Professional Soldiers ® - View Single Post

02-18-2007, 15:09

Well after a bad snow storm, 12 inches of snow, two power outages, and sub-zero wind chills, I will now continue.

Continuing...

The life of a Vietnamese villager is quite interesting. It seems that the image of Vietnamese families, happily toiling over the same rice fields for thousands of years and suffering horrifically because this is the land of their ancestors and leaving would cause undue stress has been greatly exagerated. Throughout history, the Vietnamese have won wars and lost them to conqueres from just about everywhere. It seems that they never stayed in one place longer than a few dozen years or so. According to the RAND corporation, the Vietnamese person wasn't much into "family tree's". Only as far as the village gates, did most villagers world revolve upon. All he needed was to be found in the village and to get into trouble with the village chief or elders was a very serious affair. For example, to be told to leave by one's family or village chief was the worst kind of punishment. Corporal punishment was almost non-existant.

Life in a village was divided into regiments. Bewtween farming and family and the village chiefs, their wasn't too much else going on. However, what I did learn mostly from this chapter was that like his Western counterparts, he would take the path of least resistance and do anything to better his circumstances. For example, a Vietnamese farmer who would ask his American friend to buy him a watch at the local PX, then turn around and sell it on the "black market" for a large profit saw no wrong in doing this. He looked at it as taking advantage of the circumstances. There is no act of disloyalty or duplicity on his part. Now if he awoke in the middle of the night with a gun sticking in his ear, he generally did what he was told to do, regardless of his private political convictions or even who was holding the gun.

Religion and superstition played an important role in the life of a Vietnamese. Buddhism was the predominant religion in the village. Other religions that were common were: Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Chinese ancestor worship, and Animism. Astrology also played a role in their lives as well. There is some question however, just how much of a role these played in his life. Like us, I don't think that your typical Vietnamese knew his religion any better than we know ours. Most of us would know the names of Santa's reindeer or the seven dwarfs more so that the Ten Commandments. Go figure.

I guess the bottom line is that your typical Vietnamese is an "opportunist" to some degree and lying, cheating, or stealing, was just another way of life.

More to come...

02-18-2007, 15:09	#6
MAB32 Guest Posts: n/a	Well after a bad snow storm, 12 inches of snow, two power outages, and sub-zero wind chills, I will now continue. Continuing... The life of a Vietnamese villager is quite interesting. It seems that the image of Vietnamese families, happily toiling over the same rice fields for thousands of years and suffering horrifically because this is the land of their ancestors and leaving would cause undue stress has been greatly exagerated. Throughout history, the Vietnamese have won wars and lost them to conqueres from just about everywhere. It seems that they never stayed in one place longer than a few dozen years or so. According to the RAND corporation, the Vietnamese person wasn't much into "family tree's". Only as far as the village gates, did most villagers world revolve upon. All he needed was to be found in the village and to get into trouble with the village chief or elders was a very serious affair. For example, to be told to leave by one's family or village chief was the worst kind of punishment. Corporal punishment was almost non-existant. Life in a village was divided into regiments. Bewtween farming and family and the village chiefs, their wasn't too much else going on. However, what I did learn mostly from this chapter was that like his Western counterparts, he would take the path of least resistance and do anything to better his circumstances. For example, a Vietnamese farmer who would ask his American friend to buy him a watch at the local PX, then turn around and sell it on the "black market" for a large profit saw no wrong in doing this. He looked at it as taking advantage of the circumstances. There is no act of disloyalty or duplicity on his part. Now if he awoke in the middle of the night with a gun sticking in his ear, he generally did what he was told to do, regardless of his private political convictions or even who was holding the gun. Religion and superstition played an important role in the life of a Vietnamese. Buddhism was the predominant religion in the village. Other religions that were common were: Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Chinese ancestor worship, and Animism. Astrology also played a role in their lives as well. There is some question however, just how much of a role these played in his life. Like us, I don't think that your typical Vietnamese knew his religion any better than we know ours. Most of us would know the names of Santa's reindeer or the seven dwarfs more so that the Ten Commandments. Go figure. I guess the bottom line is that your typical Vietnamese is an "opportunist" to some degree and lying, cheating, or stealing, was just another way of life. More to come...