I saw this on 'We are the 80's' This morning

[charliesmum]

Paul Hardcastle's song "19".

19

In 1965 Vietnam seemed like just another foreign war,
but it wasn't.
It was different in many ways, as so were those that did the fighting.
In World War II the average age of the combat soldier was 26...
In Vietnam he was 19.
In inininininin Vietnam he was 19.

(TV announcer's voice)
The shooting and fighting of the past two weeks continued today
25 miles west of Saigon
I really wasn't sure what was going on (Vet's Voice)

Nininini Nineteen, 19, Ni-nineteen 19
19,19,19,19

In Vietnam the combat soldier typically served a twelve month tour of duty but
was exposed to hostile fire almost everyday
Ninininininininininin 19 nininininninin 19

Hundreds of Thousands of men who saw heavy combat in Vietnam were arrested since discharge Their arrest rate is almost twice that of non-veterans of the same age.
There are no accurate figures of how many of these men have been incarcerated.
But, a Veterans Administration study concludes that the greater of Vets
exposure to combat could more likely affect his chances of being arrested or convicted.

This is one legacy of the Vietnam War

(Singing Girls)
All those who remember the war
They won't forget what they've seen..
Destruction of men in their prime
whose average was 19
Dedededededede-Destruction
Dedededededede-Destruction
War, War
Dededede-Destruction, wa-wa-War, wa-War, War
Dedededededede-Destruction
War, War

After World War II the Men came home together on troop ships, but the Vietnam
Vet often arrived home within 48 hours of jungle combat
Perhaps the most dramatic difference between World War II and Vietnam was
coming home.. .none of them received a hero's welcome
None of them received a heroes welcome, none of them, none of them
Nenene Nenene None of them, none of them, none of them (etc...)
None of them received a hero's welcome
None of them received a hero's welcome

According to a Veteran's Administration study
Half of the Vietnam combat veterans suffered from what Psychiatrists call
Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder
Many vets complain of alienation, rage, or guilt
Some succumb to suicidal thoughts
Eight to Ten years after coming home almost eight-hundred-thousand men are
still fighting the Vietnam War

(Singing Girls)
Dedededededede-Destruction

Nininininininininin Nineteen, 19, Ni-nineteen 19
19,19,19,19
Nininininininininin Nineteen, 19, Ni-nineteen 19
19,19,19,19

(Soldiers Voice)
When we came back it was different.. Everybody wants to know "How'd it
happened to those guys over there
There's gotta be something wrong somewhere
We did what we had to do
There's gotta be something wrong somewhere
People wanted us to be ashamed of what it made us
Dad had no idea what he went to fight and he is now
All we want to do is come home
All we want to do is come home
What did we do it for
All we want to do is come home
Was it worth it?

Comments

[swordmage.livejournal.com]

I'm annoyued at the idea that every soldier is a hero. To me, it just isn't right. Granted, I may think differently if my dad had fought in Vietnam (he got out because of really bad acne) and so I knew someone who was there. But I don't.

The song is sort of silly though. First off, I think the repetition would annoy me, if nothing else. i like repitition, but that appears to be of the more annoying variety Yes, I know many men who fought there came home with mental issues and that they saw some terrible things. And I'm sorry they had to go through the experience. But they're not all heros and they didn't save our freedom.

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

The song is pretty powerful if you hear it, rather than just read it - and the video with the footage of wounded soldiers coupled with their year book pictures is really powerful. And it's a total mixed media - actual news announcers and soliders talking coupled with the guy sort of rapping - you have to hear it.

You have to understand that, unlike now, 95% of the soldiers in Vietnam were drafted, they didn't volunteer to go. They were drafted, and did the job that they were bound by duty to do instead of running off to Canada or having their daddy get them into the National Guard. They went to a bad war, and if they managed to come home alive, they came home damaged, and were treated with contempt over something that they didn't even want to do., When they came home people booed them and spit at them because at home the whole hippie/protest thing was going on. The song isn't saying they were heroes for fighting for our freedom (blech). It's about how they were young men who got sent to a bad war that wasn't necessary.

Believe me, in 1985 and earlier, no one had any illusions that our presence in Vietnam was anything other than a disaster.

[swordmage.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, based on your description, I'm a bit more curious. Maybe I'll track down a copy.

You have to understand that, unlike now, 95% of the soldiers in Vietnam were drafted, they didn't volunteer to go. That high, wow. I knew it was up there, but somehow I always thought it was in the upper eighties or thereabout.

It's about how they were young men who got sent to a bad war that wasn't necessary. And looking over the lyrics again now, I think I can see that. I also realize I sounded like a bit of an ass.

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

*giggling* No, you didn't sound like an ass - the song really doesn't translate well just as lyrics.

Also, we of the 80's had the 60's as our sort of retro cool, and this song kind of fed into that. Most songs were about, Oh you know, waking me up before you go go and lips like sugar and stuff, protest songs were not our thing, so this song kind of filled a niche.

It really is an interesting song to hear, because you get the actual voices of the soldiers and the news people.

There was this really dumb show called...well I foget but it was a lip synching contest, and this one guy dressed up like a soldier, and did this song and it was really eerie.

I didn't mean to sound all lecturey, either!

[swordmage.livejournal.com]

Nah, you didn't sound all that lecturey.

[wolfma.livejournal.com]

I remember this song quite well.

My husband tells me the reason that the men who went over there were so young was because of this idea about not keeping men overseas until they were "war weary," which was something that happened in WWII. It was supposed to be humane. So, what happened was that every six months or so they'd ship out the men who were there and put in fresh recruits. Like a retired DI I know who was actually over there said, "Every time the guys got some idea about what they were doing, they were sent home." Then there'd be a bunch of green troops that would have to go through the same thing.

And this guy said that the minute he got off the boat in San Fran, some woman punched him in the face. So, he went back. :(

[dragonwhishes.livejournal.com]

Now I know what the song lyrics are. Stephen King mentioned it in the Dark Tower series.