On the Vietnam War

Excellent passage from Valley of Decision: The Siege of Khe Sanhn, by John Prados and Ray W. Stubble on the stress of combat in South Vietnam:

"In fact, Vietnam was a searing experience for all those who went through combat. World War II veterans may have seen battles unfold on a larger scale, but nothing rivaled Vietnam in the constancy of risk, the immediacy of danger.  The average World War II Marine spent seventy days a year in combat. A Marine tour in South Vietnam lasted only thirteen months, but in that time an infantryman could expect to be on combat detail for some 270 days. Moreover, combat in Vietnam seemed wholly illogical--veterans of the 'big war' proudly recalled the islands they had captured, the objectives seized. Marines the Vietnam spent their days repeatedly sweeping the same terrain, capturing the same hills and hamlets, sometimes falling victim to ambushes in the same places" (108).

I've always thought the brave men who served in Vietnam should be considered "the greatest generation."  Not only were they fighting for a government that woefully mismanaged the war and for a country that treated them worse than garbage, but they had to live in constant fear of attack.  The enemy was everywhere. There was no security: this wasn't like World War II where the Allies would clear and secure territory and then set up bases for future advancement.  Technology had also developed since 1945 or since 1953, making war all the more brutal and deadly.  Plus combat Marines were usually sleeping outside, in the rain, without the most basic facilities for human hygiene or comfort.  And they were draftees--just normal, working class kids who answered the call to serve their country. I wonder how many of us today would actually be able to handle all that.