American History

The process of disillusionment brought about by the Vietnam War portrays the creation of an identity and power of America towards conflict. Here, the trainings within the military encouraged the invulnerabilities and justified that every action resulted to victory. These dimensions within the perspective of American forces have shaped and encouraged optimism among forces during the Vietnam conflict. It is through such capacity that disillusionment is created which ultimately led to the countrys defeat and a shift in idealism and perspective regarding ones capabilities as it corresponds to the goals of America.

Tracing this analogy within Caputos work, it can be argued that the themes supplement the process of establishing disillusionment among personnel within the military organization and the American public. It opens up the idea that leads people to believe the capacity of the country to become soldiers of the world  protector of democratic interests. These idealism and ability to convey effective patterns of patriotism have shaped the creation and onset of the war in Vietnam. In particular it unified the country into believing in their capacity to safeguard and promote national interests abroad.

However, the process of disillusionment then becomes evident through time as both soldiers and America begin to experience the real war. Though the Americans may have boasted about their military capabilities and highly advanced level of warfare, it began to show another side of the conflict  that they only serve their purposes as mere instruments it is humans who fight the real war. All this time, Americans have thought about gaining victory by mere weaponry alone. The establishment of such mindset created the disillusionment that appropriate changes can be made by using mainly such strategies, however it was not. As Caputo argues, so I guess every generation is doomed to fight its war, to endure the same old experiences, suffer the loss of the same old illusions, and learn the same old lessons on its own (p. 81).

Similarly, Caputo also explores common misconceptions about the war that creates disillusionment. Here, he uses the example of the Vietnam War as an example of identifying the patterns of how victory cannot be achieved by machineries or military capabilities alone. Here, Caputo points out the lapses in judgment and prevalence of military error that stimulated defeat and catered to the realization about the realities of war and conflict. These dimensions in turn captivated a bitter truth about such outcomes and reinstituted the development of anti-war sentiments and a shift in American policy.

Seeing this, the book identifies that the disillusionment showcased in the Vietnam conflict provided a question about American capacity and ideals in resolving the conflict. It permeated within the collaborative struggles American forces had to endure to address and the limited capacity to bounce back from these ordeals. Here, Caputo makes this argument by providing,
Most of all, we learned about death at an early age, when it is common to think oneself as immortal. Everyone loses that illusion eventually, but in civilian life, it is lost in installment over the years we lost it all at once, and in the span of months, passed from boyhood through manhood to a premature old age (p.104).

Relating this idea with that of Morgans book, the idea of disillusionment with the Vietnam War came as a result of the considerable defeat and humiliation American forces have encountered during the duration of the conflict. It can be seen that the value prevails within the common conditions and superiority of mechanisms and strategies. Arguably, these distinctions were seen mainly as essential elements shaping victory. However, there were miscalculations within the Americans side which caused their embarrassing defeat. Seeing this, it created behaviors of resentment and the condition to lose public support related to the ability of the conflict to have a favorable conclusion.

Similarly, Morgan was also illustrated the limited capacity of American bureaucrats and law makers to understand the real depth of the conflict in Vietnam. In particular, it created a split between public opinion and those whose family members are participating in the war. Seeing this, it divided the nation accordingly and during times of heavy losses on the American side clamored for changes in policy and redefinition of appropriate goals that the country has to make. Here, Morgan argues that yet the sixties experience taught again and again that this is an unrealistic expectation that fueled painful disillusionment and self-defeating outburst of rage and violence (p.30).

Moreover, Morgan argued that the political and socio-economic trends happening in the sixties also provided situations for disillusionment. In particular, he uses the case of the Vietnam war as an important assumption of how this mindset was created. It can be seen that these trends go about the conditions of seeking new patterns and mechanisms that would address situations related to enhancing stability provided the economic and military capabilities of America within the 1960s. Such dynamics then provided the leverage to establish the proper way of handling issues and illustrating a new form of establishing control  thus for reinitializing the value of activism within American soceity. As Morgan argues,
The Sixties experience taught activists that their expressive democratic vision was fundamentally incompatible with the root assumptions of American institutions (p.9)

Lastly, the argument provided by Charters in her book outlines the value of Anti-War movement as a direct approach towards the disillusionment created by the Vietnam War. She uses this as an example to highlight the transformation of American society from a supportive public to a more critical viewpoint in addressing social and political concerns happening within the country. It portrays the eventual disengagement from the principles of overcoming the conflict victorious and shifts from identifying common ideas that equally shape their needs and democratic interests (Charters, p. 110).

Similarly, it can also be argued that Charters uses the Vietnam War as instrument in redefining the commitment of the American public towards its prevalent issues shaping American society. It tries to initialize the opposition and how patterns of disillusionment resulted to redefining their role in bringing stability to this turmoil and questions surrounding the validity of winning the campaign. As Charters provides, in the U.S., opposition to the Vietnam War continues to grow the larges antiwar demonstration to date occurs in a march of more than 20,000 people down to Fifth Avenue in New York City (p. 23).

These dynamics in turn initialized both a formal and informal response to disillusionment created by the Vietnam conflict. The book was able to transform this process in the establishment of civil rights and how American society responded to these areas accordingly. These indirect attacks on the U.S. government then resulted to the proliferation of antiwar literature. To illustrate these, one poet, Robert Bly points out,
The Vietnam War changed the way I lived the psychic urgency dissolved calmness for most of us, and actively opposing the war meant an end to long periods of solitude (p.129).

To conclude the disillusionment brought about by the Vietnam War coincided with the limited ability of U.S. military to address the real conditions happening in the conflict and mainly relying on their key strengths and supporting mechanisms. This complacency then resulted to a bitter realization about the outcome of the war. Though such may be the case, Charters and Morgans book illustrated the responses of the American public in clamoring for change. It brings about the desire to rethink new policies and strive towards establishing roles for individuals and groups in conveying appropriate messages for initializing change.