Vietnam War
The U. S. engagement in the Vietnam War is based upon the Cold War foreign policy committed to halting the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, and maintaining control over their natural resources, such oil, coal and natural gas reserves.
U.S. military (troops on the ground) involvement officially began in 1965, and continued until 1973, involving conflict in the countries of South Vietnam, North Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. U.S military advisors had been supporting the long-established French colonial government of French Indochina (part of which would become South Vietnam in 1954) since the early 1950s. Appointments were the Viet Cong gorilla insurgents and North Vietnamese Army, supported by the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union.
More than 3 million Americans served in the Vietnam War, some 1.5 million of whom actually saw combat in Vietnam. In 1968-69, over a half-a-million combat troops were deployed to Viet Nam.
The Congressional Research Office estimated the U.S. monetary cost at $111 billion, or equivalent to $738 billion in today's dollars.
One of the most controversial aspects of the U.S. military effort in Southeast Asia was the widespread use of chemical defoliants, with toxic dioxin, between 1961 and 1971, such as "agent orange." About 13% of Vietnam's landmass was sprayed with 20 million gallons of the defoliants. The U.S. Veterans Administration has listed the following health consequences of "agent orange": prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, multiple myeloma, Diabetes mellitus type 2, B-cell lymphomas, soft-tissue sarcoma, chloracne, porphyria cutanea tarda, peripheral neuropathy, and spina bifida in children of veterans.
The most detailed demographic study has calculated between 791,000–1,141,000 war-related deaths for all of Vietnam - both civilian and North and South Vietnamese military. Between 200,000 and 300,000 Cambodians died in the war, along with about 60,000 Laotians.
58,220 U.S. service members died during these nine years of war. 303,644 U.S. service members were severely wounded.
The Paris Peace Accords in 1973 ended U.S. military involvement in View Nam. In 1975 Saigon was captured by the North Vietnamese army and in 1976 the entire country united under Communist rule. Following the communist takeover, 1–2.5 million South Vietnamese were sent to "reeducation camps," with an estimated 165,000 prisoners dying. Between 100,000 and 200,000 South Vietnamese were executed.
Nearly two million people died as a result of the Viet Nam War.
As you view the video segment from Apocalypse Now, "Eye Juggle" it for the key overt symbols (words, images, actions) and underlying values/teachings embedded in this story text.
Ask the social sciences and humanities-oriented questions, why do these people relate to each other in the manner they do?
What are the larger explanations for why are they warring and attempting to kill each other?