Movie/film suggestions.

but the way things are going now, at least I got to live a good, normal American life. 

My sentiments exactly.  At least I got to live the best days of my life when things here were not perfect, but all in all, still pretty good in comparison.   

@immathewj and @nonoise: I’m just ahead of you guys, being born in 1950. By 1968 (when I started college, and therefore had a student deferment) everyone knew the Vietnam war was already lost, and skeptical (at best) about Nixon’s claim of having a secret plan to end the war (with "honor"). That was when my cynicism regarding politicians was fomented.

My Dad served in the Army Air Corps in World War 2, as a navigator on a bomber (the Air Force was created after WW2), and was a staunch Republican (my Mom a Democrat, a typical family voting situation in the USA). But even he knew Vietnam was a lost cause, and was not willing to sacrifice his only son for it.

In 1969 the military instituted the draft lottery---based on date of birth, and my number (249) was quite away from the highest number than year (around 210 iirc). After your first year in the lottery, your military obligation was fulfilled. My younger sister’s boyfriend wasn’t so lucky, and ended up in Nam. But not for long; he took a bullet to his forehead on his first trek into the jungle..

That sister joined the Navy in 1978, being deployed first in Hawaii then in Germany. Her military benefits have come in handy, as she suffers from a lot of health issues. When I take her to her doctor’s appointments at the local Vet facility I see lots of Vietnam Vets, and it’s not a pretty sight. My Dad refused to talk about WW2, typical of Vets who saw combat.

I found the statement made by Francis Ford Coppola about his film Apocalypse Now extremely despicable: "My film is not about Vietnam. My film is Vietnam." Unbelievable! In addition to his statement being so offensive and ridiculous, his film is a bloated, pompous, pretentious pos. IMO Full Metal Jacket and The Deer Hunter are much better movies about the war.

My younger sister’s boyfriend wasn’t so lucky, and ended up in Nam. But not for long; he took a bullet to his forehead on his first trek into the jungle..

What a waste that was.  So much waste of life.  Blood and treasure and more blood.

I found the statement made by Francis Ford Coppola about his film Apocalypse Now extremely despicable: "My film is not about Vietnam. My film is Vietnam." Unbelievable! In addition to his statement being so offensive and ridiculous, his film is a bloated, pompous, pretentious pos. IMO Full Metal Jacket and The Deer Hunter are much better movies about the war.

I can respect your point of view, @bdp24 ; however, I remember being transfixed by it; the whole trippy and lawless atmosphere it conveyed sucked me in and put me on the boat with Sheen and his crew.  For many years it remained one of my all time favorites, up there with Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid.  I had a friend (about my age) who didn’t feel quite as strongly as you do about it, but he much preferred Platoon to Apocalypse Now (as the latter did nothing for him), and like you he really enjoyed Full Metal Jacket and The Deer Hunter. (I think what he really enjoyed about The Deer Hunter were the Russian Roulette scenes . . . he found that fascinating, and I will say no more about that aspect.) 

But then again, I remember I was in the AF when Apocalypse Now came out, and I worked with a vet in the hangar who loved it; he said it reminded him of what it was like to be in Southeast Asia at the time.  (It is worth pointing out that he was in the AF and stationed in Thailand working on fighters during that time as opposed to humping through the jungle with a M-16.)  There were scenes that I found to be intense, and I find the whole backstory behind the making of the film to be quite interesting, but looking at it objectively, where I think it may fail as a film, is it tells a story without giving the audience someone to really care about.  A movie that winds up moving me so much I cannot bring myself to watch it anymore, is Casualties Of War.  I find watching the rape and murder of innocence to depress me even more than I am in my normal state of mental malaise.

@immatthewj , @bdp24, I had a coworker back in the '70s who was a medic in Nam. He was a stoner back then and couldn't shake the habit (I don't blame him one bit). He said it was so f*cked up and hopeless that you had basically three groups to be in: the stoners, the drunks and the straights.

After a fierce firefight you could smell the opium that the Cong smoked along with the cordite as they waited for the Americans to come stumbling by. They were into war about the same as the Americans. All they'd find is spent ammo, pipes and paraphernalia along with tunnels no one wanted to go down into. 

They'd be high as a kite watching lead tanks hit land mines as rockets passed by overhead, enjoying the show as best they could. When his second tour came up he had the option of transferring to France so he hopped on that one and buggered out. The worst thing he saw in France was a young couple making love on a tombstone during a hot summer night who picked up Mustard Gas poisoning that was still there from WWI. They almost died from it. I had a grandfather who survived that but not in one piece. My mom remembers holding his outstretched hands only to have a complete layer of skin from his forearms down to his hands come off in her hands.

War sucks big time. You'd think we'd get that into our thick, stupid heads.

All the best,
Nonoise

PBS has aired an excellent 10 part documentary series titled The Vietnam War (2017-2018) narrated by Peter Coyote.  The total futility of our involvement, along with the casualty count on both sides and the civilians, is incredible and depressing.  I've watched all ten episodes twice, at different times, and both times I could not stop watching.