I had heard about this extensive documentary on Vietnam that PBS just started releasing. It is supposed to be around 18 hours in length and as I understand it, done by a respected documentarian.

So I looked it up and you can watch it free on PBS. They even have an explicit version or a TV safe version with the harsh language taken out. So far I am partway into the 4th episode which covers up to 1967 and I must say it is very good. It is detailed, thurough and gritty. It has interviews with US soldiers, south Vietnam soldiers, and north Vietnam soldiers as well as journalists and civilians from Vietnam. It starts a long time before the Vietnam war, when the French were in control of Vietnam and slowly makes its way forward to the point where we were actively engaged in the fighting.

I must admit I had no idea how complicated it all was from issues stemming well before concerns about communism taking over. The dynamics within the country and from the French that crafted what turned the point we got involved. I also had no idea how troubled the South Vietnam government was. The steps and mistakes America made as it got more involved.

For any fans of war history or even anyone who just wants to understand the Vietnam war better I highly recommend this documentary. I would caution that if you served in Vietnam it may be hard to watch though.

IMHO, the Korean and Vietnam wars were the US attempts to stabilize the territory that we fought for during WW2. We went island hoping through the Polynesian islands and we'll be damned if some backward Communists were gonna take it away, ie, the Domino Theory. I have the controversial opinion that if the US had made the Philippines a State after MacArthur returned to Leyte and took back the island, we coulda use that as our base of stability in the region and not have to worry about our involvement in the Asian countries. At the time, the population of the Philippines was 10M so it was doable, but not now. Korea is just as fucked up as ever and Vietnam is now a trade ally.

I listened to this podcast interview with the producers http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-845-ken-burns-lynn-novick

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast/id329875043?mt=2&i=1000392084813


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

IMHO, the Korean and Vietnam wars were the US attempts to stabilize the territory that we fought for during WW2. We went island hoping through the Polynesian islands and we'll be damned if some backward Communists were gonna take it away, ie, the Domino Theory. I have the controversial opinion that if the US had made the Philippines a State after MacArthur returned to Leyte and took back the island, we coulda use that as our base of stability in the region and not have to worry about our involvement in the Asian countries. At the time, the population of the Philippines was 10M so it was doable, but not now. Korea is just as fucked up as ever and Vietnam is now a trade ally.

It is interesting that now places like China and Vietnam that went communist are now increasingly moving towards free market principles and becoming more successful. Definitely an interesting theory about the Philippines though.