Working Class War
The Working Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam by Christian Appy is an informative and disturbing work on the defeat America suffered in the Vietnam conflict. ... Appy gives a detailed account of the enlisted men’s, or “grunts,” experience including: class background, military training, war experience (both as victims and victimizers) and the struggle to put the war behind them. ... The result is a human and realistic account of exactly what went on leading up to, during, and after the Vietnam War through the eyes of the ordinary soldier. Appy looks at the Vietnam War through the eyes of the common run-of- the- meal grunt who endured most of the hardships. ... 5 million men who were sent to Vietnam roughly 80 percent came from working-class and poor backgrounds. “Vietnam, more than any other American war in the twentieth century, perhaps in our history, was a working class war. The institutions most responsible for channeling men into the military—the draft, the schools, and the job market—directed working class children to the armed forces and their wealthier peers toward college”(Appy pg. ... Steve Harper, a working class draftee conveys his thoughts on this by saying, “Where were the sons of all the big shots who supported the war? ... If the war was so important, why didn’t our leaders put everyone’s son in there, why only us”(Appy pg. ... ” They were not fighting a traditional war that America’s firepower could overwhelm the enemy, but a guerrilla war in which the guerrilla’s were supported by the Vietnamese population. ... Appy gives the reader a chance to see how the Americans who were returning home from a long tour of Vietnam were disgusted when he saw, “hippies and rich kids,” demonstrating against the war.