War - is an organized and often prolonged conflict, generally characterized by extreme violence (wiki). I HATE War, I HATE the politics of War, but I understand that sometimes, somethings are worth fighting for. I would NEVER join an army and I would NEVER choose to defend my country, only except if it was getting invaded......and that's it, the only exception.
But I live in Australia, my generation has not experienced WARS (not apart from the token support we give the USA) but the vast majority of Australians born since 1960 have NO IDEA about WARS..and we are not expected to "save the world" like the USA is supposed to....and I have lived all my life WITHOUT knowing WAR......so it is easy for me to have such beliefs.
So I cannot imagine what it is like to be drafted or enlist voluntarily to go fight a war thousands of miles away from home. This documentary gives a first hand account of C Company members that had to do just that.
This is NOT a documentary on the MORALITY of War, but rather, just on WAR itself and those BRAVE enough to have to fight it.
How can ANY WAR documentary really compare to the emotions of those that actually were there ?
This documentary is EXCELLENT and DOES give the viewer just a small (by comparison) but EXTREMELY POWERFUL realistic account of what it is like to have fought in Vietnem......and the stories and experiences of those in C Company surely resonate towards ANY War situation, I would imagine.
Here are some POWERFUL and MOVING quotes from Brothers In War.
You are always angry, you are always scared, because that could have been me instead of him (killed/wounded). and that's the bad thing about mines and booby traps....you suffer and you can't do any harm back against the enemy......and that builds up inside soldiers to a level at which, which something is going happen. - JOHN YOUNG Veteran, Squad Leader, 1st Platoon.
Then all of a sudden I could hear Sgt Benny Bridges choking, strangling on his own blood. So I just held him there.....I couldn't stand to hear him choking......and in a couple of minutes the medics came down and they carried Benny away. They told me later that he died on the medevac flight back to Dongtan.......and the times that I visited the Vietnam Memorial in DC......I always....I always go and find Benny first. It always.....his name always gets to me, because there's just no real reason on earth that I'm standing around looking up at his name and not the other way round. There's just no reason at all. - JOHN YOUNG Veteran, Squad Leader, 1st Platoon.
We are all accustomed to choosing between right and wrong. That's an easy thing for people (non soldiers) to do. War is a terrible thing. It's terrible because not only people get killed. It's terrible because you have to make some kind of decision, and there aren't any good options. You can do something that's cruel and ugly or do something that cruel and uglier still. There's no good option to take ..........and, I'd really rather not have anybody who has not been through something like that, pass judgment on me. Don't be too sure on the decision you would have made.....and don't be smug about your morality until you have had it tested. - JOHN YOUNG Veteran, Squad Leader, 1st Platoon.
Brothers,is exactly the right term. Those guys are everything, just everything to me. It's as plain as that. ---- JOHN YOUNG Veteran, Squad Leader, 1st Platoon.
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