Hearing about the war from the Vietnamese perspective was so different from what I was used to, but I really enjoyed learning about it while already having some context and background knowledge.

While watching the video I noticed the language they used about Americans and realized it was similar to the American propaganda I learned about in high school. The video was also in English, which makes me think it was also meant to appeal towards Americans. The speaker referred to a Vietnamese soldier as an “American war hero” and compared Americans to animals they hunted, which more so taught me that while the U.S. and Vietnam had obvious drastic differences, they both gained support in similar ways.

I recalled my sophomore year of high school learning about the war — we watched anti-communist media filmed during the war and propagandistic theories like the domino effect. Because it was the first major war covered by the media, it played a big part in shaping people’s perspectives since they were exposed to various differing opinions. This was proven today seeing anti-American propaganda that presented Americans as the perpetrators.

I was equally impressed as I was confused by how the Vietnamese thought of ways to innovate war. For example, how they marked the traps with small leaves I wouldn’t even notice, and how they let the smoke escape the tunnels in the morning so it looked like fog. The tunnels were also far larger than I expected — the ones we went through were only 120 meters, but we learned some stretched upwards of 250 kilometers. I was sweating today; I couldn’t imagine digging tunnels in this heat all while fighting a war.

Throughout the whole thing, the fact that they kept fighting and innovating taught me that the Vietnamese are not only resilient but strong-willed too. Their patriotism is what I believe allowed them to fight for so long. It is easy to forget the incredible disadvantage they had, but because they knew their country and its terrain, they stayed competitive.

I was also surprised to find comparisons between the Vietnamese and Americans. Despite the war, they still used similar ways to communicate to civilians, which to me shows that even countries on opposing sides can rely on human emotions like fear, pride, and patriotism