Assignment #1 Cameron Cole

Within the confinements of part one of the Patriots book, the story that I was most intrigued by would definitely be the “War Hero’s” chapter by Roger Donlan. This particular short story initially grasped my attention due to the striking title, “War Hero’s”. These types of stories really intrigue me because they are usually filled with courageous actions that are very entertaining to read. Also, most literary readings that I have come across in the past in regards to the war in Vietnam have been either bad mouthing our country or describing distasteful operations that took place there. It was nice to read scholarship that is finally supporting the actions of a certain soldier, rather then condemning them.

            The word of this man in this particular instance is a completely reliable source of an event that actually occurred on that early July morning. Many people have written about false information of the War in Vietnam, but Donlan’s words are extremely creditable due to his reputation to the United States government because he was ultimately awarded the highest award an enlisted soldier could receive. With this being said, there must have been countless witnesses who saw his actions that morning to make his story true, and voices that made his reputation go up the command chain in order to be awarded for commendation. Most people in today’s society need evidence in order to completely believe a story, me being one of them. Despite not having any complete evidence of this event personally, the credibility of this particular story should be strongly upheld just because he was awarded greatly for his actions, and if this was false he would not have been awarded a medal, especially the highest award possible to receive.

            Another piece of evidence that supports the credibility of Roger Donlan’s story is because he saved so many people with his actions that witnessed everything that he did that day. This evidence provides the readers of today with concrete evidence that this in fact did indeed happen, and that Donlan’s words are not fabricated in any way. Because (we) as the reader were not there at that point in history, we must subject ourselves to the person who was, we must listen/believe to what he said in his passage. Because Donlan was ultimately there, he had first hand knowledge of the situation, and he has nothing to neither gain nor lose in telling us something that is not the truth. 

            Many men who served in the Vietnam war do suffer from subjectivity, but this man does not, due to everything he has been through and because his story has been told in many other writings and television shows on the history channel that tell his story exactly the same way. No person who follows or even studies the subject of the Vietnam War could forget this action that saved so many lives, in a conflict that was filled with carnage and brutality. He probably has told this story a million times to a million different people, because It was arguably one of the most courageous action a soldier has ever committed on a battlefield, and she be praised and not argued.

Part 2

The disaster of the Vietnam War was primarily due to America's lack of intelligence before entering the war. When reading the article “The Emperor Has No Cloths” the reader gets a sick feeling in their stomach when they learn about the small details that contributed to this massacre of a war. Reading this information really is upsetting because America is supposed to be the country who understands everything, and that are intelligence agencies are supposed to be the best in the world. One would think that a country so prestigious as the United States of America would have every little fact about a country's geographical standing, their military capabilities, their leadership, or even the weather conditions well studied before invading a country and starting a war!

How did American officials think this conflict would turn out when there wasn't adequate research done beforehand? Can it be classified as ignorance? Or can it be classified that this war was viewed as a failure to the American people because this was the first conflict with continuous media footage? All of these were mistakes that were taken throughout this campaign, especially the fact that we underestimated our enemy capabilities. Another part of this short story that is upsetting to read would be that other communist governments supplied the Vietcong with most of the arms to fight the war against the United States. This was very disappointing to read about because other Nations were supporting against the United States, especially a Russian country who hated us so deeply and loved to see us suffer. This entire article was filled with information that would be upsetting for any American to read because they all contributed to such a terrible campaign and they could have been avoided so easily if we took appropriate steps into this war.