Anybody Watch Tour Of Duty Back In The Day?

Mexican Kerry

Mexican Kerry

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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?
 
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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. :(
 
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.
 
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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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.
 
coltle6920 said:
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.
Click to expand...


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!

;)
 
Mexican Kerry said:
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?
Click to expand...

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.
 
the history...

Mexican Kerry said:
[/B]

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!

;)
Click to expand...

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.
 
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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....
 
Mexican Kerry said:
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....
Click to expand...

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.)
 
Mexican Kerry said:
[/B]

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.;)
Click to expand...

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

Anybody else a Tour Of Duty fan, or am I the only one?
Click to expand...

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."
 
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