Is the Vietnam War the most uncensored war?

[Shaka_Khan]

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-napalm-girl-photo-vietnam-war-turns-40-210339788.html

There are a lot of articles about her today. Even long after the war, the photo still shocked me when I was a kid. The recent articles reminded me of other vivid photos of the war such as this one -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguyen_Van_Lem
These photos and the color footages had a huge effect on the war. There's also a color footage of the girl shortly after the photo was taken. The footage is more vivid because it's in color and it shows her burnt skin on her back with parts of it peeled off.

This is very different with today's news. We don't see any vivid photos and videos to that degree on recent wars. It was actually considered to be against the rules during the Vietnam War era, but the news or whoever showed it to the public didn't get penalized for it. I don't know of any other wars that was shown on tv with less censorship as much as the Vietnam War.

[Major Robert Dump]

Possibly, because once the story was "out" it was hard to counter or respond to it by using this fancy thing we have called the internet. But now there is just so much available that it is less shocking when we see something.

There is nothing stopping reporters from covering things like Afghanistan accurately, it is just in order to do so they have to leave the protective wing of NATO and go out on their own and risk all the dangers associated with being outside and alone in Afghanistan. The reporters who are muzzled are the imbeds. Same in any conflict involving the US military.

So on one hand I agree, that the ROEs for journalists were not yet well developed by the military, and the miltary media machine has since adapted to the point of being a running joke andmuzzling reporters and spokespersons.

On the other hand, tecnology and human mobility allow for more to be captured. If one had the financial backing, one could get into various warzones no problem by the end of next week.

As I recall, the pilot in the Napalm girl case was vietnamese, and the dude getting shot in the head had just killed a family. These things were not known then, and they aren't known today. Not making excuses, though, Mai Lai was terrible, and of all the era pictures out there, the Mai Lai pictures are the ones that affect me most.

[Fragony]

Just because it's awesome, coverage from Talibanisthan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0B6NsAT9R8&feature=youtube_gdata_player Nice to see our American buddies

[a completely inoffensive name]

Restrepo made me cry, not going to lie.

[Fragony]

I haven't found that doc at this side of the ocean but I heard nothing but praise. I know that I will never understand it (I hope) but I find it fascinating. it's a life I don't know, I both envy and pity you, I would't function as a soldier I would be so scared

[Centurion1]

It's very good. They encouraged us to watch it in ROTC and if you are going into the service or just want a better understanding of what is going on it really helps shed some light. It is very heart wrenching though and made me very scared for when I commission that I will not be able to lead my men.

Too often I see among civilians a lack of respect for the service done over there and very often a lack of patience or judgmental attitudes regarding soldiers. There is still the prevailing notion among the civilian population that all military people are stupid. That extends to ROTC cadets such as myself enough that when I got a Finance internship at a bulge bracket and some kids who think they are intellectual giants and put down some of the rotc guys didn't I rubbed it in their faces, hard.

Then again I live in the Northeast, NYC in particular so the attitudes of people there do not reflect the entire nation.

In general it sometimes seems a lip service is paid to military men and women without any real respect paid and very little understanding about what is really happening. I'm sure some of our Veterans like GC or MRD can actually explai instances where they get asked awkward and inconsiderate questions. Once I was at the bar with my cousin who had just gotten back and has some PTSD and somehow people realized he was a vet. 4-5 people mostly girls asked him if had ever killed anyone and one person even asked if he had killed women and children and was it hard to shoot somebody. He had pretty bad nightmares that night i'll say that much. So when you met a veteran please try to think about how anything you say may affect them or how it sounds.

[a completely inoffensive name]

Civilians don't care to treat soldiers with proper respect because people think that soldiering is a job just like theirs. You clock in 9 to 5 and you save the world and rebuild countries and our soldiers are the best at their job.

I personally know 6 people that are in or are entering the armed forces (5 of them my age). I try my best not to ask dumb questions and I let them know that I try my best to read about what goes on there and that I keep track of whether or not they are safe (relatively speaking).

[Centurion1]

Civilians don't care to treat soldiers with proper respect because people think that soldiering is a job just like theirs. You clock in 9 to 5 and you save the world and rebuild countries and our soldiers are the best at their job.

I personally know 6 people that are in or are entering the armed forces (5 of them my age). I try my best not to ask dumb questions and I let them know that I try my best to read about what goes on there and that I keep track of whether or not they are safe (relatively speaking).

Thats all I can imagine you can ask just wish them well and be sensitive to what they are going through.

[Fragony]

Civilians don't care to treat soldiers with proper respect because people think that soldiering is a job just like theirs. You clock in 9 to 5 and you save the world and rebuild countries and our soldiers are the best at their job.

I personally know 6 people that are in or are entering the armed forces (5 of them my age). I try my best not to ask dumb questions and I let them know that I try my best to read about what goes on there and that I keep track of whether or not they are safe (relatively speaking).

Also know a few, we have a bit of an unspoken agreement to not talk about it. I know they have been through a lot. I don't notice anything different about them I must admit

[Brenus]

Having been a professional soldier during 5 years, to be honest, I didn’t give importance (to be polite) of civilian opinion. Of course they hadn’t a clue of what I was doing and trained for (and better to be like this) but I had no clue of what they were doing as well.
I try to explain: I join at 20, to be sent in the Infantry Combat School of Montpellier to become an NCO. Prior this, I volunteered for a pre-military training (at 18) to be paratrooper, so I did 4 jumps.
The vast majority of my comrades have done the same.
From the 36 who started my platoon, 17 finished the training and graduated, on these 17, 15 were sent to the last “commando” training. On these 15, 5 finished and graduated. I was one of them.
I learned to kill with all small infantry weapons (riffles, sub-machine guns, Assault Rifles, Snipers Rifles, etc, up to 20 mm Canon), to lead people to combat, to blow-up bridges, buildings and others things. I used flamethrower, missile (1, quite expensive), anti-tank rocket propeller, grenades of all kind. I learnt to use garrotte, knives and all of improvise weapons, ultimately my body, to “neutralise” an enemy.
I crossed a lot of obstacles, run a lot, walked (by night) a lot, didn’t sleep much, food was ok, learnt what pain is and dealt with it, learnt what hell on Earth means and crossed it.
I developed an Elite Superiority Syndrome so what Civilians were thinking was the last (and least) of my concern.
Civilian were the reservoir where you could find pretty girls and ignore others young male adults who didn’t do what I was doing.
So don’t worry about soldiers.

About Vietnam, the problem was the media were free only on one side. The US media were free to report what they taught had to be reported. The Vietcong/North Vietnamese media were reporting only what was important for the political aim of their battles.
What always evaded the Western World is for a Communist Trained Leaders, the political goal always trumps the military aspect. If a defeat is good for the Cause, they will choose the Glorious Defeat of the Oppressed against the Oppressors. And in Vietnam, the Bodies Count give the Political Minded Communist Leaders exactly what they needed in term of propaganda and Media Actions.