Did you know… there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a farmer?

The best soldiers are often from farming backgrounds. Best athletes too.

It would’ve been embarrassing for the Vietnamese if they’d been defeated by a bunch of waiters lmao

  • loathsome dongeater@lemmygrad.ml
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    4 months ago

    It also minimises the fact that the Vietnamese, a colonised people, defended themselves against a rabid bloodthirsty genocidal empire that was armed to the teeth at great personal cost.

    It’s the kind of thing that people who view war as games and banter tend to say. So children basically.

    Edit: Also calling an entire east Asian nation one of rice farmers lenin shotgun

  • ComradePlatypus [fae/faer]@hexbear.net
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    4 months ago

    Not to minimise the NLF who were the guerillas, but the Vietnamese had a formal military in the PAVN who were fighting the US and various allies. The PAVN turned out to be one of the most disciplined and effective militaries of the 20th century. Like the uniformed army of a former colony dog walked you dude.

  • sinstrium [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    4 months ago

    Also undermines the massive amount of organization, logistical planning and war strategy the vietnamese had to do. The quote is also a great display how “benign” expression with the intend to disparage american exceptionalism can actually further engrain it. After all the quote raises the unsaid notion that the vietnamese were primitive and incapable and that it should be have been expected that the “superior” american military/culture should have won.

    This is the insidious nature of cultural imperalism- even our speech and thoughts are trained to help support the system.

  • RoabeArt [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    4 months ago

    A majority of the PAVN and NLF leadership and officers were old veterans who previously fought Japanese occupation during WWII, and French occupation during the 1950s. To say that they were all just plucky civilians who took up arms to fight the Americans is inaccurate. Many of them were already experienced soldiers.

    Then a few years later they liberated Cambodia and fought off an attempted occupation by China in 1979.

    Vietnam was a force to be reckoned with well before the US tried to get its claws in it.

  • WeedReference420 [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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    4 months ago

    Getting into pure actually territory here but the North Vietnamese had a modern (for the time) regular army and air force as well, a lot of people assume it was just the Viet Cong.

    Hell, the Communists straight up dominated the air war the whole time, to the surprise of even the Soviet Union.

        • ComradePlatypus [fae/faer]@hexbear.net
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          4 months ago

          Or use National Liberation Front. That was the name the guerrilla fighters used.

          Viet Minh is the whole popular front so covers NLF, PAVN, DRV. Etc

          It’s a good habit also to replace NVA (North Vietnamese Army) with Peoples Army of Vietnam. PAVN. That’s what they were actually called (and still are).

          Same for DRV. Democratic republic of Vietnam. It wasn’t two countries. It’s not North Vietnam, just Vietnam.

  • RyanGosling [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    4 months ago

    Americans like being condescending and undermining Vietnamese and Afghan guerrillas (and completely ignoring that the Vietnamese had a formal, experienced military for decades prior to the US bullshit) who killed their boys, but then when you bring up how the US military has drones and jets while the fascist “pro gun patriots” are a bunch of out of shape assholes who worship that military, have non-military equipment, full of privilege, and no conviction for anything but treats, then suddenly they talk about Vietnamese and Afghan “farmers with sandals” like they’re special forces