The movie might've bombed but the TV spinoff ran for 11 seasons

The Vietnam war had a much better soundtrack.

Fight in a war then come back here and make jokes. Jackass.

A Confederate soldier in the US Civil War was once asked why he was fighting. His answer was simply: [i]"Y'all down here." [/i] What he was making clear was that he wasnt' fighting to protect slavery...or "State's Rights". He was fighting because what he saw as an invading army was threatening everything he held dear. He was fighting to protect his home. To the West and Russia...Korea and Vietnam were wars over ideology and which one would prevail globally. The Soviets spoke of "global revolution"...and the West spoke of "Domino Theories". But to the actual Asian peoples involved in these proxy wars...they were faught for very different reasons. To the Koreans, the Korean war was a war of self-determination. A conflict to decide their own fate after centuries of being dominated by other powers. A conflict that the rest of the world was interfering. it. For China...it was a war of regional security. They didn't want a democratic Northern Korea on their doorstep, and possibly pointing nukes at them.....any more than we wanted a communist Cuba sitting in the Caribbean pointing nukes at us in the 1960s. It was that need for feeling secure in their own borders that brought China into the Korean War as North Korean collapsed under UN pressure after the break out from Pusan, and the successful landing at Inchon. Once China entered the War in earnest....the armistice was the only outcome that didn't involve starting a Third World War. Because Armistice gave both sides what they wanted. The West didn't lose South Korea to communism....and China didn't have a Korean democracy pointing guns at the back of its head. Vietnam was a similar situation. What we called 'The Vietnam War" was simply the second stage in a fight for independence from French colonial rule. What we now call Vietnam was once called "French Indo-china". The French--as was often the case---were ugly, bigoted colonial masters, and were HATED by the Vietnamese. So when France was weakned by the German conquest and occupation during World War II....the Indochinese took the opening to rebel. With the French being decisively defeated at the Battle of Dien bienphu. After this defeat, the French withdrew from the region. But like the defeat of the Japanese by Soviet forces on the Korean peninsula in the last days of WWII....it left Indochian split into communist North and a democratic South. But instead of North Vietnam rolling south like North Korea did....they sought to unify Vietnam by destablizing South Vietnam from with in by fomenting a communist insurgency (Viet Cong) Once again, the West invoked the Domino Theory. But this time we went it alone rather than as part of a UN coalition. We started out by intially provideing military aid to prop up the weak-and-corrupt South Vietnamese government....but as this policy failed....we got drawn more and more and more into the conflict. Until we basically---by 1965--- were fighting both the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese army ON BEHALF of the South Vietnamese. Why did we lose? As one anonymous person put it. it was simply "The Americans wanted to win...but for the North Vietnamese failure was not an option". IOW, we were going half way around the world to fight for an IDEA. We basically took over for a colonial power...and eventually fell victim to the fatigue that all colonial powers fall prey to when they try to impose their will on an unwilling people. The price in blood, sweat and treasure just gets to the point that it isn't worth it anymore....and they lose their will to continue the fight. OTOH, The North Vietnamese were so committed to a unified Vietnam...that they were willing to bleed themselves ---and us---white in achieve that goal. While the South Vietnamese didn't give two shits about democracy...and werent' willing to sacrifice their lives fighting for an ideal that had no value to them. (A realization made rather poignanly by one of the characters in "Full Metal Jacket": '[i]They've sent us half way around the world to fight for these people's freedom...and they don't want it. They'd rather be alive than be free." [/i]) So just as the Battle of Chosin Reservoir (where China entered The Korean War in force and trapped UN forces) was a defining moment in the Korean conflict, the Tet Offensive was the defning moment of The Vietnam War. Both battles changed the nature of the conflict...and were points-of-no-return that made it clear that the initial American goals for their respective wars were unachievable. From Tet onward....the US was no longer trying to win the war...but trying to find a graceful and honorable exit. But from a historical perspective, The Korean War was fought to tactical draw...but was a strategic and ideological victory. South Korea is a thriving democracy and economic power. While North Korea is practically a nation-sized gulag that is more of a cult than a country. Meanwhile, China is Communist in name only....and is in reality a crony-capitalist dictatorship. Vietnam, OTOH, was a tactical defeat....but a strategic draw. Although it has largely happened behind the scenes and under the radar, there has been a slow, steady warming of relations between the US and Vietnam....as both nations have sort of come to realize that the war was something of a misunderstanding on both parts and should never have been fought. The US got involved in a War of Independence that it shouldn't have....and while most Asian countries simply saw communism as a means to an end (rapid modernization and freedom from European colonial dominantion) it signaled something very different to the West. So like China, Vietnam is slowly becoming communist in name only. Both wars show the validity in the saying, [i]"A vulture is a patient bird".[/i]

There, don't turn on the volume.

0-0 My mind is purdy woke