The Vietnam War:
One Soldier’s Perspective
Like many others who were serving, my grandfather, Ronald Gene Huffman, was young. Huffman served in the United States Army from 1968 to 1989. He served in Cantho, Vietnam in the 1960s. He was a member of the Military Police. He retired as a 1st Sergeant E-8. He claims he joined the military because then you either joined or you got drafted, simple as that. You joined so you could pick the branch of service you wanted to be a part of and the job you wanted. Governments benefit and/or lose depending on their role/position in the conflict.
He was born in 1949 in Charleston, West Virginia. Both of his parents were Southern Democrats and he claims they did not read the newspapers. He mentioned his Dad could only write his full name and that his Mom had to read everything to him. He claimed the news broadcasted over the radio, …show more content…
He claims he didn 't have any preconceptions so it didn 't affect his relations at all. At first, because of the domino effect of events, people understood the war was necessary. The more the war got drawn out and people saw what was taking place, the people began to question why we were there. Especially once the no-fire zones went in to effect. He claimed, “People did not agree that we had kids over there getting killed but could not fire upon someone to protect themselves”. His understanding as to why the conflict started was the Gulf of Tonkin incident, also known as the USS Maddox incident in 1964. It began with an American ship that was fired upon by the North Vietnamese which was a French colony at the time. North and South Vietnam split after they got their freedom from the French. North Vietnam was a communist country and South Korea was a democracy and was backed by America. Once the South was attacked by the North, the South asked for assistance from the United States. Being allies, we obliged.
One Soldier’s Perspective
Like many others who were serving, my grandfather, Ronald Gene Huffman, was young. Huffman served in the United States Army from 1968 to 1989. He served in Cantho, Vietnam in the 1960s. He was a member of the Military Police. He retired as a 1st Sergeant E-8. He claims he joined the military because then you either joined or you got drafted, simple as that. You joined so you could pick the branch of service you wanted to be a part of and the job you wanted. Governments benefit and/or lose depending on their role/position in the conflict.
He was born in 1949 in Charleston, West Virginia. Both of his parents were Southern Democrats and he claims they did not read the newspapers. He mentioned his Dad could only write his full name and that his Mom had to read everything to him. He claimed the news broadcasted over the radio, …show more content…
He claims he didn 't have any preconceptions so it didn 't affect his relations at all. At first, because of the domino effect of events, people understood the war was necessary. The more the war got drawn out and people saw what was taking place, the people began to question why we were there. Especially once the no-fire zones went in to effect. He claimed, “People did not agree that we had kids over there getting killed but could not fire upon someone to protect themselves”. His understanding as to why the conflict started was the Gulf of Tonkin incident, also known as the USS Maddox incident in 1964. It began with an American ship that was fired upon by the North Vietnamese which was a French colony at the time. North and South Vietnam split after they got their freedom from the French. North Vietnam was a communist country and South Korea was a democracy and was backed by America. Once the South was attacked by the North, the South asked for assistance from the United States. Being allies, we obliged.