Study source A. Do you agree with this interpretation of problems faced by U.S soldiers in Vietnam? Use the source and knowledge from your studies to explain your answer.

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Jack Eyres                                                                                                                                            History coursework Question 2

History coursework: Study source A. Do you agree with this interpretation of problems faced by U.S soldiers in Vietnam? Use the source and knowledge from your studies to explain your answer.

Introduction

In this question I will be trying to answer possibilities and analyse them about source A.   I will decide whether or not I agree with the interpretation of the situation faced by American soldiers in Vietnam.  The soldiers faced many problems and I will be trying to analyse them to see if they are true or not.  Also I will be trying to find out were the facts came from and if they provide enough evidence, and are reliable enough to work from.  

                                                                                                 

In the source it says that an increasing number of new recruits scored so low on their intelligence tests that if they were to apply to join the peacetime army they wouldn’t have got in.  I don’t know were this fact came from and if there is evidence to support this, however it had a shocking affect and makes the reader think that the Americans rushed into the war.  It shows that the Americans weren’t too bothered about the IQ scores of their recruits they just wanted as many soldiers as they could get; instead of focusing on the quality of soldiers they went for quantity.  The source mentions about the one year tour of duty, which after analysing other sources, I know that this scheme was taking place.  The soldiers would have been in Vietnam for one year only, and after they began to gain experience they were sent home this reduced the effectiveness of the American army.  The Americans were constantly throwing inexperienced rookies against highly skilled guerrillas on their home turf!  It says the soldiers were most likely to die in the first moth of being in Vietnam.  I’m not too sure if this point is true because there is no hard evidence to show it.  I can understand when new recruits were thrown in they would have been eager to fight but they would have also not known how to go about things.  When most of the soldiers had been fighting for six months in a way, they sat back and let the new recruits do all of the work.  They knew that they were soon to be going home and they wanted to avoid confrontation to secure them a safe journey.  The source says that the majority of the deaths took place in the first six months.  This is understandable; the soldiers eager to fight would get a bit too over enthusiastic.  They would be naive and think that they could handle it, and they would of all felt very patriotic and proud that they were fighting for their country but in fact they were just putting themselves up to be killed.  After a new set of recruits would have came in, the older recruits; growing in experience, would have let them do it all, just to try and save themselves.  ‘Just as a soldier began gaining experience he was sent home’.  This is true and this could have been one of the factors that led to the defeat of the U.S army.  How could the Americans hope to win the war if they knew that they were constantly throwing inexperienced men against highly skilled, trained guerrillas on their home ground?  

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In the first few months the soldiers would have been feeling very enthusiastic and eager to go.  They would have been waiting for the opportunity to kill some VC’s but with that naivety, it would have got them or their friends killed by the VC’s.  

Jack Eyres                                                                                                 ...

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