Vietnam in HD: Search and Destroy (2011)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
The second entry in the TV series starts off by telling us that at the start of 1967 there were 180,000 American troops in Vietnam and by the end of that year there were more than 389,000. In this episode soldier Barry Romo talks about what his thoughts on the war were at the time of him signing up and he also talks about how he broke the news to his father. Other stories include us meeting Charles Brown who heads off to Vietnam and comes under heavy fire in his first piece of action. Throughout we also learn about the deadly insects and the "two-step" snake, which are causing just as many issues as the enemies. Also, we see how support of the war back home begins to change. Finally we see the battle for Hill 875 and how at the end of the year there have been 16,250 American deaths compared to 180,000 of the enemy. This is another exceptionally well-made entry in the series and once again the real highlight is the actual footage of the war. It's rather amazing when you see these images because they're nothing like you see in the movies plus you have that surreal aspect knowing that what you're watching is real. As usual the images of the various bombs dropping is just something jaw-dropping are is the footage of some of the casualties. We also get to hear and see how you really couldn't tell the difference between the enemies and the people the Americans were there to help. Seeing how they were often mixed together makes you understand why the government and soldiers soon realized by the end of the year that this wasn't going to be as easy as they thought.
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
The second entry in the TV series starts off by telling us that at the start of 1967 there were 180,000 American troops in Vietnam and by the end of that year there were more than 389,000. In this episode soldier Barry Romo talks about what his thoughts on the war were at the time of him signing up and he also talks about how he broke the news to his father. Other stories include us meeting Charles Brown who heads off to Vietnam and comes under heavy fire in his first piece of action. Throughout we also learn about the deadly insects and the "two-step" snake, which are causing just as many issues as the enemies. Also, we see how support of the war back home begins to change. Finally we see the battle for Hill 875 and how at the end of the year there have been 16,250 American deaths compared to 180,000 of the enemy. This is another exceptionally well-made entry in the series and once again the real highlight is the actual footage of the war. It's rather amazing when you see these images because they're nothing like you see in the movies plus you have that surreal aspect knowing that what you're watching is real. As usual the images of the various bombs dropping is just something jaw-dropping are is the footage of some of the casualties. We also get to hear and see how you really couldn't tell the difference between the enemies and the people the Americans were there to help. Seeing how they were often mixed together makes you understand why the government and soldiers soon realized by the end of the year that this wasn't going to be as easy as they thought.