spread their military capabilities, expand their global influence and undermine the ways of lives of others in the eyes of the world (Adas & Gilch, 2018). The United States was a capitalist system that believed in free markets. Communist states like Vietnam believed in unequal distribution of consumer goods and taking from the poor while giving to the rich. While the people perceived the military to be bridging the inequality gap in Vietnam, the United States aimed to control and impose its values on the Vietnamese. During the Vietnam War, the hypocrisy of the policies of the United States was exposed. Most people thought that these policies aimed to promote self-determination, yet they had not inspired a nation like Vietnam to determine its future. From the letters written by Glitch, the military was sent and ordered to force changes within Vietnam without considering their culture and societal values.
Conclusion
From the book Everyman in Vietnam and The Face of the Enemy, it is clear that soldiers recalled their experiences differently. American soldiers like Glitch faced moral trauma based on what they were made to do, while Vietnamese soldiers recall the fear and pain inflicted on their country, families, and villages. The sad part is that soldiers did not understand that their struggles were based on American foreign policies that demanded an end to communism. They regarded the war as a peace mission in the land of Vietnam. The people on the ground understood Americans to have a good capitalist system that was fair and whose military was strong enough to change the world. However, this was not the case since each nation has its own societal and cultural values.
References
Adas, M., & Gilch, J. J. (2018). Everyman in Vietnam: A Soldier’s Journey Into the Quagmire. Oxford University Press.
Rose, W. (2009). Battlestar Galactica (The Face of the Enemy) (Film). Film Media Group.
