I'm not going to pretend I know anything about the Vietnam war other than what tv, books, and movies have told me. I was born in '75, in Canada. I've always had a fascination with it (might have something to do with my affinity for Colt SP1 rifles and 1911s).

My inlaws gave me 100 bucks for Christmas so I bought the complete series on dvd on ebay because I loved that show when I was a kid. I tried watching it on youtube but the music on American syndicated versions has been changed due to copyright agreements, so I bought it from a UK site to get the original soundtrack. Paint It Black during the opening credits takes me back to my youth as a rugrat sitting in front of the tube..

I'm 4 episodes into it so far. They seem to be touching on the major media highlights to straddle the fence (people who believe the war is wrong, people who are there because they are patriots, people who are there because they were told to go). There's a lot of actors muzzle-sweeping each other, which does make me cringe as I'm a safe and sheltered civilian who has only seen war depicted on screen. Might be a little cheesy as it was an 80's drama made for tv, but I'm enjoying it. The soundtrack is gold.

I'm not all starry-eyed about Vietnam, I know there are members here who served at the time and I wouldn't presume to claim this show is accurate as I wasn't there. To me, its a part of history that I find interesting and I want to know more.

An observation, not a condemnation: I don't think this show would fly today on tv if it were proposed to a studio. Racial comments and too many guns in action would get it scrapped on the cutting room floor I think.

Anybody else a Tour Of Duty fan, or am I the only one?

I liked the one where Zeek and the Lt. were in a tunnel... Lt. - "what's that mean?" Zeek - "I don't know, something about their mamma".

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USAF AMMO

I used to watch the show religiously, and I liked it. Unfortunately when it was cancelled they really didn't wrap it up cleanly. Unless I missed a bonus episode...

Like most things made for the big or small screen, many times they are not exactly true to history. Most viewers would get bored watching a GI peel potatoes for 30 minutes or dig a latrine. Hollywood has to add things and remove things to make them watchable.

I was lucky enough to be lottery deferred from service in the late 60's and am very grateful that I didn't have to go. Don't like bugs, snakes, swamps or being shot at very much.

I do enjoy watching shows like this not so much for the action but the brotherhood that most of the units display. The bond that is created by guys looking out for each other and willing to risk their own life to save a comrade is not often seen in the regular world.

My biggest complaint is that when they make a good show like the Unit or Strike Back, it gets taken off the air for one reason or another or is deemed not politically correct.

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James Redfield
LM #497

I enjoyed Tour of Duty and watched it regularly. Like you, though, I was too young to have been in the zone to go there, so I don't know what the VN combat veterans would say about it. Several guys from my hometown served, including one -- a high school sports hero -- who was MIA until his case was resolved only very recently Interesting story -- New clues shed light on missing soldier - Rocky Mount Telegram

I do remember being impressed by the relationship between the LT and his senior NCO, and the way the series depicted it in a positive, mutually respectful way. The others in the platoon were favorably shown as well. Sort of like the WWII series Combat!, updated to Vietnam.

One episode I especially remember had to do with an NVA or VC (I forget which) doctor encountered in a tunnel complex. He had been trained in America, and the episode (while probably unlikely) was intriguing and, if I remember correctly, ended tragically for the doctor.

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

Never watched it. I still wake up in a cold sweat some nights, like I never left the place. Learned a lot about cobra's over there. Even took a shower with one. I hate snakes. At least I was at an air base and not in the boonies for a year.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

Every single week.

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Take it easy. Chris

I have a tendency to avoid movies and documentaries about Vietnam. My experience there was different from everyone else,we feel it, see it, smell it based on our life experience before going to war; the war changes us we saw and did thing we should not have seem or done, we lost friends (brothers) we were forever changed, to quote the song War, "War what is it good for."

one experience shared with many was taking a shower while mamasan was doing laundry in the shower with you.

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Carpriver.

I watched it. One of the actors carried what I believed to be a Randall knife.

When i was a Teenager in the late 1990s i watched reruns of Tour of Duty.

Tour of Duty is on OTA TV Mon-FRi in the afternoon on GETTV I believe.I don't expect it to be educational but it is entertaining.

I watched it (occasionally) on AFN. if I remember correctly they showed Gasthaus, Gomer Pyle, Black Sheep Squadron, Tour Of Duty, Hogan's Heros then the news.

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Retired Career Security Guard

When I mentioned I'm interested in the history I didn't mean I use this show as my go-to for historical fact, just that I guess I was drawn to it because of my interest.

Sort of like China Beach, although there are two very distinct draws in that show for me!

I watched it back in the day and loved the first season. Second season-not so much-because of the drug problem a major character had. I kept watching when Lee Majors and Carl Weathers were added-which I thought great. Not sure when the series ended? Favorite episode was about the Tunnel Rats. Also-I think the dvd release no longer had Paint it Black as it's theme.

I used to watch it at my Grandma's house when I was little and loved that show, I'm 36. Funny thing is, I've been wondering for years...what was that Army show I used to watch when I was little? All I remember is the intro, they were on the hill top in a shadow, if that makes any since. Seriously though, I've been wondering this for years. I googled the name of the show, and mystery solved. I'm gonna see if I can find some episodes online somewhere.

If you are interested in the history, then pick up some non-fiction books written by people who were actually there, or credible historians. There is a long reading list, but you might start with, "Bright shining lie" by Neil Sheehan." It got the Pulitzer. For an overview of the history of the place try Stanley Karnow's book on the history of Vietnam.

I actually just picked up that title at the local used book store today. I left with an armload, hopefully they are all worth a read. I've had a hard time finding a "good" book on the subject, most I've tried seem very opinionated. They are either very anti, or they read like an instruction manual. Since I wasn't there, its sometimes hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. A solid, objective narrative is what I'm looking for....

Try "We Were Soldiers Once, And Young," the book that the movie with Mel Gibson was based on, as one of your reads on Vietnam. It covers only one battle but is a fine narrative by Col. Hal Moore, the CO of the unit involved, in collaboration with a fine writer named Joe Galloway. (He was the embedded journalist who had to fight for his life along with the rest of the soldiers, as depicted in the movie.)

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

Wasn't suggesting that you did watch it as your go-to show.Just replying due to your last sentence...

Graduated in '69 and that was one lottery I'm glad I didn't win.I'll watch any show that is a documentary about the War or is based on enough facts to be entertaining like the movie "Green Berets" with John Wayne.

I don't personally know any Vets from that War but I'm sure it was no picnic being over there.

The John Wayne film, "The Green Berets" is good. "We Were Soldiers" is outstanding, both the book and the movie. It is one of the most powerful movies ever made, and I cry in a few places. If I'd made movies, that and the 1992 version of, "The Last of the Mohicans" are two I'd want to have made.


I was in the USAF during that war. I applied for duty there, and they sent me to Newfoundland!


I watched your show, and liked it. I think one GI wore a Ka-Bar knife upside down on his vest? Don't recall a Randall, but my memory may fail me on that.


That copyright issue is a bummer. Without the right opening music, the show hurts. I can't hear, "Paint It Black" and not think of, "Tour of Duty."

I have enough memories that I don't need to watch war movies.

Try locating the Bantam books by men who actually fought in wars. Some are about Vietnam.


These are the accounts of those who really fought and show a different side than what the political books do.

Didn't have to watch, lived it.

I watched the re-runs of the show on TNT when I was in grade school. Later on, I did eventually buy season 1 and possibly season 2 on DVD. I haven't seen it since I was in...probably high school.

I was never in the military, although I was always fascinated with military technology and history. Unfortunately, I could never serve because of my asthma. I can understand for those who did serve who have no interest in watching war tv shows and movies. In what little spare time I have, the last thing I want to watch is law enforcement tv shows...with the exception of The First 48 (I think it is tastefully done, not over the top, respectful for everyone involved, and it teaches some good interviewing skills...usually). I will admit, I do like Longmire though. Aside from those two (2) shows, I avoid anything law enforcement related.

I thought it was a pretty ****** show. Made the war in Vietnam look like a 9-5 job. Run around in the woods, come back to base and have a few beers, sleep, get up the next day, go to work running around in the woods, come back...have a few beers....

There are so many compelling stories about men in war, I never understood the need to produce fictional characterizations of their experience....

I appreciate that many who were there have no interest in watching a show about it. I'm in awe of you who went and managed to get through it. My interest isn't about glorifying it, its about trying to understand the complete mess of the war.

From everything I've ever seen about the conditions and the type of warfare fought, I think anyone who was there is/was a testament to the strength of the human spirit.

The show that started this thread was just one small part of that thinking for me. Does any of that make sense?

I watched it several times when it was on but couldn't get comfortable.

I served 2 tours there and still wake up about 2am and can't go back to sleep or suffer from nightmares. For several years I had been going to counseling every 2 weeks but the last 20 years, not so much.

No, I don't think I would care to watch this show anymore.

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Slim, U.S. Army, Ret.

Here is a picture of the Ka-Bar, but unless my memory is playing tricks on me, another actor had what looked like a Randall.

Attached Images

TOD-1.jpg (90.6 KB, 29 views)

We Were Soldiers Once, And Young

LtGen(Ret) Hal Moore

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Retired Career Security Guard

I was too young, by the time I was graduating from high school, Nixon had "Vietnamized" the war.

My draft lottery number was 271, if I remember correctly, and my best buddy's was 3. He joined the Marines and spent most of his 3 years working in the base post office at whatever the big Marine base in California.

I have worked with a lot of Viet Nam vets. Many paid a very high price. Those of us who didn't go owe them a great debt.

Buff, mine was 263 and IIRC they never called over 200. I remember how grateful I was that my number was so high. I had lost my 2S deferment and had already gone through the physical and doctors exams and was classified 1A and ready to go. They actually asked if I wanted to sign up for OCS and I politely declined. I had no desire to be a rookie snot nosed officer going to the Nam telling guys that had been there since the beginning what to do. At 67, it is one of the best decisions my 19 year old self ever made.

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James Redfield
LM #497

On a side note there seems to be a pretty good series on Vietnam on the History channel. I started watching it last night.
Now I have to say that thanks to good old Tricky Dick I was spared the pleasure from going there upon my high school graduation. I was registered for the draft but was automatically registered 4 H.
I know a lot of people who did go and with that being said to all of those, and to all of you Vietnam Vets here you have and always will have my full respect!

B-52 Arc Light Strike. Big belly D's carried 107 bombs each, flew in three ship cells normally.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

I watched it every week as a kid. My dad never talked about his time there, and I was curious to learn what I could. Read and watched a great deal of more factual stuff about it since then. Pops is no longer here to tell me anything about it, not that he would, and I can't say that I blame him. Learning a little about what it must've been like makes me feel guilty for ever asking him to re-live it.

On a side note, one of my show steers from when I was in FFA was named Zeke, after the main character.

Okay.................

Some people (not meaning any who were there) love to ruin a good thread.

No worries here. I asked for opinions, not everyone is going to agree. I'm good with that.

I like the show for the music, the subject, and the fact that it was something I watched when I was younger. Hey, I also have the entire Magnum PI series (the wife and kids groan and leave the room if I even look at the box).

I can summarize my time there.

Day 1: Scared
Day 230: going to Hawaii to see the wife; felt great
Day last: Scared

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

I was there, but very lucky that I served my tour at the huge Long Binh base. Out of my 1965 high school class of 92, 30 served and 13 of us were in Vietnam at one time or another. One of my friends went right after graduation and when he returned, he came to visit me at my college dorm. His stories scared the Hell out of a lot of my fellow students. He was involved in the battle that "We Were Young" was based on.

Ia Drang. (Battle of)

Got the full set, all seasons. Some of it was pretty good.

Willie Garvin, where are you?