During the Vietnam War, American soldiers, most drafted and sent to the remote jungles of Southeast Asia to face the horrors of combat, wrote graffiti on their helmets with inscriptions of their attitudes about where they were and why they were there. Circa 1965-1975
by SystematicApproach
24 Comments
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The guy in the first picture has really penetrating eyes
🙏🤍
I pray each one of them came back alive. ❤️ So many did not. Such a sad sad war.
Stupid pointless war.
The Smiths Meat Is Murder album cover is pic 13.
Wrong – According to the DoD’s The Statistical Abstract of the Vietnam War, 75% were volunteers, 25% were draftees. Draftees accounted for 30% of casualties.
The final withdrawal of all US military personnel was on March 29, 1973.
Most weren’t drafted that went to Vietnam. Draftees were overwhelmingly used as placeholders for volunteers.
20 looks just like Cole Hauser.
https://preview.redd.it/gh8mk55r2dxf1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c2aac51577d7612fea903f4fdff9aa9d28cda30b
Apparently, none of these guys were rich enough to have bone spurs.
When I served my issued kevlar helmet was a vietnam leftover helmet. It had the same graffiti you are describing and I was written up for it twice. I was able to appeal the writeups because the gear was issued in that condition with no easy way to remove it without damage.
There’s actually a lot of time for arts and crafts in war
Fucking hell does that last one hit hard.
My dad’s number was called and he had to go in for his physical. They told him “you have a hernia and can’t go until its fixed.” He said ok and waited to get it fixed.
Yes, but all that happens during a “just war” is that society doesn’t feel guilty for throwing 18 year old boys into the fire.
There is and was nothing “cool” about these pictures.
A pointless conflict were an entire generation of young men were sent to die meaningless deaths, or to be traumatized for the rest of their lives.
In a professional military blatant acts if individualism are not tolerated. But in the case of Vietnam, between the alcohol, the psychedelic drugs, and the outright terrorism of a civilian populace, such individualism was commonplace. And these pictures do more to demonstrate the complete and utter incompetence, from every level, that existed during that time, than anything else.
Unfortunately the lesson of Vietnam was never learned and the same thing happened just a few years ago. Why is the Taliban ruling Afghanistan today, after decades of US military intervention? The Taliban would simply flee after brief military engagement to areas where the US would not go after them (northern Pakistan), wait there for a while, and then return once the smoke cleared. You can’t hope to win a war if the other side can find a way to never give up. The US didn’t learn that.
What is that liquid/bottle in picture 14? I’ve seen it in other pictures from the war, often strapped on the helmet
that guy is very pretty and honestly i likely would not say anything but given the situation it is impressive really.
I saw be that said, “Job, something about you must’ve pissed me off.”
Hawkeye: War isn’t Hell. War is war, and Hell is Hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse.
Father Mulcahy: How do you figure that, Hawkeye?
Hawkeye: Easy, Father. Tell me, who goes to Hell?
Father Mulcahy: Um, sinners, I believe.
Hawkeye: Exactly. There are no innocent bystanders in Hell, but war is chock full of them – little kids, cripples, old ladies. In fact, except for a few of the brass, almost everybody involved is an innocent bystander.