A Daily Agitation
I read this article in the AP and just had to get some opinions on this.
We have Revolutionary War re-enactments….we have French and Indian War re-enactment….we have Civil War re-enactments……all which are nothing but macho BS to help people feel more important than they really are……but is this a wise choice?
The dirt paths that lead to Alpha Company’s field headquarters are lined with overgrown grass and weeds. A canvas tent is protected by machine guns, sandbags and Army-green storage boxes. And lurking somewhere outside is the enemy: the Viet Cong.But these aren’t the jungles of southeast Asia, just the woods of small-town Pennsylvania, where more than 30 years after the fall of Saigon, military enthusiasts are beginning to re-enact the Vietnam War.
Vietnam re-enactors have no national organization, but participants say Vietnam War groups are popping up around the country. Events were staged earlier this year in Houston and Jackson, Miss. Fort Harrison State Park in Indiana held a Vietnam-era “tactical demonstration” last month.
The mission: a long-range patrol into the “jungle” path to gather intelligence on the enemy. About 80 onlookers watched from the clearing as the patrol entered the woods. The crowd listened as dispatches from a civilian narrator and Gray were transmitted over speakers.
“Vietnam was a different war, a guerrilla war,” Horvath told them. “Once you entered, everywhere around you was a killing zone.”
The re-enactors ranged in age from their mid-20s to early 60s, including one man who served in Vietnam.
The re-enactments can “help people forget the pain even. To hide it, it stays in here,” Smith said, pointing a finger to his chest. “That’s hard. I think this is good.”
Do I have an opinion? Bet your sweet ass I do….I spent 2 and half years in SE Asia and none of it was anything romantic or something I wsould want to re-live for spectators. If people want to play war then join a military unit and learn first hand what it is to be facing death regularly.
I spent over two years wet and covered with mud suffering foot rot and 3 seperate holes one made with and PPS, one from a mortar and one from a Valmet sniper rifle and not once did I feel like it was something romantic or something I would ever want to relive. But if pretending makes you feel like a man then by all means play your stupid little game.
If I have offended anyone…then I have succeeded in my intention……Glorifying Vietnam is sick, pathetic and moronic….