Struggles in Vietnam as seen through Copolla's: Gardens of Stone
...nder, Tropic Lightning The World of a Combat Division in Vietnam, tells of difficulty that soldiers faced due to a lack of a clear front. “… geographic points had a very different meaning in Vietnam than they did in linear wars. If an American unit was sent to a given place, it was not to hold and exploit a valuable objective but rather to seek the enemy forces that the American commanders hoped might be there.” (Bergerud 105) With no tangible physical progress to give credit to, the U.S. put its stock in the kill ratio, emphasizing it to make up for the lack of justification for its victories. The public only accepted this as triumph for so long. In Gardens of Stone right before Clell fights the Arab anti-war activist, he tells the Arab that we are winning. He told him to look at the kill ratio. This enrages the man enough to make the situation come to blows. It was usually Charlie that initiated the fighting, and since the U.S. never occupied new territories, the VC and NVA could infiltrate towns nearby U.S. base camps and disguise themselves as locals, or they would build their intricate tunnel systems next to these camps. Furthermore the locals had to give their loyalty to Charlie whenever he asked it of them or they risked being shot on sight. A U.S. soldier had trouble distinguishing allies from enemies, sometimes a farmer was and ally by day and an enemy by night. These intricate details of the war were not known to an inexperienced soldier such as Jackie because these troubles could only be learned firsthand. Clell Hazzard has the experienced opinion along with Major “Goody” Nelson. They have experienced for themselves the difficulties in Vietnam. Jackie Willow thinks with a youthful mind and a passionate heart for the romantic nature of being an infantryman. He thinks that because our fire power is so much greater, we will have no problem inevitably defeating the Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army. While drinking beer at a bar, Jackie tells Clell and Goody of a story he heard about a corpse found with arrows stuck in it. He did this to prove his point that Charlie is at too much of a technological disadvantage to stand a chance against the forces the U.S. can throw onto the battlefield. Jackie then goes on to list superior weaponry and helicopters that the U.S. uses stating their was no way Charlie stands a chance, Clell and Goody shake their heads with frustration because they know from being there that these advantages are obsolete in the dense jungle of Vietnam due to the guerilla warfare tactics of Charlie. The U.S. rarely got to use the extent of its’ firepower because Charlie rarely stuck around long enough after engaging in fire for the U.S. to call in air strikes. Platoons walked around in search of Charlie not knowing where to find him, the fighting done was quick, Charlie would ambush platoons and engage in firefights that the U.S. usually had no way of predicting “In most cases it was [the VC’s] option to accept and initiate battle.” (Bergerud 133) Charlie knew the power behind the U.S. and they kept the fighting brief so American soldiers wouldn’t obtain any advantage. A fight that lasted over a few minutes was rare and almost always favored a positive U.S. outcome. On paper we overmatched the Vietnamese, but only someone with war experience could understand how overrated firepower was within the jungle. Samantha Davis, Clell’s love, strongly protested the war because she saw the uncensored reports from Vietnam which often depicted the most horrible facets of the war. Reporters could go anywhere and ask anyone anything and report it to the nation, and the military had no way of stopping them. Each character’s perspective is right because each person believes wholeheartedly their own notions on the war and each person acts out their beliefs to help with the war. Some characters, for instance Clell and Goody, have more validity with their words. Samantha believes that her protests just might bring the boys back sooner. After Clell asks for her hand in marriage and tells her he must go back for another tour she tells him “You’ve got your job to do, and I’ve got mine.”, meaning that she will continue to voice her dislike for the war despite having her husband away at the very war she is protesting. Jackie believes that his leadership skills just might make a difference in the fighting, after announcing his entry into the war at Clell’s apartment he says “The right soldier in the right war at the right time just might cha...