Posted by Pen on 3/15/2007, 1:23 pm, in reply to "Re: Blood Brothers Episode!" --Previous Message--
You are truly amazing, Ernie. So knowledgeable about so much related to this war. Thanks for setting me straight. 
: I agree about the chessboard tactics. This
: was not a war that could be fought like any
: other war. When Gen. Goldman said that you
: took ground in his day and young Goldman
: pointed out that was not the case in this
: war but he still did not get it. Kennedy
: did have experience in the military but he
: was only sending "advisers" to
: show the Vietnamese how to fight the war.
: Johnson got rid of him and stepped up the
: war effort within hours of taking over the
: duties of President.
:
: I truly believe that the Politicals and
: Pentagon did not know how to fight the war
: in Vietnam. To the Pentagon, it was
: fighting like they had learned how to do at
: West Point and it clearly did not work. For
: the political menagerie (from Johnson on
: down), it was not a matter of winning but
: who can make the most money for the business
: world.
:
: TOD used the conflict between the Goldmans
: to stress the conflict between the brass and
: the "front line" grunts and showed
: us how the conflict affected the war. As it
: has been said, this was a cleverly written
: episode. The military these days will try
: to tell you that this war was lost because
: of drugs; war protesters; racial tensions;
: and psychological breakdowns but TOD showed
: us differently.
:
: I have read a lot of the commentary on this
: war by Lee Russell and he said the military
: (at the time of this show) was continually
: nixing this or that on the writing of the
: show. Why? Because they did not like it
: when TOD would make the military look bad
: especially when it was true. TOD was not
: just a group of attractive young men doing
: some great acting. TOD was foremost in
: giving us the true scoop on the real war in
: Southeast Asia. Ernie...
:
: --Previous Message--
: Lorna is spot on when she mentoned
: chessboard
: manuvers. That's the exact way I felt when
: the 2 bigwigs were "directing" the
: men below. I think I would have smacked
: them silly if I'd been there. What idiots.
: That's certainly not how it was done in WWII
: or Korea for god's sake. I have a big
: but-------I always thought the brass was at
: loggerheads with the pols over who was to
: "direct" the war. It seems, as I
: recall, that the brass was disgusted with
: the fact that whomever was president at the
: time was the one that set up the battles and
: told the brass how it was to be done and the
: only one who had battle experience was
: Kennedy. Am I wrong about this?
:
: --Previous Message--
: Thanks Lorna. Good point about the game
: being
: played from the chopper above. I find
: myself wanting someone to shoot the big bird
: and make him go away! Interesting, but
: Anderson was one of the reasons why young
: Goldman did not do as he was ordered, but
: Myron got the brunt of the butt chewing.
: Lt. was proving to be a good officer in my
: estimation. But man did he look young!
: Ernie...
:
: --Previous Message--
: Thanks Ernie
: You have encapsulated the theme of this
: episode so accurately with your post.
: I particularly liked the contrast drawn
: between Goldman's cold anger and mistrust of
: his father and the warm friendship and sense
: of dependence he was learning to form with
: Anderson.
: Also It was horrifying to me , watching the
: scene where Dalby and Goldman sen. were in
: the chopper, watching the exercise below and
: Dalby was attempting to move the troops
: around like pawns in a chess match, with
: scant regard for their survival!
: This was a very cleverly written episode
: with the drugs theme being used to prove to
: the General that he could not measure his
: son's ability/performance in the field by
: the same yardstick as he would have used
: during his active service, as 'Nam was
: indeed a very different war.
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: When I suggested that we cover an episode a
: week and chat about it on the chatboard of
: this site, I also suggested we use Hum 90
: for discussions and posts. Since we have
: decided to try Hum 90's chatroom, I feel
: that it is only fair to use this message
: board for discussions and comments. Not
: everyone is involved in the chats each week,
: so this is a great way for them to get
: involved in Tour Of Duty discussions.
:
: Blood Brothers deals with two issues in the
: Vietnam war that were both vital to the
: overall outcome of the war. We lost that
: war and there had to have been reasons why
: we did, don't you think?
:
: The conflict between the Goldmans was
: indicative of the overall conflict between
: the Gods of War and battle warriors. The
: brass did not know how to fight the enemy of
: Southeast Asia and certainly did not know
: how to train the fighting men to engage in
: jungle warfare. At Fort Polk, my training
: was very conventional and taking the land
: was the objective. To try to give the
: training the jungle elements for atmosphere;
: they went out and found some bamboo for
: affect! Okay! This does it! I know how to
: kill them suckas now!
:
: When Gen. Goldman left he had the decency to
: admit that he learned that it was not the
: same type of war that he wanted it to be.
: Young Lt. Goldman got the point across to
: him, but what good did it do?
:
: So for the dogs of war (the actual grunts)
: fighting the war was difficult and it was
: frustrating not to have the support of the
: brass. The Jimi Hendrix's poster meant
: something to the true warriors and was
: summarily dismissed by the brass. This made
: it very clear to them, that they had to
: 'wing it' very much on their own.
:
: Young Lt. Goldman was treating Sgt. Anderson
: as a confidant and friend. This was not all
: that common in actuality, but it shows the
: young officer coming to terms with his own
: inexperience and leaning on the experienced
: years of his sergeant for support. Anderson
: had been over in the jungle war long enough
: to have come to an understanding that it was
: not the same as WWII.
:
: The soldier who had to face the jungle
: warfare daily turned to drugs to deal with
: the harsh reality. I do not condone drugs,
: but I can see how easy it would be to use
: drugs as a means of escape. Sadly, drugs
: killed just as effectively as the NVA or
: Viet Cong.
:
: And the risk Ruiz took for the cherry is
: mind boggling! It did not happen that way
: very often. However, as in all wars, you
: looked out for your fellow man, and they
: looked out for you when it was necessary.
: Ernie...
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