primus_122
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has anyone here fought in Vietnam and have stories? Just intrested
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Vietnam
- Thread starter primus_122
- Start date
lol, poor Albob. seriously tho, i find most people who were actually involved in combat in vietnam don't talk about it much. i only know one person who has told me stuff about being there. he was telling me his unit was walking down a grassy bank and a tree branch came down and hit him in the head. he didn't know what happened he just heard a loud noise and thought he'd been shot.
I had just gotten back from the jungle and was resting in my hotel room in Saigon when I got yanked from my room at gunpoint. It seems Colonel Walter E. Kurtz had gone mad and was murdering Vietnamese intelligence agents. Men he believed were double agents. So he'd taken matters into his own hands. My job was to go up the Nung River into Cambodia and kill him with extreme predjudice......
apocolypse now?
"I was going to the worst place in the world, and I didn't even know
it yet. Weeks away and hundreds of miles up a river that snaked
through the war like a main circuit cable and plugged straight into
Kurtz. It was no accident that I got to be the caretaker of Colonel
Walter E. Kurtz's memory, any more than being back in Saigon
was an accident. There is no way to tell his story without telling
my own. And if his story is really a confession, then so is mine."
it yet. Weeks away and hundreds of miles up a river that snaked
through the war like a main circuit cable and plugged straight into
Kurtz. It was no accident that I got to be the caretaker of Colonel
Walter E. Kurtz's memory, any more than being back in Saigon
was an accident. There is no way to tell his story without telling
my own. And if his story is really a confession, then so is mine."
"Well, you see Willard... In this war, things get confused
out there, power, ideals, the old morality, and practical
military necessity. Out there with these natives it must be
a temptation to be god. Because there's a conflict in
every human heart between the rational and the irrational,
between good and evil. The good does not always triumph.
Sometimes the dark side overcomes what Lincoln called
the better angels of our nature. Every man has got a
breaking point. You and I have. Walter Kurtz has reached his.
And very obviously, he has gone insane."
out there, power, ideals, the old morality, and practical
military necessity. Out there with these natives it must be
a temptation to be god. Because there's a conflict in
every human heart between the rational and the irrational,
between good and evil. The good does not always triumph.
Sometimes the dark side overcomes what Lincoln called
the better angels of our nature. Every man has got a
breaking point. You and I have. Walter Kurtz has reached his.
And very obviously, he has gone insane."
[font=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]Rainy Days
by Amando Alvarez
I stare out the window,
And see a wake,
Never foreward past the bow.
Dog asleep by the fire, carefree.
Tired, oblivious to me.
And I sit and listen,
Worn and tired,
To the same old songs
Of long ago, by the fire.
I see the beach in Vietnam,
Shells that pierced the day.
War days filled with fright,
Fires flaming in the night.
And endless dusty rows
Of farms in Idaho???
Wonder where I???ve been,
Where I???ve gone.
What I???ve seen.
Was it worth the sacrifice?
What accomplished,
At what price?
Back I limp again;
I raise my book,
To where I???d been.
But my mind struggles;
From pages to the window,
To the pouring rain
And misty fog again.
And cold days of the present
Confuse my past now spent.
And I keep thinking,
Wondering where it???s gone.
Where my friends from Vietnam?
Thinking, forever thinking.
Dog fidgety and still sleeping.
And the noise of nature
On the roof, splitter splattering.
Cold, ever so cold,
No one here,
No one there.
Back to the couch again;
I raise my book once more.
Once more I try;
Try as try I can;
But the never-ending why???s
Put me in a trance
With fading, fading sighs.
And sleep takes hold;
I close my eyes.
Back to nature,
To the wake,
To good times past
Of better days,
Gone so fast.
Cold, cold, as night takes hold???.
Copyright 2002, Amando Alvarez, All Rights Reserved
[/font]
by Amando Alvarez
I stare out the window,
And see a wake,
Never foreward past the bow.
Dog asleep by the fire, carefree.
Tired, oblivious to me.
And I sit and listen,
Worn and tired,
To the same old songs
Of long ago, by the fire.
I see the beach in Vietnam,
Shells that pierced the day.
War days filled with fright,
Fires flaming in the night.
And endless dusty rows
Of farms in Idaho???
Wonder where I???ve been,
Where I???ve gone.
What I???ve seen.
Was it worth the sacrifice?
What accomplished,
At what price?
Back I limp again;
I raise my book,
To where I???d been.
But my mind struggles;
From pages to the window,
To the pouring rain
And misty fog again.
And cold days of the present
Confuse my past now spent.
And I keep thinking,
Wondering where it???s gone.
Where my friends from Vietnam?
Thinking, forever thinking.
Dog fidgety and still sleeping.
And the noise of nature
On the roof, splitter splattering.
Cold, ever so cold,
No one here,
No one there.
Back to the couch again;
I raise my book once more.
Once more I try;
Try as try I can;
But the never-ending why???s
Put me in a trance
With fading, fading sighs.
And sleep takes hold;
I close my eyes.
Back to nature,
To the wake,
To good times past
Of better days,
Gone so fast.
Cold, cold, as night takes hold???.
Copyright 2002, Amando Alvarez, All Rights Reserved
[/font]
"[font=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]A soldier, you see, does not fight for duty, honor, or country. He fights for his life, and those of his friends. As a twenty-one year old aircraft commander in the company, I had learned that in spades. Today's mission was to fly to various infantry fire bases, collect American infantry troops, convey them to remote landing zones selected by their commanders, have them do battle with the enemy if they could find him, and return them, at length, to the relative safety of their home fire bases. Eagle flights, they called them. Many, many of these missions consisted of twelve hours of tedium since most of the time we didn't know where Charlie was. Sometimes we stumbled on him, and there was hell to pay on one side or the other, or both, but not often enough to win any war. I've chosen, though, to tell you about a slow day in the business of war making, but perhaps a day of significance."
[/font]that is a good site. check it out.[font=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]
[/font]
[/font]that is a good site. check it out.[font=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]
[/font]
maniclion said:
The Col. Kurtz character was based on a real human being, although the story was embellished in Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness."
I live in Saigon.
I talk with veterans. I have learned a lot about Vietnam since living here. One thing people need to realise, is how little we know about this culture, history, and motivations for conflicts from 1954 to 1975.
The American "experts" misinterpreted many things in this conflict.
I am happy living in Vietnam as an American. I have been here almost 3 years.
Do they love you long time?
no tikkie, no rondrycappo5150 said:
cappo5150 said:
It is a part of the culture.
rockgazer69 said:
There are some very good books. If anyone wants me to list some title, let me know. I suppose Amazon.com will have them.
Note that personal websites and personal memoirs offer a truly "individualistic" reflection and in many ways you can't learn a lot from reading them.
I do read them however.
Mr_Snafu said:
Joseph Conrad died in 1924, so I don't get how you think his book had anything to do with the Vietnam war. The Heart of darkness is about Marlow and company,English men traveling the Thames in Africa, Kurtz was a fictional character ect.....read it because I wont spend anymore time correcting you're bullsh1t name dropping of English literature. You have not read it, and if you did it was over you're head because you're post was about 75 years off....
Last edited:
ForemanRules said:
The book didn't have anything to do with the Vietnam war, but Kurtz (character in Apacolypse now) was taking from Conrad's book. The character was however, also taken from a real person who is still alive, today.
I know I haven't read it. The first chapter bored me.
I was talking about the Kurtz Character, Apocalypse now, and Joseph Conrad's book.
I don't drop English literature. I don't read it. I only read non-fiction.
To: Foreman Rules: You didn't learn much in school studying English Literature did you?
Heart of Darkness & Apocalypse Now:
A comparative analysis of novella and film.
In the opening scenes of the documentary film "Hearts of Darkness-A Filmmaker's Apocalypse," Eleanor Coppola describes her husband Francis's film, "Apocalypse Now," as being "loosely based" on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
As to the character of Kurtz, it is worth noting that while significant discrepancies exist between the depictions of Conrad and Coppola, the basic nature of the man remains fairly similar. The idea of company man turned savage, of a brilliant and successful team-player, being groomed by "the Company" for greater things, suddenly gone native, is perfectly realized in both novella and film. In the film, Kurtz is portrayed by Marlon Brando, the father of American method actors, who lends weight (both physically and dramatically) to the figure of the megalomaniacal Kurtz. Brando's massive girth is all the more ironic for those familiar with Heart of Darkness who recall Conrad's description: "I could see the cage of his ribs all astir, the bones of his arms waving. It was as though an animated image of death carved out of old ivory had been shaking its hand with menaces at a motionless crowd of men..." [1]. One could speculate that Coppola's Kurtz is a graphic analogy of the bloated American war machine dominating and perverting the innocent montegnards of Cambodia; however, after viewing Eleanor Coppola's documentary, one finds that the casting was more based on a combination of Coppola's wanting to work with Brando (remember "The Godfather") and Brando's own weight problem
Link: http://www.cyberpat.com/essays/coppola.html
Heart of Darkness & Apocalypse Now:
A comparative analysis of novella and film.
In the opening scenes of the documentary film "Hearts of Darkness-A Filmmaker's Apocalypse," Eleanor Coppola describes her husband Francis's film, "Apocalypse Now," as being "loosely based" on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
As to the character of Kurtz, it is worth noting that while significant discrepancies exist between the depictions of Conrad and Coppola, the basic nature of the man remains fairly similar. The idea of company man turned savage, of a brilliant and successful team-player, being groomed by "the Company" for greater things, suddenly gone native, is perfectly realized in both novella and film. In the film, Kurtz is portrayed by Marlon Brando, the father of American method actors, who lends weight (both physically and dramatically) to the figure of the megalomaniacal Kurtz. Brando's massive girth is all the more ironic for those familiar with Heart of Darkness who recall Conrad's description: "I could see the cage of his ribs all astir, the bones of his arms waving. It was as though an animated image of death carved out of old ivory had been shaking its hand with menaces at a motionless crowd of men..." [1]. One could speculate that Coppola's Kurtz is a graphic analogy of the bloated American war machine dominating and perverting the innocent montegnards of Cambodia; however, after viewing Eleanor Coppola's documentary, one finds that the casting was more based on a combination of Coppola's wanting to work with Brando (remember "The Godfather") and Brando's own weight problem
Link: http://www.cyberpat.com/essays/coppola.html
Mr_Snafu said:
Read the book and watched the movie; to an uneducated eye there are some similarities. The bottom line is some Hollywood hack is trying to make his screen play look good because 2% is based on a classic book.....very sad attempt to justify bullsh1t you read in the Hollywood insider.
ForemanRules said:
Agreed.
And, to say again, I was referring to Kurtz.
Sorry if I offended you, or implied that I read the book.